Romani Musicians: The Fantasy of the Exotic in Film and Popular Culture

This thesis critically investigates the appropriation, marginalization, and romanticization of Roma as an ethnic group, specifically as these issues relate to the musical performative abilities of Roma displayed in popular culture. Through a critical examination of numerous films depicting Roma throughout Europe and North America, I explore how depictions within popular culture perpetuate limiting stereotypes that impede cultural empowerment and social integration. Contrasting representations in Western and Eastern European films, including analyses of a variety of stereotypical themes across numerous Roma films, especially focusing on their relationship with performance and music, I argue that generalizations and misconceptions of Roma rooted in 19^th century Romantic literature, music, and opera continue to have a damaging effect on Roma marginalization as the “other” in modern social, cultural, and political discourses.