Linguistic film theory
[''The Dualist']
Vols. 1–6
Department of Philosophy, Stanford University, 1994, p. 56. is a form of
film theory that studies the
aesthetics
Aesthetics, or esthetics, is a branch of philosophy that deals with the nature of beauty and taste, as well as the philosophy of art (its own area of philosophy that comes out of aesthetics). It examines aesthetic values, often expressed t ...
of films by investigating the concepts and practices that comprise the experience and
interpretation of movies.
Overview
Linguistic film theory was proposed by
Stanley Cavell
Stanley Louis Cavell (; September 1, 1926 – June 19, 2018) was an American philosopher. He was the Walter M. Cabot Professor of Aesthetics and the General Theory of Value at Harvard University. He worked in the fields of ethics, aesthetics, an ...
[ and it is based on the philosophical tradition begun by ]late Ludwig Wittgenstein
Ludwig Josef Johann Wittgenstein ( ; ; 26 April 1889 – 29 April 1951) was an Austrian-British philosopher who worked primarily in logic, the philosophy of mathematics, the philosophy of mind, and the philosophy of language. He is conside ...
. The theory itself is said to mirror aspects of the activity of Wittgenstein's own philosophising (e.g. Wittgenstein's thought experiments) as films are viewed capable of engaging the audience in a therapeutic process of 'dialogue' and even investigate the absurd and the limits of thought. Cavell's framework is seen as a distinctive way of approaching film and philosophy since question of style - the finding of words adequate to our aesthetic experience - is central to the understanding of the meaning of films. One of his ideas involved the position that "if one thinks of a grammar as a machine for generating sentences, then perhaps one will wish to speak of the camera and its film as a machine for generating idioms."
Critics from this tradition often clarify misconceptions used in theoretical film studies[Annette Kuhn and Guy Westwell (2012). "Post-theory" in ''A Dictionary of Film Studies''. Oxford: Oxford University Press.] and instead produce analysis of a film's vocabulary and its link to a form of life
In biology, an organism () is any living system that functions as an individual entity. All organisms are composed of cells (cell theory). Organisms are classified by taxonomy into groups such as multicellular animals, plants, and fungi; ...
.
See also
* '' Film-Philosophy''
* Historical poetics In film studies, historical poetics is a scholarly approach to studying film, which David Bordwell outlined in his book ''Making Meaning'' (1989).Ira Stig Bhaskar (2004), "Historical Poetics, Narrative, and Interpretation" in ''A Companion to Film T ...
* Neoformalism in film theory
References
Bibliography
* Richard Allen
"Cognitive Film Theory,"
in ''Wittgenstein, Theory and the Arts,'' Routledge, 2001,
* Stanley Cavell
Stanley Louis Cavell (; September 1, 1926 – June 19, 2018) was an American philosopher. He was the Walter M. Cabot Professor of Aesthetics and the General Theory of Value at Harvard University. He worked in the fields of ethics, aesthetics, an ...
''The World Viewed: Reflections on the Ontology of Film''
(1971); 2nd enlarged edition. (1979)
* Stephen Mulhall
''On Film''
London/New York: Routledge, 2002.
* Rupert Read and Jerry Goodenough (eds.), ''Film as Philosophy: Essays on Cinema After Wittgenstein and Cavell'', Palgrave Macmillan, 2005.
External links
* Daniel Barnett
''"If a Film Did Philosophy We Wouldn′t Understand It"''
Review of Read-Goodenough collection of essays.
* Stanley Cavell
Stanley Louis Cavell (; September 1, 1926 – June 19, 2018) was an American philosopher. He was the Walter M. Cabot Professor of Aesthetics and the General Theory of Value at Harvard University. He worked in the fields of ethics, aesthetics, an ...
''Conversations with History: Stanley Cavell''
YouTube video of Cavell discussing his philosophy of film.
* Rupert Read
''"What theory of film do Wittgenstein and Cavell have? (Introduction II)"''
Introduction to ''Film as Philosophy: Essays on Cinema After Wittgenstein and Cavell'', Palgrave Macmillan, 2005.
Film theory
{{philosophy-stub