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The joiking Injuns: Interpreting (multi)cultural politics of parody in the music of the Finnish Western film
- Source: Journal of Scandinavian Cinema, Volume 4, Issue 3, Sep 2014, p. 215 - 230
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- 01 Sep 2014
Abstract
In the article, the goal is to interrogate the cultural politics of parody in the context of Finnish Western films in relation to the framework of multicultural Finland. The analysis focuses on the films music, in order to accentuate specific audio-visual interpretive competences and to challenge the visual epistemologies that dominate film studies. Parody is approached as an interpretive strategy and linked to six dimensions of film parody: reiteration, inversion, misdirection, literalization, extraneous inclusion and exaggeration. This entails examining the films musical scenes in relation to the actors public personae, the musical conventions of the Western film genre and the representations of the ethnic Other. In conclusion, it is maintained that the parodic joking as an interpretive activity rests significantly on features that are deeply implicated in the construction of irrefutable ethnic differences, musically and otherwise.