عنوان

Infinite Incomplete Cycles: Musicial and Narrative Transformation in Nier and Nier: Automata

Number

TL52780

.Language of Text, Soundtrack etc

انگلیسی

Title Proper

Infinite Incomplete Cycles: Musicial and Narrative Transformation in Nier and Nier: Automata

General Material Designation

[Thesis]

First Statement of Responsibility

Greene, Christopher

Subsequent Statement of Responsibility

Lehman, Frank

Name of Publisher, Distributor, etc.

Tufts University

Date of Publication, Distribution, etc.

2020

Text of Note

65 p.

Dissertation or thesis details and type of degree

M.A.

Body granting the degree

Tufts University

Text preceding or following the note

2020

Text of Note

The last twenty years have seen an explosion in ludomusicological writing. While some early work has been done on the analysis of video game music, pioneered by scholars such as Elizabeth Medina-Grey, Sean Atkinson, and Jason Brame, many fruitful methods of inquiry have remained untapped. While the intricacies of dynamic game music can be a daunting task for analysts, one can look to ludomusicology's cousin, film music studies, for inspiration. While film scores do not have the same indeterminacy as video game scores, many video game scores take inspiration from the cinematic style of film scoring, particularly video games in the RolePlaying Game (RPG) genre. One video game series that received particular acclaim for its music is the Nier franchise. Consisting of two games, three manga, several novellas, and at least three different stage plays, what began as a cult classic has grown into a full-blown franchise. Just as many film scores will re-use and rearrange various themes and motives between entries to reflect character, setting, or story developments, the Nier series features music that ties to specific characters, events, or meta-level story structures that is maintained or transformed in some way. This thesis aims to examine the music of Nier and its sequel Nier: Automata through the lens of linear reduction and harmonic analysis to show unity across the series as well as demonstrate the viability of such techniques on the analysis of video game music. As both Nier and Nier: Automata contain massive soundtracks, each one worthy of a full analysis on its own, the scope of this thesis will be narrowed down to four tracks that appear in one or multiple forms across both games: "Grandma," "Song of the Ancients," "Emil," and "Dark Colossus." These four tracks are tied to specific characters or are used in specific story moments in the original Nier and reappear, like echoes, in Nier: Automata. By examining the harmonic and melodic transformations that these tracks go through, I will elucidate their narrative and character significance. This is accomplished through adopting linear reductive techniques in the spirit of Schenkerian analysis, if not exact in original aesthetics and usage.

Subject Term

Music

Subject Term

Music theory

Greene, Christopher

Lehman, Frank

Tufts University

Electronic name

p

[Thesis]

276903

a

Y