Bursting into Song in the Hollywood Musical

When the characters in La La Land spontaneously sing, the film recalls the studio era, when characters in musicals regularly burst into song without realistic motivation. Illustrated with clips from musicals, this presentation will examine the ways in which Hollywood filmmakers have developed this convention.

Todd Berliner, Professor of Film Studies at the University of North Carolina Wilmington is the author of Hollywood Aesthetic: Pleasure in American Cinema (Oxford University Press, 2017)

Sponsored by the Visual Arts Department.