Introduction to Film Theory and Criticism
Cinema has been claimed by a wide range of critical thinkers as a unique medium capable of a wide range of specific effects; simultaneously, it has functioned as a lightning rod for multiple concerns about contemporary life throughout its existence. This course is designed to familiarize you with a number of these different ways of thinking about cinema. That is, whereas in a “Film Aesthetics” class you examine basic aspects of film language—montage, mise-en-scène, depth of focus, etc.—and in a “Film History” class you study basic historical developments that impacted the evolution of cinema, in this course we study cinema on a more conceptual (read: theoretical or philosophical) level. This course, therefore, studies an array of film theories from throughout the twentieth century in order to consider what cinema is and has been as an aesthetic and cultural practice, and what people have imagined it could be. In a sense, we will find ourselves constantly recalling one of cinema’s earliest great theoreticians, Béla Balász, who wrote, “No art has ever become great without theory.” Regardless of the claim’s ultimate veracity, throughout this semester we’ll ask what different modes of engaging various theoretical issues contribute to our understanding of and ability to respond to cinema.
Theorists disussed: