Film (The Key Concepts)

Description:
Film: The Key Concepts presents a coherent, clear and exciting overview of film theory for beginning readers. The book takes the reader through the often conflicting analyses that make up film theory, illustrating arguments with examples from mainstream and independent films. Concise and comprehensive, the book guides the reader through realism, formalism, structuralism, semiotics, Marxism, psychoanalysis, feminism, cognitivism, post-colonialism, postmodernism, gender and queer film theory, stardom and film audience research. The book as a whole provides a complete overview of the evolution of film theory. Throughout, the analysis is illustrated with lively boxed studies of key mainstream and independent films. Bulleted chapter summaries, questions and guides to further reading are also provided.

Review:
'An admirably clear and rigorous guide to the conceptual frameworks that have informed and influenced developments in film theory and film-making from Jean Epstein to Donna Haraway. Thoughtful and thought-provoking, it is also eminently readable and recommended for anyone interested in the intellectual history of cinema.' Pam Cook, author of The Cinema Book There are few introductions to the discipline of film studies that explore the major theories with this book's depth and attention to context... an exciting addition to the increasing body of sources about the sources of film theory. Screening the Past

Table of Contents:
Introduction 1. From the Photogenic to the Simulacrum 2. Film Constructs 3. Dialectic Film Montage 4. Imaginary Signifiers/Voyeuristic Pleasures Questions for Discussion Guide to Further Reading Notes Index

Author Biography:
Nitzan Ben-Shaul is Associate Professor at the Film and Television Department in Tel Aviv University. He is the author of Mythical Expressions of Siege in Israeli Films, Introduction to Film Theories and A Violent World: Competing Images of Middle East Conflicts.