At the margins of the Televisual: Picture Frames, Loops and ‘Cinematics’ in the Paratexts of Opera Videos

Carlo Cenciarelli

Research output: Contribution to journalArticlepeer-review

Abstract

This article focuses on the paratexts of opera DVDs as a route into the status and cultural placement of opera videos in contemporary visual culture. In particular, it analyses the picture covers, menus and openings credits of four productions of Verdi's Don Carlo, arguing that, although the videos fall within the broader discourse of the ‘televisual’ (a discourse that encourages the viewer to conceive the image as a transparent document of the performance on-stage), these paratexts put forward alternative ways of conceiving the relationship between medium and subject matter, imagining opera's materials, however briefly, in terms of narrative cinema and music video, video games and computer loops.
Original languageEnglish
Pages (from-to)203-223
Number of pages20
JournalCambridge Opera Journal
Volume25
Issue number2
Early online date4 Jun 2013
DOIs
Publication statusPublished - Jul 2013

Keywords

  • Opera and Media, Digitial Culture, Paratextuality

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