Overview

What the Pluck? is a study of the harp as a powerful visual cue in the cinema. From Walt Disney to the Marx brothers, Gone with the Wind to The Wedding March and Small Time Crooks, this ancient instrument has acted as a symbol of immortality, transcendence, love, high culture, sexuality, comedy and fantasy since the earliest eras of film making. In its examination of the harp as a storytelling device, this study draws on archival research, examining film theory, psychological theory, history and philosophy to give context to centuries of symbolism of this magic instrument. What the Pluck? notably examines the harp's broader use as a symbol for the classical god Hermes, the inventor of the lyre, messenger, trickster, the lord of harmony and speech; the harp's Hermetic overtones resonate through the -bardic tradition to the present day.

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9780578288420

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F. Marion Redd is a graduate of the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill with an AB in History and Radio, Television and Motion Pictures. He also has his MA in Cinema Studies from San Francisco State University and his MA from the California Institute of Integral Studies in Philosophy, Cosmology and Consciousness. For several years, he served as treasurer of the Charlotte, NC, chapter of the American Harp Society and was an original southeastern director for the Society of Folk Harpers and Craftsmen.He resides in Hillsborough, NC, and still plays his wire-strung Witcher Celtic harp and a new Lyon & Healy Ogden lever harp, which replaced an earlier Salvi Daphne pedal harp.

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