While concepts from and debates within Continental philosophy have long formed a backdrop to arguments in film theory and criticism, exchanges between Anglo-American `analytic' philosophy and film studies have been relatively few and far between. In recent years this has begun to change, as the consensus around semiotic and psychoanalytic approaches has weakened, as film scholars have turned their attention to other sources such as cognitive theory and analytic philosophy, and as philosophers have taken a more focused interest in film. This volume provides further momentum to these developments. It is comprised of new essays on a wide range of topics by both film scholars and philosophers who share the commitment to conceptual investigation, logical consistency, and clarity of argument that characterizes analytic philosophy. The first section addresses the nature of cinematic representation, while the second section re-examines notions of authorship and intentionality in our understanding and appreciation of films. Sections 3 and 4 look at ideology and aesthetics respectively, while the final section considers the nature and place of emotion in film spectatorship. The diversity of the questions addressed here (aesthetics and politics in black film theory, film music, authorship, genre, comedy, epistemology, feminism, and film theory) is matched by the range of positions argued for and demonstrates a vital plurality of perspectives rather than a single line of thought.

Introduction: Film Theory and Philosophy, Richard Allen and Murray Smith PART 1 What is Cinematic Representation 1. The Film Theory that Never Was: A Nervous Manifesto, Gregory Currie 2. On Pictures and Photographs: Objections Answered, Kendall L. Walton 3. Looking at Motion Pictures, Richard Allen 4. Sound, Epistemology, Film, Edward Branigan PART 2 Meaning, Authorship, and Intention 5. Cinematic Authorship, Paisley Livingston 6. Film Authorship and Collaboration, Berys Gaut 7. Fiction, Non-Fiction, and the Film of Presumptive Assertion: A Conceptual Analysis, Noel Carroll 8. What is Non-Fiction Cinema?, Trevor Ponech 9. On Film Narrative and Narrative Meaning, George Wilson PART 3 Ideology and Ethics 10. The Ideological Impediment: Epistemology, Feminism, and Film Theory, Jennifer Hammett 11. Ideology and Film Culture, Hector Rodriguez 12. Aesthetics and Politics in Contemporary Black Film Theory, Tommy Lott PART 4 Aesthetics 13. Music in the Movies: A Philosophical Enquiry, Peter Kivy 14. Personal Agency Theories of Expressiveness and the Movies, Flo Leibowitz 15. Aristotelians on Speed: Paradoxes of Genre in the Context of Cinema, Deborah Knight PART 5 Emotional Response 16. Notes on Spectator Emotion and Ideological Film Criticism, Carl Plantinga 17. Comedy and Criticism, Dirk Eitzen 18. Imagining from the Inside: POV, Imagining Seeing, and Empathy, Murray Smith 19. Seeing Theory: On Perception and Emotional Response in Current Film Theory, Malcolm Turvey Select Bibliography Index

`The contributions are all of a high standard. Problems are clearly defined, concepts clarified, fine distinctions drawn, objections considered, and supporting evidence purveyed. In their documentation, scrupulous attention to opposing arguments, integrity, and clarity of reasoning, the contributions are models of professional academic philosophy ... The many virtues of the analytical tradition are manifest in chapter after chapter ... This anthology merits close perusal by anyone interested in genuine film theory.' Trevor Whittock, Brit Jrnl of Aesthetics, Vol 39, no 3, 1999 |d 07/09/99