FILM CRITICISM AND THEORIES

FILM CRITICISM

When new movies are up on the screen, I admit that I am eager to watch them as soon as the film hits its premiere. By merely just viewing a film's trailer or teaser, I easily judge the film itself on its plot or elements shown on the trailer. Human as I am, I judge something by what I see or hear. Hence, the same attitude applies to how we should handle and study the films that we watch. It takes intricate and careful analysis for us to be able to say if a film as whole is either good or bad, if  it deserves a "thumbs up" or a "thumbs down". Now, it all comes down to the so called "film criticism".

What is FILM CRITICISM?

Film criticism is the evaluation and analysis of films. It seeks to develop concise, systematic concepts that apply to the study of cinema. It is a method of applying mechanics of the movies, film techniques, film structure, camera and its structure, mise-en-scene, editing, genres of film, etc.

Simply, it is the smartest way to judge a film in all of its aspects.

THEORIES APPLIED IN CINEMA

Just like any other phenomenon, a film also can be studied in all of its aspects by applying existing theories introduced in the history as far as cinema is concerned.

Feminist Theory

It discusses the function of women characters in particular film narratives or in particular genres, such as film noir, where a woman character can often be seen to embody a subversive sexuality that is dangerous to men and is ultimately punished with death. For the last twenty years, feminist film theory is heavily influenced by the general transformation in the field of aesthetics, including the new options of articulating the gaze, offered by psychoanalytical French feminism, like the matrixial gaze.

 Insiang (1976) Directed by Lino Brocka

Gender Studies

It is a field of interdisciplinary study and academic field devoted to gender identity and gendered representation as central categories of analysis. This field includes women's studies, men's studies, and LGBT studies. It is sometimes offered together with the study of sexuality. These disciplines study gender and sexuality in the fields of literature, language, history, political science, sociology, anthropology, cinema, media studies, human development, law, and medicine. It also analyzes race, ethnicity, location, nationality, and disability.

Prayers for Bobby (2009) Directed by Russell Mulcahy

Performance Theory

It is a broad study which fuses theater studies, anthropology, ethnography, and feminist and post-structuralist theory. Having said that it is broad, its concern is all about people's performances, individually or collectively. People act and perform on a daily basis. The routines you do everyday simply are considered performances just like the way you walk or talk. Everything that we do that leads to motion is a performance. Not to mention, even the things in the environment bring life as long as it is in motion and is used as an agent of performance.

Chicago (2009) Directed by Rob Marshall

Spectatorship Theory

Its nature is to not look at how viewers respond to a film statistically and scientifically, but instead at how the viewer is involved, implicated and engaged in the viewing experience. What many of today’s most interesting filmmakers want to do is ‘subjectivise’ us through a combination of emotionally engaging us and at the same time forcing upon us an awareness of that engagement. They want any idea to be contained by a strong emotional reaction. 

Schindler's List (1993) Directed by Steven Spielberg

Ethnic Theory

Race is a social category that shares the people's commonalities in different aspects such as religion, language, customs, nationality, and political affiliation. It was originally based on the notion of culture. Additionally, it was based on the assimilation model which tells that instead of explaining the marginalized status of people of color in the United States with an inherent biological inferiority, it was a failure to assimilate into American culture that held people back. They could be equal as long as they dropped their culture which was deficient compared to white culture. 

Thy Womb (2012) Directed Brillante Mendoza

Auteur Theory

Auteur is French for author. During the 1950s, the term "auteur" was first used by the critics of French film magazine Cahiers du cinéma to praise certain film directors. Since then, the term auteur has acquired the meaning of directors whose personal vision on a movie is strongly felt. In the early 1960s, when American film critics picked up on these ideas, the term was interpreted as a theory, a way of making films in the Nouvelle Vague vein, hence the phrase auteur theory.

Tim Burton's films