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Lalo Schifrin’s title theme for the Mission: Impossible television programme and the more recent films is among the most well-known musical motifs in popular culture, and in this article I propose a vitalistic approach to understanding its function. Most analyses of musical thematic material are rooted in semiotic and narratological methodologies; musical motifs are thus understood with reference to their meaning (cultural, socio-political, etc.), and function as elements of storytelling. Taking a different approach, I draw together film phenomenology and theories of non-verbal communication among persons to develop a theory of cinematic vitality, and an analytical approach I call ‘vitality analysis’. I show how Schifrin’s theme – always and inextricably fused to other media threads running through a given cinematic expression – gives rise to an embodied gestural sensation unique to the Mission: Impossible franchise. Vitality analysis furthermore enables a way of addressing Mission: Impossible’s reflexive...

The conventional cohabitation of cinematic sounds and their implied sources engenders a close and cooperative partnership between the senses of hearing and sight in the process of experiencing film. In this article, I explore the effects of film sounds that become separated from their sources. Specifically, I will argue that audio-visual dislocations create a rift within the intersensory relationship and invoke an anxiety-driven process aimed at mending the partnership by visually locating the source of the sound.

New York and London: Routledge, 2012. [ix, 237p. ISBN: 9780415882279. $39.99 (trade paper)] Routledge Music and Screen Media Series. Music examples, illustrations, figures, tables, and index.