Marina Gallagher
Research Area
Education
B.A., Music and Classical Studies (Languages Specialization), University of Waterloo, 2015
Ph.D., Musicology, University of British Columbia, 2023 (expected)
About
Marina Gallagher is a PhD Candidate in Musicology who studies music and landscapes in role-playing video games (RPGs). She teaches a video game music appreciation class at the Beckett School at Wilfrid Laurier University and is currently preparing to launch a blog (Game Music Mage) that analyses music in RPGs. When she isn’t playing video games or researching video game music, Marina enjoys writing novels and creating music education resources for her store, the Travelling Troubadour Music Resources, on TPT (formerly TeachersPayTeachers) and Boom Learning.
Research
Research interests: topic theory; ludomusicology; music and landscapes in video games; music of the Final Fantasy and NieR series; intersections between video games and Classical Studies, especially ancient pastoral and epic poetry
Current research: Marina’s dissertation examines how music affects player immersion in and emotional response to pastoral and anti-pastoral landscapes inFinal Fantasy X, XII, XIII, and XV. She is currently investigating evocations of lament in the NieR series as well as music, landscape, and katabasis in Persona 5 Royal(Atlus/Sega, 2022).
WATCH: North American Conference on Video Game Music
Paper: Music, Landscape, and Katabasis in Emil’s Manor from NieR Replicant ver. 1.22474487139…
LISTEN: PhD candidate Marina Gallagher explores the music of Final Fantasy
PhD candidate Marina Gallagher (she/her) spoke with Stephen Quinn on CBC Radio’s Early Edition about her research on the video game Final Fantasy and the discipline of ludomusicology.
Earlier this week Marina also spoke to UBC Media Relations about turning Final Fantasy into a research topic and speaking next month at the 10th annual North American Conference on Video Game Music.