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Research Seminar: Jessica Shine (MTU) “Musical Development of the Musical in Crazy Ex-Girlfriend”. Tue 4 Feb @4.15pm

“‘I’m on My Own Path’: Musical Development of the Musical in Crazy Ex-Girlfriend (2015–2019)” Jessica Shine (MTU), Tue 4 Feb @4.15pm, Film And Screen Media Auditorium, Kane Building B10.B
Many stage and film musicals have a limited ability to develop characters, due in part to the narrative and music genres to which many musicals cleave, which also has the effect of limiting female singers to either "head voice" or" belt." Writing songs in a particular tessitura—defined by The Handbook of Musical Terms as the register within which most of the tones will be found—is linked then to women's role in society, as ingénue, wife, mother, diva, and so forth. The tessellated, multi-episode form of TV allows Crazy Ex-Girlfriend to have its characters sing in a range of musical styles and genres and, by extension, its female characters sing in a range of timbres, genres, and tessituras. Through a combination of music video aesthetics, generic musical numbers, and a variety of popular music genres, the show extends character narratives past the conventional romance that ostensibly anchors the show into issues such as mental health, sexism, depression, and sex. Crazy Ex thereby confronts the sexism inherent in the Broadway musicals from which it draws its inspiration, and of which protagonist Rebecca Bunch is an avid fan. This paper analyzes how, through a combination of genre and vocal range, Crazy Exparodies and interrogates the musical but also expands it.
Jessica Shine is a lecturer in the Department of Media Communications at MTU. She completed a Doctorate on the topic of sound and music in Gus Van Sant's "Death Quartet" at UCC under the supervision of Prof. Christopher Morris (NUIM) and Dr Danijela Kulezic Wilson. Her current research focuses on the use of sound and music in film and television with a particular interest in soundscapes, aesthetics and narrative. She has published work on Peaky Blinders, Sons of Anarchy, Breaking Bad, Crazy Ex Girlfriend, Gus Van Sant, and Joker (2019). She has presented her work at a range of international conferences including the Music for Audio-Visual media at the University of Leeds and Music and the Moving Image in NYU.
TUESDAY 4 FEBRUARY 2025, 16:15–18:00
FILM AND SCREEN MEDIA AUDITORIUM, KANE BUILDING B10B (BASEMENT)