Film Studies Basics: Realism, Theory & Movements | Calicut University Module 1

Early cinema (1890s-early 1900s) developed two main traditions. The Lumiere brothers focused on capturing reality through 'actualities' - documentary-style films showing everyday life. In contrast, George Melies pioneered trick films using special effects and elaborate sets to visualize the impossible. This fundamental divide between realism and fantasy shaped all subsequent film development. Cecil B. Hepworth's 1903 Alice in Wonderland exemplifies this era, using intertitles to provide scene checklists before the film begins, making sense for familiar stories where the pleasure came from watching well-known moments reenacted in this new medium.

Early films, by today's standards, might be considered documentaries—they were simply slices of everyday life that filmmakers found interesting. These were called 'actualities.' However, actualities soon gave way to experimentation in fiction films. Even early works that we now call documentaries were often staged recreations of life or history, as seen in the works of Robert J. Flaherty or Benjamin Christensen.

Documentary cinema claims to offer truth and factual information about the world, establishing a relationship of trust with audiences who expect objective representations. Fictional cinema deliberately moves away from reality, offering fantasy, imagination, and entertainment rather than claims to factual accuracy. This distinction manifests in audience expectations, where documentary is perceived as educational and requiring effort, while fictional cinema is seen as pleasurable and engaging. Cinema is fundamentally a technical medium that mediates human vision through mechanical apparatus, introducing objectivity that distinguishes it from other art forms. Documentary cinema emerged alongside cinema's birth, with Lumière brothers' films capturing real events without fictional embellishment. The term 'documentary' was explicitly applied in 1926 when John Grierson described 'Nanook of the North' as documentary, establishing that documentary involves 'creative treatment of actuality' rather than pure mechanical recording. A fundamental paradox exists: audiences expect objective representations, yet all documentaries involve subjective choices in framing and editing. Fictional cinema inherently contains documentary elements—real actors performing before cameras create records of actual human presence. Cinema is fundamentally an art of montage, where directors' choices in sequencing images shape meaning. Documentary cinema has historically served ideological functions, as seen in Nazi Germany's Leni Riefenstahl films and Soviet documentary cinema of the 1920s-1930s. Since the 20th century, scholars like Peter Galison have challenged the ideal of objective scientific observation, with significant implications for documentary cinema. Direct Cinema (North America) and Cinema Vérité (France) emerged as responses to perceived limitations in traditional documentary, seeking to minimize director intervention and voice-over narration. Jean Rouch's 'Chronique d'un été' (1961) represented a radical departure, actively engaging subjects and inviting their participation in interpreting footage, acknowledging the gap between how subjects see themselves and how they appear on camera.

Robert Flaherty's 1922 film Nanuk of the North pioneered modern documentary filmmaking by expanding the passive camera technique of early actualities into a narrative structure that constructed subjective truths about Inuit life, despite staging scenes like building a three-walled ice set for filming; this approach later influenced two major documentary movements—direct cinema and cinema verite—which sought to minimize filmmaker intervention while acknowledging that all documentaries inherently construct subjective narratives rather than capturing pure objective reality.

Film Studies is an academic discipline that analyzes films through various theoretical frameworks including formalism, feminism, and structuralism, examining how films represent social issues and ordinary life while emphasizing the importance of understanding film form, structure, and linguistic elements for effective critical analysis.

Film theory is an academic discipline within cinema studies that provides scholarly frameworks for analyzing films as distinct art forms, examining how technical elements like camera work, editing, and sound create emotional and mental effects on audiences; major theories include formalism (focusing on technical aspects), structuralism (examining larger patterns), apparatus theory (arguing film is inherently ideological), Marxist theory (analyzing power dynamics), feminist theory (critiquing gender representation), queer theory (examining sexual identity), and auteur theory (viewing directors as primary authors of their work).

Literary criticism is the systematic analysis, interpretation, and evaluation of literary works through various theoretical approaches, including moral criticism, formalism, psychoanalytic criticism, Marxist criticism, reader-response criticism, structuralism, semiotics, cultural studies, post-colonial criticism, feminist criticism, gender studies, and queer studies; it involves comparing, analyzing, interpreting, and evaluating works of literature by examining theme, style, setting, and historical or political context to support reasoned opinions with specific textual evidence.

Film criticism is the analysis and evaluation of films, which can be divided into journalistic criticism (appearing in newspapers and magazines) and academic criticism (by scholars informed by film theory). The earliest artistic criticism of film emerged in the early 1900s, with the first paper dedicated to film critique being The Optical Lantern and Cinematograph Journal, followed by the Bioscope in 1908. In 1911, Ricciotto Canudo proclaimed cinema to be the 'Sixth Art' (later 'Seventh Art'). By the 1920s, critics began analyzing film for its merit and value beyond entertainment, and by the 1940s, new forms of essay-style criticism emerged that brought film criticism to mainstream attention.

Film theory is an analytical framework that frames works, artists, or movements in terms of history, meaning, interpretation, sociology, psychology, and other academic disciplines. It differs from film criticism and film history, though there is overlap. For example, applying feminist film theory versus auteur theory to the same film like Hitchcock's North by Northwest produces different readings. Theory uses guidelines based on comparable precedents from existing bodies of work.

The early and mid-20th century was shaped by global conflicts including WWI, the Great Depression, WWII, and decolonization, profoundly influencing artists who responded emotionally to these events. Key concepts include abstract versus representational art—where abstract art rejects recognizable reality while representational art aims for objective depiction, though neither achieves true objectivity due to artistic influence. Major movements include Fauvism (bright, violent colors reacting to WWI anxiety), Expressionism (emotional abstraction influenced by non-Western art), and Cubism (breaking subjects into geometric pieces, pioneered by Braque and Picasso with Analytical and Synthetic phases).

The early 20th century was dominated by scientific and technological progress including the automobile, airplane, radio, and cinema. In the artistic sphere, there was a profound need for renewal, a will to break with the past, and a struggle against sentimentality. This gave birth to vanguard movements characterized by confrontation with past forms, rejection of established values, concern for aesthetic theory, interest in subjectivity and ideological commitment, and affirmation of artistic freedom. The development of photography and cinema freed traditional arts from the need to reproduce reality, allowing artists to move toward abstraction. The art market also changed, with artists seeking new channels outside official salons and the emergence of art dealers. There were two blocks of vanguards: the first historical vanguards (1900-1930s) and the second artistic vanguards (post-WWII).

The early 20th century was a period of strengthening communist ideas and the spread of freedom in all its manifestations. The world, particularly America and Europe, experienced significant events including wars and new ideas, which profoundly influenced the artistic expressions of painters and artists.

Understanding 20th century art requires knowledge of historical events: the First World War and Russian Revolution were particularly influential. The consolidation of liberal regimes, the Second Industrial Revolution, imperialism, and social movements shaped the artistic landscape. The movement of workers created instability and tension. Contact with other cultures through colonial expansion influenced art, particularly African and Japanese artistic traditions. Scientific and technical advances definitively transformed life and expression. Art became internationalist with universal reach unprecedented in previous centuries. The development of art was frenetic, with styles emerging and disappearing rapidly.

The 20th century (1914-2001) was defined by unprecedented global conflicts, technological advancement, and artistic transformation. Major events included World Wars I and II, the Spanish Civil War, the Great Depression, decolonization, and the rise of totalitarian regimes. In response to these upheavals, artists developed revolutionary movements: Expressionism (Chagall, Kandinsky) expressed inner turmoil through distorted forms; Cubism (Picasso, Braque) deconstructed reality into geometric shapes; Futurism celebrated modernity and speed; Surrealism (Dalí, Magritte) explored dreams and the unconscious; Abstract Expressionism (Pollock, Mondrian) abandoned figurative representation; and Pop Art (Warhol) embraced commercial imagery. Cinema evolved from silent comedies (Chaplin, Keaton) through German Expressionism (Lang), horror classics (Dracula, Frankenstein), to the French New Wave (Truffaut, Godard). French poetry underwent radical transformation with Apollinaire's liberation of form, Surrealist exploration of dreams, and Dadaist challenges to convention. This comprehensive cultural evolution demonstrates how artistic movements emerged as responses to and reflections of the century's defining characteristics of trauma, modernity, and rapid social change.