Punctuation.....What's the Difference?

After this week’s example of Crouching Tiger Hidden Dragon I was left with one big question. What isn’t punctuation in an action film, the answer, apparently very little. If one is going to use certain sounds to stress certain actions within a scene like swords clinking and such, then using this example are we to understand that every single sound that acts in the same manner to also be a form of punctuation?

The problem with these examples and definitions is that the sound within a frame is so integrated that it’s difficult to differentiate the multitude of different sound practices used. Because to me punctuation seems really no different than any other empathetic sound added to films. Obviously Mickey Mousing is easy to identify, but even in the film this week, what is so different between the fighting sounds of this film compared to the fighting sounds of any other previous action film that we’ve seen.

It seems to me that we are creating more and more fancy terms to describe the exact same practices that we’ve already discussed. Because whether it’s an action movie with lots of fighting sounds or just odd sounds like footsteps in Mon Uncle, each sound you hear unless it’s a musical accompaniment is still just being used empathetically to add value to the screen. At this point, I am honestly starting to think that Chion is making this way to complicated.