How should the student set about analysing contemporary American cinema? This book takes an innovative approach to film analysis: each chapter examines the assumptions behind one traditional theory of film, distils a method of analysis from it, and then analyses a contemporary American movie. It then goes beyond the traditional theory by analysing the same movie using a more current theory and method.
Contents
1. Film Theory, Methods, Analysis
Thomas Elsaesser, Warren Buckland
2. Classical/Post-classical Narrative (Die Hard)
Thomas Elsaesser, Warren Buckland
3. Mise-en-scène Criticism and Statistical Style Analysis (The English Patient)
Thomas Elsaesser, Warren Buckland
4. From Thematic Criticism to Deconstructive Analysis (Chinatown)
Thomas Elsaesser, Warren Buckland
5. S/Z, the ‘Readerly’ Film, and Video Game Logic (The Fifth Element)
Thomas Elsaesser, Warren Buckland
6. Cognitive Theories of Narration (Lost Highway)
Thomas Elsaesser, Warren Buckland
7. Realism in the Photographic and Digital Image (Jurassic Park and the Lost World)
Thomas Elsaesser, Warren Buckland
8. Oedipal Narratives and the Post-Oedipal (Back To The Future)
Thomas Elsaesser, Warren Buckland
9. Feminism, Foucault, and Deleuze (The Silence of the Lambs)
Thomas Elsaesser, Warren Buckland
Conclusion
Thomas Elsaesser, Warren Buckland
