Study-Unit Description

Study-Unit Description


CODE MCS3201

 
TITLE Film Theory

 
UM LEVEL 03 - Years 2, 3, 4 in Modular Undergraduate Course

 
MQF LEVEL 6

 
ECTS CREDITS 4

 
DEPARTMENT Media and Communications

 
DESCRIPTION This Study-unit intermeshes two fundamental aspects of Film Theory: an introduction to its historical development and an understanding of the conceptual strands of its most influential exponents. The Classical Film Theory section takes as its focus the diverse and often conflicting approaches of creationist, realist and structuralist film theorists to such vital issues as:

- The essence of filmic fiction;
- The relationship between film and reality; and
- The concept of authorship in what is arguably a collaborative art form.

Study-Unit Aims:

- Introduce students to the historical evolution of Classical and Contemporary Film Theory.
- Examine key theoretical debates on filmic fiction, realism, and authorship in Classical Film Theory.
- Explore the aesthetic and conceptual contributions of major theorists such as Arnheim, Kracauer, Bazin and Eisenstein.
- Analyse the psychoanalytic and ideological dimensions of spectatorship in Contemporary Film Theory.
- Investigate feminist critiques of cinematic representation and the role of gender in film language.
- Study the philosophical implications of cinematic time and movement through the work of Deleuze and Bergson.

Learning Outcomes:

1. Knowledge & Understanding:

By the end of the study-unit the student will be able to:

- Be cognizant of the terminology used in Film Theory Studies;
- Identify the intricate preoccupations of major Film Theorists in terms of their points of contrast and confluence;
- Define the way that film exists as an art amongst other arts, within an aesthetic network of theoretical cross-fertilization.
- Differentiate between major Classical Film theorists` views on filmic fiction, realism, and authorship.

2. Skills:

By the end of the study-unit the student will be able to:

- Apply various theoretical criteria to the analysis of film language, including its mise-en-scène, cinematography, montage, and sound editing; and
- Demonstrate competence in writing critically about film narrative.

Main Text/s and any supplementary readings:

Classical Film Theory

Main Texts:

- Carroll, Noël. Philosophical Problems of Classical Film Theory. Princeton: Princeton University Press, 1988.

Supplementary Readings:

- Andrew, J. Dudley. The Major Film Theories: An Introduction. New York: Oxford University Press, 1976.
- Arnheim, Rudolf. Film as Art. Berkeley: University of California Press, 1989.
- Braudy, Leo and Marshall Cohen (eds.) Film Theory and Criticism: Introductory Readings. Oxford: Oxford University Press, 1998.
- Bazin, André. What is Cinema? 2 vols. Berkeley: University of California Press,1989.
- Casebier, Allan. Film and Phenomenology: Toward a Realist Theory of Cinematic Representation. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press,1991.
- Caughie, John (ed). Theories of Authorship: A Reader. London: Routledge & Kegan Paul/BFI,1981.
- Eisenstein, Sergei. Film Form. New York: Harvest Books,1969.
- Kracauer, Siegfried. Theory of Film: The Redemption of Physical Reality. Princeton: Princeton University Press, 1997.
- MacCann, Richard Dyer (ed). Film: A Montage of Theories. New York: E.P. Dutton,1966.
- Perkins, V.F. Film as Film: Understanding and Judging Movies. New York: Da Capo Press, 1993.
- Singer, Irving. Reality Transformed: Film as Meaning and Technique. Cambridge: MIT Press, 1998.
- Tudor, Andrew. Theories of Film. London: Secker & Warburg/BFI, 1974.
- Wollen, Peter. Signs and Meaning in the Cinema. London: BFI, 1997.
- Wood, Robin. Personal Views: Explorations in Film. London: Gordon Fraser, 1976.

Contemporary Film Theory

Basic Text

- Carroll, Noël. Mystifying Movies: Fads and Fallacies in Contemporary Film Theory.New York: Columbia University Press, 1988.

Supplementary Readings:

- Andrew, Dudley. Concepts in Film Theory. New York: Oxford University Press,1984.
- Carroll, Noël. Theorizing the Moving Image. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 1996.
- Deleuze, Gilles. Cinema 1: The Movement-Image. Trans. Hugh Tomlinson & Barbara Habberjam. London: Athlone Press, 1986.
- Deleuze, Gilles. Cinema 2: The Time-Image. Trans. Hugh Tomlinson & Robert Galeta. London: Athlone Press, 1989.
- Doughty, Ruth & Christine Etherington-Wright. Understanding Film Theory. London:Macmillan, 2017.
- Easthope, Antony (ed). Contemporary Film Theory. London: Longman, 1996.
- Flaxman, Gregory (ed). The Brain is the Screen: Deleuze and the Philosophy of Cinema. Minneapolis: University of Minneapolis Press, 2000.
- Fuery, Patrick. New Developments in Film Theory. London: Macmillan, 2000.
- Jameson, Fredric. Signatures of the Visible. London: Routledge, 1992.
- Kaplan, E. Ann (ed). Psychoanalysis and Cinema. London: Routledge/AFI, 1990.
- Lapseley, Robert & Michael Westloke. Film Theory: An Introduction. Manchester: Manchester University Press, 1988.
- McDonald, Kevin. Film Theory: The Basics. London: Routledge, 2016.
- Metz, Christian. The Imaginary Signifier. Bloomington: Indiana University Press,1982.
- Nichols, Bill (ed). Movies and Methods. Vol 2. Berkeley: University of California Press, 1985.
- Penley, Constance (ed). Feminism and Film Theory. London: Routledge/BFI, 1988.
- Rosen, Philip (ed). Narrative, Apparatus, Ideology: A Film Theory Reader. New York: Columbia University Press, 1986.
- Stam, Robert & Toby Miller (eds). Film and Theory: An Anthology. Oxford: Blackwell, 2000.

 
STUDY-UNIT TYPE Lecture

 
METHOD OF ASSESSMENT
Assessment Component/s Assessment Due Sept. Asst Session Weighting
Examination (2 Hours) SEM1 Yes 100%

 
LECTURER/S Saviour Catania

 

 
The University makes every effort to ensure that the published Courses Plans, Programmes of Study and Study-Unit information are complete and up-to-date at the time of publication. The University reserves the right to make changes in case errors are detected after publication.
The availability of optional units may be subject to timetabling constraints.
Units not attracting a sufficient number of registrations may be withdrawn without notice.
It should be noted that all the information in the description above applies to study-units available during the academic year 2025/6. It may be subject to change in subsequent years.

Study at UM

https://www.um.edu.mt/course/studyunit