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doing film studies a sUbJect gUide for stUdents sarah casey benyahia and claire mortimer Doing Film Studies Doing Film Studies examines what it really means to study (cid:2) lm, encouraging the reader to question the dominant theories as well as understanding the key approaches to cinema. This book provides an overview of the construction of (cid:2) lm studies – including its history and evolution – and examines the application of theories to (cid:2) lm texts. Important questions discussed include: • Why does (cid:2) lm studies need a canon? • What is the relationship between authorship and genre theory? • What is screen theory? • How do we read a (cid:2) lm text? • Why is the concept of the spectator important to (cid:2) lm? • How is (cid:2) lm involved in national identity? • What is meant by a ‘(cid:2) lm industry’? Aimed at students in their (cid:2) nal year of secondary education or beginning their degrees, Doing Film Studies equips the reader with the tools needed in approaching the study of (cid:2) lm. Sarah Casey Benyahia is a teacher of Film and Media Studies. She is the author of Crime (2011) and Teaching Contemporary British Cinema (2005), and co-author of several (cid:2) lm and media studies text books. Claire Mortimer is a teacher of Media and Film Studies. She is the author of Romantic Comedy (2010) and co-author of AS Media Studies: The Essential Introduction for WJEC (2011). Also Available from Routledge Cinema Studies: The Key Concepts Susan Hayward 978-0-415-36782-0 Film Studies: The Basics Amy Villarejo 978-0-415-36139-2 Film: The Essential Study Guide Edited by Ruth Doughty and Deborah Shaw 978-0-415-43700-4 Doing Film Studies A Subject Guide for Students Sarah Casey Benyahia and Claire Mortimer First published 2013 by Routledge 2 Park Square, Milton Park, Abingdon, Oxon OX14 4RN Simultaneously published in the USA and Canada by Routledge 711 Third Avenue, New York, NY 10017 Routledge is an imprint of the Taylor & Francis Group, an informa business © 2013 Sarah Casey Benyahia and Claire Mortimer The right of Sarah Casey Benyahia and Claire Mortimer to be identifi ed as authors of this work has been asserted by them in accordance with sections 77 and 78 of the Copyright, Designs and Patents Act 1988. All rights reserved. No part of this book may be reprinted or reproduced or utilized in any form or by any electronic, mechanical, or other means, now known or hereafter invented, including photocopying and recording, or in any information storage or retrieval system, without permission in writing from the publishers. Trademark notice: Product or corporate names may be trademarks or registered trademarks, and are used only for identifi cation and explanation without intent to infringe. British Library Cataloguing in Publication Data A catalogue record for this book is available from the British Library Library of Congress Cataloging in Publication Data Benyahia, Sarah Casey. Doing fi lm studies : a subject guide for students / Sarah Casey Benyahia and Claire Mortimer. p. cm. Includes bibliographical references and index. 1. Motion pictures. I. Mortimer, Claire, 1964- II. Title. PN1994.B4337 2012 791.43 – dc23 2012020499 ISBN: 978-0-415-60269-3 (hbk) ISBN: 978-0-415-60270-9 (pbk) ISBN: 978-0-203-08086-3 (ebk) Typeset in Times NRMT by Refi neCatch Limited, Bungay, Suffolk Contents Acknowledgements vii Introduction: About this Book ix Part I What We Watch and What We Study 1 1 The Canon in Practice 3 Part II The History of Film Studies 11 2 The History of the Discipline, or How It Became Possible to Study Film 13 3 The History of the Canon: The Development (and Deconstruction) of the Film Studies Canon 27 4 Key Approaches: Genre Theory 41 5 Competing Approaches: Screen Theory 55 v CONTENTS Part III Studying the Film Text 65 6 Reading a Film 67 7 Film Studies and Narrative Theories 79 8 Spectatorship and Audience Studies 93 Part IV Film as a Contemporary Discipline 105 9 Creative Engagement 107 10 Film and Identity 115 11 Postmodernism and Cultural Studies 125 12 Film as Industry 137 Index 151 vi Acknowledgements The authors are very grateful to Andy Humphries, their editor at Routledge, for his constructive and good humoured guidance throughout this project. Claire would like to thank Granville, Arthur and Flo, as always. Sarah would like to thank her mother for her continued interest and encouragement. vii Introduction About this Book What does it mean to be ‘doing fi lm studies’? The experience of studying (cid:2) lm is diverse, covering a range of academic levels as well as theoretical and practical approaches. You may be doing (cid:2) lm studies as an A level or IB student, or have begun an undergraduate – even postgraduate – course in (cid:2) lm. Whatever stage you are at, this book aims to give an understanding of the evolution of the subject and to get you to think analytically about why we study (cid:2) lm in the way we do. Doing Film Studies does have aspects of a conventional textbook – it includes an overview of the key theories and thinkers in the discipline – but can also be thought of as a ‘meta’ textbook, one which explains why (cid:2) lm studies takes the form it does. For example, in addition to explaining what the auteur theory is and illustrat- ing how it can be used to analyse (cid:2) lms, we are equally interested in asking why this theory became so prominent in (cid:2) lm studies and what prompted later arguments against it. Therefore, this is a book which asks why we study par- ticular types of (cid:2) lms and not others (which you may think are equally worthy of study), and why we use the particular approaches that we do. As a student of (cid:2) lm studies, it is important to understand the background of this relatively young subject, to consider how it became possible to study (cid:2) lm. Many of the competing claims of the different theoretical approaches and methodologies come from the discipline’s need to establish itself as a subject that should be taken seriously, an obstacle that has faced all attempts to study forms of popular culture. The development of the discipline itself ix INTRODUCTION: ABOUT THIS BOOK forms the framework of this book, looking at the very (cid:2) rst attempts to ‘do (cid:2) lm studies’ at the beginning of the twentieth century and considering how the early de(cid:2) nition of (cid:2) lm as an art form belonging to high, not popular, culture has shaped later developments. How to use this book The book is divided into four sections. Part I: What we watch and what we study This introductory section takes as its starting point the make-up of (cid:2) lm studies courses today, examining the (cid:2) lm syllabus for A level and undergraduate courses and asking why we study what we study – what are the shared characteristics of contemporary (cid:2) lm studies courses? This analysis provides the backdrop for the book’s investigation into how (cid:2) lm studies has developed to this point. Part II: The history of fi lm studies This section addresses how the study of (cid:2) lm became institutionalized as an academic subject, tracing its development from the work of (cid:2) lm fans and enthusiasts (the role of ‘cinephilia’) to the emergence of (cid:2) lm theory, the highly specialized range of approaches that reinforced (cid:2) lm studies’ position as a university subject. Part II provides a historical overview of the subject in the UK and US, as well as considering the function of the canon and the key theoretical approaches of the subject – auteur theory and genre studies. Part III: Studying the fi lm text As will soon become apparent, one of the central concerns in debates about how (cid:2) lm should be studied was the fear that theoretical approaches were in danger of losing sight of the (cid:2) lm itself, particularly the way in which the language of (cid:2) lm constructed meaning. This section examines the ways in which (cid:2) lms have been ‘read’ through the emphasis on textual analysis and narratology, and the way in which the interpretive relationship between the (cid:2) lm and the spectator has been conceived. x
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