New Vocabularies in Film Semiotics: Structuralism, Poststructuralism and Beyond (Sightlines)

Rating:
Summary: Beginning of the end
Review: If you've ever sat through film studies and wondered what on earth was going on, don't fret.

There is probably something to be gained from studying how we watch films, but unfortunately most of those engaged in the world of film studies as academics aren't interested. Instead, many are content to wallow in unreadable texts with long, impressive terms that, in the end, have little at all to do with films.

Studying modes of production, the words of the filmmakers themselves, trends, etc, we can figure out a lot about films. But that's not good enough for some people because it's too straightforward and obvious. Instead, an entire vocabulary needs to be invented--poststructuralism, film semiotics, etc, etc, in order to mask the quite obvious fact that we still don't know a thing.

If we had any concrete understanding of how films 'work' on our minds, then someone could write a book that a 12 year old could read and understand. Instead, we get books like this: inpenetrable, heavy, intellectual tripe.

If you believe there is actually a 'theory' to film, and that such a 'theory' can be applied to a large body of film and work, then this might be for you. If you're more interested in the real world, on planet Earth, you may want to avoid the subject altogether...