In a New Light: The Sound of American Cinema

In his lecture, Martin will explore the evolution of sound in American cinema, spanning a period from the 1970s through to the present day.

Taxi Driver, one of the great American films, was written by Paul Schrader, who based it on his own personal struggles with insomnia and depression; he insisted that the relatively-unknowns Martin Scorsese and Robert de Niro direct and lead respectively, because he was so impressed with Scorsese/de Niro's Mean Streets (1973). Taxi Driver was also the last movie scored by Bernard Herrman.

As a representative of the sound of American Cinema, Taxi Driver is not an obvious choice. It is not grand, glamorous and polished, rather scratchy and edgy. However, closer inspection and in reference to more archetypal American films, we can see how it brings together two themes that have guided the development of American cinema sound since the 1930s; a desire to convey something that appears to be objectively real, while at the same time attempting to convey psychological subjectivity as if it is also a reality.

Lecture: The Sound of American Cinema (Martin Parker) - 1.30pm
Film: Taxi Driver (Scorsese) - 2.45pm