SotA Anthology 2019-20 | Page 61

Annabelle Lee
much of the music we encounter in films could be considered to operate at the same level as the rest of the narrative , whether it is produced by characters ’ physical actions ( Mickey-Mousing ) or is used to express their emotions ( 2010 ). He proposes that nondiegetic music is part of the narrative as it unfolds , suggesting it belongs to the diegesis in the same way the characters do , and can be shaped by them or may respond to them ( 2010 ). However , Gorbman contradicts this in her belief that nondiegetic music
61 acts as a narrative intrusion from an external narrative level ( 1987 ). She states that diegesis is a ‘ narratively implied spatiotemporal world of the action and characters ’ based on a system of narratology , whereby different narrative voices operate at different levels of diegesis ( 1987 ). Winters counters this through his suggestion that by assigning different musics to different narrative levels , we are viewing a film in ‘ overtly literary narrative terms ’ ( 2010 ). I posit that a film can exploit multiple