Freak Scenes

American Indie Cinema and Indie Music Cultures

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by Jamie Sexton

Type: Studies
Subject: Technique > Music
Keywords: independent cinema, United States, music
Publishing date: 2024 (August 31, 2024)
Publisher: Edinburgh University Press
Collection: Music and the Moving Image
Language: English

Relative size

Physical desc.

Paperback • 208 pages
6 x 9 ¼ inches (15.5 x 23.5 cm)

ISBN

978-1-3995-1460-6

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Book Presentation:
The first academic book to explore indie music and indie music cultures on screen
• Combines historical, cultural, aesthetic and industry analysis to explore the functions and broader appeal of indie music on film
• Includes analyses of indie punk scenes on film
• Examines gender and racial issues within indie music and film

Freak Scenes explores the increased licensing of indie music and representation of indie music cultures within American independent cinema since the 1980s. Indie music has, since the 2000s, become highlighted in some indie films as an attraction, but this book probes how the appeal of indie music stretches back to the late 1970s, when punk music made its impact on filmmaking.

Sexton looks at a range of issues where indie music and indie film intersect, including commercial concerns, the growth of niche marketing, the increased employment of popular music in cinema and questions of authenticity, as well as the fraught tensions between commercial and artistic concerns. Case studies include: sonic authorship and indie music, representations of punk and indie scenes on screen, and an exploration of how racial and gender issues inform the representation and reception of indie cultures on film.

About the Author:
Jamie Sexton is Senior Lecturer in Film and Television Studies at Northumbria University. He is the author and editor of a number of books, including British Musical Hauntology (forthcoming, 2023), The Routledge Companion to Cult Cinema (co-edited with Ernest Mathijs, 2019), Stranger Than Paradise (2017) and Cult Cinema: An Introduction (co-authored with Ernest Mathijs, 2011).

Press Reviews:
With an extensive review and a careful analysis of the indie culture as both a social and anartistic phenomenon, Freak Scenes can certainly function as a comprehensive source for both indie fans and scholars in the field. Sexton skillfully combines the use of theories in cultural studies with effective and lucid arguments, creating a detailed yet accessible survey of indie film and music. Offering a careful selection of case studies, the author draws interesting parallels and analyzes intersections between film and music, shedding light on the surprisingly fundamental and multidimensional role of music in film, not only within the genre in question.
– Alicja Relidzyńska, Journal of Popular Culture

An excellent, original, nuanced and much-needed book-length analysis of the close links and parallels between aspects of indie film and indie music. Highly recommended for anyone interested in American indie film, indie music, or combinations of the two.
– Geoff King, Brunel University

Jamie Sexton's wonderful new book brings together American indie cinema and indie music, demonstrating in great detail and in a compelling manner the highly complex and creative ways the two have intersected. Also providing some fascinating case studies, Freak Scenes will no doubt prove to be a major work in the field of American independent cinema studies!
– Yannis Tzioumakis, University of Liverpool

See the publisher website: Edinburgh University Press

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