107-421 Contemporary Film Theory

Formerly available as 107-096. Students who have completed 107-096 are not eligible to enrol in this subject.

Admission to the postgraduate diploma or fourth-year honours in cinema studies, see Honours entry.

This subject will examine the development of contemporary film theory of the post-1968 period. Students will be expected to critically evaluate the significance and applicability of some of the following theoretical approaches: formalism and structuralism; apparatus theory; feminist film theory and spectatorship; Lacanian and Althusserian paradigms; postmodernism; queer, and postcolonial theory. In particular, the emphasis will be on redressing the balance in a tradition of film theories that have favoured vision over sound. Through the writings of Altman, Kassabian, Lastra and others, consideration will be given to the significance that film sound has in the context of film "spectatorship", materiality, technology and interpretion. Students will attend seminars that involve a variety of approaches: close analysis, close readings, research, thesis writing, paper presentation. Finally, students will be required to present a paper based on a close reading of a specific film text with reference to its use of film language. Students will also conduct research into this film in relation to its production history, distribution and reception and relate their findings as to the place of the film within the history of film theory.

Written work totalling 5000 words.

A subject reader will be available.