Epic Television – Music and Sound in Ramayan and Mahabharat
von Britta Lesniak
Datum der mündl. Prüfung:2018-02-19
Erschienen:2018-12-14
Betreuer:Prof. Dr. Birgit Abels
Gutachter:Prof. Dr. Birgit Abels
Gutachter:Prof. Dr. Patrick Eisenlohr
Dateien
Name:Lesniak_Epic_Television_Dissertation.pdf
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Format:PDF
Zusammenfassung
Englisch
This dissertation explores the music and sounds of the two Hindi TV-serials Ramayan and Mahabharat, which were broadcast between 1987 and 1990 on India’s then-only state-run television channel Doordarshan. Led by the question what music does in television shows and how it does so, this thesis complements existing research on television music, which has so far exclusively focused on North American and European formats, by focusing on serial formats from a different region with its own narrative and cultural dynamics. Music and sound are understood as essential elements of audiovisual serial narration. Against this backdrop, the intensity and specific textures of music and sound are studied within the audiovisual fabric of Ramayan and Mahabharat. Based on a definition of music and sound as atmospheric, they are located in a framework of intermedial narrative theory, which is followed by a systematic overview of the sounds of the two serials. Afterwards, the serials’ music is contextualized within the narrative traditions of the stories told in Ramayan and Mahabharat. In chapters four and five, the sounds of Ramayan and Mahabharat are analyzed in relation to the complex of religion, moral and normativity as well as violence, which are outstandingly prominent in both serials. In the last chapter, the serials and their sounds are studied as pop-cultural phenomena, which have frequently shaped their audience’s understandings of popular culture and now serve as an anchor for nostalgia and embodied memory.
Keywords: television music; serial music; India; music and religion; music representation of violence; audiovisual narration; popular culture