Richard Allen and Murray Smith
- Published in print:
- 1997
- Published Online:
- October 2011
- ISBN:
- 9780198159216
- eISBN:
- 9780191673566
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- Oxford University Press
- DOI:
- 10.1093/acprof:oso/9780198159216.003.0001
- Subject:
- Literature, Film, Media, and Cultural Studies
The introduction discusses the influence of two kinds of philosophy to film theory. It describes and clarifies the characteristic methods and strategies of analytic philosophy and film theory, and ...
More
The introduction discusses the influence of two kinds of philosophy to film theory. It describes and clarifies the characteristic methods and strategies of analytic philosophy and film theory, and continental philosophy and film theory. It is concerned with the description of methods, debates, and principles of analytic philosophy with reference to the contributions of philosophy to film theory. It informs and provides indication of issues, methods, and doctrines. It examines, criticizes, and defends the use of exponents of analytic and continental philosophy. All throughout the introduction, it is noted that analytic philosophy is conceived as a pedantic, conservative discipline by scholars of film, media, and culture while continental philosophy is seen as having more imaginative richness and being more focused on moral and ideological issues. However, the aim of analysing film theory is not to stop the pursuit of any specific doctrine but to improve the rigor with its pursuit.Less
The introduction discusses the influence of two kinds of philosophy to film theory. It describes and clarifies the characteristic methods and strategies of analytic philosophy and film theory, and continental philosophy and film theory. It is concerned with the description of methods, debates, and principles of analytic philosophy with reference to the contributions of philosophy to film theory. It informs and provides indication of issues, methods, and doctrines. It examines, criticizes, and defends the use of exponents of analytic and continental philosophy. All throughout the introduction, it is noted that analytic philosophy is conceived as a pedantic, conservative discipline by scholars of film, media, and culture while continental philosophy is seen as having more imaginative richness and being more focused on moral and ideological issues. However, the aim of analysing film theory is not to stop the pursuit of any specific doctrine but to improve the rigor with its pursuit.
Richard Allen and Murray Smith (eds)
- Published in print:
- 1997
- Published Online:
- October 2011
- ISBN:
- 9780198159216
- eISBN:
- 9780191673566
- Item type:
- book
- Publisher:
- Oxford University Press
- DOI:
- 10.1093/acprof:oso/9780198159216.001.0001
- Subject:
- Literature, Film, Media, and Cultural Studies
While concepts from and debates within continental philosophy have long formed a backdrop to arguments in film theory and criticism, exchanges between Anglo-American ‘analytic’ philosophy and film ...
More
While concepts from and debates within continental philosophy have long formed a backdrop to arguments in film theory and criticism, exchanges between Anglo-American ‘analytic’ philosophy and film studies have been relatively few and far between. In recent years this has begun to change, as the consensus around semiotic and psychoanalytic approaches has weakened, as film scholars have turned their attention to other sources such as cognitive theory and analytic philosophy, and as philosophers have taken a more focused interest in film. This book provides further momentum to these developments. It is comprised of chapters on a wide range of topics showing a shared the commitment to conceptual investigation, logical consistency, and clarity of argument that characterizes analytic philosophy. The first section addresses the nature of cinematic representation, while the second section re-examines notions of authorship and intentionality in our understanding and appreciation of films. Sections 3 and 4 look at ideology and aesthetics respectively, while the final section considers the nature and place of emotion in film spectatorship. The diversity of the questions addressed here (aesthetics and politics in black film theory, film music, authorship, genre, comedy, epistemology, feminism, and film theory) is matched by the range of positions argued for and demonstrates a vital plurality of perspectives rather than a single line of thought.Less
While concepts from and debates within continental philosophy have long formed a backdrop to arguments in film theory and criticism, exchanges between Anglo-American ‘analytic’ philosophy and film studies have been relatively few and far between. In recent years this has begun to change, as the consensus around semiotic and psychoanalytic approaches has weakened, as film scholars have turned their attention to other sources such as cognitive theory and analytic philosophy, and as philosophers have taken a more focused interest in film. This book provides further momentum to these developments. It is comprised of chapters on a wide range of topics showing a shared the commitment to conceptual investigation, logical consistency, and clarity of argument that characterizes analytic philosophy. The first section addresses the nature of cinematic representation, while the second section re-examines notions of authorship and intentionality in our understanding and appreciation of films. Sections 3 and 4 look at ideology and aesthetics respectively, while the final section considers the nature and place of emotion in film spectatorship. The diversity of the questions addressed here (aesthetics and politics in black film theory, film music, authorship, genre, comedy, epistemology, feminism, and film theory) is matched by the range of positions argued for and demonstrates a vital plurality of perspectives rather than a single line of thought.
Gregory Currie
- Published in print:
- 1997
- Published Online:
- October 2011
- ISBN:
- 9780198159216
- eISBN:
- 9780191673566
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- Oxford University Press
- DOI:
- 10.1093/acprof:oso/9780198159216.003.0002
- Subject:
- Literature, Film, Media, and Cultural Studies
This chapter is a manifesto of the film theory of Gregory Currie. He thinks that his work brings a connection between film and cognitive psychology. The chapter begins with a glimpse of an ideal ...
More
This chapter is a manifesto of the film theory of Gregory Currie. He thinks that his work brings a connection between film and cognitive psychology. The chapter begins with a glimpse of an ideal theoretical structure and his opinion on the philosophical background against the manifesto itself. Then the theses and the arguments on film theory and the philosophy of film, moving pictures, convention, intention, and genre, and the viewer is laid out. The description includes an outline of what he thinks is the ideal abstract structure for the film theory. He hoped that by doing this, he would contribute to the exemplification of the structure. The manifesto aims to promote the following: open criticism from the outside, struggle for inner coherence, comprehensiveness, and intuitive judgment. It is evident that his work is in a top-down mode which is why it is called a nervous manifesto.Less
This chapter is a manifesto of the film theory of Gregory Currie. He thinks that his work brings a connection between film and cognitive psychology. The chapter begins with a glimpse of an ideal theoretical structure and his opinion on the philosophical background against the manifesto itself. Then the theses and the arguments on film theory and the philosophy of film, moving pictures, convention, intention, and genre, and the viewer is laid out. The description includes an outline of what he thinks is the ideal abstract structure for the film theory. He hoped that by doing this, he would contribute to the exemplification of the structure. The manifesto aims to promote the following: open criticism from the outside, struggle for inner coherence, comprehensiveness, and intuitive judgment. It is evident that his work is in a top-down mode which is why it is called a nervous manifesto.
Gaye Williams Ortiz
- Published in print:
- 2008
- Published Online:
- January 2009
- ISBN:
- 9780195335989
- eISBN:
- 9780199868940
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- Oxford University Press
- DOI:
- 10.1093/acprof:oso/9780195335989.003.0012
- Subject:
- Religion, Religion and Society
This chapter is a case study of a course offered in the theology and religious studies department of York Saint John College, an upper‐level undergraduate course titled Women, Theology, and Film. It ...
More
This chapter is a case study of a course offered in the theology and religious studies department of York Saint John College, an upper‐level undergraduate course titled Women, Theology, and Film. It was designed to synthesize a variety of theological, feminist, and film criticism perspectives in exploring the representation of women in movies. The particular challenge for the teacher, then, was twofold: how to integrate feminist theology with feminist film theory in a way that retained the integrity and the rigor of both disciplines, and how to make the course accessible to a group of students who might display an extreme range of theological skills (from none to advanced). This chapter first addresses the rationale and delivery of the course and then discusses some of the opportunities and challenges posed by this interdisciplinary approach.Less
This chapter is a case study of a course offered in the theology and religious studies department of York Saint John College, an upper‐level undergraduate course titled Women, Theology, and Film. It was designed to synthesize a variety of theological, feminist, and film criticism perspectives in exploring the representation of women in movies. The particular challenge for the teacher, then, was twofold: how to integrate feminist theology with feminist film theory in a way that retained the integrity and the rigor of both disciplines, and how to make the course accessible to a group of students who might display an extreme range of theological skills (from none to advanced). This chapter first addresses the rationale and delivery of the course and then discusses some of the opportunities and challenges posed by this interdisciplinary approach.
Sabine Hake
- Published in print:
- 2013
- Published Online:
- October 2017
- ISBN:
- 9780691135106
- eISBN:
- 9781400846788
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- Princeton University Press
- DOI:
- 10.23943/princeton/9780691135106.003.0014
- Subject:
- Philosophy, History of Philosophy
This chapter provides a careful reconstruction of major themes and points of critical tension amongst Béla Balázs, Siegfried Kracauer, and Rudolf Arnheim, the three greatest theorists of film during ...
More
This chapter provides a careful reconstruction of major themes and points of critical tension amongst Béla Balázs, Siegfried Kracauer, and Rudolf Arnheim, the three greatest theorists of film during the Weimar period. Their contributions are more accurately located in the space between criticism and theory, and can only be understood through the entire historical constellation: the various institutional contexts, aesthetic categories, social practices, and cultural traditions that constituted film as a discursive object; the competing functions of film as mass-produced commodity, art form, and propaganda tool that informed critical practices; and the changing positions of film in relation to other art forms, mass media, and modes of perception and experience.Less
This chapter provides a careful reconstruction of major themes and points of critical tension amongst Béla Balázs, Siegfried Kracauer, and Rudolf Arnheim, the three greatest theorists of film during the Weimar period. Their contributions are more accurately located in the space between criticism and theory, and can only be understood through the entire historical constellation: the various institutional contexts, aesthetic categories, social practices, and cultural traditions that constituted film as a discursive object; the competing functions of film as mass-produced commodity, art form, and propaganda tool that informed critical practices; and the changing positions of film in relation to other art forms, mass media, and modes of perception and experience.
Torben Grodal
- Published in print:
- 2009
- Published Online:
- May 2009
- ISBN:
- 9780195371314
- eISBN:
- 9780199870585
- Item type:
- book
- Publisher:
- Oxford University Press
- DOI:
- 10.1093/acprof:oso/9780195371314.001.0001
- Subject:
- Literature, Film, Media, and Cultural Studies
This book provides analysis of how human biology, as well as human culture, determines the ways films are made and experienced. This new approach is called “bioculturalism.” The book shows how ...
More
This book provides analysis of how human biology, as well as human culture, determines the ways films are made and experienced. This new approach is called “bioculturalism.” The book shows how important formats, such as films for children, romantic films, pornography, fantasy films, horror films, and sad melodramas, appeal to an array of different emotions that have been ingrained in the human embodied brain by the evolutionary process. The book also discusses how these biological dispositions are molded by culture. It explains why certain themes and emotions fascinate viewers all over the globe at all times, and how different cultures invest their own values and tastes in the universal themes.The book further uses the breakthroughs of modern brain science to explain central features of film aesthetics and to construct a general model of aesthetic experience, the PECMA flow model, which explains how the flow of information and emotions in the embodied brain provides a series of aesthetic experiences. The combination of film theory, cognitive psychology, neurology, and evolutionary theory provides explanations for why narrative forms are appealing and how and why art films use different mental mechanisms than those that support mainstream narrative films, as well as how film evokes images of inner, spiritual life and feelings of realism.Embodied Visions provides a new synthesis in film and media studies and aesthetics that combines cultural history with the long history of the evolution of our embodied brains.Less
This book provides analysis of how human biology, as well as human culture, determines the ways films are made and experienced. This new approach is called “bioculturalism.” The book shows how important formats, such as films for children, romantic films, pornography, fantasy films, horror films, and sad melodramas, appeal to an array of different emotions that have been ingrained in the human embodied brain by the evolutionary process. The book also discusses how these biological dispositions are molded by culture. It explains why certain themes and emotions fascinate viewers all over the globe at all times, and how different cultures invest their own values and tastes in the universal themes.The book further uses the breakthroughs of modern brain science to explain central features of film aesthetics and to construct a general model of aesthetic experience, the PECMA flow model, which explains how the flow of information and emotions in the embodied brain provides a series of aesthetic experiences. The combination of film theory, cognitive psychology, neurology, and evolutionary theory provides explanations for why narrative forms are appealing and how and why art films use different mental mechanisms than those that support mainstream narrative films, as well as how film evokes images of inner, spiritual life and feelings of realism.Embodied Visions provides a new synthesis in film and media studies and aesthetics that combines cultural history with the long history of the evolution of our embodied brains.
Torben Grodal
- Published in print:
- 2009
- Published Online:
- May 2009
- ISBN:
- 9780195371314
- eISBN:
- 9780199870585
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- Oxford University Press
- DOI:
- 10.1093/acprof:oso/9780195371314.003.0001
- Subject:
- Literature, Film, Media, and Cultural Studies
This chapter advocates an embodied approach to studying the film experience because mind and body is a functional totality, and it argues that film studies and other fields within the humanities ...
More
This chapter advocates an embodied approach to studying the film experience because mind and body is a functional totality, and it argues that film studies and other fields within the humanities would benefit greatly by cooperating with the sciences, especially evolutionary studies and cognitive and neurological science. It describes an approach called bioculturalism that combines scientific research on the embodied human mind with cultural analysis; it further discusses why the neglect of the biological aspects of humans has led to problematic research in film studies and the humanities in general, and some of the reasons that the humanities have been hostile to science and to Darwinism. It discusses how central features of films are molded by emotions and cognitive structures that evolved in prehistoric Pleistocene hunter-gatherer societies, and demonstrates why those social constructionist descriptions of films that take language and discourse as their models miss how basic aspects of the film experience take place in nonlinguistic perceptual, emotional, and muscular parts of the embodied brain. It finally provides an overview of the content of the book.Less
This chapter advocates an embodied approach to studying the film experience because mind and body is a functional totality, and it argues that film studies and other fields within the humanities would benefit greatly by cooperating with the sciences, especially evolutionary studies and cognitive and neurological science. It describes an approach called bioculturalism that combines scientific research on the embodied human mind with cultural analysis; it further discusses why the neglect of the biological aspects of humans has led to problematic research in film studies and the humanities in general, and some of the reasons that the humanities have been hostile to science and to Darwinism. It discusses how central features of films are molded by emotions and cognitive structures that evolved in prehistoric Pleistocene hunter-gatherer societies, and demonstrates why those social constructionist descriptions of films that take language and discourse as their models miss how basic aspects of the film experience take place in nonlinguistic perceptual, emotional, and muscular parts of the embodied brain. It finally provides an overview of the content of the book.
Torben Grodal
- Published in print:
- 2009
- Published Online:
- May 2009
- ISBN:
- 9780195371314
- eISBN:
- 9780199870585
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- Oxford University Press
- DOI:
- 10.1093/acprof:oso/9780195371314.003.0010
- Subject:
- Literature, Film, Media, and Cultural Studies
The chapter analyzes the concepts and modes of representation that characterize films as art and discuss some of the reasons for the limited appeal of “high art” to a mass audience. The main argument ...
More
The chapter analyzes the concepts and modes of representation that characterize films as art and discuss some of the reasons for the limited appeal of “high art” to a mass audience. The main argument is that a key difference between art films and mainstream films rests on the difference between portraying “permanent” as opposed to “transient” meanings. Our basic experiences of the world are transient in the sense that they stem from concrete, present tense interactions with the world, involving a constant PECMA flow. However, not all our experiences are of this kind. Our ability to recall the past and to construct schemas creates fields of more “permanent” meanings, and our ability to produce abstract concepts likewise gives rise to experiences that are beyond the transient level of concrete interaction. High art typically avoids the middle level of concrete (narrative) interaction in order either to evoke abstract and/or subjective permanent meanings, or to activate a “lower” level of perceptual meaning, “style.” Permanent meanings are often felt to exist only in our minds, not in the objective exterior world. Works of high art will therefore appear to us both as “subjective” and as expressing certain permanent, “eternal,” or spiritual meanings.Less
The chapter analyzes the concepts and modes of representation that characterize films as art and discuss some of the reasons for the limited appeal of “high art” to a mass audience. The main argument is that a key difference between art films and mainstream films rests on the difference between portraying “permanent” as opposed to “transient” meanings. Our basic experiences of the world are transient in the sense that they stem from concrete, present tense interactions with the world, involving a constant PECMA flow. However, not all our experiences are of this kind. Our ability to recall the past and to construct schemas creates fields of more “permanent” meanings, and our ability to produce abstract concepts likewise gives rise to experiences that are beyond the transient level of concrete interaction. High art typically avoids the middle level of concrete (narrative) interaction in order either to evoke abstract and/or subjective permanent meanings, or to activate a “lower” level of perceptual meaning, “style.” Permanent meanings are often felt to exist only in our minds, not in the objective exterior world. Works of high art will therefore appear to us both as “subjective” and as expressing certain permanent, “eternal,” or spiritual meanings.
Noël Carroll
- Published in print:
- 2003
- Published Online:
- October 2013
- ISBN:
- 9780300091953
- eISBN:
- 9780300133073
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- Yale University Press
- DOI:
- 10.12987/yale/9780300091953.003.0018
- Subject:
- Society and Culture, Media Studies
This chapter discusses the role played by film theory—or, as its acolytes are apt to say, simply Theory—in the rapid expansion of the film studies institution over the last two decades in the United ...
More
This chapter discusses the role played by film theory—or, as its acolytes are apt to say, simply Theory—in the rapid expansion of the film studies institution over the last two decades in the United States. Universities regarded film studies programs as an economic boon, likely to spur demand and, in this context, Theory, so called, played an economic role in legitimating the formation of film programs. For what went by the name of Theory was surely abstruse enough to convince an uninformed administrator or a hesitant trustee that film studies was at least as complex intellectually as string theory, DNA, or hypotheses about massive parallel processing. Whether it was necessary to enfranchise film studies in this way is an open question. Perhaps market forces alone would have sufficed to establish the institution.Less
This chapter discusses the role played by film theory—or, as its acolytes are apt to say, simply Theory—in the rapid expansion of the film studies institution over the last two decades in the United States. Universities regarded film studies programs as an economic boon, likely to spur demand and, in this context, Theory, so called, played an economic role in legitimating the formation of film programs. For what went by the name of Theory was surely abstruse enough to convince an uninformed administrator or a hesitant trustee that film studies was at least as complex intellectually as string theory, DNA, or hypotheses about massive parallel processing. Whether it was necessary to enfranchise film studies in this way is an open question. Perhaps market forces alone would have sufficed to establish the institution.
Ian Aitken
- Published in print:
- 2006
- Published Online:
- July 2012
- ISBN:
- 9780719070006
- eISBN:
- 9781781700884
- Item type:
- book
- Publisher:
- Manchester University Press
- DOI:
- 10.7228/manchester/9780719070006.001.0001
- Subject:
- Film, Television and Radio, Film
This book embraces studies of cinematic realism and nineteenth-century tradition; the realist film theories of Lukács, Grierson, Bazin and Kracauer; and the relationship of realist film theory to the ...
More
This book embraces studies of cinematic realism and nineteenth-century tradition; the realist film theories of Lukács, Grierson, Bazin and Kracauer; and the relationship of realist film theory to the general field of film theory and philosophy. It attempts a rigorous and systematic application of realist film theory to the analysis of particular films, suggesting new ways forward for a new series of studies in cinematic realism, and for a new form of film theory based on realism. The book stresses the importance of the question of realism both in film studies and in contemporary life.Less
This book embraces studies of cinematic realism and nineteenth-century tradition; the realist film theories of Lukács, Grierson, Bazin and Kracauer; and the relationship of realist film theory to the general field of film theory and philosophy. It attempts a rigorous and systematic application of realist film theory to the analysis of particular films, suggesting new ways forward for a new series of studies in cinematic realism, and for a new form of film theory based on realism. The book stresses the importance of the question of realism both in film studies and in contemporary life.
Jonathan Brant
- Published in print:
- 2012
- Published Online:
- May 2012
- ISBN:
- 9780199639342
- eISBN:
- 9780191738098
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- Oxford University Press
- DOI:
- 10.1093/acprof:oso/9780199639342.003.0002
- Subject:
- Religion, Religion and Society, Theology
This chapter considers the way this project may be located within the burgeoning academic discourse that marries theology or religious studies with film studies and film theory. A survey of writing ...
More
This chapter considers the way this project may be located within the burgeoning academic discourse that marries theology or religious studies with film studies and film theory. A survey of writing on religion and film is presented with the threefold purpose of describing the religion and film discourse; evaluating best practice in the discourse in light of the most common criticisms; and extrapolating from the description and evaluation in order to imagine what kind of research project would be best suited to the development of an account of the possibility of revelation through film. It emerges that such a project is best served by beginning with a strong theoretical account which can then be grounded by engaging directly with actual filmgoers.Less
This chapter considers the way this project may be located within the burgeoning academic discourse that marries theology or religious studies with film studies and film theory. A survey of writing on religion and film is presented with the threefold purpose of describing the religion and film discourse; evaluating best practice in the discourse in light of the most common criticisms; and extrapolating from the description and evaluation in order to imagine what kind of research project would be best suited to the development of an account of the possibility of revelation through film. It emerges that such a project is best served by beginning with a strong theoretical account which can then be grounded by engaging directly with actual filmgoers.
HÉctor Rodriguez
- Published in print:
- 1997
- Published Online:
- October 2011
- ISBN:
- 9780198159216
- eISBN:
- 9780191673566
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- Oxford University Press
- DOI:
- 10.1093/acprof:oso/9780198159216.003.0012
- Subject:
- Literature, Film, Media, and Cultural Studies
This chapter sketches an argument that ideology critique is a species of moral persuasion. There is a moral dimension built into the concept of ideology which is used in critical film theory. ...
More
This chapter sketches an argument that ideology critique is a species of moral persuasion. There is a moral dimension built into the concept of ideology which is used in critical film theory. Ideologies are comprised of false beliefs caused by practices of domination. They are distinct configurations of moral thoughts, emotions, and practices. The chapter cites the argument on false belief on women to criticize the definition of ideology: Those who think that women are irrational have modified the way they see and interact with women. This chapter claims that these assertions do not always function as truth-claims for the person who states them. Proponents of the false consciousness model can say that the argument of this chapter asserts a dubious distinction between fact and value. However, the chatper states that the practice of ideology critique does not necessarily rest on judgments of truth and falsehood.Less
This chapter sketches an argument that ideology critique is a species of moral persuasion. There is a moral dimension built into the concept of ideology which is used in critical film theory. Ideologies are comprised of false beliefs caused by practices of domination. They are distinct configurations of moral thoughts, emotions, and practices. The chapter cites the argument on false belief on women to criticize the definition of ideology: Those who think that women are irrational have modified the way they see and interact with women. This chapter claims that these assertions do not always function as truth-claims for the person who states them. Proponents of the false consciousness model can say that the argument of this chapter asserts a dubious distinction between fact and value. However, the chatper states that the practice of ideology critique does not necessarily rest on judgments of truth and falsehood.
Ian Aitken
- Published in print:
- 2006
- Published Online:
- July 2012
- ISBN:
- 9780719070006
- eISBN:
- 9781781700884
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- Manchester University Press
- DOI:
- 10.7228/manchester/9780719070006.003.0021
- Subject:
- Film, Television and Radio, Film
This chapter highlights that film theory is faced with two related requirements, namely, to extend the range of theoretical perspectives and core concepts available to the discipline, and to connect ...
More
This chapter highlights that film theory is faced with two related requirements, namely, to extend the range of theoretical perspectives and core concepts available to the discipline, and to connect with ideas from other fields. Realist film theory and cinema provide an overview of nineteenth-century Lukácsian and intuitionist realist film theory. The relationship between philosophical realism and film theory needs to be explored further, as the question of realism and the cinema impinges upon other disciplines, including history, the philosophy and psychology of perception, gender theory, linguistics, phenomenology, information science, ethnography, artificial intelligence theory and branches of cognitivist research. The chapter explains that realism can also furnish models of theory and evidence, which may be particularly useful in the field of the documentary film. All of these constitute possible ways forward for future studies of cinematic realism, studies that may eventually come to establish a new paradigm.Less
This chapter highlights that film theory is faced with two related requirements, namely, to extend the range of theoretical perspectives and core concepts available to the discipline, and to connect with ideas from other fields. Realist film theory and cinema provide an overview of nineteenth-century Lukácsian and intuitionist realist film theory. The relationship between philosophical realism and film theory needs to be explored further, as the question of realism and the cinema impinges upon other disciplines, including history, the philosophy and psychology of perception, gender theory, linguistics, phenomenology, information science, ethnography, artificial intelligence theory and branches of cognitivist research. The chapter explains that realism can also furnish models of theory and evidence, which may be particularly useful in the field of the documentary film. All of these constitute possible ways forward for future studies of cinematic realism, studies that may eventually come to establish a new paradigm.
Torben Grodal
- Published in print:
- 2009
- Published Online:
- May 2009
- ISBN:
- 9780195371314
- eISBN:
- 9780199870585
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- Oxford University Press
- DOI:
- 10.1093/acprof:oso/9780195371314.003.0007
- Subject:
- Literature, Film, Media, and Cultural Studies
The introduction to Part II discusses how knowledge of the brain’s processing of information provides crucial insight into central phenomena in visual aesthetics, especially in film aesthetics, and ...
More
The introduction to Part II discusses how knowledge of the brain’s processing of information provides crucial insight into central phenomena in visual aesthetics, especially in film aesthetics, and provides a general theory of film aesthetics. Central is the description of what the author calls the PECMA flow, an abbreviation for perception, emotion, cognition, and motor action, which describes the normal flow of information in real life and when watching film. The chapter analyzes how different types of film input may focus the film experience on different steps/brain regions: abstract film is focused on visual cortex processes, lyrical films on processes in the temporal and parietal cortices, and narrative films on frontal parts of the brain. The chapter analyses how and why these different foci provide different aesthetic experiences. The chapter also discusses how cultural and individual factors may influence and modify the innate biological factors.Less
The introduction to Part II discusses how knowledge of the brain’s processing of information provides crucial insight into central phenomena in visual aesthetics, especially in film aesthetics, and provides a general theory of film aesthetics. Central is the description of what the author calls the PECMA flow, an abbreviation for perception, emotion, cognition, and motor action, which describes the normal flow of information in real life and when watching film. The chapter analyzes how different types of film input may focus the film experience on different steps/brain regions: abstract film is focused on visual cortex processes, lyrical films on processes in the temporal and parietal cortices, and narrative films on frontal parts of the brain. The chapter analyses how and why these different foci provide different aesthetic experiences. The chapter also discusses how cultural and individual factors may influence and modify the innate biological factors.
Martine Beugnet
- Published in print:
- 2007
- Published Online:
- September 2012
- ISBN:
- 9780748620425
- eISBN:
- 9780748670840
- Item type:
- book
- Publisher:
- Edinburgh University Press
- DOI:
- 10.3366/edinburgh/9780748620425.001.0001
- Subject:
- Film, Television and Radio, Film
This book looks at a much-debated phenomenon in contemporary cinema: the re-emergence of filmmaking practices – and, by extension, of theoretical approaches – that give precedence to cinema as the ...
More
This book looks at a much-debated phenomenon in contemporary cinema: the re-emergence of filmmaking practices – and, by extension, of theoretical approaches – that give precedence to cinema as the medium of sensation. France offers an intriguing case in point here. A specific sense of momentum comes from the work of a group of filmmakers bent on exploring cinema's unique capacity to move us both viscerally and intellectually. Though extremely diverse, the films of Olivier Assayas, Catherine Breillat, Claire Denis, Vincent Dieutre, Bruno Dumont, Bertrand Bonello, Philippe Grandrieux, Pascal Ferrand and Nicolas Klotz, to name but a few, demonstrate a characteristic awareness of cinema's sensory impact and transgressive nature. In effect, with its interweaving of theoretical enquiry and film analysis, and its emphasis on the materiality of film, Cinema and Sensation's approach could also apply to the work of comparable filmmakers like David Lynch, Abel Ferrara or Wong Kar-Wai. Cinema and Sensation draws on the writings of Antonin Artaud, George Bataille and Gilles Deleuze, whilst also responding to the continuing interest in theories of haptic visuality (Laura Marks) and embodied spectatorship (Vivian Sobchack) inspired by Maurice Merleau-Ponty's phenomenology.Explored as forms of embodied thought, the films are shown to offer alternative ways of approaching key existential and socio-cultural questions: desire, violence and abjection as well as the growing supremacy of technology, globalisation, exile and exclusion – these are the themes and issues that appear embedded here in the very texture of images and sounds.Less
This book looks at a much-debated phenomenon in contemporary cinema: the re-emergence of filmmaking practices – and, by extension, of theoretical approaches – that give precedence to cinema as the medium of sensation. France offers an intriguing case in point here. A specific sense of momentum comes from the work of a group of filmmakers bent on exploring cinema's unique capacity to move us both viscerally and intellectually. Though extremely diverse, the films of Olivier Assayas, Catherine Breillat, Claire Denis, Vincent Dieutre, Bruno Dumont, Bertrand Bonello, Philippe Grandrieux, Pascal Ferrand and Nicolas Klotz, to name but a few, demonstrate a characteristic awareness of cinema's sensory impact and transgressive nature. In effect, with its interweaving of theoretical enquiry and film analysis, and its emphasis on the materiality of film, Cinema and Sensation's approach could also apply to the work of comparable filmmakers like David Lynch, Abel Ferrara or Wong Kar-Wai. Cinema and Sensation draws on the writings of Antonin Artaud, George Bataille and Gilles Deleuze, whilst also responding to the continuing interest in theories of haptic visuality (Laura Marks) and embodied spectatorship (Vivian Sobchack) inspired by Maurice Merleau-Ponty's phenomenology.Explored as forms of embodied thought, the films are shown to offer alternative ways of approaching key existential and socio-cultural questions: desire, violence and abjection as well as the growing supremacy of technology, globalisation, exile and exclusion – these are the themes and issues that appear embedded here in the very texture of images and sounds.
Torben Grodal
- Published in print:
- 2009
- Published Online:
- May 2009
- ISBN:
- 9780195371314
- eISBN:
- 9780199870585
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- Oxford University Press
- DOI:
- 10.1093/acprof:oso/9780195371314.003.0008
- Subject:
- Literature, Film, Media, and Cultural Studies
The chapter discusses how storytelling represents an innate mental capacity to synthesize an agency’s perceptual input, its emotions, and its output in terms of action. Insight into the architecture ...
More
The chapter discusses how storytelling represents an innate mental capacity to synthesize an agency’s perceptual input, its emotions, and its output in terms of action. Insight into the architecture of the embodied brain and the PECMA flow clarifies how to understand the psychological function of stories and storytelling. The chapter further describes the way that different media—language and oral storytelling, drama, written stories, film, and video games—use different aspects of the mental “storytelling” that characterizes our ordinary experience of daily life and its actions, and it describes the historical development in narrative techniques of representation in different media. It uses this narrative theory to redefine the story-discourse dichotomy, and to argue that film narratives are typically experienced as taking place in a kind of presence, and also discusses the relation between narratives and playing games vital for interactive media. Finally, it discusses the relationship between storytelling interactivity and linearity and shows that there are a number of psychological and motivational reasons that nonlinear storytelling is difficult, and that many so-called nonlinear formats consist in fact of sets of linear stories.</ABS>Less
The chapter discusses how storytelling represents an innate mental capacity to synthesize an agency’s perceptual input, its emotions, and its output in terms of action. Insight into the architecture of the embodied brain and the PECMA flow clarifies how to understand the psychological function of stories and storytelling. The chapter further describes the way that different media—language and oral storytelling, drama, written stories, film, and video games—use different aspects of the mental “storytelling” that characterizes our ordinary experience of daily life and its actions, and it describes the historical development in narrative techniques of representation in different media. It uses this narrative theory to redefine the story-discourse dichotomy, and to argue that film narratives are typically experienced as taking place in a kind of presence, and also discusses the relation between narratives and playing games vital for interactive media. Finally, it discusses the relationship between storytelling interactivity and linearity and shows that there are a number of psychological and motivational reasons that nonlinear storytelling is difficult, and that many so-called nonlinear formats consist in fact of sets of linear stories.</ABS>
Ian Aitken
- Published in print:
- 2006
- Published Online:
- July 2012
- ISBN:
- 9780719070006
- eISBN:
- 9781781700884
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- Manchester University Press
- DOI:
- 10.7228/manchester/9780719070006.003.0020
- Subject:
- Film, Television and Radio, Film
This chapter deals with the key themes of nineteenth-century realism and of Lukács's model of cinematic realism, establishing central themes and characteristics of an intuitionist-realist model of ...
More
This chapter deals with the key themes of nineteenth-century realism and of Lukács's model of cinematic realism, establishing central themes and characteristics of an intuitionist-realist model of cinematic realism. The focus is on identifying distinctive features of the intuitionist and Lukácsian cinematic realism, and on relating these realist traditions to more general philosophical concerns of realism, and to other forms of contemporary film theory. The chapter assesses the significance of the nineteenth-century Lukácsian and intuitionist-realist traditions in relation to the general and pressing question of the importance of realism by suggesting ways forward for the further development of studies into theories and practices of cinematic realism.Less
This chapter deals with the key themes of nineteenth-century realism and of Lukács's model of cinematic realism, establishing central themes and characteristics of an intuitionist-realist model of cinematic realism. The focus is on identifying distinctive features of the intuitionist and Lukácsian cinematic realism, and on relating these realist traditions to more general philosophical concerns of realism, and to other forms of contemporary film theory. The chapter assesses the significance of the nineteenth-century Lukácsian and intuitionist-realist traditions in relation to the general and pressing question of the importance of realism by suggesting ways forward for the further development of studies into theories and practices of cinematic realism.
Torben Grodal
- Published in print:
- 1999
- Published Online:
- October 2011
- ISBN:
- 9780198159834
- eISBN:
- 9780191673719
- Item type:
- book
- Publisher:
- Oxford University Press
- DOI:
- 10.1093/acprof:oso/9780198159834.001.0001
- Subject:
- Literature, Film, Media, and Cultural Studies
This book is a bold theoretical account of the role of emotions and cognition in producing the aesthetic effects of film and television genres. It argues that film genres are mental structures that ...
More
This book is a bold theoretical account of the role of emotions and cognition in producing the aesthetic effects of film and television genres. It argues that film genres are mental structures that integrate sensations, emotions, and actions, activating the viewer's body and mind. Using recent developments in neuroscience and cognitive science, in combination with narrative theory and film theory, the author provides an alternative account to that offered by psychoanalysis explaining identification and the correlation of viewer reaction with specific film genres. The book concludes with an analysis of the emotional structures of comic fiction, metafiction, crime fiction, horror, and melodrama. It is unique in describing a wide range of problems and issues within film studies, from a cognitive, neurophysiological, and ecological point of view.Less
This book is a bold theoretical account of the role of emotions and cognition in producing the aesthetic effects of film and television genres. It argues that film genres are mental structures that integrate sensations, emotions, and actions, activating the viewer's body and mind. Using recent developments in neuroscience and cognitive science, in combination with narrative theory and film theory, the author provides an alternative account to that offered by psychoanalysis explaining identification and the correlation of viewer reaction with specific film genres. The book concludes with an analysis of the emotional structures of comic fiction, metafiction, crime fiction, horror, and melodrama. It is unique in describing a wide range of problems and issues within film studies, from a cognitive, neurophysiological, and ecological point of view.
Noël Carroll
- Published in print:
- 2003
- Published Online:
- October 2013
- ISBN:
- 9780300091953
- eISBN:
- 9780300133073
- Item type:
- book
- Publisher:
- Yale University Press
- DOI:
- 10.12987/yale/9780300091953.001.0001
- Subject:
- Society and Culture, Media Studies
This collection of essays discusses topics in philosophy, film theory, and film criticism. Drawing on concepts from cognitive psychology and analytic philosophy, the author examines a wide range of ...
More
This collection of essays discusses topics in philosophy, film theory, and film criticism. Drawing on concepts from cognitive psychology and analytic philosophy, the author examines a wide range of topics. These include film attention, the emotional address of the moving image, film and racism, the nature and epistemology of documentary film, the moral status of television, the concept of film style, the foundations of film evaluation, the film theory of Siegfried Kracauer, the ideology of the professional western, and films by Sergei Eisenstein and Yvonne Rainer. The author also assesses the state of contemporary film theory and speculates on its prospects.Less
This collection of essays discusses topics in philosophy, film theory, and film criticism. Drawing on concepts from cognitive psychology and analytic philosophy, the author examines a wide range of topics. These include film attention, the emotional address of the moving image, film and racism, the nature and epistemology of documentary film, the moral status of television, the concept of film style, the foundations of film evaluation, the film theory of Siegfried Kracauer, the ideology of the professional western, and films by Sergei Eisenstein and Yvonne Rainer. The author also assesses the state of contemporary film theory and speculates on its prospects.
Barbara M. Kennedy
- Published in print:
- 2000
- Published Online:
- March 2012
- ISBN:
- 9780748611348
- eISBN:
- 9780748652310
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- Edinburgh University Press
- DOI:
- 10.3366/edinburgh/9780748611348.003.0002
- Subject:
- Philosophy, Aesthetics
This chapter is a preparatory and basic foregrounding of the origins of the significance of desire and pleasure in film theory. It explores how and why subjectivity was relevant to film theory and ...
More
This chapter is a preparatory and basic foregrounding of the origins of the significance of desire and pleasure in film theory. It explores how and why subjectivity was relevant to film theory and presents a short account of the role of subjectivity in cinepsychoanalysis and the intervention of feminist film theory. The chapter describes newer approaches to theorising the cinematic encounter and discusses Gilles Deleuze's concepts of pleasure, sensation, and a becoming-woman of the cinematic.Less
This chapter is a preparatory and basic foregrounding of the origins of the significance of desire and pleasure in film theory. It explores how and why subjectivity was relevant to film theory and presents a short account of the role of subjectivity in cinepsychoanalysis and the intervention of feminist film theory. The chapter describes newer approaches to theorising the cinematic encounter and discusses Gilles Deleuze's concepts of pleasure, sensation, and a becoming-woman of the cinematic.
