From “Can’t Buy Me Love” to “How Deep Is Your Love?”: An Analysis Examining Key Phases of Development of the Functions of Popular Music in U.K. and U.S. Films of the 1960s and 1970s

Hogg, Anthony (2017) From “Can’t Buy Me Love” to “How Deep Is Your Love?”: An Analysis Examining Key Phases of Development of the Functions of Popular Music in U.K. and U.S. Films of the 1960s and 1970s. PhD thesis, University of Gloucestershire.

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Abstract

This thesis aims to identify the extent to which popular music functionality in UK and US film can be regarded as a developmental process, and, in particular, the importance of the contribution of the 13-year period bounded by the films A Hard Day’s Night (Richard Lester, UK, 1964) and Saturday Night Fever (John Badham, USA, 1977) to this. It also explores salient cultural, historical and industrial factors which may have influenced development. Both these areas have been largely neglected to date. Within the period identified above, three key phases have been recognized which each contributed to specific innovations and developments. These have been labelled ‘The British Invasion Phase’, ‘The New Hollywood Alienation Phase’ and ‘The Disco Phase’. For each of these a primary film text (A Hard Day’s Night, The Graduate and Saturday Night Fever respectively) is analyzed in detail, with reference to the work of Claudia Gorbman and Jeff Smith on the principles of musical function in film. In addition, these chapters are prefaced by an examination of a further stage, ‘The Classic American Musical Phase’, covering a period of relative inactivity, in respect of developments in popular music function, prior to the ‘British Invasion Phase’. Examples of two of Elvis Presley’s films, Girls! Girls! Girls! and It Happened at the World’s Fair, are examined to illustrate why innovation was lacking at this time. As this thesis is not only concerned with what innovations occurred but also why they manifested specifically during a particular phase, individual chapters extend beyond pure film analysis into a study of crucial elements of cultural and popular music history associated with aspects of The British Invasion, New Hollywood and Disco.

Item Type:	Thesis (PhD)
Thesis Advisors:	Thesis Advisor Email URL Griffiths, Robin rgriffiths@glos.ac.uk https://www.glos.ac.uk/staff/profile/robin-griffiths-2/ Gardner, Abigail agardner@glos.ac.uk https://www.glos.ac.uk/staff/profile/abigail-gardner/
Uncontrolled Keywords:	Popular music; Film
Subjects:	P Language and Literature > PN Literature (General) > PN1993 Motion Pictures
Divisions:	Schools and Research Institutes > School of Creative Industries
Depositing User:	Susan Turner
Date Deposited:	01 Mar 2018 16:19
Last Modified:	01 Aug 2021 21:42
URI:	https://eprints.glos.ac.uk/id/eprint/5443

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