Recent comparative studies refer to “film musicals” as an umbrella term for all kinds of cinematic musical traditions. Unlike earlier uses of the word denoting a specific Hollywood tradition and (mostly European) transformations, “film musicals” in the more recent sense also subsumes examples from the Middle East, Latin America and Asia, with a special spotlight on Indian cinema’s long and vibrant musical traditions.

Tracing these developments, this seminar will seek to identify criteria of a ‘world cinema’ of related musical forms, apt to bring out the complex networks of cross-cultural influence and indebtedness. In most general terms, there seems to be a specific tension in film musicals as they seem to have in common, on the one hand, a special aptness for dramatizing political events (such as the ecstatic bursting-into-song as a moment of interruption, or more generally, the celebration of community spirit in group dance routines) but, on the other, often crystallize into predictable forms making them opium for the people rather than politically inspiring. A canon of a world cinema of musicals should therefore focus on films that resist this ossifying tendency.