Film Studies

In a variety of ways, the essays collected here--representing the work of some of the most innovative theorists writing today--challenge this paradigm. Significantly expanded from a special issue of South Atlantic Quarterly (Spring 1989), these essays confront the extent to which formalism has continued to dominate film theory, reexamine the role of melodrama in cinematic development, revise notions of "patriarchal cinema," and assert the importance of television and video to cinema studies. A range of topics are discussed, from the films of D. W. Griffith to sexuality in avant-garde film to television's Dynasty. Contributors. Rick Altman, Richard Dienst, Jane Feuer, Jane Gaines, Christine Gledhill, Miriam Hansen, Norman N. Holland, Fredric Jameson, Bill Nichols, Janey Staiger, Chris Straayer, John O. Thompson

A remarkable continuation of Dudley Andrew's classic, The Major Film Theories, this work focuses on the key concepts in film study: perception, representation, signification, narrative structure, adaptation, evaluation, identification, figuration, and interpretation. Beginning with a lucidintroductory chapter on the current state of film theory, Andrew goes on to build an overall view of film, presenting his own ideas on each concept, and giving a sense of the interdependence of these concepts. By providing lively explanations of theories that involve perceptual psychology andstructuralism, semiotics and psychoanalysis, hermeneutics and genre study, Andrew offers unique observations on these often obscure topics, allowing readers to acquire the background they need to enrich their understanding of film--and of art.

Embracing groundbreaking approaches without ignoring the history of classical film theory, Critical Visions in Film Theory encompasses the broader, more inclusive perspective of film theory today, focusing on topics such as race, gender and sexuality, and new media.

Hollywood's depiction of gays and lesbians has almost always been stereotypical, from the extremely effeminate characters portrayed by Franklin Pangborn, Eric Blore and Grady Sutton in the 1930s to the gay characters in To Be or Not to Be (1983) and Torch Song Trilogy (1988). A contrasting depiction--the homicidal homosexual--has been the basis for such popular films as Looking for Mr. Goodbar (1977).This comprehensive filmography to homosexual characters in mainstream movies, 1914-1992, includes full cast and credits, production information, reviews, and an analysis of the film with an essay blending critical commentary and a synopsis of each film.

This new edition brings into English for the first time all of the essays in the groundbreaking Mythologies by French semiotician and critic Barthes, translated by the redoubtable Howard (Flowers of Evil), and joins them with Lavers's earlier translation of Barthes's accompanying analytical essay, "Myth Today." Barthes examined mass culture, its ads and hidden or disguised messages, its icons and politics, its desperate speed in the mid-1950s. With several exceptions, these pensées are in delectable, bite-sized pieces.

By considering the screenplay as a literary object worthy of critical inquiry, this volume breaks new ground in film studies. Though the history of the screenplay is as long and rich as the history of film itself, critics and scholars have neglected it as a topic of serious research. Script Culture and the American Screenplay treats the screenplay as a literary work in its own right, presenting analyses of screenplays from a variety of frameworks, including feminism, Marxism, structuralism, philosophy, and psychology.

André Bazin's What Is Cinema? (volumes I and II) have been classics of film studies for as long as they've been available and are considered the gold standard in the field of film criticism. Although Bazin made no films, his name has been one of the most important in French cinema since World War II. He was co-founder of the influential Cahiers du Cinéma, which under his leadership became one of the world's most distinguished publications.