[{"data":1,"prerenderedAt":-1},["ShallowReactive",2],{"doc-detail-146940-en":3,"doc-seo-146940-105":31,"detail-sidebar-cat-0-en-105":91},{"code":4,"msg":5,"data":6},0,"success",{"doc_id":7,"user_id":8,"nickname":9,"user_avatar":10,"doc_module":4,"category_id":11,"category_name":12,"doc_title":13,"doc_description":14,"doc_content":15,"file_id":16,"file_url":17,"file_type":18,"file_size":19,"view_count":20,"is_deleted":4,"is_public":21,"is_downloadable":21,"audit_status":21,"page_count":22,"language":23,"language_code":24,"site_id":25,"html_lang":24,"table_of_contents":26,"faqs":27,"seo_title":28,"seo_description":14,"update_tm":29,"read_time":30},146940,7971461740886,"Theodore","https://ap-avatar.wpscdn.com/davatar_3d24733baf745e90a7e4bdd5f77d97b2",2,"Literature","Contradiction in the Tragic Musical - Thesis","This thesis examines how the apparently conflicting forms of musical and tragedy operate within film musicals, arguing that tragic musical cinema becomes possible when the genre’s conventions allow darkness and foreshadowing to coexist with dazzling spectacle. Focusing on West Side Story, Pennies from Heaven, and Moulin Rouge, it analyzes their shared structural and thematic elements that form a usable model of the tragic musical. Key terms such as musical syntax and tragic elements are defined through film scholarship to support close analysis.","1  \nI give permission for public access to my thesis and for any copying to be done at the discretion of the archives librarian and/or the College librarian.  \n2  \nContradiction in the Tragic Musical  \nChelsea McCracken  \n1 May 2009  \nPresented to the Film Studies Department of Mount Holyoke in partial fulfillment of the degree of Bachelor of Arts with honors.  \n3  \nTable of Contents  \nIntroduction 3  \nChapter 1: West Side Story  24  \nChapter 2: Pennies From Heaven 57  \nChapter 3: Moulin Rouge  87  \nConcluding Thoughts 114  \nFilmography 118  \nBibliography 120  \n4  \nIntroduction  \nBaz Luhrmann’s Moulin Rouge (2001), with its dazzling visuals and rapid editing, entranced me from the first time I experienced it, and each time I re-watch it I notice more details in its subtle brilliance. One striking feature of this film is the death of the central love interest, the beautiful Satine, played by Nicole Kidman in an Oscar nominated performance. What remains more fascinating than her death is the amount of foreshadowing and darkness that permeates a movie that on the surface seems full of life and flashy exuberance. I find myself wondering how so lively a musical can combine elements of the tragic in such an effective way. Moulin Rouge is not the first film to blend the seemingly conflicting forms and elements of the musical and tragedy. Looking back through the history of the movie musical, particularly during the era of the studio system, it might appear that the idea of a true tragic musical is a contradiction in terms. In the early sound era, only one film was released that perhaps fits these qualifications, Rouben Mamoulian’s Applause (1929) . After this anomalous example, it is not until the decline of the studio system, which was marked by an increase in genre bending, that tragic musicals really emerged. An early example of the changes taking place in the musical is West Side Story (Jerome Robbins and Robert Wise 1961) .  \n5  \nAn incredibly popular film, it won ten Academy Awards including Best Picture, and is the first widely released American tragic musical.1  \nI am using the term“tragic musical” rather than “musical tragedy”because the films I will discuss are identified first as part of the musical genre, even though they contain strong elements of the tragic. The complexity of this definition became evident in the 1970s when the musical genre began to fracture and many musical films that were released pushed the bounds of genre convention so far that they no longer met the requirements of the musical. Since a tragic musical must first be a musical, I do not feel that their inclusion would be profitable for the purposes of this work. One such example is Tommy (Ken Russell 1975) . While the violent ending of this film could be considered tragic, the film lacks a focused plot and strays too far into abstraction. One film released pre-Moulin Rouge but post-genre fracturing (exactly twenty years after West Side Story and twenty years before Moulin Rouge) that offers another look at tragedy in the musical is Pennies from Heaven (Herbert Ross 1981) .2 Pennies from Heaven follows an everyman tragic hero, Arthur, as his world crumbles around him and he finds solace in love/lust and music. While each of these three films, West Side Story,  \n1 The focus of this paper is on musical films, and not musical stage productions, although West Side Story is based on a very successful, groundbreaking Broadway musical. Therefore, I will not be looking into stage musicals or operas, although I recognize the impact of opera, and its extensive use of tragedy, on tragic musical films.  \n2 All That Jazz (Bob Fosse 1979) was released around the same time as Pennies From Heaven and is another example of a tragic musical. However, its form, use of modernist self-reflexivity, and flawed tragic figure so closely resembles Pennies From Heaven that its inclusion in this work would be superfluous.  \n6  \nPennies from Heaven, and Moulin Rouge, brings toget","cbCaijfys3iS9Jh5","https://ap.wps.com/l/cbCaijfys3iS9Jh5","pdf",816792,4,1,123,"English","en",105,"# Introduction\n# Chapter 1: West Side Story\n# Chapter 2: Pennies From Heaven\n# Chapter 3: Moulin Rouge\n# Concluding Thoughts\n# Filmography\n# Bibliography","[{\"question\":\"What films does the thesis analyze as tragic musicals?\",\"answer\":\"The thesis analyzes West Side Story, Pennies from Heaven, and Moulin Rouge, treating them as films that effectively combine musical elements with tragedy.\"},{\"question\":\"How does the thesis define “tragic musical”?\",\"answer\":\"It uses the term “tragic musical” to prioritize that the works are identified first as musicals, while still containing strong tragic elements. It also sets boundaries against films that do not meet the musical requirements for this study.\"},{\"question\":\"What scholarly sources are used to define the musical genre conventions?\",\"answer\":\"The thesis defines musical syntax primarily through film scholars Rick Altman and Jane Feuer, with Altman’s criteria about narrative structure and the formation of a romantic couple playing a central role.\"}]","Contradiction in the Tragic Musical - Thesis | PDF",1787753753,189,{"code":4,"msg":32,"data":33},"ok",{"site_id":25,"language":24,"slug":34,"title":13,"keywords":35,"description":14,"schema_data":36,"social_meta":86,"head_meta":88,"extra_data":90,"updated_unix":29},"contradiction-in-the-tragic-musical-thesis","",{"@graph":37,"@context":85},[38,53,68],{"@type":39,"itemListElement":40},"BreadcrumbList",[41,45,48,51],{"item":42,"name":43,"@type":44,"position":21},"https://docshare.wps.com","Home","ListItem",{"item":46,"name":47,"@type":44,"position":11},"https://docshare.wps.com/document/","Document",{"item":49,"name":12,"@type":44,"position":50},"https://docshare.wps.com/document/literature/",3,{"item":52,"name":13,"@type":44,"position":20},"https://docshare.wps.com/document/contradiction-in-the-tragic-musical-thesis/146940/",{"url":52,"name":13,"@type":54,"author":55,"headline":13,"publisher":57,"fileFormat":60,"inLanguage":24,"description":14,"dateModified":61,"datePublished":62,"encodingFormat":60,"isAccessibleForFree":63,"interactionStatistic":64},"DigitalDocument",{"name":9,"@type":56},"Person",{"url":42,"name":58,"@type":59},"DocShare","Organization","application/pdf","2026-09-05","2026-08-26",true,{"@type":65,"interactionType":66,"userInteractionCount":20},"InteractionCounter",{"@type":67},"ViewAction",{"@type":69,"mainEntity":70},"FAQPage",[71,77,81],{"name":72,"@type":73,"acceptedAnswer":74},"What films does the thesis analyze as tragic musicals?","Question",{"text":75,"@type":76},"The thesis analyzes West Side Story, Pennies from Heaven, and Moulin Rouge, treating them as films that effectively combine musical elements with tragedy.","Answer",{"name":78,"@type":73,"acceptedAnswer":79},"How does the thesis define “tragic musical”?",{"text":80,"@type":76},"It uses the term “tragic musical” to prioritize that the works are identified first as musicals, while still containing strong tragic elements. It also sets boundaries against films that do not meet the musical requirements for this study.",{"name":82,"@type":73,"acceptedAnswer":83},"What scholarly sources are used to define the musical genre conventions?",{"text":84,"@type":76},"The thesis defines musical syntax primarily through film scholars Rick Altman and Jane Feuer, with Altman’s criteria about narrative structure and the formation of a romantic couple playing a central role.","https://schema.org",{"og:url":52,"og:type":87,"og:title":13,"og:site_name":58,"og:description":14},"article",{"robots":89,"canonical":52},"index,follow",{"doc_id":7,"site_id":25},{"code":4,"msg":5,"data":92},[93,97,100,104,109,114,119,124,129,132,136],{"id":21,"doc_module":4,"doc_module_name":47,"category_name":94,"show_sort_weight":95,"slug":96},"Story & Novel",90,"story-novel",{"id":11,"doc_module":4,"doc_module_name":47,"category_name":12,"show_sort_weight":98,"slug":99},80,"literature",{"id":20,"doc_module":4,"doc_module_name":47,"category_name":101,"show_sort_weight":102,"slug":103},"Exam",70,"exam",{"id":105,"doc_module":4,"doc_module_name":47,"category_name":106,"show_sort_weight":107,"slug":108},5,"Comic",60,"comic",{"id":110,"doc_module":4,"doc_module_name":47,"category_name":111,"show_sort_weight":112,"slug":113},6,"Technology",50,"technology",{"id":115,"doc_module":4,"doc_module_name":47,"category_name":116,"show_sort_weight":117,"slug":118},7,"Healthcare",40,"healthcare",{"id":120,"doc_module":4,"doc_module_name":47,"category_name":121,"show_sort_weight":122,"slug":123},8,"Research & Report",30,"research-report",{"id":125,"doc_module":4,"doc_module_name":47,"category_name":126,"show_sort_weight":127,"slug":128},9,"Religion & Spirituality",20,"religion-spirituality",{"id":127,"doc_module":4,"doc_module_name":47,"category_name":130,"show_sort_weight":127,"slug":131},"World Cup","world-cup",{"id":133,"doc_module":4,"doc_module_name":47,"category_name":134,"show_sort_weight":133,"slug":135},10,"Lifestyle","lifestyle",{"id":137,"doc_module":4,"doc_module_name":47,"category_name":138,"show_sort_weight":105,"slug":139},19,"General","general"]