And the Ambulance Died in His Arms: Alternative Music in the Work of Gregg Araki

Abstract

My project, “And the Ambulance Died in His Arms: Alternative Music in the Work of Gregg Araki,” will be interrogating New Queer Cinema director Gregg Araki’s frequent usage of (often diegetic) contemporary alternative music in his films, which often focus on disenchanted, financially or emotionally struggling, AIDS-suffering queer protagonists. The music, featuring the likes of Slowdive, Coil, Radiohead, and Lush, hand selected by the director, I will argue is used to heighten Araki’s themes of LGBTQ+ discrimination in the post-Reagan era and the confusion of the AIDS crisis through the music’s dejected lyrics and miserable, impassioned, and dissonant instrumentation. My findings will be presented through the medium of an audio documentary in the style of the album The Fire This Time, which combines IDM/electronic soundscapes and journalistic narration along with soundbytes and clippings from news footage to inform listeners about the untold destruction and death caused by the Gulf War. I will be simulating this approach by fusing the music from Araki’s films along with my own narration and interview snippets/promotional material to demonstrate the power that music can play in a medium that is thought to be mainly visual such as film.