During the past two weeks, you studied basic approaches to studying film history and an overview (a very brief overview) of film history. See attachment from textbook on Italian Neorealism/Bicycle Thief.
Film Options:
● The Bicycle Thief – may also be available from Netflix
○ Part 1: Bicycle Thief
○ Part 2: Bicycle Thief
After watching the film, write a post that discusses how the quality and character of the film might reflect technological advances and handicaps particular to a film movement, the economic conditions and circumstances of its national film industry, and the sociohistorical situation which it was produced.
It may be helpful for you to reread the first couple pages of the chapter regarding basic approaches to studying film history and also the section of film history that the film falls into.
Your post should be a minimum of 250 words.
Chapter 10 (Separate Attachment- 4 Basic Approaches…) Overview
OVERVIEW
The point of Chapter 10 is to introduce you to the fascinating and complex subject of film history. It is not a comprehensive history of film but instead a short overview of the subject, which happens to include short introductions to a few of the most significant moments in film history.
Make sure that you understand the distinctions between the four traditional approaches to film history that the authors describe: aesthetic, technological, economic and social-historical. These categories don’t include all the ways that scholars study film history, but they are the most prominent approaches.
The rest of the chapter provides a capsule history of some major moments in film history. In addition to noting the major films and filmmakers in each era, you might also note how each era both innovates and preserves the best practices of the past. As the authors say at the beginning of the chapter, film historians study both change and continuity in film.
Is the study of film history merely a matter of names, titles, and dates? No. As the authors make clear in the concluding section of the chapter on page 477, Analyzing Film History, knowing more about film history will help you view “old” and current movies in a more penetrating and analytical way. Even if you have not read the Analyzing sections at the end of other chapters, make sure to read that section in this chapter; the ideas presented there provide plenty of good advice about how to use film history in your own analyses.
