Film theory: An introduction An introduction

by Lapsley, Robert; Westlake, Michael

• ISBN13: 9780719073755
• ISBN10: 0719073758
• Format: Paperback
• Copyright: 2006-02-19
• Publisher: OXFORD UNIV PR

Summary

This book offers an accessible account of film theory for the student and the cinemagoer. It ranges from the late 1960s to the present, a period in which a number of conceptual strands--notably politics, semiotics and psychoanalysis--came together. Lapsely and Westlake chart the construction of this synthesis and its subsequent fragmentation and elucidate the various intellectual currents contributing to it. The first part of the book covers the conceptual background of film theory, dealing with historical materialism, semiotics, and pschoanalysis, while the second part concentrates on particular topics--authorship, narrative, realism, the avant-garde and postmodernism. This second edition features an extensive retrospective introduction, as well as a fully updated and extended bibliography.

Author Biography

Robert Lapsley teaches Film Studies in Manchester. Michael Westlake teaches Film Studies in Paris.

Table of Contents

Foreword to the first edition	vi
Foreword to the second edition	ix
Part one
Politics	1	(31)
Semiotics	32	(35)
Psychoanalysis	67	(38)
Part two
Authorship	105	(24)
Narrative	129	(27)
Realism	156	(25)
The avant-garde	181	(33)
Afterword	214	(6)
Film Theory: a retrospect	220	(57)
Notes	277	(21)
Select bibliography	298	(10)
Index	308