Reality Transformed: Film and Meaning and Technique [Paperback]

Irving Singer (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: August 28, 2000 | ISBN-10: 0262692481 | ISBN-13: 978-0262692489

In Reality Transformed Irving Singer offers a new approach to the philosophy of film. Returning to the classical debate between realists and formalists, he shows how the opposing positions may be harmonized and united. Singer concentrates on questions about appearance and reality, the visual and the literary, and the interplay between communication as a goal and alienation as a hazard in films of every sort. In three exemplary chapters, he provides suggestive readings of Woody Allen's The Purple Rose of Cairo, Luchino Visconti's Death in Venice, and Jean Renoir's The Rules of the Game. Reality Transformed will interest the general reader as well as students in all fields related to film studies.

Editorial Reviews

From Library Journal

Singer (philosophy, MIT) returns to the classic debate between realist and formalist theories of film to posit that a union of the two is required. To the realist, film is a recording of the reality of the physical world, and finding the best method of capturing reality on film is the ultimate goal. For the formalist, film becomes art through the techniques used to transform reality for aesthetic purposes. But to Singer, techniques matter only for the meanings they generate with the audience; a film audience sees the world and its reality shaped by the technical maneuvers of the filmmaker to convey his conception. Singer illustrates his theory and addresses other ideas about film with discussions of Woody Allen's The Purple Rose of Cairo, Jean Renoir's The Rules of the Game, and Luchino Visconti's Death in Venice. This well-argued and well-written essay is recommended for academic collections.?Marianne Cawley, Charleston Cty. Lib., SC
Copyright 1998 Reed Business Information, Inc. --This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.

Review

"There has been a traditional split in film studiesbetween the Bazinians and the Eisensteinians—those who believe themedium has a special aptitude for reality and those who would stress itspurely formal and autonomous characteristics. This soberly argued bookattempts to make peace using philosophical humanism. Taking as hispremise the currently unfashionable idea that narrative cinema hassomething to do with life, Singer demonstrates how it transforms ourcommon experience into art." Sight & Sound

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Product Details

• Paperback: 230 pages
• Publisher: The MIT Press (August 28, 2000)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0262692481
• ISBN-13: 978-0262692489
• Product Dimensions: 8.7 x 5.6 x 0.5 inches
• Shipping Weight: 11.2 ounces
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #584,882 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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