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Start Date
23-6-2022 12:00 AM
End Date
23-6-2022 12:00 AM
Abstract
When Alexandra Patsavas was called upon to create the soundtrack for Hulu’s adaptation of YA novel Looking for Alaska, the music supervisor brought more than just her technical skills to the table. Patsavas spent the years Alaska is set in, the mid-2000s, effectively reshaping how popular music was used in television soundtracks with her work on The O.C. (2003-2007) alongside showrunner Josh Schwartz. Reuniting with Schwartz for Alaska meant a return and reinvention of many of the same musical choices that made their previous collaboration so recognizable; namely, a penchant for indie music and breaking new artists. But there are also purposeful references to these earlier soundtracks that — depending who you ask — exist as Easter eggs for older audiences who grew up with Patsavas’ work or serve to connect an entirely new generation of television audiences to sync histories. This paper considers the nature of legacy in sync and music licensing, and the ways in which prolific music supervisors such as Patsavas and Lindsay Wolfington (One Tree Hill, Smallville, To All the Boys series) effectively shaped the sound of 2000s teen television. How do prolific music supervisors such as Patsavas self-mythologize through the self-referentiality of her soundtracks? What is the pedagogical function of contemporary television set (as Alaska is) during this pivotal time in sync history? And in what ways does the role of music supervisors remain bound up in these questions of musical discovery and tastemaking, even (and perhaps especially) as music technologies continue to change?
To Be Continued? Sync, Self-Referentiality, and Looking for Alaska
When Alexandra Patsavas was called upon to create the soundtrack for Hulu’s adaptation of YA novel Looking for Alaska, the music supervisor brought more than just her technical skills to the table. Patsavas spent the years Alaska is set in, the mid-2000s, effectively reshaping how popular music was used in television soundtracks with her work on The O.C. (2003-2007) alongside showrunner Josh Schwartz. Reuniting with Schwartz for Alaska meant a return and reinvention of many of the same musical choices that made their previous collaboration so recognizable; namely, a penchant for indie music and breaking new artists. But there are also purposeful references to these earlier soundtracks that — depending who you ask — exist as Easter eggs for older audiences who grew up with Patsavas’ work or serve to connect an entirely new generation of television audiences to sync histories. This paper considers the nature of legacy in sync and music licensing, and the ways in which prolific music supervisors such as Patsavas and Lindsay Wolfington (One Tree Hill, Smallville, To All the Boys series) effectively shaped the sound of 2000s teen television. How do prolific music supervisors such as Patsavas self-mythologize through the self-referentiality of her soundtracks? What is the pedagogical function of contemporary television set (as Alaska is) during this pivotal time in sync history? And in what ways does the role of music supervisors remain bound up in these questions of musical discovery and tastemaking, even (and perhaps especially) as music technologies continue to change?
Bio
Morgan Bimm is a Ph.D. candidate in Gender, Feminist and Women’s studies at York University. Her research interests include integrating fan studies, popular music studies, and feminist theory, particularly as they relate to how certain cultural archives are (mis)remembered. Her dissertation project examines the role of women, girls, and girl culture in the mainstreaming of indie rock music through 2000s-era television, film, and internet cultures. Morgan’s academic work has appeared in Punk & Post-Punk, Journal of Teaching and Learning, and MAI: Feminism and Visual Culture, as well as several anthologies.