Sound experience in the serial narrative The Midnight Gospel

Cognitive, pedagogical and psychological reach of the series

Abstract

The purpose of this article is to identify, based on a psychoacoustic theory, the type of sound experience of the narrative The Midnight gospel (2020), approaching it as an element that gives depth and multidimensionality to the narrative. The notion of levels of reality and the idea of ​​sonosphere are used to analyze the sound universe of the series, in order to elucidate the game of musical, vocal and electronic immersion that puts the attention of the audience to the test. The conclusions lead to three important aspects of the cognitive, pedagogical and psychological reach of the series under analysis whose title already predicts that its authors want to give “good news at midnight”. 1) It is noticed that, if, on the one hand, the sound complexity immerses the spectator in the narrative environment, it also invites him to a cognitive effort of attention and understanding that removes him from the immersive condition. 2) Pedagogically, one meditates listening to music or pronouncing sounds, expanding perception by enjoying various musical repertoires; the body is opened to the expansion of consciousness and to the listening of the daimon, the inner voice. 3) the musical immersion, the return to protomusic and the “mermaid effect” appear as psychic stimulants capable of restoring enthusiasm and enthusiasm for the character's own existence, but also, through a process of identification, of the audience.