Film Studies Texts

I was looking around my room earlier and was astonished at the amount of Film Studies texts I have acquired over the past few years.

If this suspiciously looks like the University of Warwick’s preparatory reading list for the Film Department, your right! I’ve sensibly used it as reading list of decent textbooks about Film Studies. Hopefully I can use them as part of an undergraduate degree course in the future.

Well, being Ill has meant that I’ve had a lot of spare time to fill. I guess they’ll all come in handy some day!

Basic Issues and Methods in Film Criticism

John Hill and Pamela Church Gibson (eds.): Oxford Guide to Film Studies; Oxford University Press, 1998.
Pam Cook (ed.): The Cinema Book (3^rd. ed.); BFI, 2007.
John Gibbs:  Mise-en-scène:  Film Style and Interpretation; Wallflower, 2002.
Jill Nelmes (ed.):  An Introduction to Film Studies; Routledge, 2007.
V.F. Perkins:  Film as Film:  Understanding and Judging Movies; Da Capo Press, 1993
Robert Stam: Film Theory:  An Introduction; Blackwell, 2000.
Patricia White and Timothy Corrigan: The Film Experience; Palgrave Macmillan, 2004
David Bordwell and Kristin Thompson:  Film Art; Mc Graw-Hill Education, 2007
David Thomson: The New Biographical Dictionary of Film; Little, Brown, 2004.
Mark Jancovich and Joanne Hollows:  Approaches to Popular Film; Manchester University Press, 1995.
Susan Hayward: Cinema Studies: Key Concepts; Routledge, 1996.
Deborah Thomas: Reading Hollywood: Wallflower, 2001.
Peter Wollen: Signs and Meaning in Cinema: BFI, 1997.
Tom Wallis and Maria Pramaggiore: Film: A Critical Introduction; Laurence King, 2007.

Basic Issues and Methods in Film History

Robert C Allen and Douglas Gomery:  Film History Theory and Practice; Knopf, 1985.
 Barry Salt:  Film Style and Technology:  History and Analysis; Starword, 1992.
David Bordwell, Janet Staiger and Kristin Thompson:  The Classical Hollywood Cinema; Routledge, 1985.
Pierre Sorlin:  European Cinemas, European Societies 1939-1990; Routledge, 1991.
David Bordwell and Kristin Thompson: Film History: An Introduction; McGraw Hill, 2009 (3^rd ed.)
Richard Maltby: Hollywood Cinema; Wiley-Blackwell, 1995.
Thomas Schatz: The Genius of the System; Pantheon Books,1988.


Theories of the Moving Image

John Berger: Ways of Seeing: Penguin, 1972.
Susan Sontag:  On Photography; Penguin, 1977.
Robert Stam: Film Theory:  An Introduction; Blackwell, 2000.
 James Monaco: How to Read a Film; Oxford University Press, 1981.
Robert Stam: New Vocabularies in Film Semiotics:  structuralism, post-structuralism and beyond; Routledge, 1992.
Leo Braudy: Film Theory and Criticism:  Introductory Readings; Oxford University Press, 2004.
André Bazin: What is Cinema?: Volume 1; University of California Press, 1967.
André Bazin: What is Cinema? Volume 2; University of California Press, 1972.
Bill Nichols: Movies and Methods Volume 1; University of California Press, 1976.
Bill Nichols: Movies and Methods Volume 2; University of California Press, 1985.
Peter Hutchings, Mark Jancovich, Joanne Hollows: The Film Studies Reader; Hodder Education, 2000.
Rudolf Arnheim: Film as Art; University of California Press, 1957.
Andrew Sarris: American Cinema; Da Capo Press, 2003.

Other

Timothy Corrigan: A Short Guide to Writing About Film; Longman, 1989.
Vladimir Nilsen: The Cinema as a Graphic Art; Hill & Wang.
Vladmir Nizhny: Lessons with Eisenstein; Da Capo Press, 1979.

Project 4: Ideology and Interpellation

This week’s project was to read Louis Althusser’s (1918-1900) Ideology and ideological state apparatuses (notes towards an investigation). Althusser discusses in this essay the system of representation (The subject is caught by terms of a ‘recognition scene’) and a mirroring (‘speculary’) effect being the general condition for the functioning of all ideology.

Althusser’s take on Marxist literature has a strong bearing on contemporary attitudes to the way that viewer, reader or spectator becomes the ‘subject’. He moved away from Marx’s usage of base and superstructure, making him an important figure in structuralism.

The theory of ideology can be closely linked to Antonio Gramsci’s (1891-1937) theory of hegemony (“world/class view”), where the dominant fundamental group exercise their dominance through meanings, values and beliefs i.e. culture. 

Maybe interpellation takes on a stronger role due to Marx’s theory of alienation?

·         How does Althusser’s structuralism show here?

The Marxist philosopher Althusser drew heavily on structuralist ideas. Generally his structuralism shows through his theory of ideology; a system of representations (including: beliefs, concept, ideas, images, myths and values) endowed with an existence and historical role central to society. This places culture, by means of structure, as a crucial vehicle to the values which underpin the status quo of society, especially in relation to his discussion of religious and familial ideology.

More specifically Althusser’s structuralism is explicitly seen in his theory of interpellation because of its relation to Saussarian linguistics; subjects being a function of language. When an individual is addressed as “you”, one is positioned as the subject, or object, of the sentence. According to Althusser the subject is addressed (hailed) by society.

As the subject is “always-already interpellated” (and the ‘speculary effect’ of ideology,) does this bring Althusser’s ideas closer to fellow structralist Jacques Lacan and his theory of the mirror stage?

·         What does Althusser mean by ‘ideology’?

Ideology is the... “representation of the imaginary relationship of individuals to their real conditions of existence”.

Althusser departed from the classical Marxist base/superstructure model (the base determining the superstructure). The economic infrastructure of the orthodox base still influences the ideological practices, though the creative arts take a more active part. 

One takes a position in society defined by social structure. Though these positions are not natural or inherent to the individual, these positions are mistaken as being natural/inherent in themselves. The implicit values and opinions taken by the individual suffuse the culture of a given time. 

Although state power is forced upon the individual through Repressive Sate Structures (the Army, the Police etc.) externally, state power also goes unrecognised through our values and opinions, internally.  Subtle Internal control of all citizens is through ideological structures or State Ideological Apparatuses, which foster ideology sympathetic to the status quo to maintain control. This can be seen in the media, art and literature.

Althusser’s theory of ideology does not function through the indoctrination of particular ideas and opinions but through ‘interpellation’ of the subject. Through Interpellation, we are presented with the illusion that we as independent individuals, freely choosing that which is imposed on us; as if free from social forces.  Individuals are subjects of ideology and are in a state of false consciousness. This accounts for cultural structures not being maintained by physical force; it perpetuates social class and leaves a minority to wield power.

The force applied by the state happens in many different ways (‘Over determinism’), though art has relative autonomy.

·         Is there, in your view, an area of visual culture where this idea may seem to act in an overt way?

Due to the reach and influence of the mass-media, and the parts that are recognised as visual culture, it is evident it that it is used by State Ideological Apparatuses to reinforce the dominant ideology through interpellation.

The area of visual culture where this idea may seem to act in an overt way is Television. Traditionally Televisions audience is seen as passive (i.e. The Hypodermic Needle Model), which would make interpellation perfect for State Ideological Apparatuses. 


Historically, you can compare the contents of the types of programmes broadcast in the United States and Soviet Union. Clearly you can see state power is being wielded to influence the internal values and beliefs of the citizens in the ideologies of the United States (capitalism) and the Soviet Union (communism).


Overtly, this can also be seen in Political Propaganda of any sort.  


Other Ideas

-          Classical Hollywood cinema: Used by capitalism not only to perpetuate the myth of the American dream but American beliefs and values on a global scale (The Americanisation of European culture?)

-          How Public Relations and advertising uses the media to reinforce Ideology to try and persuade us to consume.

Further Study:

Read Raymond Williams, Base and Superstructure in Marxist Cultural Theory.

If our experience of cinema is shaped by our identification (which can be linked to dominant ideology) with individual characters through suture –yes, I aware this from Lacanian psychoanalysis – but wouldn’t this be a form of interpellation ?

Bibliography

Althusser, Louis., 1969. ‘Ideology and ideological state apparatuses (notes towards an investigation)’. In: J. Evans, S. Hall ed. 1999 Visual culture: a reader. London: Sage Publications Ltd, pp. 317-323.

Barry, Peter. (2009) Beginning Theory: An Introduction to Literary and Cultural Theory. Manchester: Manchester University Press, pp.150-164.

D’Alleva, Anne. (2005) Methods & Theories of Art History. London: Laurence King Publishing.

Williams, Raymond. (1973). ‘Base and Superstructure in Marxist Cultural Theory. New Left Review. I (82).

Introduction: Pre-cinema, moving picture devices and early cinema history (25/09/10)

The University of Warwick Open Studies Certificate: ‘Introduction to Film and Cinema Studies’; Term 1 “1895-1950: The Birth and Development of Narrative Film"; Week 1 (25/09/10)

I initially believe that this course is akin to what would be traditionally known as film appreciation, though there is a firm emphasis on the history of narrative cinema. We follow chronologically the development and progression of narrative film, through key film movements and canonical cinematic texts. We mainly focus on the progression of Western, usually Hollywood, cinema.

This gives me ample opportunity to structure my weekly viewing and reading. Hopefully, I am able to extend my study of film history outside of this course, especially concerning the methods and problems of the scholarship surrounding the history of the cinema. This will help my investigation into the writing of film history, whether concerning the issue of causality, the idea of period (e.g. Silent Cinema, Sound Cinema, Post-war Cinema – which will be introduced within the Open studies sessions) and film movements (e.g. German Expressionism, Film Noir, the French ‘New Wave’) and its wider implications in regard to National Cinema. A key area that I would like to pursue outside of the Open Studies Certificate is the problems of film and realism (wider reading to include the work of André Bazin).

As the course focuses primarily on film history, I aim to develop my knowledge and understanding of film criticism and improve my analytical skills. This will probably be done through a combination of the study of key film texts, especially in the close analysis of stylistic elements (camera movement, framing, lighting, editing, colour, sound, performance) and the meaning created through there interaction, and to study published critical accounts of key films.

In conjunction with the module I am taking with the Open College of the Arts, ‘Visual Studies 1: Understanding Visual Culture’, I will take the opportunity to study canonical theories concerning the interpretation and reception of moving image media (e.g. theories that concern realism, modernity and the application of such critical disciplines as Marxism and psychoanalysis).

My aim for this course is to reinforce my ability to think critically about films and their meanings; not only through class-work but mainly through the private study of film and cultural studies. This will be conducted through personal study of critical literature, either those of primary (including the work of Adorno, Freud and Saussure) or secondary (those who developed the works of earlier theorist, including Metz and Mulvey) theorists. I will also try to look specifically at the work critics and their work within film studies, including: The Editors of Cahiers du Cinema on Young Mr Lincoln, Raymond Bellour on ‘film fragments, Charles Barr on Cinemascope and the work of Victor Perkins in relation to film art. Outside of the classroom I will centre my reading and screenings on key moments of artistic and technical developments that were landmarks in both critical and practical history. I also want to develop my research skills, especially in the application to my study of film.

Hopefully, I am able to bring this course of study in line with what I am studying with the Open College of the Arts, especially in the relation to cultural and literary theories explored. Without a thorough external structure I aim to construct a coherent whole, as I believe areas of study should inform one another to enrich understanding, because I wish to develop my understanding of other interdisciplinary fields which will enhance my understanding and passion for film studies.


Personal Outline of the Open Studies Certificate: Introduction to Film and Cinema Studies

Term 1: 1895-1950: The Birth and Development of Narrative Film (Beginning 25^th September 2010)

1) Introduction to the module - Pre-cinema, moving picture devices and early cinema history. Clips include some from the Lumiere and the Smith Company. Appropriate sections of Birth of a Nation Birth of a Nation (D.W Griffith, 1915) will be also screened in the relation to the development of narrative film and cinematic technique.

2) German Expressionism - An alternative to classical Hollywood cinema. Clips include from The Cabinet of Dr. Caligari (Robert Wiene, 1919) and Noseferatu (F.W Murnau, 1922).

3) Sergei Eisenstein: power of the image, influence of Griffiths and Expressionism – Study Battleship Potemkin (Sergei Eisenstein, 1925) and October (Sergei Eisenstein, 1928)

4) The Great American Comics: Chaplin and Keaton - An exploration of Silent Cinema’s use of imagery within the narrative, classical Hollywood Cinema’s convention of the individual against the system and the birth of the sound image: The General (Buster Keaton, 1926) and City Lights (Charles Chaplin, 1931).

5) Gone with the Wind (Victor Fleming, 1939) – The Continued importance of Expressionism, as a stylistic element not a national film movement, and Imagery in its application to classical Hollywood cinema. Discussion about the growth of the American studio system, the development of sound and colour technology and its aesthetic implications

6) Citizen Kane (Orson Welles, 1941) – New Developments in Expressionism and the introduction of the ‘Deep Focus’ technique.

7) Film Noir – Continued exploration of mood and atmosphere in black and white film. Clips include selctions from: Maltese Falcon (1941, John Huston), Double Indemnity (Billy Wilder, 1944) and Out of the Past (Jacques Tournuer, 1947).

8) Italian Neo-Realism – Important new developments in storytelling and the use of the natural external setting through an exploration of The Bicycle Theives (Vittoria de Sica, 1948).


Term 2: 1950-1970: Post-war Cinema and the Further Development of Narrative Film (Beginning 15^th January 2011)

1) Development in post-war classical Hollywood cinema - An investigation of Rebel Without a Cause (Nicholas Ray, 1955) and the introduction of Cinemascope; new spatial dynamics, the close-up in colour and deep-focus effects. Also, the social message movie, Kiss Me Deadly (Robert Aldrich, 1955) and the development of the low-budget black and white film; subjectivity and the introduction of distortive and surrealist effects in the Noir ‘B’ movie.

2) The Beginning of the French ‘New Wave’ - A new aesthetic (e.g. street shooting, the hand-held camera and strong imagery) and the homage to classical Hollywood (especially Film Noir), Expressionism and Neo-Realism. This will be applied to Breathless (Jean-Luc Goddard, 1960)

3) Italian Neo-Realism into New Wave - A single study film week, La Dolce Vita (Federico Fellini, 1960).

4)The British Free Cinema and the following New Wave – A study of Momma Don’t Allow (Karel Reiz and Tony Richardson, 1955) and the Loneliness of the Long Distance Runner (Tony Richardson, 1962).

5) Political and aesthetic influences of New Wave in Hollywood – Hollywood filmmakers respond to the international movements. The American New Wave and trying to get the youth back into the cinemas. Bonnie and Clyde (Arthur Penn, 1967).

6) The emergence of the ‘Movie Brats’ – An exploration of Easy Rider (Peter Fonda and Dennis Hopper, 1969).

7)  The Gangster Movie: New Wave/New Style – An exploration of The Godfather Part 1 (Francis Ford Coppola , 1972).

8) The New Generation Go to War: the New Vietnam War Movie – An exploration of Apocalypse Now ((Francis Ford Coppola , 1979).

9) To be decided.


Term 3: Technology and the Science-Fiction Film

1) The New Style Space Age Movie - Style and influence from the past and special effects pre-computer generated imagery applied to 2001: Space Odyssey (Stanley Kubrick, 1968).

2) ‘Mother is not feeling herself today...’ Space age Tech-Noir, horror and the badly behaved computer... – A discussion of Psycho (Alfred Hitchcock, 1961) and Alien (Ridley Scott, 1979).

3) Tech-Noir, Horror and the future city (1) – Blade Runner (Ridley Scott, 1982) in relation to  Metropolis (Fritz Lang, 1927) and Frankenstein (1931, James Whale). Intertextuality and Post-Modernism, more style and content influences from the past re-contextualised.

4) Tech-Noir, Horror and the future city (2) – Paranoia and the continuing influence of the French New Wave. Twelve Monkeys (Terry Gilliam, 1995) in relation to La Jetee (Chris Marker, 1962).

5) CGI and the Feature Film – Toy Story (John Lassester, 1995) and Antz (Eric Darnell, 1998).

6) CGI and the Human Actor – Titanic (James Cameron, 1997).

7) Developments in CGI: Colour and assisted acting: - Lord of the Rings: The Fellowship of the Ring  (Peter Jackson, 2003)

8) GCI and Digital Motion Capture: Tech-Noir and the implication of the computer game in contemporary blockbusters; The Matrix Reloaded (Andy and Larry Wachowski, 2003).


Pre-Cinema moving picture devices and early cinema devices

This week consisted of a two hour illustrated lecture given by Julia Larden, on the hybrid origin of cinema and its development up to Griffith’s Birth of a Nation (D.W Griffith, USA, 1915).  We were introduced not only to the module but also to key forerunners of the cinema and early key filmmakers and film making techniques. Even from such a brief introduction I am able to understand the complexity of these ‘primitive’ texts and the uneven nature of  early representational techniques and stylistic practices.

We looked pre-cinema moving image devices including: the magic lantern, the camera obscura, the panorama, the zoetrope, the zooxpraxiscope.

We also discussed the technical achievements  and developments (advances made in narrative, editing and the use of mise-en-scène) of early filmmakers including: Edweard Muybridge (1830-1904), Augustin Le Prince (1842-1890), the Lumière Brothers (Auguste and Louis), Thomas Edison (1847-1931), George Albert Smith (1864-1959) and Alice (1873-1968). We related their achievements to the development of narrative cinema. Through the work of Alice Guy we were able to discuss the role of women in the production of early cinema.

Screening included various early films from the BFI’s DVD Early Cinema: Primitive and Pioneers (2005):

Leaving the Factory (Sortie de l'Usine) (Lumiere, 1895)
Feeding the Baby (Lumiere, 1895)
Le Jardinier et le Pettit Espiegle (Lumiere, 1895)
Grandma's Reading Glasses (G. A. Smith, 1900)
A Kiss in the Tunnel (1) (G. A. Smith, 1900)
As seen through a Telescope (G. A. Smith, 1900)
Mary Jane's Mishap (G. A. Smith, 1903)
The Great Train Robbery (Edwin S. Porter, 1903)


It is interesting to note, that even from its beginning, Cinema was making reference to the voyeuristic nature of the medium through such subjective devices as the reading glasses and the telescope.

I further explored Porter’s contribution to cinematic in the essay, ‘Detours in Film Narrative: The Development of Cross-Cutting’ (Andre Gaudreault: 1979).

Following on from Porter, we discussed the importance of the work of D.W Griffith and his significance on the form of narrative cinema that we enjoy today. We then explored the move from short to feature-length film.

At some length we discussed the clips that were shown from Birth of a Nation, not only in relation to Griffith’s and cinematographer Billy Bitzer’s technical contributions but also how meaning is created, especially in Silent Cinema, through the interacting technical devices. We also explored the use of imagery, pictorialism and the idea of Silent Cinema being an universal language.

In regards to Lillian Gish, we were able to briefly discuss the emergence of the star system.

Julia suggested some general texts which included Barry Salt’s Film Style and Technology (2009: 3^rd edition) and Bordwell and Thompson’s Film History: an Introduction (2009: 3^rd edition).  I fortunately already had copies.

Sadly, this is an area of film history that I have not had the chance to investigate although it was an an alternative module on the A2 Film Studies syllabus. My private study this week has been to use various sources to research the origins of cinema and the development of early narrative film. Noticeably from this session is the lack of a mention of filmmaker George Melies, so he is one individual that I will investigate in the following week.

I will also try and explore this week the implication of actualities and jokes on the Cinema of Attractions, slapstick comedy and exhibition practices. An area I would like to pursue is Birth of a Nation in relation to history, spectacle and propaganda. Hopefully, I will have the chance to further investigate early narrative, spatial and editing integration.

Another text I would like the opportunity to read is The Birth of a Nation (Rutgers Films in Print), D. W. Griffith & Robert Lang (New Brunswick: Rutger’s University Press, 1994).


Bibliography

2000.  Early Cinema: Primitive and Pioneers [DVD]. UK: BFI Video

Bordwell, David., Thompson, Kristin. 2009. Film History: An Introduction. 3rd ed. New York: McGraw-Hill Higher Education. pp. 1-67.

BFI Screenonline,, 2010. British Pioneers. [online] Available at: < http://www.screenonline.org.uk/film/id/445817/ > [Accessed 29 September 2010]

Brownlow, Kevin. 1968. The Parade’s Gone by... Berkeley and Los Angeles: University of California.

Casey Benyahia, Sarah. Gaffney, Freddie and White, .John., 2009. A2 Film Studies: The Essential Introduction. 2nd ed. Abingdon: Routledge. pp.289-314.

Cook, Pam., ed., 2008. The Cinema Book. London: BFI Publishing. pp. 1-16.


Gunning, Tom. 1995. An Aesthetic of Astonishment: Early Film and the (In)credulous  Spectator. In: L. Braudy & M. Cohen ed. Film Theory and Criticism: Introductory Readings. 2004. 6^th ed. Oxford: Oxford University Press, pp. 862-867.


Larden, J. (2010). Pre-Cinema: moving picture devices and early cinema history, [Lecture]. Introduction to Film and Cinema Studies. The University of Warwick. Open Studies Certificate. Stone Hall Adult Education Centre, 1083 Warwick Road, Acocks Green, Birmingham, 25th September.

Monaco, James., 1981. How to Read a Film: The Art, Technology, Language, History, and Theory Of Film and Media. 2nd ed. New York: Oxford University Press. pp. 195-208; pp. 235-238.

Nelmes, Jill., ed., 2007. Introduction to Film Studies. Abingdon: Routledge. pp. 24-28.

Salt, Barry., 2009. Film Style and Technology: History and Analysis. 3rd ed. London: Starwood Press

Usai, Paolo Cherchi. 2000. Silent Cinema: An Introduction. London: BFI publishing.


Filmography

Birth of a Nation (D.W Griffith, D.W. Griffith Corp. USA, 1915)

‘Pioneers’, episode one, Hollywood, first series, UK, Thames Television, tx. 1980.
‘In the Begining’, episode two, Hollywood, first series, UK, Thames Television, tx. 1980.

Further Course Information:

http://www2.warwick.ac.uk/study/cll/open_courses/certs/filmandcinema/

A Selection of this week’s viewing (19/09/10 - 26/09/10)

Films

Elmer Gantry (Richard Brooks, Elmer Gantry Productions, USA, 1960)

Funny Face (Stanley Donen, Paramount, USA, 1957)

Gigi (Vincente Minnelli, MGM, USA, 1958)

Killer’s Kiss (Stanley Kubrick, Minotaur Productions, USA, 1955)

Wild River (Elia Kazan, Twentieth Century Fox, USA, 1960)

·         Very interesting use of mise-en-scène in Killer’s Kiss. The conclusive fight between Rapallo (Frank Silvera) and Davy Gordon (Jamie Smith) over their love interest, Gloria Price (Irene Kane), takes place in warehouse full of female mannequins. These mannequins could be an external projection of their ‘prize’, Gloria, which in turns reminds the audience of what these individuals are truly fighting for.

- I apologise for the slightly misogynist ‘prize’ analogy for the central female character. As she is an agent for desire, I thought it was an appropriate semantic choice because of the protagonist’s, Davy, profession as a boxer.

Television

The only significant programmes watched on television were, the continuation of the series This is England ’86, The Inbetweeners and Mad Men.

ITV’s new series Downton Abbey looks like a winner. A slightly different standard to the usual ITV fair (not just The X Factor, but also their lacklustre attempts at literary adaptations), and such big hitters like Maggie Smith and Julian Fellows. Is it a change of image or are they anticipating the ratings, of the to be screened, special of Upstairs, Downstairs on the BBC?

Why do people enjoy historical dramas? Nostalgia for a past not experienced? There is a trend in recent programmes, look at the melancholy nature of Lark Rise to Candleford and Cranford (Though technically, it is present in Gaskill).

Is the past a safe space where we can view a hierarchical society in comfort, in a time where social class is less transparent?

Project 3: Base and Superstructure

Marx (1818-1883) divided society into two major classes; the bourgeoisie, or the capitalist society, who owns the means of production and the proletarian, or working class, who only owns their ability to work. This implies that the proletarian have no option but to work for the capitalists.

Marx argued, in Das Kapital (first edition published 1867), that the fundamental condition of a capitalist society is the exploitation of the worker’s labour by the capitalists. The worker does not receive full value of his labour because it is siphoned off, as surplus value, into the capitalists’ profits. The unregulated labour does not oblige the capitalist to pay the worker value for his labour.

Marx, and Engels (1820-1895), believed the exploitation of these workers led to class struggle, “the history of all hitherto existing society is the history of class struggle” ( The Communist Manifesto; 1848), and capitalist society results in class domination.

This ultimately leads to the development of ‘class consciousness’; a perspective of the world determined by economic position.

Theories which position economic relations as the basis of social phenomena are called materialist theories, and Marx's version is known as 'historical materialism'.

Key Marxist concepts can be applied to visual culture, especially the role of the mass media in the reproduction of status quo. The media is viewed as an ideological form where these class views are fought out. Media professionals, while enjoying an illusion of autonomy, are socialised into and internalise the norms of dominant culture. The media then relay interpretative frameworks consonant with the interests of the dominant class. Dominant classes may use the media to perpetuate class relations to benefit them or the media may be used to undermine the power of the dominant class. Audiences, while sometimes negotiating and contesting these frameworks, lack ready access to alternative meaning systems that would enable them to reject the definitions offered by the media ( - The Frankfurt School; the hypodermic needle mode; Adorno : S.W).

• What did Marx mean by Base and Superstructure?

Marx uses the base and the superstructure as a metaphor for capitalist social structure. The base, the economy, which includes relations of production is the foundation and determines the superstructure, society, which is the forms of state (including social, political and intellectual consciousness). Ideology and Cultural Hegemony are part of the superstructure which is subordinate to the base.
Base and superstructure model is a two-way interrelationship and when applied to the mass media it associated with control and ownership (ultimate control resulting in monopolies).

• Of the different ways of looking at the subject outlined by Chandler which makes most sense to you? Why?

Out of the different ways of looking at the subject outlined by Chandler, the one that make the most sense is the fundamentalist Marxist tradition interpretation of the ‘culture industries’; that is, in terms of their economic determination.

It makes the most sense as the contents and meanings of the media and its messages are primarily determined by the economic base of the organisations in which they are produced. These organisations are controlled by the dominant class which reinforces their control and strengthens their consciousness through ideology. Thus, the ideology is subordinate to the economic base.

• Does your understanding of base and superstructure vary as to whether you are looking at society in general or the media and arts?

My understanding of the base and the superstructure does not vary whether you are looking at society in general or the media and the arts because the ideas we form about the media and art are part of the superstructure. The economy informs the superstructure.

Though, I am questioning this understanding because what is proposed by Althusserian Marxists; the relative autonomy of the superstructure in relation to the base and the reciprocal action of the superstructure on the base.


Bibliography

Chandler, D., 2000. Marxist Media Theory, "Base and Superstructure". [online] Available at: < http://www.aber.ac.uk/media/Documents/marxism/marxism02.html> [Accessed 25 September 2010]

D’Alleva, Anne. (2005) Methods & Theories of Art History. London: Laurence King Publishing.

Project 2: Fetishising the object of the eye

Scopophilia derives from Freud’s ‘scopic drive’: the infant’s libidinal drive to pleasurable viewing. The concept is further expanded by Freud’s ‘primal scene’ (male child, unseen, views parent’s copulating) and Lacan’s ‘mirror stage’ (the moment a male child realises his difference from his mother).

Voyeurism (viewing the activities of others, unbeknown to them) and fetishism (in Film, the overinvestment in other parts of the body, usually through agency) are two strategies adopted by males to counter the fear of sexual difference. Both have illicit connotations.

Task

Read and makes notes from The scoptophilic instinct and identification by Otto Fenichel. This is supplemented by Freud’s Fetishism.

Importantly, Fenichel states the goal of the scoptohphilic instinct is either, the impulse to injure the object seen or the desire to share, by the means of empathy, its experience. The elements of sadism suggest the desire to incorporate the objects looked at; implementing castration.

I was asked to think about the way humans formalise the act of looking and the customs, manners and taboos surrounding it.

• Does what you have read help your understanding of why and/how you look in a ritualised way, saying going to an art gallery?

The importance of looking and seeing is not only relevant to present culture but has significance throughout human history, evident due to its emphasis in myth (gorgon; Oedipus – blinded as punishment). The reading has helped my understanding of how and why we look in a ritualised way. For example when we go to an art gallery (a further development of sublimation?) we look for the recognition and substitution of the missing in the exhibits. Looking also signifies identification so we try and identify with the works in the art gallery. Does the artificial environment of the art gallery allow a “safe” place to do this?

• Do the articles suggest to you reasons for staring at someone being at best bad manners and worst threatening?

The articles do suggest the reasons for staring at someone being at best bad manners and at worst, threatening. To look is to have power. The Gaze objectifies and the pleasure of watching is at least the pleasure of controlling (objectifying) the other. The fixed gaze, e.g. stare, impairs the ego function.

Looking has been described using a lexis associated with other activities, usually in an extreme sense: ‘devouring ’. Strachey believes this ‘devouring’ is that of the unconscious thus to gaze is a form of sadistic incorporation (look at object – force it to grow like oneself). These sadistic impulses enter the instinctual act of looking and have acquired the significance of a modified form of destruction, thus it can be considered threatening.

• Can you make any suggestions as to the reasons for some people’s need to avidly watch television?

Freud suggests desire is crucial to looking; the scoptophilic instinct is a sexual one. Pleasure is derived from looking at an object to share its experience.

Some people’s need to avidly watch television may be due to a search of what is missing but also for identification (‘ocular introjection’) due to the importance of the mirror and the self image. Ultimately, we watch television because it is pleasurable.

• Do you have any visual fetishes that you are willing to share; such as landscape images as a substitute for the countryside for a city dweller?

It is problematic to speak of visual fetishes, one can like what they see, but to suggest a libidinzed form of looking does not imply perception but sexual gratification. Though if we use a simplified, and de-sexualised, view of fetish (to replace a missing ‘something’ with ‘something’ else) then it is understandable for a city dweller to incorporate images of the countryside.

• What about wedding photographs and family photographs?

Naturally people would presume to keep such images, at best, as a memento or, at worst, a form of narcissism. The importance of the mirror and the self image would play a greater role in the keeping of wedding/family photographs.

Thoughts

Exploring this concept will ultimately lead to the concept of voyeurism. This introduction to psychoanalysis, important to our understanding of visual culture, will certainly be expanded in later projects (e.g. Lacan and Mulvey’s seminal essay on the patriarchal nature of classical Hollywood cinema; Visual Pleasure and Narrative Cinema).

Bibliography

D’Alleva, Anne. (2005) Methods & Theories of Art History. London: Laurence King Publishing.

Fenichel, Otto., 1954. ‘The scoptophilic instinct and identification’. In: J. Evans, S. Hall ed. 1999 Visual culture: a reader. London: Sage Publications Ltd, pp. 327-339.

Freud, Sigmund., 1927. ‘Fetishism’. In: J. Evans, S. Hall ed. 1999 Visual culture: a reader. London: Sage Publications Ltd, pp. 324-326.

Hayward, Susan. (1996) Cinema Studies: The Key Concepts. Abingdon: Routledge.

A Selection of this week’s viewing (11/09/10 - 18/09/10)

This is just a record of the significant programmes/films I have watched throughout the week. I do try and structure my viewing so I’m able to study them. At the moment I haven’t got the time type up any further analyses of what’s been viewed but I will try and do this in the future.

Film

Singing in the Rain (Stanley Donen/Gene Kelly, MGM, USA, 1952)
Love Me or Leave Me (Charles Vidor, MGM, USA, 1955)
The Barefoot Contessa (Joseph L. Mankiewicz, Figaro, USA/Italy, 1954)
Gentlemen Prefer Blondes (Howard Hawks, Twentieth Century Fox, USA, 1953)
Inferno (Dario Argento, Produzioni Intersound, Italy, 1980)

- I hadn’t realised that there has been a theme to this week’s film viewing, well apart from Inferno. I’ve noticed the entertainment business has featured in most of the films I have seen this week.

It’s still a pleasure to re-watch Singing in the Rain and Gentlemen Prefer Blondes; will have to analyse in the future!

You can see the bias towards classical Hollywood cinema and an interest In Italian horror films. There’s something about controlled misè-en-scene; I’m defiantly a fan of artificiality.

Television

End of the Line (Rupert Murray, Arcane Pictures, UK, 2009)
Selling the Sixties (Tim Kirby, BBC, UK, 2008) : I found this very complimentary as I read Vance Packard’s Hidden Persuaders the other week.
Shelagh Delaney's Salford (Ken Russell, BBC, UK, 1960)
‘Christmas Comes But Once a Year’, episode two, Mad Men, fourth series, USA, BBCHD, tx. 15.09.2010.
Road to Coronation Street (Charles Sturridge, BBC, UK, 2010)
‘Fashion Show’, episode one, The Inbetweeners, third series, UK, E4, tx. 13.09.2010.
episode two, This is England ’86, first series, UK, Channel 4, tx. 14.09.2010

Further Exploration

1. The narrative-arcs and aesthetics (change in look of both setting and the advertising from Season 3 to Season 4) in Mad Men

2. Shane Meadows theme: exploration of masculinity. This is England ’86, the verisimilitude (Skinheads) allows the female character, Lol, masculinised dress. Does this imply, through the mise-en-scène, that this is a further extension of the theme.

3. Will have to explore the aesthetics of live television.

Idea from Road to Coronation Street: The "kitchen sink" realism of the British New Wave and 'the angry young men' was also adopted in television. This implies an entire cultural shift; visibility of working class culture.

Also a reaction in British Television in 1970’s (‘realism’) due to the visual extremeness of British cinema i.e. the work of Ken Russell, Nic Roeg etc.

Visit to the Tate Modern, 19th August 2010: EXPOSED: Voyeurism, Surveillance and the Camera

Something that links in nicely with ‘Project 2’ (coming later next week), is my trip this summer to see the exhibition Exposed: Voyeurism, Surveillance and the Camera at the Tate Modern, London.

Surprisingly it was my first experience of an exhibition as I hadn’t been to an art gallery before.

In summary the exhibition explored photography’s role in voyeuristic looking in culture (from the mid-nineteenth century to the present day: spanning both Modernism and Post-Modernism) and our relationship when viewing these images.

The themes that interested me the most were ‘Celebrity & the Public Gaze’ and ‘Voyeurism & Desire’.

Thoughts

• Celebrity: Due to cultures demand (our desire) for candid pictures of celebrities, supplied by the paparazzi, it has now become harder for celebrities to control their images and personas. The demand has increased as a result of an aggressive post-modern world and media, the rise of the internet and a change of focus in public relations.

• Voyeurism: My favourite series of photographs were Kohei Yoshiyuki’s The Park (1979). Yoshiyuki photographs the voyeurs in a Japanese park; a comment on scopophilia itself.

In Conversation: Ken Loach (Sky Arts)

(Is it just me, or the first thing I noticed was the set; stylish because of its simplicity. It was fantastic that intensified continuity wasn’t being applied to the interview; a shameless crime of the BBC’s Culture Show)

By chance I uncovered In Conversation on SkyArts. My taste is more Ken Russell than Ken Loach, so I was surprised I gave it a look. It’s really got me thinking.

Something that intrigued me was that Loach argued that there is a different culture on the continent that surrounds cinema (more critical, academic and more appreciative; well, in relation to his own work). This is something agree with but as Loach compared this stance to British Cinema I feel he missed out the underlying issue.

Popular culture in the UK is influenced by the working class, while on the Europe popular culture is determined by the middle class (well what we see of it in the UK). This brings us to hegemony (dominant culture/dominant class) and the imposition of values.

Loach as a lower middle class 6th form student (later destined for Oxford) would naturally align himself to European film; reinstating his class values. Middle class cultural references would be different to working class cultural references. In cinema what would that be?

Historically working class cultural references would be Hollywood films, just look at the references in the ‘Carry On’ films, it’s also evident in the work of Ken Russell and Terrence Davies. The political nature of European cinema (especially Italian Neo-Realism) would influence middle class cultural references, just look at the British New Wave.

Arguably Kes does appeal to the working class, but maybe this is more to do with the material source, the novel by Barry Hines.

Loach imposes political statements onto his films, like the unrealistic plausibility of the narrative in Carla’s Song. Ok, there is a real issue there, but to artificially create or base a story around it does nothing for the verisimilitude.

Political statements/social issues should either be subversive or arise naturally from the text.

I think I need to go back and have a look at Bourdieu!

• The Values of SkyArts: Cultural Relativism

Who is SkyArts audience? The middle class, so who would Ken Loach appeal too?

Really, the same audience who watch BBC4 (though BBC4 does have a wider scope).

Shameless over Shakespeare (parity?); well early shameless (the first few series), before it became a parody of itself.

The major flaw of the programme, was that it wasn’t long enough. There is really is no outlets, apart from Radio 4, to hear an intelligent interview with those who shape our culture. As the BBC ever competes with the commercial stations, it seems the stuff that matters is relegated to a minority outlet. Or maybe the mass audience no longer has the attention span?

Project 1: Modernist art: the critic speaks

Part One: Introduction to Visual Studies

Visual studies covers a wider array of cultural objects than traditional Art History as it as a mixture of several of interdisciplinary fields (including: Art History, Anthropology, Film Studies, Philosophy, Literary Criticism and Sociology) Due to its broader scope it focuses on both ‘High’ and ‘Low’ (Popular) Art/Culture.

Unlike traditional Art Theory, Visual Studies focuses on subjects rather than objects. That is so far to say that it looks at the interconnecting cultural meanings and power relationships within art.

Visual studies have its origins in the wide encompassing and interdisciplinary academic movement of Cultural Studies. This developed during the 1950s and 1960s in the United Kingdom, at both ‘red brick’ universities and Polytechnics. Courses taught centered on a small group of texts: The Uses of Literacy, Richard Hoggart; Cultural studies: two Paradigms, Stuart Hall; Culture and Society, Raymond Williams.

From the perspective of Cultural Studies, we all engage in culture; in the construction of symbols, practices of representation and the interconnections throughout society. Cultural Studies was influenced by Marxist cultural analysis and its concern with ideology, power and subjectivity. There was an open interest in the ‘ordinary’ and communities that are marginalized because of race, class, gender and sexual difference.

I believe this course will focus on these cultural epochs: Modernism, Structuralism, Post-structuralism and postmodernism.

Project 1: Modernist art: the critic speaks

This is a brief outline of what I have studied over the past week and my conclusions of Clement Greenberg’s Modernist Painting (1960). Hopefully I have time to explain this further, in a later post. Will read: Avant-Garde and Kitsch (1939: Greenberg).

Clement Greenberg (1909-1994) was an American art critic who is associated with Modern art. A seminal essay of his is, Modernist Painting (1960).

• What is Greenberg talking about in general?

The aesthetics of modern art.

• What are his main arguments?

There is a logical development to Modern Art; there was a self-justification of art following the enlightenment (legitimacy through autonomy); the uniqueness of an artform depends on the specificity of its medium (“Purity”); flatness is the defining feature of painting (Modernism reasserts the two-dimensionality of the picture surface); the historical continuity of pictorial art.

• Who does he mention?

The Philosopher Kant.

• Does he quote others?

Greenberg does not quote explicitly but uses Kant to inform the argument of his essay. Kant explored the philosophy of art (aesthetics) and in his Third Critique, reconciles the subjectivity of the response with the presumed universality of aesthetic judgement.

In the Analytical of the Beautiful, Kant theorised that although judgements of taste are singular they do a have (a priori) universal validity and these refer necessarily (but synthetically) to aesthetic satisfaction, or ‘Transcendental Deduction’.

The ‘Sublime’, discussed in his Analytical of the Sublime, is a different satisfaction which arises from the contemplation of the greatness of human reason and recognition of moral worth.

Though Greenberg is influenced by Kant, it fair to argue from a different perspective as Kant fails to deal with aesthetic disputes; critics perceive the same art works differently.

• Does he make reference to other’s work?

He references other artists work to support his argument.

“Old Masters”: Uccello; Piero; El Greco; Georges de la Tour; Vermeer; Giotto; Leonardo; Raphael; Titian; Rubens; Rembrandt; Watteau

David; Ingres; Corot

Modernism: Impressionism (Manet); Cubism: (Cézanne); Mondrian; Kandinsky

• Personal opinion

Greenberg is persuasive in his argument: the justification of Modernist Art. I understood there was a logical development to Modern Art and this was in part due to the historical continuity of pictorial art. I was unaware that a self-justification of art followed the enlightenment. Though I understand the view point that the uniqueness of art depends on the specificity of its medium, as this is argued by Rudolf Arnheim in Film as Art (this is in relation to Silent Cinema – Film Studies). Hopefully I have recalled the last comment correctly.

Yes I understand what Greenberg is saying but, in a post-modern culture, I do not see the need for “Purity” in art as a justification for its purpose.

Bibliography
D’Alleva, Anne. (2005) Methods & Theories of Art History. London: Laurence King Publishing.

Greenberg, C., 1982. Modernist Painting. [online] Available at: [Accessed 12September 2010]

Harrison-Barbet, A., 1990. Mastering Philosophy. London: Macmillan.

Quigley, T. R., 1996. Summary: Clement Greenberg, "Modernist Painting". [online] Available at: < http://homepage.newschool.edu/~quigleyt/vcs/mp_sum.html> [Accessed 13 September 2010]