Film Theory Literature Guide · Film Supplement

Author: Wu Xiaoli
Publisher:
Publish Date: 2005-03-01
Features: The selection principles of this book are: a combination of completeness and classicism, equal emphasis on traditional and modern theories, and unified content attribution in terms of temporal continuity. The book is divided into two parts: Film and Television. Each original text is preceded by a "Preface." Most of the prefaces are written by college professors and core teaching staff. The basic content includes a brief introduction to the author's life, academic background, status and major contributions in the field of theory, as well as the main theoretical perspectives and influence of the selected texts, for reference by readers. The film part of the book is divided into a traditional film theory section and a modern film theory section. In the selection, the author gives equal weight to traditional and modern film theories. This is partly because of their recognized "classicism" that has stood the test of time, partly because their developmental process can reveal the "historical" aspect of contemporary world film theory, and partly because traditional film theory includes more theories of film ontology. In the modern film theory section, the selected texts are mostly "screen theories" closely related to the characteristics of the film medium and film language, such as semiotics, psychoanalysis, ideological criticism, feminist criticism, and narratology. On the other hand, "cultural studies" theories, which have a broader scope of research objects, are more frequently addressed in the television part of the book.