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Film Theory and Criticism: Introductory Readings [Paperback]

Leo Braudy (Editor), Marshall Cohen (Editor)
4.6 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (5 customer reviews)


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Book Description

March 11, 2004 0195158172 978-0195158175 6th
Since publication of the first edition in 1974, Film Theory and Criticism has been the most widely used and cited anthology of critical writings about film. Extensively revised and updated, this sixth edition highlights both classic texts and cutting edge essays from more than a century of thought and writing about the movies. Editors Leo Braudy and Marshall Cohen have reformulated the book's sections and their introductions in order to lead students into a rich understanding of what the movies have accomplished, both as individual works and as contributions to what has been called "the art form of the twentieth [and now twenty-first] century." Building upon the wide range of selections and the extensive historical coverage that marked previous editions, this new compilation stretches from the earliest attempts to define the cinema to the most recent efforts to place film in the contexts of psychology, sociology, and philosophy, and to explore issues of gender and race.
The sixth edition features several new essays that discuss the impact of digital technology on the traditional conceptions of what films do and how they manage to do it. Additional selections from the important works of Gilles Deleuze round out sections dealing with the theories of such writers as Sergei Eisenstein, Andr� Bazin, and Christian Metz, among others. New essays also strengthen sections dealing with the idea of "excess" in film, film spectatorship, the horror genre, and feminist criticism. Film Theory and Criticism, 6/e, is ideal for undergraduate and graduate courses in film theory and criticism.

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Editorial Reviews

Review

(on previous editions) "Essential reading for the serious film student."--Jerry Allen White, University of Oklahoma

"An excellent introductory survey text, offering key essays in film theory and criticism for the beginning student. . . . A superb text in every respect; well annotated and authoritative."--Wheeler Winston Dixon, University of Nebraska

About the Author

Leo Braudy and Marshall Cohen are both at the University of Southern California.

Product Details

  • Paperback: 960 pages
  • Publisher: Oxford University Press, USA; 6th edition (March 11, 2004)
  • Language: English
  • ISBN-10: 0195158172
  • ISBN-13: 978-0195158175
  • Product Dimensions: 9.1 x 6.1 x 1.7 inches
  • Shipping Weight: 3 pounds
  • Average Customer Review: 4.6 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (5 customer reviews)
  • Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #311,337 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

 

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10 of 10 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars Absolutely essential for any serious film student., November 11, 2007
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This review is from: Film Theory and Criticism: Introductory Readings (Paperback)
If you're looking to get into film studies, this is THE essential anthology to buy. I've seen pretty much every major anthology of film theory out right now and this is without a doubt the most comprehensive of the lot.

First, a word of warning: one review indicates that the essays are difficult and this is very true. "Introductory Readings" is slightly misleading because this collection isn't aimed at someone completely new to the field. Some of these essays (particularly those by Metz and Deleuze) assume quite a bit of knowledge on topics such as Lacanian psychoanalytic theory and postmodern critical theory. It's really not a "film appreciation guide" in any way. Those are out there and they're great at what they do, but this is different. It's a collection on some of the most important theoretical essays in the field.

It's now in the 6th edition and there are a fair amount of new essays. I'm not sure that it's worth upgrading if you have a recent edition though. I definitely wouldn't discard your 5th edition, as this edition drops at least three or four essays in favor of newer ones.

A couple things are noteworthy: first, there is now a presence of Deleuze, an omission that seemed curious until now. Second, there is a wider range of ideas now. The best example is Jeff Sconce's article on new critical approaches to exploitation cinema. I always felt this collection slightly favored historic theoretical works (e.g. Eisenstein, Pudovkin) over newer approaches, but the inclusion of writers such as Sconce help to balance the collection out.

I can't recommend this collection highly enough. There is a very good reason that every intro to film theory course uses this anathology. No serious film student should be without this.
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1 of 1 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars Wading in the Quicksand, December 23, 2008
This review is from: Film Theory and Criticism: Introductory Readings (Paperback)
First of all, if you are purchasing this book here is a great probability that someone required you to read it. Just as a warning, THIS BOOK IS VERY HARD TO READ!!!

The translations is difficult and sometimes you are completely confused. However the content is amazing. If you take the time to watch the films being discussed and or the films by the authors the words come alive and there is depth and understanding of the medium that we all enjoy.

I was required to read this for a MFA English course and I would have never read it otherwise. Now I recommend the book and several of the articles on a regular basis.

One note, check with your professor to see if you must order the latest edition. The previous editions are sometimes adequate and significantly less cost.
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1 of 1 people found the following review helpful:
4.0 out of 5 stars Good Collection, April 28, 2008
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This review is from: Film Theory and Criticism: Introductory Readings (Paperback)
This is a good source for any student of film studies to have laying around, as it'll save you the trouble of checking out 7+ books from the library to get just a few of the essays featured in here. All of them are important, influential pieces that are a must-read to have a foundation in the ongoing film theory debates. Not a beginner text, by any means, but certainly an excellent resource and a comprehensive starting point for theory essays.
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Inside This Book (learn more)
First Sentence:
Because films embody, communicate, enforce, and suggest meanings, film theorists often suggested that film constitutes a language, a "visual esperanto." Read the first page
Key Phrases - Statistically Improbable Phrases (SIPs): (learn more)
paracinematic audience, implied filmmaker, paracinematic culture, specificity thesis, cinematic narrator, large syntagmatic category, individual genre films, subsidiary circulation, enframed image, filmic narrator, contemporary film theorists, bracket syntagma, filmic field, descriptive syntagma, dream apparatus, filmic message, generic corpus, parallel syntagma, single diegesis, cinematographic language, nondiegetic music, primitive narcissism, regressive mechanism, syntagmatic types, autonomous shot
Key Phrases - Capitalized Phrases (CAPs): (learn more)
New York, Indiana University Press, Uncle Charlie, Rear Window, Third World, Christian Metz, Joan Crawford, Jean Renoir, Little Colonel, John Ford, Jurassic Park, Roland Barthes, Cary Grant, Howard Hawks, Stephen Heath, United States, University of California Press, David Bordwell, Mary Ann Doane, Jean-Louis Baudry, World War, Oxford University Press, Robin Wood, Shall We Dance, Citizen Kane
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