Mike,



I agree that my quick dichotomy was overly simplifying. What I meant to say

concerned what the primary focus & goal of the course might be, not an

"either/or" approach to film studies. I feel that any introductory course

needs to teach enough about formal terminology and techniques to be able to

write & talk clearly and appropriately about a film with precision &

sophistication (which I believe many faculty without film/media training do

not teach in sufficient depth). But for many teachers, that's not the goal

for the course, but a means to get into cultural & ideological issues. Any

teacher approaching film studies from that mindset will find FILM ART

frustrating (as it seemed to become for Cagle in his blog post).



The Corrigan & White book offers a good deal of formal instruction (albeit

with less detail & range than Bordwell & Thompson), but then covers much

more theoretical ground concerning cultural analysis. An alternative type of

textbook that focuses exclusively on representation & culture would be

something like Benshoff & Griffin's AMERICA ON FILM, which tends not to be

considered as an Intro to Cinema style book.



The flip side of the dichotomy you mention is that FILM ART itself does

teach a particular theoretical approach of neoformalism & historical poetics

- by privileging form, we're making theoretical & methodological claims

about how best to understand a film, at least at an introductory level. I

generally agree with those claims pedagogically, as I think it's important

for students to learn the formal attributes of film & media before they try

to write about film as an analytical object. But we shouldn't pretend that

one model uses theory and the other doesn't - it's just a different type of

theoretical approach. We're always implicitly teaching theory, even if we

don't explicitly call it theory.



Best,

-Jason

 

> Date:    Tue, 12 Jun 2007 17:24:52 -0400

> From:    "Frank, Michael" <[log in to unmask]>

> Subject: intro textbook query redux

> 

> my thanks to all who have shared their ideas about intro textbooks--and

> especially to jason mittell for calling my attention to chris cagle's

> remarkably helpful blog post comparing all the leading texts, a resource

> that anyone thinking about this question would do well to use . . .  the

> web address is:

> http://categoryd.blogspot.com/2006/11/intro-textbook-comparison.html

> 

> but jason's post includes a distinction that seems to me perhaps worth

> pursuing on list . . . he writes that=20

> 

> if understanding the formal system of film, is the goal of the

> course then FILM ART is probably the best option [but] If  [the goals

> is] introducing a broader range of theoretical approaches to film,

> Corrigan & White's FILM EXPERIENCE is excellent.

> 

> . . .and what i find somewhere between fascinating and troubling is the

> implied distinction between "formal system" and "theoretical approach" .

> . . i of course recognize how much contemporary thinking about cinema is

> concerned mainly with what for convenience i'll call its ideological

> work, and recognize too that such work may exceed the frames of

> reference provided by conventional mise-en-scene or montage analysis

> 

> but -- and it's a big BUT -- shouldn't an intro to cinema course focus

> not merely on the ideological content as such that gets inscribed in

> cinema but on the way the "formal system" of cinema is used for

> ideological ends? . . . put somewhat differently, shouldn't a truly

> cinematic "theoretical approach" also be at the very same time an

> inquiry into the "formal system" of film? . . . critics ranging from

> bazin to mulvey have explored the ways in which formal systems are used

> for cultural or philosophical or ideological purposes  -- and i would

> imagine that an analysis of the way the formal properties of the moving

> image are deployed for larger cultural purposes should be at the center

> of any theoretical approach to film . . . so -- the question -- does the

> distinction jason makes serve us well or does it serve us badly?

> 

> mike



-- 

Jason Mittell, Assistant Professor of American Studies and Film & Media

Culture

Middlebury College

204 Adirondack House

Middlebury, Vermont 05753

(802) 443-3435 / fax: (802) 443-5123

Homepage: http://seguecommunity.middlebury.edu/sites/jmittell

Blog: http://justtv.wordpress.com



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