Cinematic Vitalism: Film Theory and the Question of Life
ISBN: 9789048534005
Platform/Publisher: Project MUSE / Amsterdam University Press
Digital rights: Users: Unlimited; Printing: Chapters; Download: Chapters
Subjects: Film and Media Studies; Film and Media Studies; Film Theater and Performing Arts;

This book argues that there are constitutive links between early twentieth-century German and French film theory and practice, on the one hand, and vitalist conceptions of life in biology and philosophy, on the other. By considering classical film-theoretical texts and their filmic objects in the light of vitalist ideas percolating in scientific and philosophical texts of the time, Cinematic Vitalism reveals the formation of a modernist, experimental and cinematic strand of vitalism in and around the movie theater. The book focuses on the key concepts including rhythm, environment, mood, and development to show how the cinematic vitalism articulated by film theorists and filmmakers maps out connections among human beings, milieus, and technologies that continue to structure our understanding of film.

Inga Pollmann is Assistant Professor in Film Studies in the Department of Germanic and Slavic Languages and Literatures at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill.

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