Philosophy of Film & Photography
Ashley Brissett
Professor Laura T. di Summa
PHI 3060-TTH 4:10PM
November 11, 2012
Theatre and Film in Panofsky
Film as art has vastly developed throughout the history of film. In the beginning, people had an aesthetic interest in formal moving pictures. As time progressed, technical inventions combined with folk art mentality lead to incremental artistic film techniques that aided in perfecting the new art form. Film has progressed from simple recordings of basic movements, to documentaries and shortly after the narrative element was borrowed from theatre which is an older folk art. Panofsky’s Style and Medium in the Motion Pictures further comments on the origin of film, the similarities and differences in theatre and film, coexpressibility, and symbolism and iconography.
In light of Panofsky Style and Medium in the Motion Pictures, this paper will attempt to apply Panofskys’ commentary to Jean Renoirs’ 1939 narrative film The Rules of the Game. It will further expand on the critic of film as art with Panofskys’ commentary and the artistic techniques in Jean Renoirs’ narrative film. In brief, its thesis is that although theatre and film have different artistic techniques, they’re both works of art that reach the audience in different ways.
In the very beginnings of film people were fascinated with the artistic form of pictorial movement. The subject did not matter; simple scenes such as people walking down a busy street, scenes of animals or sporting events are all examples of early film. Later, technical inventions combined with borrowing from theatre, an older folk art lead to the concept of a narrative film. In Panofskys’ Style and Medium in the Motion Pictures, he describes theatre stating:
“In a theatre, space is static, that is, the space represented on the stage, as well as the spatial relation of the beholder to the spectacle, is unalterably fixed. The spectator cannot leave his seat, and the setting of the
Professor Laura T. di Summa
PHI 3060-TTH 4:10PM
November 11, 2012
Theatre and Film in Panofsky
Film as art has vastly developed throughout the history of film. In the beginning, people had an aesthetic interest in formal moving pictures. As time progressed, technical inventions combined with folk art mentality lead to incremental artistic film techniques that aided in perfecting the new art form. Film has progressed from simple recordings of basic movements, to documentaries and shortly after the narrative element was borrowed from theatre which is an older folk art. Panofsky’s Style and Medium in the Motion Pictures further comments on the origin of film, the similarities and differences in theatre and film, coexpressibility, and symbolism and iconography.
In light of Panofsky Style and Medium in the Motion Pictures, this paper will attempt to apply Panofskys’ commentary to Jean Renoirs’ 1939 narrative film The Rules of the Game. It will further expand on the critic of film as art with Panofskys’ commentary and the artistic techniques in Jean Renoirs’ narrative film. In brief, its thesis is that although theatre and film have different artistic techniques, they’re both works of art that reach the audience in different ways.
In the very beginnings of film people were fascinated with the artistic form of pictorial movement. The subject did not matter; simple scenes such as people walking down a busy street, scenes of animals or sporting events are all examples of early film. Later, technical inventions combined with borrowing from theatre, an older folk art lead to the concept of a narrative film. In Panofskys’ Style and Medium in the Motion Pictures, he describes theatre stating:
“In a theatre, space is static, that is, the space represented on the stage, as well as the spatial relation of the beholder to the spectacle, is unalterably fixed. The spectator cannot leave his seat, and the setting of the