Authors:
- Considers the notion of coherence in narrative film as an aesthetic achievement
- Dissociates coherence from a specific model, period or tradition of film, arguing that a productive critical concept of coherence in film studies can and must be based on an exploratory and variegated understanding of the concept’s workings
- Draws together a range of very different films, from Max Ophuls’ classically structured Madame de… to Jean-Luc Godard’s ‘radical’ Passion and Quentin Tarantino’s seminal Pulp Fiction
- Includes supplementary material: sn.pub/extras
Part of the book series: Palgrave Close Readings in Film and Television (CRFT)
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Table of contents (8 chapters)
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Front Matter
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The Achievement of Synthesis and the Intelligibility of the Film’s Fictional World
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Front Matter
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Apparent Incoherence and Dramatic Significance
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Front Matter
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Back Matter
About this book
This book examines the concept of coherence in film studies. It asks if there are ways to appreciate the achievement of coherence in narrative films that are characterised by an eccentric or difficult style, as well as by an apparently confusing intelligibility. In order to answer this critical question, the author argues that we need to reconsider the predominant understanding of the concept of coherence in film studies. Virvidaki identifies how a general function of coherence is manifested through the aesthetic of transparency and unobtrusiveness of classical Hollywood film. The author then proceeds to a close analysis of stylistically perplexing narrative films, in order to demonstrate how we can broaden, expand and readjust the classical criteria of coherence. Testing Coherence in Narrative Film will appeal to film and philosophy scholars interested in aesthetics and narrative form.
Reviews
“This book demonstrates the benefits of taking a key aesthetic concept and using it to frame detailed explorations of particular films. The case studies chosen encompass a range of cinematic traditions, and Virvidaki’s analyses offer fresh and nuanced insights that will be valuable to anyone studying these films, or more general matters of film style and meaning.” (James Zborowski, University of Hull,UK. Author of Classical Hollywood Cinema: Point of view and communication, 2016)
Authors and Affiliations
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Hellenic Open University, Patras, Greece
Katerina Virvidaki
About the author
Katerina Virvidaki completed her D.Phil. in English (Film Studies) at the University of Oxford in 2015. She has taught Philosophical Aesthetics at The National Technical University of Athens (Department of Humanities, Social Sciences and Law) and she has also been working as a curriculum developer, organising educational programs on art and philosophy (The American College of Greece, Pierce College). She currently teaches Film and Adult Education at the Hellenic Open University (Master’s in Adult Education M.Ed.).
Bibliographic Information
Book Title: Testing Coherence in Narrative Film
Authors: Katerina Virvidaki
Series Title: Palgrave Close Readings in Film and Television
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-62196-8
Publisher: Palgrave Macmillan Cham
eBook Packages: Literature, Cultural and Media Studies, Literature, Cultural and Media Studies (R0)
Copyright Information: The Editor(s) (if applicable) and The Author(s) 2017
Hardcover ISBN: 978-3-319-62195-1Published: 23 October 2017
Softcover ISBN: 978-3-319-87254-4Published: 24 August 2018
eBook ISBN: 978-3-319-62196-8Published: 10 October 2017
Series ISSN: 2634-6133
Series E-ISSN: 2634-6141
Edition Number: 1
Number of Pages: IX, 218
Number of Illustrations: 12 b/w illustrations
Topics: Close Reading, Film Theory, Genre