THE WORLD HEARD: SOUND, FILM THEORY AND THE CINEMATIC EXPERIENCE

This dissertation was published exactly ten years ago.

Reflecting on it now, finishing this dissertation a decade ago feels like emerging from the darkest period of my life. And I suspect many humanities doctoral candidates can relate! It wasn’t just the typical isolation – the long stretches of solitary writing, the annual check-ins with advisors, the sense that your fellow travelers, while brilliant, were either swept up in their own worlds or too immersed in their own research to truly engage with yours.

Looking back, I also realize the sheer, audacious ambition of the project I’d undertaken. This dissertation embarks on a journey to re-evaluate the role of sound within film theory – a space where it’s often been treated as a secondary concern. Ten years ago, the field of media studies was deeply engaged with cultural studies, multiculturalism, and a shift away from the formalist approaches that defined the 1990s. Consequently, even as the importance of sound in contemporary audiovisual media was becoming increasingly clear, its theoretical implications remained surprisingly unexplored. And you know what? That statement still rings true today.

In essence, this dissertation champions the cause of film sound, advocating for its central role in creating immersive and believable cinematic worlds. It calls for a re-evaluation of existing film theories, urging scholars to recognize sound as a vital component in the ongoing evolution of cinema.

The central argument revolves around a “worlding theory” of cinema, which proposes that films create immersive worlds for their audiences, and sound is instrumental in this world-building process. By examining the historical evolution of sound practices, the dissertation seeks to demonstrate how sound contributes to a phenomenological understanding of cinema, bridging classical and contemporary film theories.

Introduction
Introduction

A more elaborate version of the above. All dissertations need an introduction. It tries to establish the relevance of the work and describe the role each chapter will play.

Hearing the World of Film
Hearing the World of Film

This section delves into the concept of diegesis, or the film's world, arguing that the advent of sound transformed it from an image-based construct to an audiovisual diegesis. This framework allows for a re-examination of sound's function in early and silent cinema, paving the way for a deeper understanding of its role in shaping our perception of the filmic world. A comparative study of M and Kamaradeschaft serves to illustrate my points.

Immersed in Sound
Immersed in Sound

Here, the focus shifts to how sound immerses audiences within the cinematic world, exploring the spatial dimensions of sound and the technological advancements that have enhanced this sense of immersion. By tracing the history of sound technologies, this section highlights the evolution from embedded space to embodying space, revealing how sound creates a palpable sense of presence.

Lost in Sound Space
Lost in Sound Space

This is a close hearing: we are to examine the innovative sound design of Gravity, highlighting how sound plays a crucial role in creating a sense of space and emotional depth in a film set in the vastness of outer space. By analyzing the film's use of Dolby Atmos technology and the spatialization of voices,I illustrate how sound enhances the immersive experience, allowing viewers to navigate the disorienting environment of space. This chapter was individually published as Sound Space and Gravity in Journal The New Soundtrack 6(1-2).

Cinema Learns to Speak
Cinema Learns to Speak

This chapter was actually the first one written: it addresses the transformative impact of the human voice on cinema, examining how our perception of vocal authenticity has evolved alongside technological and stylistic changes. By analyzing the use of dialects in contemporary Chinese cinema, the dissertation demonstrates how the dialectal voice reinforces the notion of phenomenal authenticity, enriching our understanding of the cinematic world.

Babel is The World
Babel is The World

Forget the unified, standard voices you expect from cinema. Chinese film took a fascinating turn, daring to embrace the vibrant tapestry of dialects after The Story of Qiuju. Witness the birth of a cinema of dialect, a movement where the way people speak is the story. This chapter is essentially a close hearing of Jia Zhangke's The World, where clashing accents and linguistic outsiders paint a vivid picture of social realities, a far cry from simplistic dialect films used for cheap laughs. It's a powerful reminder that in cinema, how we speak can be just as telling as what we say.

Epilogue
Epilogue

It is time to reflect on the intricate relationship between cinema and the perception of reality, paying homage to Christian Metz. By emphasizing the world over mere reality, I want to highlight cinema's ability to maintain a connection with viewers, even in fantastical narratives. Ultimately, the epilogue advocates for a holistic understanding of language in cinema, positioning it as essential to the filmic world and opening pathways for future exploration in media practices.