The Symbolic Nature of Musical and Film Time

Abstract

It might seem surprising that only after discussing the rhythm and movement of music and film do we come to the subject of time which, due to its all-encompassing nature, seems like a natural place to start. However, I deliberately left this chapter to the end of the theoretical discussion because the issues surrounding the subject of time are at the core of not only art creation and experience but also the experience of life itself. Time is one of those subjects that, being woven into the most mysterious aspects of life’s fabric, naturally takes our discussion about art into the realms of philosophy, aesthetics and, as we will see in this chapter, even spirituality. Consequently, the comparative analysis of music and film in this chapter will be only partly founded on sensual and perceptual notions of musicality; of more pressing concern here is the question of how certain philosophies of time influence similar aesthetic approaches in both music and film.