ENGL 382-01, Film Theory, Spring 2010

Abstract

This course provides a comprehensive history of film theory as it has developed over the "century of cinema." We will begin with classical film theorists, such as Rudolf Arnheim, Sergei Eisenstein, and André Bazin, evaluating their twin concerns of cinema's relation to reality and its status as art. Then, we will direct our attention to writers who challenged the classical tradition and destabilized the meaning of such terms as art, nature, reality, illusion, author, work, and artist. Assessing the semiotic turn in film theory, we will analyze the influence of new interpretive approaches, such as psychoanalysis, feminism, and critical race theory. Finally, we will focus on the latest developments in contemporary film theory, tracing in particular the role 2 of globalization and digitization. We will end by reflecting on the future of film and film theory in an age of new media. While more or less chronological, the course does not present the evolution of film theory merely as a linear progression of ideas and movements. International in scope, our study of films and film theories will stress the links between developments in cinematic thought, from France and the United States to Russia, Italy, and Japan to Latin America, Africa, and India.