Emotional Compensation, Emotional Echo, and Self-Confessional Solo: Musical Numbers and Emotional Function in La La Land
DOI:
https://doi.org/10.54097/hvc8ps80Keywords:
La La Land; musical number; leitmotif; affect theory; musical narrative.Abstract
Musical numbers function as the main narrative mode and emotional code in Damien Chazelle’s La La Land. Drawing on foundational theories of the film musical, audio-visual analysis, and affect, this paper analyzes the main musical numbers of La La Land to discuss how the film creates emotional compensation, memory, and narrative through musical numbers. La La Land designs a utopian emotional compensation with jazz improvisation, melodic repetition and variation, and the rhythmic diminution and melodic continuity in self-confessional solos. This paper argues that La La Land redefines the narrative logic of contemporary musical cinema in three dimensions—emotional compensation, emotional echo, and self-confessional solo—to realize its narrative logic: creating audience emotion through musical numbers.
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