After reading "Narrative Complexity in Contemporary American Television" by Jason Mittell and after our class discussion on Tuesday, September 15th, I was most intrigued by the idea of non-diegetic music and its influence on visual narrative. Non-diegetic music is the music playing that the characters of the narrative are unable to hear, or the background music. The non-diegetic music of any visual narrative can greatly influence the mood itself. Happy music is usually playing during a happy scene. Sad music is typically playing during a sad scene. Dramatic music plays during a dramatic scene, and so on. What happens, however, when the non-diegetic music does not match up with the intended emotion of the narrative?

When I was younger, one of my favorite moves was Mary Poppins. I would watch it all the time, listen to the music, and was even part of a drama club production at my elementary school. Mary Poppins is a musical, which means it contains a lot of diegetic music (songs sung by the characters, or songs the characters are able to hear). Like most movies, however, it contains a lot of background (non-diegetic) music as well, to render certain emotions in the viewer. In this trailer of Mary Poppins, notice the happy, lighthearted music, and how this music is used to dispose a cheerful kind of mood surrounding the film, itself.

www.youtube.com/watch

A few years ago, I came upon another trailer of Mary Poppins which used most of the same scenes, yet the non-diegetic music was very different. In place of the happy and lighthearted background songs, an eerie, echoed Mary Poppins begins out singing. Eventually the "Scary Mary" trailer music becomes loud, dramatic, and horrifying. 

www.youtube.com/watch

These two clips are good examples of how non-diegetic music can greatly effect the emotions emitted by visual narrative.