Thomas Elsaesser

Malte Hagener

What is the relationship between the cinema and the spectator? Renowned film scholars Thomas Elsaesser and Malte Hagener use this central question for film theory in order to guide students through all of the major film theories-from the classical period to today-in this brief, insightful, and engaging book. Every kind of cinema (and every kind of film theory) presupposes an ideal spectator, and then imagines a certain relationship between the mind and body of that spectator and the screen. Using seven distinctive configurations of spectator and screen that move from "exterior" to "interior" relationships, the authors retrace the most important stages of film theory from the 1920s onwards, with special attention paid to theories since 1945, from neo-realist and modernist theories to psychoanalytic, apparatus, phenomenological, and cognitivist theories, while also offering an incisive extension of film theory through the senses into the digital age. Each chapter opens with a paradigmatic scene from a well-known film to introduce key concepts, and outlines the major schools of thought and theorists attached to a particular film theory. The films discussed combine classics of cinema such as Rear Window and The Searchers with contemporary films including Donnie Darko and Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind. Film stills throughout provide a visual key to unlock challenging theoretical concepts.

An Introduction Through the Senses

Film Theory

What is the relationship between cinema and spectator? This is the key question for film theory, and one that Thomas Elsaesser and Malte Hagener put at the center of their insightful and engaging book, now revised from its popular first edition. Every kind of cinema (and every film theory) first imagines an ideal spectator, and then maps certain dynamic interactions between the screen and the spectator’s mind, body and senses. Using seven distinctive configurations of spectator and screen that move progressively from ‘exterior’ to ‘interior’ relationships, the authors retrace the most important stages of film theory from its beginnings to the present—from neo-realist and modernist theories to psychoanalytic, ‘apparatus,’ phenomenological and cognitivist theories, and including recent cross-overs with philosophy and neurology. This new and updated edition of Film Theory: An Introduction through the Senses has been extensively revised and rewritten throughout, incorporating discussion of contemporary films like Her and Gravity, and including a greatly expanded final chapter, which brings film theory fully into the digital age.

An Introduction through the Senses

Between the two world wars, a distinct and vibrant film culture emerged in Europe. Film festivals and schools were established; film theory and history was written that took cinema seriously as an art form; and critical writing that created the film canon flourished. This scene was decidedly transnational and creative, overcoming traditional boundaries between theory and practice, and between national and linguistic borders. This new European film culture established film as a valid form of social expression, as an art form, and as a political force to be reckoned with. By examining the extraordinarily rich and creative uses of cinema in the interwar period, we can examine the roots of film culture as we know it today.

Knowledge Production, Institution Building, and the Fate of the Avant-garde in Europe, 1919-1945

The Emergence of Film Culture

What is the relationship between cinema and spectator? That is the central question for film theory, and renowned film scholars Thomas Elsaesser and Malte Hagener use this question to guide students through all of the major film theories – from the classical period to today – in this insightful, engaging book. Every kind of cinema (and film theory) imagines an ideal spectator, and then imagines a certain relationship between the mind and body of that spectator and the screen. Using seven distinctive configurations of spectator and screen that move progressively from ‘exterior’ to ‘interior’ relationships, the authors retrace the most important stages of film theory from 1945 to the present, from neo-realist and modernist theories to psychoanalytic, ‘apparatus’, phenomenological and cognitivist theories.

Marijke de Valck

They obsess over the nuances of a Douglas Sirk or Ingmar Bergman film; they revel in books such as François Truffaut's Hitchcock; they happily subscribe to the Sundance Channel—they are the rare breed known as cinephiles. Though much has been made of the classic era of cinephilia from the 1950s to the 1970s, Cinephilia documents the latest generation of cinephiles and their use of new technologies. With the advent of home theaters, digital recording devices, online film communities, cinephiles today pursue their dedication to film outside of institutional settings. A radical new history of film culture, Cinephilia breaks new ground for students and scholars alike.

Movies, Love and Memory

Cinephilia

This book, the first full critical overview of the film avant-garde, ushers in a new approach—and in the process creates its own subject. While many books have studied particular aspects of the European film avant-garde of the 1920s and 1930s, Moving Forward, Looking Back provides a much-needed summary of the theory and practice of the movement, while also emphasizing aspects of the period that have been overlooked. Arguing that a European perspective is the only way to understand the transnational movement, the book also pioneers a new approach to the alternative cinema network that sustained the avant-garde, paying particular attention to the emergence of film culture as visible in screening clubs, film festivals, and archives. It will be essential to anyone interested in the influential movement and the film culture it created.

The European Avant-garde and the Invention of Film Culture, 1919-1939

Moving Forward, Looking Back

Volker Pantenburg

Bewegte Bilder begegnen uns heute jederzeit und überall – umso wichtiger ist es, die filmwissenschaftlichen Erkenntnisse auf dem Gebiet der Filmanalyse zu sammeln, zu systematisieren und kritisch zu evaluieren. Dieses Handbuch erschließt das Feld in ca. 30 Beiträgen auf dem aktuellen Stand der Ansätze, Praktiken und Debatten.

Handbuch Filmanalyse

Vinzenz Hediger

Unsere schnelllebige Medienkultur wurde von der Medienpädagogik bislang vor allem als Quelle sozialer Probleme behandelt. Die Autorinnen und Autoren, u.a. Alain Bergala, Henry Jenkins und Martin Seel, öffnen den Blick auf eine Medienbildung, der nicht nur eine sozialpädagogische Aufgabe zukommt, sondern auch eine ästhetisch-künstlerische. Sie entwerfen eine Programmatik der ästhetischen Erziehung, die zum Ziel hat, das Wahrnehmungsund Urteilsvermögen der Menschen in der neuen Medienkultur zu schulen.

Ästhetische Erziehung im Zeitalter digitaler Netzwerke

Medienkultur und Bildung

Michael Töteberg

Kommentierte Bibliografie. Sie gibt Wissenschaftlern, Studierenden und Journalisten zuverlässig Auskunft über rund 6000 internationale Veröffentlichungen zum Thema Film und Medien. Die vorgestellten Rubriken reichen von Nachschlagewerk über Filmgeschichte bis hin zu Fernsehen, Video, Multimedia.

Malte Hagener

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