MONOLOG: Martin Knust and Saana Sutinen
MONOLOG – a series of scientific lectures in collaboration with Mono and Linnaeus University. Delve into the humanities, art, literature, and music in a relaxed environment.
Thursday, September 25
Doors open at 6:00 p.m. Start time 6:30 p.m. Free entrence.
Season premiere with lectures from two researchers in IMS (Intermedial and Multimodal Studies) at Linnaeus University: Martin Knust & Saana Sutinen. The lectures will be held in English, and during the evening we will delve into the following topics:
Martin Knust: "March and fanfare: Military topoi in the works of John Williams"
John Williams’ output as a composer for the film and TV resembles in a fascinating way the historical situation of the era in which film music emerged as a genre. The genre drew upon established and acknowledged ‘serious’ genres like the opera or the symphony. This part of film music history is well known and written about. But, as I would like to argue, there were less prestigious genres in the 1910s and 1920s which informed film music back then as they do in Williams’ oeuvre and that play a crucial role for the shape of film music as such. The music genre employed two military topoi which are much older than film music: the march and the fanfare.
The first film composers often wrote and performed music on patriotic occasions and other larger public celebrations. John Williams wrote, among others, music pieces for political campaigns, for patriotic and sport events like the Olympic Games. His occasional compositions employ marches and fanfares as do many of his scores of the film. The Imperial march or opening fanfare of the Star Wars franchise are two examples among many. It does also evoke the military and patriotic undertones of the Inter-War-Era musicscape and often deals with distinct American subjects, for instance, in JFK, Lincoln and The Patriot or with historical wars in Saving Private Ryan and War Horse.
In 2025, much of our everyday life is soundtracked. Music is around you in films and television, as viral Tiktok sounds, in shops and malls, in your headphones on your commute. It is so ever-present, we barely notice it. The function of music as entertainment and enjoyment is evident, but how it affects us and manipulates us seems less so. That is where research comes in. This presentation is a short exploration of the ways in which music can alter your emotions, attitudes and actions. From hyping you up at the gym to making you choose French wine over German, music has shown to have statistically significant effects on how we think and what we do across a variety of
contexts.
Martin Knust is an associate professor of musicology. After studying musicology, theology, and philosophy in Greifswald, Berlin, and Dresden, and working at universities in both Germany and Sweden, including Stockholm University and the Royal College of Music in Stockholm, he is now an associate professor of musicology at Linnaeus University and a member of the Research Center for Intermediality and Multimodality (IMS).
Saana Sutinen: "Does your playlist make you buy French wine? A light-hearted review of research on music and manipulation"
In 2025, much of our everyday life is soundtracked. Music is around you in films and television, as viral Tiktok sounds, in shops and malls, in your headphones on your commute. It is so ever-present, we barely notice it. The function of music as entertainment and enjoyment is evident, but how it affects us and manipulates us seems less so. That is where research comes in. This presentation is a short exploration of the ways in which music can alter your emotions, attitudes and actions. From hyping you up at the gym to making you choose French wine over German, music has shown to have statistically significant effects on how we think and what we do across a variety of
contexts.
Music also plays a part in the “soft power” of communicating values and beliefs via film and television, and shaping the audience’s attitudes on real world issues. In several studies, these effects have happened without the audience knowing, which only makes the persuasion more effective. However, these are nuanced phenomena, not instances of hypnosis-like conformity, and results of the studies should be interpreted conscious of their limitations.
Saana Sutinen is a doctoral student in musicology at Linnaeus University and part of the Linnaeus University Centre for Intermedial and Multimodal Studies.
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Reag more about the Cultural University at the website.
Read more about Mono at the website
Reag more about the Cultural University at the website.