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The Narrative Function of Pre-existing Music in Video Games

Pozderac-Chenevey, Sarah
http://rave.ohiolink.edu/etdc/view?acc_num=ucin1562060451119602

Abstract Details

2019, PhD, University of Cincinnati, College-Conservatory of Music: Music (Musicology).
The use of pre-existing music to communicate did not originate with video games, any more than it began with film—referencing the old to add layers of meaning to the new has been a part of music for centuries. Film music built on existing strategies of musical reference, and video games have explored new possibilities for story telling with pre-existing music. This dissertation examines the variety of ways video games employ pre-existing music to support their narratives, with each chapter considering a subtopic via case studies. In my first chapter, I consider the semiotic possibilities, as well as potential pitfalls, of pre-existing music via the topic of nostalgia in Bastion, Fallout 3, and The Legend of Zelda. In my second, I illustrate musical strategies for continuity within series in Konami’s Metal Gear Solid and Atlus’s Persona series. In my third, I problematize the knee-jerk criticism of historical inaccuracies in the Assassin’s Creed series, reframing the games as historiographic metafiction and reconsidering their use of historical music. And finally, in my fourth chapter, I sift through the musics of BioShock Infinite, exploring the altered anachronistic music that foreshadows mindbending plot points, as well as the music that depicts with uncomfortable accuracy the racism of early twentieth-century popular culture. Along the way, I analyze music from six centuries and three continents in games that span decades and tell stories about nuclear warfare, Jungian psychology, time travel, and the eternal struggle between freedom and order.
Jeongwon Joe, Ph.D. (Committee Chair)
Jonathan Kregor, Ph.D. (Committee Member)
Christopher Segall, Ph.D. (Committee Member)
265 p.
Music
Video Games; Ludomusicology; Postmodernism; Musicology; Historiography; Semiotics

Recommended Citations

Citations

  • Pozderac-Chenevey, S. (2019). The Narrative Function of Pre-existing Music in Video Games [Doctoral dissertation, University of Cincinnati]. OhioLINK Electronic Theses and Dissertations Center. http://rave.ohiolink.edu/etdc/view?acc_num=ucin1562060451119602

    APA Style (7th edition)

  • Pozderac-Chenevey, Sarah. The Narrative Function of Pre-existing Music in Video Games. 2019. University of Cincinnati, Doctoral dissertation. OhioLINK Electronic Theses and Dissertations Center, http://rave.ohiolink.edu/etdc/view?acc_num=ucin1562060451119602.

    MLA Style (8th edition)

  • Pozderac-Chenevey, Sarah. "The Narrative Function of Pre-existing Music in Video Games." Doctoral dissertation, University of Cincinnati, 2019. http://rave.ohiolink.edu/etdc/view?acc_num=ucin1562060451119602

    Chicago Manual of Style (17th edition)

ucin1562060451119602
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This open access ETD is published by University of Cincinnati and OhioLINK.