Theory Goes to the Movies

  In the introduction to Film Theory Goes to the Movies, co-editors Jim Collins, Hilary Radner and Ava Preacher Collins make the following observation regarding the treatment of film in contemporary culture: The analysis of contemporary movies has, for the most part, been left to the world of popular reviewing – a system that is based on sound-bite value judgments, which precludes consideration of the cultural significance of these texts. Public discussion about the broader implications of movies is usually framed in apocalyptic terms by cultural conservatives on both the left and the right who are eager to see them only as symptoms of an all-purpose moral and intellectual decay. The end result is an especially unfortunate situation in which those texts that have the most powerful impact on how we envision ourselves and each other, on how we imagine our present, past and future – in short, those movies for which there is the most pressing need for intensive critical analysis – are the ones most often evaluated in terms of thumbs, popcorn boxes, stars, hankies, and Armageddon (1). In light of the quote above, examine any three of the films we have screened this term with respect to their impact on society as a whole. That is, what do you consider to be their social and/or cultural significance? Their message?