The World Viewed: Reflections on the Ontology of Film, Enlarged Edition (Harvard Film Studies)

In Their Thoughtful Study Of One Of Stanley Cavell's Greatest Yet Most Neglected Books, William Rothman And Marian Keane Address This Eminent Philosopher's Many Readers, From A Variety Of Disciplines, Who Have Neither Understood Why He Has Given Film So Much Attention, Nor Grasped The Place Of The World Viewed Within The Totality Of His Writings About Film. Rothman And Keane Also Reintroduce The World Viewed To The Field Of Film Studies. When The New Field Entered Universities In The Late 1960s, It Predicated Its Legitimacy On The Conviction That The Medium's Artistic Achievements Called For Serious Criticism And On The Corollary Conviction That No Existing Field Was Capable Of The Criticism Filmed Called For. The Study Of Film Needed To Found Itself, Intellectually, Upon A Philosophical Investigation Of The Conditions Of The Medium And Art Of Film. Such Was The Challenge The World Viewed Took Upon Itself. However, Film Studies Opted To Embrace Theory As A Higher Authority Than Our Experiences Of Movies, Divorcing Itself From The Philosophical Perspective Of Self-reflection Apart From Which, The World Viewed Teaches, We Cannot Know What Movies Mean, Or What They Are. Rotham And Keane Now Argue That The Poststructuralist Theories That Dominated Film Studies For A Quarter Of A Century No Longer Compel Conviction, Cavell's Brilliant And Beautiful Book Can Provide A Sense Of Liberation To A Field That Has Forsaken Its Original Calling. Read In A Way That Acknowledges Its Philosophical Achievement, The World Viewed Can Show The Field A Way To Move Forward By Rediscovering Its Passion For The Art Of Film. Reading Cavell's The World Viewed Will Prove Invaluable To Scholars And Students Of Film And Philosophy, And To Those In Other Fields, Such As Literary Studies And American Studies, Who Have Found Cavell's Work Provocative An Fruitful. -- Wayne State University Press. An Autobiography Of Companions -- Sights And Sounds -- Photograph And Screen -- Audience, Actor, And Star -- Types; Cycles As Genres -- Ideals Of Origin -- Baudelaire And The Myths Of Film -- The Military Man And The Woman -- The Dandy -- End Of The Myths -- The Medium And The Media Of Film -- The World As Mortal: Absolute Age And Youth -- The World As A Whole: Color -- Automatism -- Excursus: Some Modernist Painting -- Exhibition And Self-reference -- The Camera's Implication -- Assertion In Techniques -- The Acknowledgement Of Silence. Stanley Cavell. Includes Bibliographical References And Index. Contents 5 Foreword to the Enlarged Edition 7 Preface 17 1 An Autobiography of Companions 27 2 Sights and Sounds 40 3 Photograph and Screen 47 4 Audience, Actor, and Star 49 5 Types; Cycles as Genres 53 6 Ideas of Origin 61 7 Baudelaire and the Myths of Film 65 8 The Military Man and the Woman 71 9 The Dandy 79 10 End of the Myths 84 11 The Medium and Media of Film 92 12 The World as Mortal: Absolute Age and Youth 98 13 The World as a Whole: Color 104 14 Automatism 125 15 Excursus: Some Modernist Painting 132 16 Exhibition and Self-Reference 142 17 The Camera's Implication 150 18 Assertions in Techniques 157 19 The Acknowledgment of Silence 170 Note 185 More of The World Viewed 186 Notes 255 Index 271 Stanley Cavell looks closely at America's most popular art and our perceptions of it. His explorations of Hollywood's stars, directors, and most famous films--as well as his fresh look at Godard, Bergman, and other great European directors--will be of lasting interest to movie-viewers and intelligent people everywhere.