Classical Hollywood Narrative: The Paradigm WarsJane Gaines Since the 1970s film studies has been dominated by a basic paradigm--the concept of classical Hollywood cinema--that is, the protagonist-driven narrative, valued for the way it achieves closure by neatly answering all of the enigmas it raises. It has been held to be a form so powerful that its aesthetic devices reinforce gender positions in society. In a variety of ways, the essays collected here--representing the work of some of the most innovative theorists writing today--challenge this paradigm. Significantly expanded from a special issue of South Atlantic Quarterly (Spring 1989), these essays confront the extent to which formalism has continued to dominate film theory, reexamine the role of melodrama in cinematic development, revise notions of "patriarchal cinema," and assert the importance of television and video to cinema studies. A range of topics are discussed, from the films of D. W. Griffith to sexuality in avant-garde film to television's Dynasty. Contributors. Rick Altman, Richard Dienst, Jane Feuer, Jane Gaines, Christine Gledhill, Miriam Hansen, Norman N. Holland, Fredric Jameson, Bill Nichols, Janey Staiger, Chris Straayer, John O. Thompson |
Contents
Contents | 1 |
The Political Unconscious of Formalist Theory | 49 |
The Kuleshov Experiment | 79 |
Copyright | |
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activity aesthetic American audience Barthes become Bela Lugosi Bert body Bordwell's camera capital causality character Classical Hollywood Classical Hollywood Cinema classical narrative close-up codes cognitive concept construction contemporary critics culture D. W. Griffith David Bordwell desire Dickens diegetic Dior discourse dominant dramatic Dynasty economy essay fabula fantasy female feminine fiction film theory film's Freud gender Goriot Griffith hieroglyphic Hollywood Cinema Ibid identity ideological interpretation interpretive communities intertitles Intolerance Jacqueline Onassis Johnny Kuleshov Kuleshov effect Kuleshov experiment language Le père Goriot linear logic machine male Martin Guerre Marx meaning melodrama metaphor mode narration notion novel Onassis photograph political popular postmodern production prostitute psychological question reading realism refer relation representation represented Roland Barthes schemata sense sexual She-man shot signifier social spectator story structure syuzhet television textual theatrical tion trans Underground viewer visual woman women York