The Phenomenal Side of the Operatic Performance: Implications of Promotion Strategies on Cinematic Representations of the 21st Century

Abstract

During the last decades, scholars have paid increasing attention to how cinema deals with traditional aesthetic values in its representation of opera. This research shows that contemporary cinema both manifests and challenges conceptions of opera anchored in romantic-modernist ideals. Recent film, however, also reveals an intriguing complexity surrounding conceptions of opera through the way in which it reflects promotion strategies of the classical music industry. This article draws attention to promotions of singers and opera music found in recent cinema that contribute to juxtapositions of different conceptions of opera. By letting operatic performances have a particular impact on fictional listeners and their ensuing actions, films associate opera with ideals belonging to a romantic-modernist discourse. However, they let this impact emanate from a way of performing opera that stands in contradiction to these same ideals. Discussing some central scenes from three recent films, I argue that the films’ displays of singers and opera music in this way remodels romantic-modernist discourses.