107-133 Introduction to Film Theory

Formerly available as 107-074. Students who have completed 107-074 are not eligible to enrol in this subject. Formerly available as 111-111. Students who have completed 111-111 Introduction to Cinema B are not eligible to enrol in this subject.

This subject explores key developments in film theory from the modern to postmodern period. Using authorship as a framework, it will explore the following topics: the avant-garde, psychoanalysis, feminism, postmodernism, queer and postcolonial theory. Emphasis will be on the way in which film theory has developed from the 1970s to the present in response to social and cultural change. Films will be analysed from the viewpoint of different theoretical positions to demonstrate the relative nature of criticism. Selected films by the following directors will be studied: Alfred Hitchcock, Martin Scorsese, Neil Jordan, Peter Greenaway and David Cronenberg, Kathryn Bigelow. Students should complete the subject with a knowledge and understanding of key developments in film theory, including a sense that theory itself is ideological, and be able to recognise the role of the auteur in the creation of a work of art.

A class paper, an essay and a take-home examination totalling 4000 words.

A subject reader will be available.