Filmic gibberish : Chaplin's villains

Film sound scholarship over the past decades has focused primarily on issues such as sound technology, dialogue, sound style, and even silence. Such may be what one calls an ‘official’ history of film sound. However, Michel Chion suggests that scholars should begin looking at the ‘hidden’ spaces in...

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Main Author: Ang, Don Meng Hui
Other Authors: Brian Keith Bergen-Aurand
Format: Final Year Project (FYP)
Language:English
Published: 2013
Subjects:
Online Access:http://hdl.handle.net/10356/52188
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author Ang, Don Meng Hui
author2 Brian Keith Bergen-Aurand
author_facet Brian Keith Bergen-Aurand
Ang, Don Meng Hui
author_sort Ang, Don Meng Hui
collection NTU
description Film sound scholarship over the past decades has focused primarily on issues such as sound technology, dialogue, sound style, and even silence. Such may be what one calls an ‘official’ history of film sound. However, Michel Chion suggests that scholars should begin looking at the ‘hidden’ spaces in film sound scholarship, and bring attention to ‘mutations’ in film sound. Gibberish is identified in this paper as one of such ‘hidden’ space. Investigation into the use of gibberish in film reveals that there have been little studies in this field. As the pioneer in using gibberish in film, Charlie Chaplin has chosen to use gibberish in the first three films that he produced since the advent of synchronised sound – City Lights, Modern Times, and The Great Dictator. Studies of gibberish in these films suggest that gibberish is used by Chaplin only as a statement of his resistance against synchronised sound in film. However, this paper will suggest that Chaplin’s use of gibberish not only serves as a statement of his resistance against synchronised sound in film, it also has the potential to vilify the character that speaks gibberish. In this direction, this paper will provide definitions for three forms of filmic gibberish, explore how gibberish has the potential to vilify characters, as well as interrogate the relationship that such vilification has with film ethics.
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spelling ntu-10356/521882019-12-10T13:36:59Z Filmic gibberish : Chaplin's villains Ang, Don Meng Hui Brian Keith Bergen-Aurand School of Humanities and Social Sciences DRNTU::Visual arts and music::Film DRNTU::Humanities::Ethics Film sound scholarship over the past decades has focused primarily on issues such as sound technology, dialogue, sound style, and even silence. Such may be what one calls an ‘official’ history of film sound. However, Michel Chion suggests that scholars should begin looking at the ‘hidden’ spaces in film sound scholarship, and bring attention to ‘mutations’ in film sound. Gibberish is identified in this paper as one of such ‘hidden’ space. Investigation into the use of gibberish in film reveals that there have been little studies in this field. As the pioneer in using gibberish in film, Charlie Chaplin has chosen to use gibberish in the first three films that he produced since the advent of synchronised sound – City Lights, Modern Times, and The Great Dictator. Studies of gibberish in these films suggest that gibberish is used by Chaplin only as a statement of his resistance against synchronised sound in film. However, this paper will suggest that Chaplin’s use of gibberish not only serves as a statement of his resistance against synchronised sound in film, it also has the potential to vilify the character that speaks gibberish. In this direction, this paper will provide definitions for three forms of filmic gibberish, explore how gibberish has the potential to vilify characters, as well as interrogate the relationship that such vilification has with film ethics. Bachelor of Arts 2013-04-25T01:38:25Z 2013-04-25T01:38:25Z 2013 2013 Final Year Project (FYP) http://hdl.handle.net/10356/52188 en Nanyang Technological University 38 p. application/pdf
spellingShingle DRNTU::Visual arts and music::Film
DRNTU::Humanities::Ethics
Ang, Don Meng Hui
Filmic gibberish : Chaplin's villains
title Filmic gibberish : Chaplin's villains
title_full Filmic gibberish : Chaplin's villains
title_fullStr Filmic gibberish : Chaplin's villains
title_full_unstemmed Filmic gibberish : Chaplin's villains
title_short Filmic gibberish : Chaplin's villains
title_sort filmic gibberish chaplin s villains
topic DRNTU::Visual arts and music::Film
DRNTU::Humanities::Ethics
url http://hdl.handle.net/10356/52188
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