From Library Journal
Singer (philosophy, MIT) returns to the classic debate between realist and formalist theories of film to posit that a union of the two is required. To the realist, film is a recording of the reality of the physical world, and finding the best method of capturing reality on film is the ultimate goal. For the formalist, film becomes art through the techniques used to transform reality for aesthetic purposes. But to Singer, techniques matter only for the meanings they generate with the audience; a film audience sees the world and its reality shaped by the technical maneuvers of the filmmaker to convey his conception. Singer illustrates his theory and addresses other ideas about film with discussions of Woody Allen's The Purple Rose of Cairo, Jean Renoir's The Rules of the Game, and Luchino Visconti's Death in Venice. This well-argued and well-written essay is recommended for academic collections.?Marianne Cawley, Charleston Cty. Lib., SC
Copyright 1998 Reed Business Information, Inc.
Product Description
Since the late 1960s film theory has been dominated by "grand theories" that examine motion pictures from a psychoanalytic, semiotic, or Marxist point of view. Irving Singer offers an approach to the philosophy of film by returning to the classical debate between realist and formalists - he shows how the opposing positions may be harmonized and united. He accepts the realist claim that films somehow "capture" reality, but agrees with the formalist belief that they transform it. Extending his earlier work on meaning in art and life, he suggests that the meaningfulness of movies derives from techniques that re-create reality in the process of presenting it to viewers who have learned to appreciate the aesthetics of cinematic transformation. Singer concentrates on questions about appearance and reality, the visual and the literary, and the interplay between communication as a goal and alienation as a hazard in films of every sort. In three chapters he provides suggestive reading of Woody Allen's "The Purple Rose of Cairo", Luchino Visconti's "Death in Venice", and Jean Renoir's "The Rules of the Game". The book should be of interest to the general reader as well as students in all fields related to film studies.
