Synaesthesia and Visual Music in Swedish Silent Film

Abstract: This thesis examines how visual music in Swedish silent film served as an allusion to sound, either as a cinematic effect or as an intertwined part of the film narrative. Drawing on the concepts of synaesthesia and visual music, a discussion on how both concepts relate to each other serves as the key method for analyzing a selection of films. By defining synaesthesia in relation to concepts such as Gesamtkunstwerk and photogénie, the analysis examines different synaesthetic expressions through visual music in Swedish silent film. This thesis argues that Swedish film was influenced through several forms of art and ideas from different cinematic cultures. By comparing synaesthetic expressions through visual music in Swedish silent film and other cinematic cultures, this thesis suggest that the concepts were used in different ways to define cinema as a unique form of art.