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The Oxford Handbook of Film Theory narrows in on the subject of film, not with a nostalgic sensibility, but with the recognition that what constitutes a film is historically contingent and in dialogue with the vicissitudes of entertainment, art, and empire. Essays topics include (but are not limited to) audiovisuality, silent cinema, psychoanalytic film theory, affect theory, critical race theory, and the male gaze.
List of contents
- Introduction: The Very Thought of Theory
- Kyle Stevens
- Section I: Meta-theory
- Chapter 1
- A Machine for Killing Time
- Tom Gunning
- Chapter 2
- Interested and Disinterested Judgments: Film Theory and the Valences of the Aesthetic
- Daniel Morgan
- Chapter 3
- Moral Philosophy and the Moving Image
- Brian Price
- Chapter 4
- Film
- Video
- Essay
- Domietta Torlasco
- Chapter 5
- The Medium Matters! In Defense of Medium-Specificity in Classical Film Theory
- Malcolm Turvey
- Chapter 6
- In Defense of Psychoanalytic Film Theory
- Damon R. Young
- Section II: Film Theory's Project of Emancipation
- Chapter 7
- Film Theory as Ideology Critique (After Trump)
- Nico Baumbach
- Chapter 8
- Buddhism and Film Theory: Beyond a Legacy
- Victor Fan
- Chapter 9
- Feminist Film Theory on the Brink of Laughter
- Maggie Hennefeld
- Chapter 10
- Theory for the Masses; or, Toward a Vernacular Criticism
- Noah Isenberg
- Chapter 11
- "The Fold of Old Wounds": Daughters of the Dust, Eve's Bayou, and Mississippi Damned as Cinematic Black Feminist Theory
- Kara Keeling
- Section III: Apparatus and Perception
- Chapter 12
- Lesbian Photographers: Affect and Cinematic Self-Discovery
- Marta Figlerowicz
- Chapter 13
- Notes on Some Forms of Repetition
- Homay King
- Chapter 14
- Empiricism and Film Theory: On the Moviola's Political Ontology
- Davide Panagia
- Chapter 15
- Film Theory and Machine Vision
- Antonio Somaini
- Chapter 16
- Headphones, Cinematic Listening, and the Frame of the Skull
- Kyle Stevens
- Section IV: Audiovisuality
- Chapter 17
- The Audio-Visual Non-relation and the Digital Break
- Luka Arsenjuk
- Chapter 18
- The composer of musique concrète wields a camera
- Michel Chion
- Translated by Claudia Gorbman
- Chapter 19
- The Many Bodies of the Dancer-Actress: Towards A Kinesics of Film Acting
- Usha Iyer
- Chapter 20
- Documentary Listening Habits: From Voice to Audibility
- Pooja Rangan
- Chapter 21
- Audiovisual Rhythm and its Spectator: Moonlight as Example
- Rick Warner
- Section V: How Close is Close Reading?
- Chapter 22
- Contesting the White Gaze: Black Film and Post-Cinematic Spectatorship
- Caetlin Benson-Allott
- Chapter 23
- In Other Words: Film and the Spider Web of Description
- Timothy Corrigan
- Chapter 24
- Women's Hands and the Cinematic Cut: The Work of Montage in Man With a Movie Camera, Klute, and The Piano
- David Gerstner
- Chapter 25
- Standing Up Too Close or Back Too Far? A Slanted History of Close Film Analysis
- Adrian Martin
- Chapter 26
- On Fire: When Fashion Meets Cinema
- Marketa Uhlirova
- Chapter 27
- When and Where Does a Film Begin? Putting Films in Context
- Amy Villarejo
- Section VI: The Turn to Experience
- Chapter 28
- The Affective Turnabout's Fair Play
- Sarah Keller
- Chapter 29
- An Invention With a Future: Collective Viewing, Joint Deep Attention, and the ongoing Value of the Cinema
- Julian Hanich
- Chapter 30
- Those Who Have: The Impersonality of Film Theory
- John David Rhodes
- Chapter 31
- On the Impersonality of Experience: Psychoanalysis, Interiority, and the Turn to Affect
- Scott Richmond
- Chapter 32
- Cinematic Experience: From Moving Images to Virtual Reality
- Robert Sinnerbrink
About the author
Kyle Stevens is the author of Mike Nichols: Sex, Language, and the Reinvention of Psychological Realism. His work has appeared in Critical Inquiry, Cultural Critique, Journal of Cinema and Media Studies, Adaptation, Critical Quarterly, New Review of Film and Television Studies, World Picture, and several edited collections.
Summary
Despite changes in the media landscape, film remains a vital force in contemporary culture, as do our ideas of what "a movie" or "the cinematic" are. Indeed, we might say that the category of film now only exists in theory. Whereas film-theoretical discussion at the turn of the 21st century was preoccupied, understandably, by digital technology's permeation of virtually all aspects of the film object, this volume moves the conversation away from a focus on film's materiality towards timely questions concerning the ethics, politics, and even aesthetics of thinking about the medium of cinema. To put it another way, this collection narrows in on the subject of film, not with a nostalgic sensibility, but with the recognition that what constitutes a film is historically contingent, in dialogue with the vicissitudes of entertainment, art, and empire. The volume is divided into six sections: Meta-Theory; Film Theory's Project of Emancipation; Apparatus and Perception; Audiovisuality; How Close is Close Reading?; and The Turn to Experience.
Additional text
Clearly shows the purpose and value of film theory, beginning with classical, formative discussions and entering contemporary debates, not only proving theory's lasting relevance but also possibility for continued sustainability. Volumes like Stevens' reinvigorate the discipline, for sure.
