Chapter 2 Flashcards
Historiography
The writing of history; the study of the methods and principles through which the past is viewed according to certain perspectives and priorities
Periodization
A method of organizing film history by groups of years that are defined by historical events or that produced movies that share thematic and stylistic concerns
Canon
An accepted list of essential great works in a field of study
Nickelodeons
Storefront theaters and arcade spaces where short films were shown continuously for a 5c admission price to audiences passing in and out. They were prominent until the rise of the feature film in the 1910s
Early Cinema
The period of rapid change in how films were made and seen that stretches from 1895 to the rise of the feature film in around 1915
Race Movies
Early 20th Century films that features all African American casts and were circulated to African American audiences in the North and South
Benshi
Storytellers who narrated and interpreted silent films in Japan
German Expressionist Cinema
A German film movement (1918-1929) that veered away from the movies’ realism by representing irrational forces through lighting, set, and costume design. Expressionism (in film) turned away from realist representation and toward the unconscious and irrational sides of human experience
French Impressionist Cinema
A 1920s avant-grade film movement that aimed to destabilize familiar or objective ways of seeing and to revitalize the dynamics of human perception
Poetic Realism
A film movement in the 1930s France that incorporated a lyrical style and a fatalistic view of life
Blaxploitation
A genre of low-budge films made in the early 1970s targeting urban, African American audiences and featuring streetwise black protagonists. Several black directors made a creative mark in a genre that was primarily intended to make money for its producers
Italian Neorealism
A film movement that began in Italy during World War II and lasted until approximately 1952, depicting everyday social realities using location shooting and amateur actors, in opposition to glossy studio formulas
French New Wave
A film movement that came to prominence in the late 1950s and 60s in France in opposition to the conventional studio system. The films were often made with low budgets and young actors, were shot on location, used unconventional sound and editing patterns, and addressed the struggle for personal expression. Also called Nouvelle Vague.
Auteur Theory
An approach to cinema first proposed in the French film journal Cahiers du cinema that emphasizes the director as the expressive force behind a film and sees a director’s body of work as united by common themes or formal strategies
British New Wave
A movement of British films between 1959 and 1963 that focused on working-class realism, discontent, and rebellious youth
Czech New Wave
A film movement that came to prominence in 1960s Czechoslovakia and used an absurdist humour, nonprofessional actors, and improvised dialogue to express political dissent. It ended with the Soviet invasion in 1969.
Cinema Novo
A film movement (1960s-1970s) in Brazil that emphasized social equality and intellectualism and broke with studio gloss
Anime
Japanese animation, first launched following WWII
Bollywood
A commonly used name for the popular Hindi-language film industry based in Mumbai, India, sometimes used to refer to the entire Indian film industry, the world’s largest.
Third Cinema
A term coined in the late 1960s in Latin America to echo the phrase and concept “Third World,” Third Cinema opposed commercial and auteurist cinemas with a political, populist aesthetic and united films from a number of countries and contexts
New German Cinema
A film movement launched in West Germany in 1962 by a group of young filmmakers known for their confrontation with Germany’s Nazi and postwar past
Media Convergence
The process by which formerly distinct media and viewing platforms become interdependent
Nollywood
The contemporary Nigerian film industry
