Synopses & Reviews
Todayandrsquo;s film scholars draw from a dizzying range of theoretical perspectivesandmdash;theyandrsquo;re just as likely to cite philosopher Gilles Deleuze as they are to quote classic film theorist Andrandeacute; Bazin. To students first encountering them, these theoretical lenses for viewing film can seem exhilarating, but also overwhelming.
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Thinking in the Dark introduces readers to twenty-one key theorists whose work has made a great impact on film scholarship today, including Rudolf Arnheim, Sergei Eisenstein, Michel Foucault, Siegfried Kracauer, and Judith Butler. Rather than just discussing each theoristandrsquo;s ideas in the abstract, the book shows how those concepts might be applied when interpreting specific films by including an analysis of both a classic film and a contemporary one. It thus demonstrates how theory can help us better appreciate films from all eras and genres: from Hugo to Vertigo, from City Lights to Sunset Blvd., and from Young Mr. Lincoln to A.I. and Wall-E.
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The volumeandrsquo;s contributors are all experts on their chosen theoristandrsquo;s work and, furthermore, are skilled at explaining that thinkerandrsquo;s key ideas and terms to readers who are not yet familiar with them. Thinking in the Dark is not only a valuable resource for teachers and students of film, itandrsquo;s also a fun read, one that teaches us all how to view familiar films through new eyes.and#160;
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Theorists examined in this volume are: Rudolf Arnheim, Bandeacute;la Balandaacute;zs, Roland Barthes, Andrandeacute; Bazin, Walter Benjamin, Judith Butler, Stanley Cavell, Michel Chion, Gilles Deleuze, Jean Douchet, Sergei Eisenstein, Jean Epstein, Michel Foucault, Siegfried Kracauer, Jacques Lacan, Vachel Lindsay, Christian Metz, Hugo Manduuml;nsterberg, V. F. Perkins, Jacques Ranciandegrave;re, and Jean Rouch.
Review
andldquo;In lucid and insightful essays, prominent film scholars discuss a major film or cultural theorist and apply the theory to cinematic texts. Refreshingly, the choice of films considered veers away from the most obvious to those that are excitingly offbeat.andrdquo;
Synopsis
What is most important about cinema is that we are alive with it. For all its dramatic, literary, political, sociological, and philosophical weight, film is ultimately an art that provokes, touches, and riddles the viewer through an image that transcends narrative and theory. In The Horse Who Drank the Sky, Murray Pomerance brings attention to the visceral dimension of movies and presents a new and unanticipated way of thinking about what happens when we watch them.
Synopsis
Thinking in the Dark introduces readers to twenty-one key theorists whose work has made the greatest impact on film scholarship today, including everyone from Sergei Eisenstein to Michel Foucault, from Judith Butler to Andrandeacute; Bazin. Each chapter is written by an expert who explains a different theoristandrsquo;s key ideas, then gives concrete examples of how they might be applied to both a classic film and a contemporary one. Ideal for teachers and students of film as well as contemporary and modern philosophy, critical theory and semotics, also of interest to the general reader exploring such topics.
About the Author
MURRAY POMERANCE is a professor in the department of sociology at Ryerson University in Toronto, Canada. Among his many books are
The Eyes Have It: Cinema and the Reality Effect (Rutgers University Press),
Marnie, and
Alfred Hitchcockandrsquo;s America.and#160;
R. BARTON PALMER is the Calhoun Lemon Professor of Literature and the director of film studies at Clemson University, Clemson, South Carolina. The author, editor, or general editor of over sixty books, including Larger Than Life: Movie Stars of the 1950s and Shot on Location: Postwar Hollywoodandrsquo;s Exploration of Real Place (both Rutgers University Press).and#160;