This study traces the evolution of early film societies in Germany and Austria, from the emergence of mass movie theaters in the 1910s to the turbulent years of the late Weimar Republic. Examining a diverse array of groups, it approaches film societies as formations designed to assimilate and influence a new medium: a project emerging from the world of amateur science before taking new directions into industry, art and politics. Through an interdisciplinary approach-in dialogue with social history, print history and media archaeology-it also transforms our theoretical understanding of what a film society was and how it operated. Far from representing a mere collection of pre-formed cinephiles, film societies were, according to the book's central argument, productive social formations, which taught people how to nurture their passion for the movies, how to engage with cinema, and how to interact with each other. Ultimately, the study argues that examining film societies can help to reveal the diffuse agency by which generative ideas of cinema take shape.
Rezensionen / Stimmen
Michael Cowan's deeply researched study contends that film clubs, though often overlooked, were pivotal in articulating ideals of spectatorship, notions of cinema's identity as a medium, and utopian beliefs in film's transformative power, thereby challenging us to rethink core assumptions of media studies and rewrite film history.
Rielle Navitski, University of Georgia
Richly detailed, meticulously researched, and convincingly argued, Michael Cowan's strikingly original study provides an invaluable account of the precursors, aims, activities, and social functions of film societies that operated apart from the theatrical film business in early twentieth-century Germany and Austria. In so doing, Cowan reframes how we should think about the historical import of such groups, whose practices and presumptions testified in vastly different ways to the significant possibilities and manifold utility of cinema.
Gregory A. Waller, Editor of Film History
"Cowan's study is an important contribution to German film studies and, luckily, is easily accessible as an open-source download."
- Ulrich Plass, German Studies Review, Volume 47, Number 3, October 2024.
Reihe
Sprache
Verlagsort
Zielgruppe
Produkt-Hinweis
Fadenheftung
Gewebe-Einband
Illustrationen
57 s/w Abbildungen
57 Illustrations, black and white
Maße
Höhe: 242 mm
Breite: 164 mm
Dicke: 20 mm
Gewicht
ISBN-13
978-94-6372-547-7 (9789463725477)
Copyright in bibliographic data and cover images is held by Nielsen Book Services Limited or by the publishers or by their respective licensors: all rights reserved.
Schweitzer Klassifikation
Michael Cowan is Professor of film and media history in the Department of Cinematic Arts at the University of Iowa. His research, focused on German and European cinema, examines the broader cultural and technological contexts in which film practices emerged and evolved in the early 20th century. His publications have won numerous awards from the Society of Film and Media Studies and the British Association of Film and Television Studies Scholars, as well as the Willy Haas Award (Germany) and the Limina Award (Italy).
LIST OF ILLUSTRATIONS
INTRODUCTION - WHAT WAS A FILM SOCIETY? TOWARDS A NEW ARCHAEOLOGY OF SCREEN COMMUNITIES
CHAPTER 1 - THE KNOWLEDGE COMMUNITY: THE BIRTH OF THE FILM SOCIETY FROM THE SPIRIT OF AMATEUR SCIENCE
CHAPTER 2 - THE PROFESSIONAL COMMUNITY: CONCEPTUALIZING THE FILM INDUSTRY IN THE DEUTSCHE KINOTECHNISCHE GESELLSCHAFT
CHAPTER 3 - COMMUNITIES OF LOVE: CINEPHILIC FILM CLUBS, MOVIE MAGAZINES AND THE VIENNESE KINOGEMEINDE
CHAPTER 4 - THE SKEPTICAL COMMUNITY: LEFT-WING FILM SOCIETIES AND THE MAKING OF THE SUSPICIOUS SPECTATOR
AFTERWORD: WHAT'S IN AN 'IDEA'?
BIBLIOGRAPHY
