The exile soundscape: sonic anxiety and nostalgia in 20th-century German exile cinema (1930-1950)

Abstract

This essay shows how notions of exile are sonically presented in three classical Hollywood films categorized under German exile cinema. Through critical analysis and deconstruction of the soundscape, sound effects, the use of noise and silence, the power of the voice, and music as a weapon to recover the past, this research demonstrates how the exilic elements do not stop at the visual and thematic. Furthermore, it studies how sound channels pessimistic and nostalgic components in particular audiovisual works by directors, writers, and intellectuals who migrated to the United States during World War II.