Preface

For a long time animation was scientifically set aside as a subject merely made for children.[1] With that filmhistoric put music at the bottom of the cinematographical hierarchy. Assisting comical moments, one of the fundamental roles of cartoonmusic, make it for the genre even harder to be taken seriously.[2] With the coming of the genre ´animated sitcoms´ or ´anicoms´, namely established by The Simpsons (1987-), the genre started to focus itself more and more on adults. It was around the same time that cartoonmusic got taken seriously as a subject of scientific research. A lot of biographical research was done focusing on Carl Stalling and Scot Bradley, but also genre specific research with jazz, classical and operatic music in the highlights and research that was focused on a specific era, like the thirties, forties or fifties.[3] At the beginning of the twenty-first century musicologist Daniel Goldmark laid a foundation for the broad scientific discourse about animated music with The Cartoon Music Book (2002), after which multiple books appeared that focused on this same subject. Closed off case-studies focused solely on music in animated sitcoms are still a rarely chosen subject.

With almost a century of available history of cartoonmusic componists for the animated sitcom are capable of writing a fitting soundtrack for every situation.[4] Because of these endless possibilities they stray away from giving characters leitmotifs. The music in anicoms is mostly used as a means of parody caused by the nature of the genre.[5] The animated sitcoms contain mostly televisioncodes that point towards overarching structures of animation and the rural American family life. Television codes are described by John Fiske in Television Culture (2010) as ‘a rule-governed system of signs, whose rules and conventions are shared amongst members of a culture, and which [are] used to genereate and circulate meanings in and for that culture.’[6] These codes are bound together by the means of irony, comedy and absurdity: “In The Simpsons, visual and aural representations meet half way, in a realistic realm—albeit caricaturized—somewhere between Utopia and Dystopia.”[7] Each scene therefor contains an utopian dystopia as persiflage of the American dream. Namely used as an alternative of the provincial family life of the fifties, sixties and seventies as the perfect stereotype, in which every possibility of destruction culminates in chaos with a, eventually, harmonic solution by endless utopian perspectives.[8] According to Fiske, the televisioncodes contain three levels: 1. Reality by the means of social codes, 2. Representation by the means of technical codes and 3. Ideology or interpretation as a result of conventional musical representative codes that are organised by ideological codes (see image 1). The most events that take place in anicoms are temporary (or at its longest the duration of one episode), for instance a case of bodily mutilation that doesn’t hold a permanent effect. Because of this this utopia of possibilities is able to take place in a dystopian manner. This ideology of a utopian dystopia seen as a combination of television, social and ideological codes puts the dominant culture upfront in a picture of perfect chaos. This then creates an opportunity to, in combination with irony, comedy and absurdity, semiotic or cultural criticism on the dominant culture. Either to say; by sociocultural, political and self-critical stands the dominant television construct is torn down and the ideological homogeneity of the story if interrupted.[9] The stories or personages offer a framework to, when the setting, subject and preferred story allow for it, ridicule a musical work or number. Often by the use of this same musical piece. [10]

Image 1: Codes of televisionmusic (from *Tuning In* (2010) by Ron Rodman)[11]

Most of the appliances of music in anicoms is as a intermediate cue, to tie scenes to each other, as a short cue for dramatic moments, or as underscoring based on library cues and musicalnumbers. “The writers [of Family Guy] even acknowledge the music’s history as stock music: during the bus scene, when someone complains about the music, Peter replies, ‘That’s classic traveling music! Try to enjoy it.’”[12] Although componists for animation use all kinds of genres in their songwriting, namely the canon of popular music and jazz, the essence of Broadwaynumbers, […] a form which seeks to integrate drama, music, and dance, [of which] the qualities of all its elements must hang together; and what they must hang upon are the characters and action they have been created around,”[13] create a huge source of inspiration to ridicule with and by the means of the song. Every new composition of stylistic combinations of elements weakens the boundary between genres, which made the integration of popular music and jazz into Broadwaysongs possible.[14] Cartoon music is more than the synchronization of image and sound and the complementation of action. It also accentuates the difference between cartoons and reality and brings the characters to life. This difference between cartoons and reality can be highlighted by the use of the abundant enthousiastic Broadwaystyle to tell a story. The repreating musical elements are crucial for the adaptivity of the viewer in service of the critical points of views that are being made.[15]

Amy Herzog tells us that the emphasis will be on the music due to shift of the audiovisual hierarchy during a musical moment.[16] The music decides the timing of the movement and editing of the images completely during these musical moments, resulting in the emergence of a ‘temporary space’: ‘[t]he temporal logic of the ﬁlm shifts, lingering in a suspended present rather than advancing the action directly.’[17] This possibility occurs because the repetition of audiovisual codes often leaning on a set of scenario’s, formulas and typical personas that the viewer is known with. This musical style grew from the Broadwaygenre, in which the fundamental tension between reality and ideality present the tension between the audience and its representation.[18] The parody on Broadyway and the popular canon in the animated sitcom Family Guy (1999-) are often shown as musical moments. In this a tension is created between the similarity of repetition by the use of these musical styles and the new context, in which the repetition imprints the message so the viewer doesn’t have to actively interpret. These techniques of repetition allow transformation, because the repetitions can be endlessly repeated by using a changed context in any form. In this case by implementing irony that involves a playful way of animating, text writing and composing.[19]

The game isn’t to be found in the repetition of musical parameters within the song, as Herzog based on Deleuze theorizes,[20]but in the repetition of existing musicnumbers and the new context that is added to that. The message that the musical moment voices contains almost no nuance. This is partly due to the goal of the creators of Family Guy which is to make the viewer laugh. This creates a clear dichotomy between the message and the realm of the audiovisual whole that strengthens the applied irony in Family Guy. Combine this with the exaggerating tendency of animation and music a sharp contrast comes to the fore in this dichotomy and so, the message reaches the limit of what is morally acceptable.[21] I believe this limit is playfully reached by the creators by twisting the already existing televisioncodes onto humoristic moments of inappropriate subjects. The viewer plays along in the game of reaching the limit of the dominant culture and to see what is acceptable as comedy, in which the music possibly stretches this limit. This game manifests itself by interpreting televisioncodes, in which some play along consciously and some unconsciously. A game in which one of the players isn’t playing along consciously, is called dark play.[22] For this reason my question of research is; what role does dark play has regarding to the dynamics between the audiovisual message and the viewer in the musical moments of Family Guy?

To answer the main question I will first have to define what dark play is. To lay a foundation for this I’ll start my research with different definitions of play. In addition I’ll showcase the gamedynamics of the relationships within the multimedium with the help of Nicholas Cook’s Analysing Musical Multimedia (1998). With the help of Edward J. Fink's “Writing The Simpsons: A Case Study of Comic Theory” I can elaborate on the taxonomy of humor in relation to dark play and do an audiovisual textual analysis of the design of Family Guy's musical moment 'A Bag of Weed ' from episode twelve season seven called “420”. This choice is based upon the fragment length, the original musical source of Chitty Chitty Bang Bang (1968) ‘Me Ol’Bamboo’ and the audiovisual material that playfully refers to controversial cultural conceptions. When I include the dynamics between the viewer and message through studying the audiovisual television codes of this interpretation game, I hope to expose the dark play.

Play and dark play

Before I explain what dark play means I need a clear definition of play itself. In the academic world surrounding play different definitions from different academics and writers exist that complement each other more instead of ruling them out. It is a requirement that I create knowledge, knowing and understanding from multiple perspectives around the term ‘play’ and the way I use it in my thesis.[23] Besides, play is often used and characterized in connection with interactivity, while television maintains to be a non-interactive audiovisual medium. The application could therefore also be applied to playfulness, like Migual Sicart sates in Play Matters (2014). This means that you take on a playful attitude, without the activity of play, which creates the sphere of using play outside of its own context.[24]

Firstly, Johan Huizinga laid down an important fundament in 1938 with his book Homo ludens: proeve eener bepaling van het spel-element der cultuur (in English: just Homo Ludens) for academics later on within the game debate by means of creating the comprehension of the ‘toovercirkel’. De toovercirkel can be described as the experience of play as a secluded space of experience, with its own rules, separated from the normal world.[25] Many academics have problems with the toovercirkel as a secluded space, as it implies that games do not have any influence outside of this circle. As play takes time, influences in our emotions and behaviors, communicates and sometimes even involves real money, for instance when gambling.[26] Before entering such a toovercirkel, and in this case the virtual reality of the story world of Family Guy, the actuality of the reality must be temporarily set aside.[27] By using the psychological mindset of “flow” by Mihaly Csikszentmihalyi, a mindset which completely involves your body and mind within the activity of doing (or in this case taking on a playful attitude),[28] in combination with the toovercirkel, the physical real surroundings are fading out and immersion within the tv-program is achieved.[29] This could be linked to the ‘temporary space’ that comes to the fore by using the musical moment, in which the visuals are completely pulled along by the movement of the music. A deepening elaboration of Huizinga’s theory would be Roger Cailllois’ Classification of Games from 1958 based on freedom, strictness & competition, chance, simulation and adrenaline (see Image 2).[30]

In 1982 Chris Crawford approached the toovercirkel by ascertaining that games are systems of representation, interaction, conflict and safety, in which safety takes the form of indirect consequences.[32] The representation takes form by using symbols that can be taken from the televisioncodes of audiovisual message of Family Guy. The interaction in Family Guy doesn’t stand for literal action, but an interaction between the deferent codes that the viewer receives, encodes and interprets. This interaction between codes is to be found within the intersection of the five channels that television builds upon (see Image 3). Despite the message being regulated by the means of regular codes, a part of the viewers will always interpret the message differently than intended by the creators. This implies that the viewer isn’t a passive receiver of image and sound, but actively has to decode to receive the communication of the messages.[33]

Simon Egenfeldt-Nielson states that Brian Sutton-Smith approaches play as an ‘exercise of voluntary control systems in which there is an opposition between forces, confined by a procedure and rules in order to produce a disequilibrium outcome.’[34] This opposition between forces of movement bound by procedures and rules are represented by the means of the procedures and rules of Broadway structures, comedy and music. The contradiction then comes forth from the tension of satire, but also the tension between the message and atmosphere of the music and images. I’ll place this opposition on the same line as the conflict of Crawford.

Image 3: model of sensitive channels on tv.[35]

Gregorie Batesons theory about meta-communication then explains why satirical play is even possibly with adults: ‘As we mature, we expand the ability to meta-communicate into other areas of life and are perfectly capable of interpreting fiction […] in a different light than we would shine on reality.”[36] We allow ourselves to enter the toovercirkel, even when a message contradicts your norms and values, because we judge games different than reality. A risk that the creators of Family Guy take is that an audiovisual message goes too far, can’t be accepted which then results in the indirect consequence of zapping the channel. Because these indirect consequences for the creators can have a direct influence on their revenue, this game has a high risk to it.

Clifford Geertz discusses the description of Deep Play of Jeremy Benthem from his Theory of Legislation (1802). This is a game in which the risks are so high, physically, fiscally and or mentally, that it would be irrational to even play along.[37] The individual surrender and expression of cultural values in deep play is totally absorbent and thus closely related to dark play.[38] Richard Schechner introduces the term ‘dark play’ in 2013 based upon Geertz’ usage of deep play.[39] He claims that dark play equals the statement ‘playing with fire’ or ‘dudging a bullet’. Games that contain dark play often automatically contain deep play, but it doesn’t necessarily work the other way around. Take for example a situation where somebody loses his or her job because of a comment on the internet. The person in question probably didn’t even realize that the risks of the game were that high or that he or she played along with his or her income on the line.

“Playing in the dark” means that some of the players don’t know they are playing.[…] Dark play involves fantasy, risk, luck, daring, invention, and deception.[…] Dark play subverts order, dissolves frames, and breaks its own rules[.][…] Dark play rewards its players by means of deceit, disruption, and excess.[40]

The Musical Structure

Monotony in musicals is a risk that can be avoided by the means of generating interest in the presentation of sharpness and surprising contrast, as put forward by Paul Lard in reference to Lehman Engel in The American Musical.[41] Such a contrast depends on the nature of the songs, their color, subject and the persona that sing it.[42] Therefore a distinction of different kind of song can be made and so musicals contains of regular songs, ballads, rhythmical songs, comedic songs and charm songs. ‘A bag of weed´ from Family Guy can be seen as a comedic song. This kind of song is divided into two basic and contradicting forms both containing of a lot of variants, namely the ´short´ and ´long´ joke.[43] The comedic song, in a regular musical, would contain four jokes while making its way to the chorus each one of them containing its own setup. Each joke is stronger than the previous joke and the order is thus determined based upon comparative forces. An example of such a song construct is ‘Gee officer Krupke’ from West Side Story (1957). The repeating chorus or ‘hook’, which repeats mostly three times, offers a functional possibility for the public to be able to laugh and don’t miss out on a thing.[44]

Besides other considerations play a role for the lay-out such as the tempo, the atmosphere of a scene, the position of the song within the entirety of an episode, the value of the song itself and the importance of the narrating character. The amount of repetition that the public is able to tolerate depends on the tempo. In Family Guy, the position of the song in the narrative plays a way bigger role than the other parameters. With Lehman Engels’ ’11 o’clock number’, which is written as a comedic or dramatical musical piece, the musical is able to bring the public, who possibly drop out, back by presenting the song as new, astonishing or as a spectacle.[45]

Analyses

The scene from which my case arises starts at timestamp 10:00 with the character Brian, the talking family dog, giving an angry speech about the war against drugs in the Quahog park.[46] Nobody seems to listen. On this, Stewie, the talking baby of Family Griffin, walks on stage criticizing Brians approach. “If you want to win people over you can’t just drone on like Ben Stein. You’ve got to have a little bit more showmanship. Here watch.”[47] Stewie then plays his tambourin which cues the music to start. A fanfare walks on stage including trumpets, sousaphones, xylophones, cymbals and drums. A banner hangs above the stage with the text ‘Legalize Pot now’. We see the people in the park, who at first didn’t pay any attention to Brian, rhythmically turn their heads, after which a derivative man gets hit in the head by a frisbee and fall down. The image zooms in on Stewie who starts singing and we’ll see the fanfare make rhythmical pliés on the background. The placement of the song halfway the episode and the addition of Stewie’s text could be a reference to the functionality of the song, an ’11 o’clock number’, as intended by the creators. Thereby the ’11 o’clock song’ is often used as a turning point of realization for the protagonist. In this case weed, in the episode called ‘420’, gets legalized after the song which can also be seen as a turning point in the temporary story world of Family Guy.

Purple: attention focused on stage. Yellow: close-up. Red: Activity outside of the stage. Blue: group dancing. Bright Yellow: acrobatics. Green: Action combined with weed. Black: similar movement in image between both songs (upwards, circling, downwards or side-ways movement on musical accents, but also similar movement of characters or patterns.)

The style and analysis of the song is taken over from the British musicalfilm Chitty Chitty Bang Bang (see appendix 2 and image 4). The pliés seem to be adopted directly from ‘Me Ol’Bamboo’. The references to the cane in the original are done on the basis of the lyrics ‘every kitty needs a ball of string and every dog a stick’, after which Stewie throws a wooden stock to Brian which he catches with his mouth. The duration of the positioning on stage to the position on the ground is the same as the duration in Chitty Chitty Bang Bang. And when they start dancing with ‘the ol’bamboo’ in the original during the chorus; the public in Family Guy start dancing with their ‘bag of weed’. Even the dance moves of the legs with their abundant kicks are animated as shown in the original. Eventually the difference between the two is characterized by the possibility of cartoons to quickly alternate between images, and the positioning in those, unlike the ‘real-time’ recordings.

Image 4: Screenshots from *Chitty Chitty Bang Bang* and *Family Guy*.[48]

The first couplet references to the ‘Fleisher Screen Cartoon Songs’ (1929-1937) by showing the lyrics including a ‘bouncing ball’ above each syllable. The structure corresponds to ‘Me Ol’Bamboo’ due to the question-answer model of the lyrics. The public starts the text, to which Stewie answers. The text is continuously imitated by animation to highlight the joke. During the lines ‘When Michael Jackson needs a rush’, ‘He humps a guy like me’, we, for example, see Stewie laying in bed next to a half-naked and satisfied Jackson. The public answers with an enthusiastic ‘right’ while jumping in the air. This refers to the accusation of Evan Chandler, form 1993, that Michael Jackson abused his son Jordan Chandler. After this a controversy and juridical steps followed. This ‘story’ or ‘tragedy’ is used more often as inspiration by animated sitcoms as punchline, for example by South Parks episode 6 “The Jeffersons” from season 8 (2014).

During the instrumental part, section C, the structure of Chitty Chitty Bang Bang is used once again, with a focus mainly on the build-up of tension and spectacle. The musical material is formed by a continuation of the chordal material and the melody from the chorus and couplets. In ‘a Bag of Weed’ the xylophone solo is assisted by Stewie and Brian playing a ‘glass orchestra’ made out of bongs. The chordal material exists from the subdominant Eb of the Bb-Major with an chordal progression of D-G-D-F-Es-D-G-D-G as a variation of section A. After this a transition to the continuation of section B takes place, in the parallel minor or Bb-Major, g-minor, and a coda in which the creators of Family Guy build tension by creating a utopic dystopian situation. For this spectacle they use animated cartwheels, throwing and juggling bongs, tapdancing and doing somersaults on bongs all the while playing music on them at the same time..

The transition to the second continuation of section A contains of chord progression G-A-D-Es-F-Bb and modulates by the means of sequences in the horns to the seven F with a dominant function in g-minor and dominant Bb-Major back to Bb. During these sequences we see four man who are thrown in the air, make some summersaults and then land as a human ‘pyramid’ in the shape of a leaf of a weed plant. This weed plant then creates an overarching transition of scenes to the image of a white flag also containing a leaf of weed guided by a sequence of rising horns, taken over by rising flutes. Someday then waves this flag, over which someone else then summersaults. On the cadence of this sequence we’ll see Brian and Stewie, in the background, standing next to a canon in which Stewie empties a box full of filled ‘bags of weed’. When Brian then shoots the canon, the bags fly through the air on the second continuation of section A. During this repetition a build-up is being established to the last time the chorus takes place by the means of a range fast successive jokes to Herbert, a long-running joke about pedophilia in de show, actor Woody Harrelson, a big supported of the legislation of marihuana, Groucho Marx, by replacing his iconic cigar with a joint and the ‘evil monkey’ of Family Guy, who is doing his signature move in a relaxed manner instead of his useful evil way.

Bringing back the theory

The structure of the comedic song is to be found as seen in regular musical with a short and long joke. The continuous joke lies in the absurdity of the characters that sing the song, namely a talking dog and baby genius. Animals and baby’s are two figureheads of innocence in the western society. And the creators ‘put them both to the task’ to sing a song about legalizing weed. The short jokes mainly follow from the couplets and interludes. According the taxonomy of humor in the article of Fink nowadays three categories of humor exist: incongruity, superiority and psychoanalysis of relieve.[51] For example, in couplet two we have an example of superiority, when Stewie ridicules historic figure Helen Keller, who was born blind, deaf and therefore was difficult to understand. Only to ridicule Brians’ so called intelligent statement. The viewers that can’t understand Brians statement, are then able to evoke feelings of superiority by ridiculing Kellers bodily disfunctions. These feelings of superiority are allowing laughter to cover the feelings of inferiority of before. Calling on such an effect can also be done by citing stereotypes of political correctness, as seen in couplet 1 through jokes between the relationship of the LGBTQ-community and Texas, ‘stupid’ people and Michael Jacksons’ suggested pedophilia case.

In couplet two, Brian sings ‘try to use your heads and don’t buy into all the fear,’ which can be referred to the negative side effects that weed could have like loosing your attention span and developing psychoses. The argument ‘pot kills’ is ridiculed by having a truck, driven by a baby and loaded with weed, run over a group of people. By showcasing the argument this way, the danger of weed and the discussion surrounding legalizing it are presented in a new and absurd manner. This representation is contrasted with the argument itself that weed in itself isn’t deadly, but the consequences of the actions of (young) people who are under the influence of weed, like driving around stoned, could be. This creates an incongruent joke. In the third chorus we’ll see a DEA-agent with his gun lighting the joint of a Jamaican; which can be seen as a reference to the discussion concerning police violence against the black community in the United States. This situation, which is expected to be showcased in a stereotypical manner, are thus also suddenly turned around to an incongruent joke.52]

The theory about psycho-analysis of relieve arguments that a nervous energy, caused by forbidden feelings like shame and discomfort, can be discharged by laughter. The discomfort, for example, can arise from extreme forms of animated physical damage. This catharsis of temporary discomfort of shame is supported by the movement of a story towards a happy ending.[53]

From the psychoanalytic perspective, people are able to find humor in others’ pain, as well as view sex, sacrilege, aggression, or other depictions that make them feel uncomfortable or guilty, because they can laugh at these depictions to release their hidden or forbidden feelings. Comedy provides a catharsis, or relief, from their stress.[54]

If you metaphorically equate dark play with ‘dodging the bullet’, you can say that the viewer escapes the feeling of shame or discomfort through laughter. The feelings of shame and discomfort are thereby postponed by using the musical moments and the toovercirkel which push the boundaries. According to Nicholas Cook there is one condition for the development of relationships in multimedia, which is enabling similarity. By structural similarity between the images and music the focus can be put on ‘a’ (see image 7). ‘A’ is the structural similarity between the media that provide information about ‘x’, whereby ‘x’ as surrounding aspects serve the meaning of ‘ax’.[55]

Image 7: interaction model Marshall and Cohen.[58]

In this case, however, there is a shifted hierarchy due to the musical moment, whereby ‘a’ represents the music and lyrics and ‘x’ the images that are put at the service of the musical. 'ax' therefore represents the joke that results from this. In this case, it could even be stated that within the song, the music serves the lyrics. The meaning of the created metaphor, the joke, doesn’t lie in the enabling similarity, but in the ‘transfer of attributes’ that allow the metaphor. The importance of this transfer lies in the potential of chancing perception.[56] Because your perception changes with the help of the ‘transfer of attributes’, laughter occurs as the first reaction. “[T]he very fact of juxtaposing image and music has the effect of drawing attention to the properties that they share, and in this way constructing new experience of each: the interpretation is in this sense emergent. [or new attributes appear].”[57]

Subsequently the dynamics within the parameters of image, sound and text can be exposed by using Cook’s multimedia model (see image 8). To identify the meaning from the enabling similarity there must be looked at in what way the ‘transfer of attributes’ occur. Consistent means both elements share the same metaphore. You can take the example of ´dodging the bullet´ and ´have a hairbreath escape´ as they are both using metaphors with physical elements. Coherence is clearly related to each other, but not identical tied by the use of another metaphor.[60] ´Playing with fire´ would for example be coherent to ´tempting fate.[61]

The structural repetition that Herzog claims to be essential for change within the musical moment is to be found in the structure of ´Bag of Weed´ (ABABACA), where, for example, the animated dance steps follow this structure. Within the A-section a structural repetition can be found through the application of a ‘hook’; which means a melodic and textual repetition. In this particular case the triangle contains a unitary conformance between the movement of the music and images; namely by means of the rhythm and structure. Another unitary conformance is the animation of the tekst. This means that the animated content is guided by the words. This underlines the choice of jokes and the presentation of those that, like Finks taxonomy of humor shows, are structurally repeated within the western society.[62]

In addition the resemblance of audiovisual rhythmical movement evokes coherence with regards to the words, which requires us to apply the ‘difference test’. “Contrariety might be glossed as undifferentiated difference; contradiction implies an element of collision or confrontation between the opposed terms.”[63] The happy nature of the music and images and the ‘shameful’ nature of the jokes are pointing towards an contradictory relationship. The inappropriate or incompatible music highlights the effect in accordance to the images through destabilization. The repetition opens the context for extreme associations by introducing something new within the expected perception. This then alters the pattern of anticipation of the viewer, causing another reaction.[64] By adjusting the context the psychoanalytic theory of humour thus comes to play within the musical moment. Subsequently, a conflict arises between the medium and the new context. This then refers to ‘contest’ that emerges from the manipulation of the music and images created by the new specific context of the words.[65] And so, we can speak of intermedia, because the boundaries of the individual media are being tested.[66] According to Herzog the importance of the viewers’ experience is put to front by examining the nuances of dynamics in the degree of chafing and discomfort.[67] The question now arises how this dynamic of intermedia, on the border of chafing and discomfort, can be linked to dark play.

Bringing in the darkness

When we look at the spectacle of the musical interlude and the laughter in relief we’ll have two ways in which dark play can be found. The first one is when the words are absent and the characters are bound to certain risks by using utopic dystopian situations. The instrumental C-section consists of three parts, in which is played with chordal material from before, that are connected through three transitions. Besides that, the build-up of tension and spectacle is presented by modulating to the subdominant of the tonic Bb-Major and parallel minor g with a transition through dominant F. By using bongs as instruments, a playful attitude is presented. The ‘physical’ risk of playing with glass is represented by the movement to g-minor whichis put into an acceptable context due to the nature of animation. You could think of the categories of play of Caillois, and then more specific ilinx, that represents physical adrenaline. The musical moment creates a space equal to the one of a toovercirkel, which causes the release of tension and the high risk, characterized by deep play, of a realistic parallel situation.

The tension of the dystopia is musically represented by the change of key. The solution of g-minor back to Bb-major represents the return, of the tension of the possible dystopia, to an utopia. The musical moment compensates for the world on screen in the same way the viewer forgets its own world.[68] The viewer doesn’t realize that it is his or hew own reality that is being played with and that he or she is being placed within the story world of the show. This shift of mind is necessary to put the physical restrains of the real world aside and to accept the new context of the disappearance of physical risks. The viewer gains the feeling of ‘playing with fire’ without the realistic physical risks, which thus creates the feeling of an utopian dystopia. Which is characteristic to the animated sitcom.

The second is to combine the words and images in a way that creates the morally inappropriate joke that the viewer laughs at to relieve themselves of feelings of discomfort and guild. The contrast in the music, between a major key and the feelings of discomfort, shows the dynamic contrast between image and word. This contrast combined with the musical repetition creates a new context. And due to the nature of the animated sitcom to focus itself to adults, this context has become acceptable. Adults are more easily able to adopt a new playful context and shift their boundaries due to the childly attitude towards animation. The Bes-Major key in the A and B section then also provides for the utopia in which criticism through irony on the dominant codes is possible. The dynamic character of the music, the animated style, the words and the unitary conformance of this triangle within the playful musical space of experience of ‘Bag of Weed’, pave a way for the viewer to take over this specific dynamics and to shift their moral boundaries.

Conclusion

In the end, the possibility for dark play comes in the end forth from the utopian dystopian ideology of the animated sitcom, in this case Family Guy. By siding the musical moment to the scope of a toovercirkel a playful attitude can be adapted to interpret the musical characteristics. These musical parameters contain metaphors that expose relationships within the intermedium, like the musical representation of the utopian dystopian situation. The dynamics of intermedial relations hereby tend to gain a playful movement. This game expresses itself based on Finks taxonomy of humor, in which the laughter functions as a catharsis and is the result of the shifted moral boundaries, which are supported by the musical characteristics. This shift takes place by the repetition and created new context of dominant televisioncodes.

The risks of dark play, as manifestation of deep play, come to the surface if one doesn’t accept the new context of the musical moment and are thus not playing along in the space of a toovercirkel. This carries the result that the message of the creators of Family Guy, the socio-cultural political criticism carried by utopian dystopian jokes and situations, is refused. This refusal can carry high risks for the show. For example, zapping the channel, but also the risk, of television as a means of mass communication, that the general public will complain about certain elements of the show which might end up being censored or even canceled. An example of such a case is the controverse about, and the intended removal of, according to some racist, persona Apu in The Simpsons and the decision of the Family Guy’s creators to censor themselves by not making any more jokes about the LGBTQ-community.[69] The decision to not play along in the game of far-reaching persiflage and stereotyping by the viewer(s) could create an one-sided game of the creators on the field of representation. Besides, the song ‘Me Ol’Bamboo’ is unilaterally involved in the game which can have consequences for the perception and collective memory of Chitty Chitty Bang Bangs musical moment.

The questions that remain focus mainly on genre specific questions. How do other animated sitcoms handle dark and deep play? And are there situations in which the music sets these moral boundaries back, instead of feeding them, which causes an opposite intended effect? Besides, there are situations in which we aren’t able to speak about a musical moment, but in which the music do make room for dark play. What about the dynamics in those situations? I hope this chapter brings a new perspective and opens the discourse to more research containing animation, play and music.

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[1] Pat Power, “Ludic Toons: The Dynamics of Creative Play in Studio Animation,” in American Journal of Play 5, no. 1 (Herfst, 2012), 22.

[2] Taylor, Yuval en Daniel Goldmark, The Cartoon Music Book (Chicago: Independent Publishers Book, 2002), xiv.

[3] Daniel Goldmark, “Sounds Funny/Funny Sounds: Theorizing Cartoon Music,” in Funny Pictures: Animation and Comedy in Studio-Era Hollywood, ed. Daniel Goldmark en Charlie Keil (Berkeley: University of California Press, 2011), 235.

[4] Daniel Goldmark en Daniel Ira Goldmark, Tunes for ‘Toons’: Music and the Hollywood Cartoon (Berkeley: University of California Press, 2005), 163.

[5] Goldmark, The Cartoon Music Book, 254.

[6] John Fiske, Television Culture: popular pleasures and politics (Londen: Methuen & Co. Ltd, 1987), 4.

[7] Martin Kutnowski, “Trope and Irony in The Simpsons’ Overture,” in Popular Music and Society 31, no. 5 (December 2008), 606.

[8] Kutnowski, “Trope and Irony in The Simpsons’ Overture,” 604-608.

[9] Fiske, Television Culture: popular pleasures and politics, 6, 10, 11.

[10] Will Friedman, “I Kid Because I Love: The Music of the Simpsons,” in The Cartoon Music Book (Chicago: Independent Publishers Book, 2002), 254.

[11] Ronald Rodman, “Towards an Associative Theory of Television Music,” in Tuning in: American Narrative Television Music (New York: Oxford University Press, 2010), 27.

[12] Goldmark, “Sounds Funny/Funny Sounds: Theorizing Cartoon Music,” 232, 233.

[13] Aaron Lehman Engel, The American Musical Theater: A Consideration (New York: CBS, 1967): 76.

[14] Engel, The American Musical Theater: A Consideration, 5.

[15] Goldmark en Friedman, The Cartoon Music Book, xiii, xiv, 49, 253-255; Daniel Goldmark, “Sounds Funny/Funny Sounds: Theorizing Cartoon Music,” in Funny Pictures: Animation and Comedy in Studio-Era Hollywood, ed. Daniel Goldmark en Charlie Keil (Berkeley: University of California Press, 2011), 232, 233; Floor van Straaten, “Generieke kenmerken van de introliederen van anicoms; The Simpsons en Family guy” (BA Musicology, University of Utrecht, 2017), 8.

[16] Amy Herzog, ”Introduction,” in Dreams of Difference, Songs of the Same: The Musical Moment in Film (Minneapolis: University of Minnesota Press, 2010).

[17] Herzog, Dreams of Difference, Songs of the Same: The Musical Moment in Film, 7.

[18] Rick Altman, The American Film Musical (Bloomington: Indiana University Press, 1987): 60.

[19] Altman, The American Film Musical, 19.

[20] Deleuze’s theorie over herhaling en verschil; Charles J. Stivale, “Part I: Philosophies: 3. Difference, repetition,” in Gilles Deleuze : Key Concepts (Durham: Routledge, 2011), 44-54.

[21] Altman, The American Film Musical, 49.

[22] Herzog, Dreams of Difference, Songs of the Same: The Musical Moment in Film, 8, 16, 17; Schechner, Richard, and Richard Schechner, Performance Studies: An Introduction (Florence: Routledge, 2013): 119.

[23] Simon Egenfeldt-Nielsen, Jonas Heide Smith en Susana Tosca, “3. What Is a Game?” in Understanding Video Games: The Essential Introduction (Londen: Routledge, 2015), 43.

[24] Miguel Sicart, Play Matters (Cambridge: MIT Press, 2014), 21.

[25] Johan Huizinga en Vincent Mentzel, Homo Ludens : Proeve Eener Bepaling van Het Spel-Element Der Cultuur (Amsterdam: Amsterdam University Press, 2010), 26.

[26] Egenfeldt-Nielsen, Understanding Video Games: The Essential Introduction, 46.

[27] Isabella van Elferen, “¡Un Forastero! Issues of Virtuality and Diegesis in Videogame Music,” in Music and the Moving Image 4, no. 2 (Zomer 2011), 30. .

[28] Mihaly Csikszentmihalyi, “Flow and the psychology of discovery and invention,” in HarperPerennial New York 39 (1997), 8. http://vedpuriswar.org/Book_Review/Leadership_Managerial_Effectiveness/Creativity.pdf

[29] van Elferen, “¡Un Forastero! Issues of Virtuality and Diegesis in Videogame Music,” 30-33.

[30] Roger Moseley, “Playing Games with Music (and Vice Versa): Ludomusicological Perspectives on Guitar Hero and Rock Band,” in Taking it to the Bridge: Music as Performance (Michigan: University of Michigan Press, 2013): 287-289.

[31] ‘Roger Caillois, Man, Play and Games (Illinois: Illinois University Press, 2001)’ gereproduceerd in ‘Moseley, “Playing Games with Music (and Vice Versa): Ludomusicological Perspectives on Guitar Hero and Rock Band,” 288.’

[32] Egenfeldt-Nielsen, Understanding Video Games: The Essential Introduction, 57, 58.

[33] Rodman, “Towards an Associative Theory of Television Music,” 24, 25.

[34] Egenfeldt-Nielsen, Understanding Video Games, 53.

[35] Rodman, “Towards an Associative Theory of Television Music,” 41.

[36] Egenfeldt-Nielsen, Understanding Video Games, 52.

[37] Clifford Geertz, “Deep play: Notes on the Balinese cockfight,” in Daedalus 134.4 (2005): 71, 71.

[38] Schechner, Performance Studies: An Introduction, 118, 119.

[39] Schechner, Performance Studies: An Introduction, 118.

[40] Schechner, Performance Studies: An Introduction, 119.

[41] Paul Lard, “Musical Styles and Song Conventions,” in The Oxford Handbook of The American Musical ed. door Raymond Knapp, Mitchell Morris en Stacy Wolf (New York: Oxford University Press, 2011): 34, 35.

[42] Engel, The American Musical Theater : A Consideration, 76.

[43] Engel, The American Musical Theater : A Consideration, 118, 119.

[44] Engel, The American Musical Theater : A Consideration, 119, 120.

[45] Engel, The American Musical Theater : A Consideration, 122, 123.

[46] Seth MacFarlane, “420,” in Family Guy 7. Ep. 12, gedirigeerd door Julius Wu et al. (US: FOX, 19 april 2009).

[47] MacFarlane, “420,” 10:16-10:25.

[48] MacFarlane, “420,” 10:45-10:48, 10:53-10:56; Ian Fleming en Roald Dahl, “Me Ol’Bamboo,’ in Chitty Chitty Bang Bang gedirigeerd door Ken Hughes (UK: United Artists, 16 december 1968): 0:44:40-0:44:43, 0:45:26-0:45:30.

[49] MacFarlane, “420,” 11:12-11:14.

[50] MacFarlane, “420,” 12:30-12:42; Fleming en Dahl, Chitty Chitty Bang Bang, 0:46:41-0:46:52.

[51] Edward J. Fink, “Writing The Simpsons: A Case Study of Comic Theory,” in Journal of Film and Video 65, no. 1-2 (lente/zomer 2013): 44, 46.

[52] Fink, “Writing The Simpsons: A Case Study of Comic Theory,” 47, 48.

[53] Fink, “Writing The Simpsons: A Case Study of Comic Theory,” 50, 51.

[54] Fink, “Writing The Simpsons: A Case Study of Comic Theory,” 51.

[55] Nicholas Cook, Analysing musical multimedia (New York: Oxford University Press, 1998): 69, 70.

[56] Cook, Analysing musical multimedia, 69, 70.

[57] Cook, Analysing musical multimedia, 73.

[58] Cook, Analysing musical multimedia, 69.

[59] Cook, Analysing musical multimedia, 99.

[60] Cook, Analysing musical multimedia, 98, 99.

[61] Cook, Analysing musical multimedia, 101.

[62] Herzog, Dreams of Difference, Songs of the Same: The Musical Moment in Film, 2, 4.

[63] Cook, Analysing musical multimedia, 102.

[64] Herzog, Dreams of Difference, Songs of the Same: The Musical Moment in Film, 8, 17.

[65] Cook, Analysing musical multimedia, 104, 105.

[66] Cook, Analysing musical multimedia, 106.

[67] Herzog, Dreams of Difference, Songs of the Same: The Musical Moment in Film, 2, 4.

[68] Altman, The American Film Musical, 61.

[69] Christian Blauvelt, “The Simpsons’ Apu: ‘A stereotype hiding in plain sight’,” BBC Culture, 6 november, 2017, http://www.bbc.com/culture/story/20171027-the-simpsons-apu-a-stereotype-hiding-in-plain-sight; Ronald Rovers, “Apu uit ‘The Simpsons’ is inderdaad een stereotype - maar Homer niet minder,” Trouw, 6 november, 2018, https://www.trouw.nl/cultuur/apu-uit-the-simpsons-is-inderdaad-een-stereotype-maar-homer-niet-minder~a1c98637/; Daniel Reynolds, “Family Guy Will 'Phase Out' Gay Jokes,” Advocate, 14 januari, 2019, https://www.advocate.com/television/2019/1/14/family-guy-will-phase-out-gay-jokes.

———————————————————————————————————-

Used Literature

Altman, Rick. The American Film Musical. Bloomington: Indiana University Press, 1987.
Blauvelt, Christian. “The Simpsons’ Apu: ‘A stereotype hiding in plain sight’.” BBC Culture, 6 november, 2017. http://www.bbc.com/culture/story/20171027-the-simpsons-apu-a-stereotype-hiding-in-plain-sight.
Caillois, Roger. Man, Play and Games. Illinois: Illinois University Press, 2001.
Cook, Nicholas. Analysing musical multimedia. New York: Oxford University Press, 1998.
Crawford, Alison. ‘”Oh Yeah!”: Family Guy as Magical Realism?.” Journal of Film and Video 61, no. 2 (Zomer 2009): 52-69. https://www.jstor.org/stable/20688624.
Csikszentmihalyi, Mihaly. “Flow and the psychology of discovery and invention.” HarperPerennial New York 39 (1997): 1-16. http://vedpuriswar.org/Book_Review/Leadership_Managerial_Effectiveness/Creativity.pdf
Egenfeldt-Nielsen, Simon, Jonas Heide Smith en Susana Tosca. “3. What Is a Game?” InUnderstanding Video Games: The Essential Introduction. Londen: Routledge, 2015.
Engel, Aaron Lehman. The American Musical Theater: A Consideration. New York: CBS, 1967.
Fink, Edward J.. “Writing The Simpsons: A Case Study of Comic Theory.” Journal of Film and Video 65, no. 1-2 (lente/zomer 2013): 43-55.
Fiske, John. Television Culture: popular pleasures and politics. Londen: Methuen & Co. Ltd, 1987.
Geertz, Clifford. “Deep play: notes on the Balinese cockfight.” In The Cockfight: A Casebook ed. door Alan Dundes, 94-132. Madison: University of Wisconsin Press, 1994.
Goldmark, Daniel. “Sounds Funny/Funny Sounds: Theorizing Cartoon Music.” In Funny Pictures: Animation and Comedy in Studio-Era Hollywood, ed. door Daniel - Goldmark en Charlie Keil, 223-235. Berkeley: University of California Press, 2011.
Goldmark, Daniel en Daniel Ira Goldmark. Tunes for ‘Toons’: Music and the Hollywood Cartoon. Berkeley: University of California Press, 2005.
Goldmark, Daniel, en Yuval Taylor. The Cartoon Music Book. Chicago: Independent Publishers Group, 2002.
Herzog, Amy. “Introduction.” In Dreams of Difference, Songs of the Same: The Musical Moment in Film. Minneapolis: University of Minnesota Press, 2010.
Huizinga, Johan en Vincent Mentzel. Homo Ludens : Proeve Eener Bepaling van Het Spel-Element Der Cultuur. Amsterdam: Amsterdam University Press, 2010.
Kutnowski, Martin. “Trope and Irony in The Simpsons’ Overture.” Popular Music and Society 31, no. 5 (December 2008): 599-616.
Lard, Paul. “Musical Styles and Song Conventions.” In The Oxford Handbook of The American Musical ed. door Raymond Knapp, Mitchell Morris en Stacy Wolf (New York: Oxford University Press, 2011.
Moseley, Roger. “Playing Games with Music (and Vice Versa): Ludomusicological Perspectives on Guitar Hero and Rock Band.” In Taking it to the Bridge: Music as Performance. 279-318. Michigan: University of Michigan Press, 2013.
Power, Pat. “Ludic Toons: The Dynamics of Creative Play in Studio Animation.” American Journal of Play 5, no. 1 (Herfst 2012): 22-54.
Reynolds, Daniel. “Family Guy Will 'Phase Out' Gay Jokes.” Advocate, 14 januari, 2019. https://www.advocate.com/television/2019/1/14/family-guy-will-phase-out-gay-jokes.
Rodman, Ronald. “Towards an Associative Theory of Television Music.” In Tuning in: American Narrative Television Music. New York: Oxford University Press, 2010.
Rovers, Ronald. “Apu uit ‘The Simpsons’ is inderdaad een stereotype - maar Homer niet minder.” Trouw, 6 november, 2018. https://www.trouw.nl/cultuur/apu-uit-the-simpsons-is-inderdaad-een-stereotype-maar-homer-niet-minder~a1c98637/.
Schechner, Richard. “Play: Deep Play, Dark Play.” In Perfomance Studies: An Introduction, 118-120. Florence: Routledge, 2013.
Sicart, Miguel. Play Matters. Cambridge: MIT Press, 2014.
Stivale, Charles J.. “Part I: Philosophies: 3. Difference, repetition.” In Gilles Deleuze : Key Concepts. Durham: Routledge, 2011.
Straaten, Floor van. “Generieke kenmerken van de introliederen van anicoms; The Simpsons en Family guy.” BA Musicology, University of Utrecht, 2017.
Van Elferen, Isabella. “¡Un Forastero! Issues of Virtuality and Diegesis in Videogame Music.” Music and the Moving Image 4, no. 2 (zomer 2011): 30-39.

Fleming, Ian en Road Dahl. Chitty Chitty Bang Bang. Gedirigeerd door Ken Hughes. UK: United Artists, 16 december 1968.
Macfarlane, Seth. “420.” Family Guy 7. Ep. 12. Gedirigeerd door Julius Wu et al. FOX: 19 april, 2009.

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