Cinema and Semiotic: Peirce and Film Aesthetics, Narration, and Representation (Toronto Studies in Semiotics and Communication)

'Meaning' in cinema is very complex, and the flood of theories that define it have, in certain ways, left cinematic meaning meaningless. Johannes Ehrat's analysis of meaning in cinema has convinced him that what is needed is greater philosophical reflection on the construction of meaning. In __Cinema and Semiotic__, he attempts to resurrect meaning by employing Charles S. Peirce's theories on semiotics to debate the major contemporary film theories that have diluted it. Based on Peirce's __Semiotic and Pragmatism__, Ehrat offers a novel approach to cinematic meaning in three central areas: narrative enunciation, cinematic world appropriation, and cinematic perception. Attempting a comprehensive theory of cinema ? instead of the regional 'middle-ground' theories that function only on certain 'common-sense' assumptions that borrow uncritically from psychophysiology ? Ehrat further demonstrates how a semiotic approach grasps the nature of time, not in a psychological manner, but rather cognitively, and provides a new understanding of the particular filmic sign process that relates a sign to the existence or non-existence of objects. Never before has Peirce been so fruitfully employed for the comprehension of meaning in cinema. MuPDF error: syntax error: invalid key in dict MuPDF error: syntax error: invalid key in dict MuPDF error: syntax error: invalid key in dict MuPDF error: syntax error: invalid key in dict MuPDF error: syntax error: invalid key in dict MuPDF error: syntax error: invalid key in dict MuPDF error: syntax error: invalid key in dict MuPDF error: syntax error: invalid key in dict MuPDF error: syntax error: invalid key in dict Cover 1 Title Page 4 Copyright 5 Contents 8 Acknowledgments 10 Introduction 14 1 On Signs, Categories, and Reality and How They Relate to Cinema 19 1.1 The Use of Signs 25 1.2 The Construction of Meaning 35 1.3 Investigating Conduct as a Form 42 1.4 The Categories of Behaviour 61 1.5 The Categorial Form of Behaviour 65 1.6 Logic of Relations 80 1.7 The Metaphysics of Pragmaticistic Semiotic 107 2 Semiotic and Its Practical Use for Cinema 123 2.1 Cinema ‘Is’ a Class of Sign 127 2.2 The Iconism of Cinema: A first Semiotic Approach 146 2.3 (From Film Pragmatics to) The Pragmaticism of Cinema 159 3 What ‘Is’ Cinema? 176 3.1 Cinema ‘Is’ Syntagma 182 3.2 Cinema ‘Is’ Sign Function 191 3.3 Cinema ‘Is’ Percept 202 3.4 Cinema ‘Is’ Moving Matter or Time 225 3.5 What Cinema Becomes: Theory Objects Compared, Reconciled, Rejected 254 Intermezzo: Cinematic Imagination of Godard’s Je vous salue, Marie 259 4 Narration in Film and Film Theory 294 4.1 The Narratological Question, Peirce, and Cinema 295 4.2 The Semiotic of Narrative Time 298 4.3 Cinematic Time 325 Intermezzo: Two Kinds of Narrative Time in Dreyer’s Ordet 331 5 Narration, Time, and Narratologies 356 5.1 Ricoeur’s Mimesis 357 5.2 Heidegger’s Ekstasis 361 5.3 Aristotle’s Poesis 371 5.4 Greimas’s Semiosis 382 5.5 Bordwell’s Formalism 390 5.6 Olmi’s Genesi 398 6 Enunciation in Cinema 409 6.1 Enunciation: From Vagueness to Generality 412 6.2 Narrative Enunciation 420 6.3 Rhetorical Enunciation in Cinema: Meaning in Figures 446 6.4 Aesthetic Enunciation in Film 468 Epilogue: Two Aesthetic Processes in Cinema 539 Conclusion 566 Notes 572 Bibliography 660 Filmography 674 Index 678 A 678 B 679 C 680 D 682 E 682 F 683 G 683 H 684 I 684 J 684 K 685 L 685 M 685 N 686 O 686 P 686 Q 689 R 689 S 690 T 692 U 692 V 692 W 692 Z 693 "Based on Peirce's Semiotic and Pragmatism, Johannes Ehrat offers a novel approach to cinematic meaning in three central areas: narrative enunciation, cinematic world appropriation, and cinematic perception. Attempting to construct a comprehensive theory of cinema - instead of the regional 'middle-ground' theories that function only on certain 'common-sense' assumptions that borrow uncritically from psychophysiology - Ehrat further demonstrates how a semiotic approach grasps the nature of time, not in a psychological manner, but rather cognitively, and provides a new understanding of the particular filmic sign process that relates a sign to the existence or non-existence of objects."--BOOK JACKET 1. On Signs, Categories, And Reality And How They Relate To Cinema -- 2. Semiotic And Its Practical Use For Cinema -- 3. What Is' A Cinema? -- Intermezzo : Cinematic Imagination Of Godard's Je Vous Salue, Marie -- 4. Narration In Film And Film Theory -- Intermezzo : Two Kinds Of Narrative Time In Dreyer's Ordet -- 5. Narration, Time, And Narratologies -- 6. Enunciation In Cinema -- Epilogue : Two Aesthetic Processes In Cinema. Johannes Ehrat. Series Statement On Jacket And In Cataloging Information On T.p. Verso. Includes Bibliographical References (p. [649]-662), Filmography (p. [663]-665), And Index.