ABSTRACT
In their introduction to Lowering the Boom: Critical Studies in Film Sound, Tony Grajeda and Jay Beck argue for a notion of acoustic auteurism that would reconsider and re-theorize auteurist principles by acknowledging the essentially collaborative nature of film sound. Arguing that sound is key to this new auteurist approach, they do not reject auteurism; rather, they rework the term to suggest that there are “genuine ‘acoustic auteurs’” who can be analyzed in terms of their commitment to film sound and music. 1 Claudia Gorbman similarly recognizes the sonic obsessions of some directors when she coins the term “melomane” to describe those directors for whom sound and music are crucial, exciting, and innovative aspects of the medium. Put simply, melomanes are lovers of music whose films reveal this love: “More and more, music-loving directors treat music not as something to farm out to the composer or even to the music supervisor, but rather as a key thematic element and a marker of authorial style.” 2 Not just another form of auteurism, the concept of the melomane takes into account the criticisms of auteurist methodology over the past few decades as well as the changes in the cinematic soundtrack and the shifts in music culture generally: it indicates a new kind of auteurism that considers a director’s concentration on sound and music as proof of his or her authorial signature.
