The International Film Musical

This is the first comparative consideration of the musical’s role within national cinema traditions. While the musical is one cinema’s few genuinely international genres, it has often functioned as an explicitly local or national form, drawing upon distinct traditions understood as ‘native’ rather than ‘international’. Simultaneously, musicals from around the world have often imitated Hollywood models, resulting in their easy dismissal as culturally ‘impure’ and demonstrating the creative and ideological tension between promoting and abandoning traditional cultural forms and styles. This productive tension between local and global elements lies at the heart of international film musicals, which typically acknowledge the dominant Hollywood model while claiming their own cultural specificity. Key Features* Individual chapters provide succinct historical and critical discussions of musicals from sixteen major national film traditions, along with the transnational musical.* A coda by Rick Altman, one of the genre’s most prominent scholars.* Lists of key resources offer teachers as well as students additional information.