Subject Area
Music, Sociology
Abstract
In this thesis, I inspect ways in which music has been used to create humor and meaning in black American cinema. In doing so, I address gaps in film music scholarship, as music in comedy films and in black cinema are both neglected topics. I suggest that humor in these films arises out of a particular blend of musical irony, parody, and satire, the exact combination of which is contingent on various historical, cultural, and political factors. In order to track this trend, I analyze humorous music in eight films, each representing a unique manifestation of this tradition: Watermelon Man (dir. Melvin Van Peebles, 1970), Car Wash (dir. Michael Schultz, 1976), Hollywood Shuffle (dir. Robert Townsend, 1987), Coming to America (dir. John Landis, 1988), Fear of a Black Hat (dir. Rusty Cundieff, 1993), Friday (dir. F. Gary Gray, 1995), White Chicks (dir. Keenen Ivory Wayans, 2004), and Sorry to Bother You (dir. Boots Riley, 2018).
Humorous music in these films can be best explained by incongruence. I support this through the scholarship of film music experts like Anahid Kassabian and Annabel J. Cohen, who both understand film music to engage strongly with musical memory. I further contextualize my analyses with the work of various black film scholars, composers, critics, and filmmakers to understand what is unique about black comedy, reckon with the institutional hurdles black filmmakers and actors had to overcome, as well as establish how black communities found and continue to find meaning in these films.
Ultimately, my research strengthens our understanding of music and humor while also codifying trends in an oft-overlooked American filmic tradition.
Degree Date
2026
Document Type
Thesis
Degree Name
M.M.
Department
Musicology
Advisor
Dr. Peter Kupfer
Second Advisor
Dr. Kristina Nielsen
Third Advisor
Dr. Sean Griffin
Number of Pages
178
Format
Creative Commons License
This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-Noncommercial 4.0 License
Recommended Citation
Brady, Drew, ""Just Let Your Soul Glo": Humorous Music in Black American Comedy Films" (2026). Music Theses and Dissertations. 14.
https://scholar.smu.edu/arts_music_etds/14
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African American Studies Commons, American Film Studies Commons, Cognition and Perception Commons, Film and Media Studies Commons, Gender, Race, Sexuality, and Ethnicity in Communication Commons, Hip Hop Studies Commons, Interdisciplinary Arts and Media Commons, Musicology Commons, Race and Ethnicity Commons, Social and Cultural Anthropology Commons, Television Commons
