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Cinematic Vitalism: Film Theory and the Question of Life

Book
Inga Pollmann
2018
Published by: Amsterdam University Press
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This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivatives 4.0 International License.
summary
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.

Table of Contents

open access

Cover

Half-Title, Title, Copyright

pp. 1-4

Table of Contents

pp. 5-6

Acknowledgments

pp. 7-8

Introduction: ‘The sanguine, pulsating, enterprising modern life’: Cinema and Vitalism

pp. 9-46

1. Vitalism and Abstraction

pp. 47-96

2. New Worlds: Uexküll’s Umwelt Theory at the Movies

pp. 97-162

3. The Interweaving of World and Self: Transformations of Mood in Expressionist and Kammerspiel Film

pp. 163-206

4. Open Bodies, Open Stories: Evolution, Narration, and Spectatorship in Post-war Film Theory

pp. 207-256

Conclusion: Vital Media

pp. 257-268

Bibliography

pp. 269-286

Index of Films

pp. 287-288

Index of Names

pp. 289-292

Index of Subjects

pp. 293-296
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