"Popeye" Roberta Altmana jako antymusical

The author analyses Robert Altman’s movie “Popeye” (1980) using genre determinants enunciated by Rick Altman for classical musical, pointing out the fact that director’s auteur style – especially polyphonic hubbub in soundscape – clashes with musical’s immersive character. Narrative scheme visible in the movie would rather suggest its affiliation with Western genre and visual gags strongly invoke another thoroughly American tradition – slapstick. This negation of “musical reality” paired with “entertainess” – category proposed by the author as distinctive for the genre and understood as a pleasurable result of experiencing something that can be considered as artistically well executed – are the reason to call Popeye an anti-musical rather than a musical.