Siegfried Kracauer's Theory of Film

[@danferraro3598]

I can't believe the quality of videos you provide...all for free. You take very heady concepts and make them so easy to understand. So so grateful!

[@reviveramesh]

So many rich ideas and so well done thank you so much for doing this.., this requires multiple viewings and take notes😅😮😮

[@LookItsAmin]

Kudos to whoever put "Crack hour" in place of Kracauer in the subtitles. Was a lot of fun. Thanks for the video!

[@amaliaSWE96]

Thank you so much for making these videos. I do enjoy film theory, but I sometimes find it hard reading these massive texts in academic English. Doing my MA in film studies - most of it is independent reading and writing, it is so helpful to watch your videos. Things get more clear instantly. Thank you, once again!

[@filmandmediastudieschannel]

That's so great to hear - I appreciate the comment very much! Good luck with your MA!

[@XTomGu]

Such wonderful narrations of the theories! You are a great lecturer.

[@comfortm1506]

Great video! I mentioned Kracauer's perseus' shield quote in my dissertation (on the Japanese New Wave) so I'm happy to learn more about his film theories :)

[@JTrollGaming444]

I'm in love with your channel!! Just discovered it a few days ago and can't stop watching, you seem to have videos about all the topics I'm interested in, will be taking some notes and do further reading. Kudos :)

[@filmandmediastudieschannel]

that's great! thanks for commenting :)

[@P-A-X-]

It’s very interesting the application to Krakauer theory to architecture, especially in the use of photography on scale models. Still as a counterpointing approach against abstraction and “ideas” putted down to reality; the “redemption” of physical reality allows to move bottom from the realistic physicality of the space up to the ideas. Btw, it’s in Heidegger to find affinity with this Krakauer book, the tyranny is the Technique, the abstraction itself. The physical reality redeem humanity from this pathological reductionist’s state of mind and soul. That’s why Adorno and others commies of the Frankfurt School considered this book as reactionary. The ideological background, beside nazism (fascism is a distinctive thing from this last), is the cold war, and even more so the horrendous and tyrannical times we are experiencing now: “trust the science”.

[@guruuu6609]

Waiting for cinema of 2022 video🥰🥰

[@MrRajaalam]

Why do critics think this theory conservative and reactionary?

[@filmandmediastudieschannel]

A few factors contribute to the reading that Theory of Film is conservative (which is not so much a popular opinion anymore). I'll give my best shot at an explanation, but my knowledge on this question is tentative. First, once structuralist and post-structuralist thought became fashionable in the late 60s and 70s, much of philosophically informed classical film theory, especially realist film theory, was looked at with suspicion. So Bazin's writing was in this sense as much a target as Kracauer's Theory of Film. The core accusation was a "naive realism," an unchecked assumption that the photographic apparatus can grant access to "reality." This was looked at with suspicion given how much of structuralist and post-structuralist thought was concerned with how ideology blocks our access to reality, or the "real" or actual conditions of existence. So any film theory that rests on some idea that there is some accessible "reality" out there that can be revealed with the camera seemed not only naive, but dangerous. So these theories might have been regarded as "conservative" not because they advocated for recognizably conservative values in film storytelling, but because the premise of their realist film theoretical position was based on the status quo assumption that "reality" is accessible. A reason why Theory of Film in particular might be called conservative is that it is so different from Kracauer's early writings, which were markedly political and clearly associated with the political thought of the Frankfurt School. It's clear that Adorno's critique of Kracauer rests on this shift. Beyond this, Kracauer's Theory of Film also exhibits a kind of nostalgia in its rhetoric. There's a sense of romantic longing for "reality" in his writing that often stands as a substitute for rigorous argumentation or, as you'll get more so in Bazin, poetic obfuscation that might be said to harbor philosophical density. But the more contemporary take is that this reading itself is a bit superficial.

[@MrRajaalam]

@@filmandmediastudieschannel okay Thanks for such a detailed explanation