Empathy, Symbolism, and Synchresis in Under the Skin (2013): How Mica Levi’s Score Shapes the Narrative
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The 2013 science-fiction horror film Under the Skin, directed by Jonathan Glazer, revolves around an alien being sent to earth to collect and harvest human bodies. As the film progresses, the alien begins to question its identity and develop a fascination with human emotion. Most striking about this film is the role of its musical score, composed by Mica Levi. The score plays an unusually extensive role in shaping the viewer's perception of the alien’s “otherness,” and in manipulating this perception throughout the film. This paper analyzes the ways in which the score’s timbral, melodic, harmonic, and electronic elements are applied and developed to direct the viewer’s narrative empathy with the main character. Through careful application, the musical material first discourages viewers from identification with the alien, but as the film progresses, the tactical combination of score and plot shift the sympathies of the viewer toward identification with the “other.” Then, in the final moments of the film, these two opposing ways of seeing the main character are brought together, creating a dissonance which presents the viewer with their own capacity for empathy.