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Tales of the Silent Blast:Star Warsand Sound

1998; Taylor & Francis; Volume: 26; Issue: 1 Linguagem: Inglês

10.1080/01956059809602769

1930-6458

Gianluca Sergi,

Cinema and Media Studies

Abstract This discriminatory approach toward sound in films has conditioned our basic attitude toward thinking and talking about movies in two main ways. On the one hand, we are neither equipped for nor used to articulating our thinking on film sound beyond harmful generalizations. In exemplary fashion, writing on Star Wars in the early days of its release, Pauline Kael reduces the complexity of one of the most innovative soundtracks in film history to one expression: “the loudness” (708). On the other hand, we have also come to regard the topic of film sound as of a lesser value or even as damaging to the “true” nature of cinema: the image. As Tom Levin correctly points out,