Sound Affects

In the last few years, much has been written on the
work of Lars von Trier, though the majority of these
texts are built around matters of aesthetic and
auteurist interest. What is lacking in these
investigations, however, is an articulation of the
films sonic properties, sado-masochistic structures,
and affective potentialities.

Sound Affects seeks a greater understanding of these
facets of von Trier s films, moving beyond more
traditional ocular-centric modes of investigation to
focus its analysis on the soundtrack, or
mise-en-bande. Constructing its methodology from
concepts originating in the writings of French
Philosopher Gilles Deleuze The Movement-Image and
The Time-Image, in particular Sound Affects
approaches von Trier s films through the prism of a
new theoretical model, one that imagines the cinema
as composed of two complementary sound-image texts:
one sadistic, and the other masochistic. And in the
interval between these two unique space-times, in
those fleeting moments between feeling and thought,
is where we locate the affective potential of the
text, an experience that is unique to von Trier s
films, and is felt most profoundly in the realm of sound.