Politics in Fiction & Entertainment / Musical diegesis
A killer band, for real.
In either operas, movies, plays, or television programs diegesis is a technique when music is performed within the world of the characters, that the audience can hear. But the fascinating part is identifying occurrences, when the line is confusing or pretty blurred, as we will see in at least one example below. Sometimes the process of diegesis can be turned into a musical motiff within the score, and that's when it is decidedly NOT diegesis (like quoting that melody during a credit sequence, or in the soundtrack). There are a lot of potential examples I could use (particularly in classical music / opera), but for the purposes of my post today; I'm going to limit it political connections, and its use in more recent examples in films and television series.
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Click to viewOne of the best examples in contemporary entertainment, would be from the hit HBO series, The Game of Thrones and the tune The Rains of Castamere. The tune is a very political one within the context of the series, as it was the theme of sorts for the Lannister family (the lyrics even make mention of the Lannister's chevron ("Lion's claws") ; and composer Ramin Djawadi mentioned during an interview, that early on in the production of the series, a challenge for the producers was how to have the theme to be recognized by the audience, so by the time the "Red Wedding" episode was aired, when the musicians started playing The Rains of Castamere at the wedding feast, the audience would know something was terribly amiss. Ramin Djawadi and the producers ruled out using the tune in the opening credits early on. And instead came upon the notion of using the tune several times in the series before the Red Wedding episode, reinforcing the tune, and audibly linking it to the Lannister family: e.g. as a Lannister's soldiers' drinking song. 1
The use of such music (nationalism, nobility and dynastic links, marches and drinking songs) has a real world basis in history, in varying ways: e.g. The British Grenadiers. Lillibullero (which hails from the period of the British Civil wars), became wrapped up with political identity and religious identity as well, tied to the Catholic Stewart monarch King James II and his supporters. Information and text to the song here. And here is a sung version here.
The one example of political musical diegesis like "The Rains of Castamere" no doubt inspired by a scene from Stanley Kubrick's film Barry Lyndon. The movie is based on William Makepeace Thackeray's novel; and is the tale of a Irishmen, who went from relative poverty, to become through his own efforts, a participant in the ranks of 18th century nobility, and by his own failures, falls from that lofty perch. In a scene during the 7 years war, Barry Lyndon deserted the British Army and steals some Prussian uniforms, and is intercepted by a Prussian officer, Captain Potsdorff, who offers to escort him. In a tavern bar scene, Captain Potsdorf asks Barry some questions, doubting the veracity of what's he heard. During the scene, you will hear soldiers singing the tune "Der Hohenfriedberger," composed by Frederick the Great of Prussia, to celebrate the victory of the Prussians over the Austrians and Saxons at the Battle Hohenfriedberg on June 4th, 1745 during the Second Silesian War. Here is that scene below., beautifully filmed. The tune is so wrapped up with the Hohenzollern dynasty, war, victory and Prussian pride and German identidy (very simliar to what we see in The Game of Thrones, and the linking of the Lannisters to a musical motif).
Another great example of musical diegesis, is a scene from The Hunger Games, when Katniss Everdeen and Peeta Melark, during their chariot ride into the capitol. The imagery invokes ancient Rome triumphal pageants. And while we only see and hear the timpani playing, and don't see the orchestral and choirs, it's suggested they're there (or at least the music is being played from a previous recording via loudspeakers). The melody itself is also used as musical diegesis to announce the death of tributes during the bloody competition. I'm also pretty sure the melody is meant to be seen as the theme of the President and the system in place in the world of The Hunger Games. Many thanks to Jonathan Korman, who wrote about this particular example in a blog entry.
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Tyrion Whistles it at one point in season 2 episode 1. (Tyrion also at one point whistles, of all things, a Beethoven melody too ;) In the season 2, episode nine, the song is featured in a more complete form. Bronn drinks and sings with his men outside the Red Keep. The song is performed in the closing credits of episode nine, "Blackwater", by the indie rock band The National, sung by their vocalist Matt Berninger.