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History of Film Theory

History of Film Theory. Engl 332: Film & Other Forms of Rep Langah. Puzzling issues of film theory & criticism. Is the film world realistic or artificial? Is its world best expressed in: silence or sound?

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History of Film Theory

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  1. History of Film Theory Engl 332: Film & Other Forms of Rep Langah

  2. Puzzling issues of film theory & criticism Is the film world realistic or artificial? Is its world best expressed in: • silence or sound? • through stories that may be derived from other arts (drama, folk tradition, literature)? • through stories that can be told only through the genre of film?

  3. What is unique about film as compared to other arts? • Its formal qualities (techniques of film making, genre etc) • Its need for capital investment • Its relation to mass audience

  4. History of film theory Phase I 1916 – mid 1930s • Formalist Phase or classical phase: Silent period • Theorists like Hugo Munsterberg, Rudolf Arnheim, Sergei Einstein argued that film is an art, not just a direct recording of nature. • SeigfriedKracauer & Andre Bazin: Film is not in contrast to nature but an artof nature.

  5. History of film theory: Phase II • 1960s- 1970s • The classical phase was challenged by writers who were responding to historical conditions (Vietnam war & riots in France and America) and knowledge as defined by literature and social sciences. • They challenge the ways in which classical phase responds to art, nature, society, reality, class, gender, language.

  6. History of film theory: Phase III • 1970s: • Inspired from Linguistics, drawing upon the works of Chomsky & Saussure started questioning the systems of meaning that allow communication of all kind to exist(for a discussion on the link between film and linguistics, read this article: http://home.hum.uva.nl/oz/elsaesser/essay-Film%20and%20Linguistics.pdf) • Lacan, Derrida, Strauss, Foucault, Freud’s theories were applied on film analysis

  7. History of film theory: Phase IV Eclectic (varied, diverse) Period (mid 1980s) • History, psychology, linguistics applied to understand films • These approaches draw on feminism, cognitive psychology etc • They assert the shaping activity of the audience on film meaning (not just passive audience postulated in earlier approaches) but audiences' response towards the film). • Resistance of the performer to the meaning imposed by film narrative (how well is the actor justifying the character) • How an independent film maker makes a personal statement despite the totalitarian necessities of the medium • The financial, political and artistic decisions that constitute film production • Challenges of digitization and new forms of media.

  8. Sources Course Pack: • Film Language: ‘Preface’

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