Godly Noises—Resounding Divine Materiality in Contemporary Trailer Culture

Addressing the phenomenon of an as of yet nameless, but ubiquitous droning sound device—often simply called BRAAAM—in contemporary teaser and trailer culture, this article explores the quasi-religious experience of encountering artfully facilitated material sounds of transcendence. BRAAAM sound phenomena are developed as Deus ex Machina devices and their significance in teasers and trailers as autonomous aestheticizations is mapped out. It will be argued that at the peak of the salvific narrative structure of trailers, they defer physical and narrative resolution. A brief genealogy of the materiality of Deus ex Machina sound devices in Western Christianity leads to a few considerations on the religious practice of teaser and trailer consumption as ritualized anticipation and deferral.