Mutations -- Kate McQuiston (Wednesday 17 July 2019)

Kate McQuiston is a Professor of Music. She the author of the book “We’ll Meet Again”: Musical Design in the Films of Stanley Kubrick. Her research on music and film focuses on stylistic composing for film, the usage of preexisting music in film, musical quotation, and sound design. She held a conversation with actor Keir Dullea before the San Francisco Symphony performance of 2001: A Space Odyssey. In the last few years she has contributed articles to Literature/Film Quarterly, The Routledge Companion to Screen Music and Sound and, most recently, "Brian Wilson Reimagined: The Reparative Portait in Love & Mercy," in the Journal of the Society for American Music. Her wide-ranging interview of sound designer, Richard Beggs, will soon appear in the journal, Music and the Moving Image, just in time for the 40th anniversary of one of Beggs's first big projects, Apocalypse Now.” [4] 

Kate McQuiston can be contacted via: email mcquisto@hawaii.edu.

Kate McQuiston, photo by Byron Moon.

Presentation: 

Kate McQuiston presented on “mutations” of Kubrick in popular culture. These can range from quick quotations to more extensive engagements with his films. The Shining in particular is often repurposed e.g., Jennifer Shaiman’s “bunny film,” and the folksy parody of The Shining (edited to resemble a romantic comedy).

McQuiston also found interesting references to Kubrick in contemporary literary works by women. For example, Donna Tartt’s Goldfinch cites 2001: A Space Odyssey. Theo is denied information about his mother’s death by a social worker over the phone, and notes that “the voice, while soft and sympathetic, was reminiscent to my ear of Hal the computer in 2001: A Space Odyssey.” Patti Smith references Eyes Wide Shut in her memoir M Train:

I leaned over and checked the digital clock on the VCR I rarely use, never able to remember the necessary chain of commands to get it going: 5:00 A.M. I had a sudden recall of the lengthy taxi scene in the movie Eyes Wide Shut. An uncomfortable Tom Cruise caught in the flow of real time. What was Kubrick thinking? He was thinking that real-time cinema is the only hope for art. He was thinking about how Orson Welles had Rita Hayworth cut and bleach her famous red dresses for The Lady from Shanghai. 

Cover of the book M Train by Patti Smith. [1]

The subject of Kubrick in contemporary literature has had little study and would benefit from further research.

McQuiston noted that Kubrick is often referenced in relation to lonely, questing figures who grapple with loss and the unknown. This is also shown in music: David Bowie’s “Space Oddity” repurposes 2001: A Space Odyssey to underline its theme of loneliness, for example. Other music artists who have referenced Kubrick include Frank Ocean and Kanye West.

Kate McQuiston presenting on the mutations of Stanley Kubrick's work. Photo by Karen Ritzenhoff.

Panel:

In the breakout session the panel discussed a large number of YouTube videos. All videos had a direct influence from Kubrick’s oeuvre. The Simpsons’ episode “Treehouse of Horror V” provided one example.

Still image of the episode of Treehouse of Horror V from The Simpsons. [3]

Then the panel felt the need to situate these instances within some kind of theoretical framework. There is a need to catalogue and categorize the plethora of Kubrick references in memes, and internet culture for example. There is also a question of how far his influence extends in new media. It is very easy to fall into a kind of confirmation bias when you look at this information—the problem is if you set out to look for Kubrickian images, you will find them. But this says nothing about the actual influence of Kubrick on internet culture and culture as a whole.

Furthermore, there is the need to explore Kubrick references in new media such as videogames. The example of the game Portal was brought up as having the character GLados which references 2001: A Space Odyssey’s HAL 9000 through her speech mannerisms.

Those points taken, a plausible hypothesis for the presence of Kubrick imagery in internet culture is that Kubrick’s films (especially The Shining) supply a ready-made resource of identifiable tropes, upon which the authors of meme-content can draw. It is not necessary for consumers to know Kubrick or his films to enjoy these memes or understand the visual language being used. The iconic nature of the images provides a kind of familiar lexicon to speak about all sorts of contemporary events.

 A "memed" image of Stanley Kubrick. Titled: "One more take kubrick" [2]

Bibliography:

1. “M Train by Patti Smith.” Goodreads, Goodreads, 6 Oct. 2015, https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/24728470-m-train.

2. “One More Take Kubrick.” Imgflip, https://imgflip.com/i/1na2mz.

3. “'The Shining' & Its 'Simpsons' Parody.” Bustle, https://www.bustle.com/articles/84019-comparing-the-shining-with-its-the-simpsons-parody-because-it-is-so-perfect-hilarious.

4. "Kate McQuiston: The University of Hawai'i at Manoa, Music Department." The University of Hawai'i at Mānoa Music Department, https://manoa.hawaii.edu/music/about-us/faculty/kate-mcquiston/. 


Presentation by: Daisy Baxter

Panel Discussion by: Rod Munday

Images, Captions, Bio & Bibliography: Miguel Mira