CIN201Y1 Lecture Notes - Lecture 9: Immanuel Kant, Medium Specificity, Film Theory
Daniel Laurin Nov. 11, 2016
CIN201 TUTORIAL 9
MÜNSTERBERG
1. Keys to Understanding Münsterberg
2. Münsterberg and the psychology of the spectator
3. Ontology, Epistemology, Aesthetics (Every film theorist is supposed to have these three
in their theory)
HUGO MÜNSTERBERG (1863-1916)
• A psychologist by trade
• Wrote one of the earliest attempts at film theory
• Formalist, anti-realist film theory
FUNDAMENTAL PRECEPTS OF AESTHETICS IN THE EARLY 20TH CENTURY
1. Legacy of Kant
2. Case for medium specificity
3. Need to establish cinema’s cultural credibility
IMMANUEL KANT (1724-1804)
• Three Features of Kant’s Thinking Useful for Understanding Münsterberg
1) Art is not designed for practical use
2) Art’s beauty derives from an internal coherence
3) This internal coherence helps reinforce its separateness from the external world
THE CASE FOR MEDIUM SPECIFICITY
• Any art form, to be considered art, had to establish its Kantian-prescribed credentials as
such by distinguishing itself from reality by virtue of its unique features
• Need to establish cinema’s cultural credibility
MÜNSTERBERG AND THE PSYCHOLOGY OF THE SPECTATOR
• What differences between film and reality allow a transformation of reality that an art
form must be capable of producing?
(At this point, film was different from reality…)
- Lack of sound
- Depth
- Movement
- Lack of colour
• Films ability to direct our attention
• How the mind isolates important events/objects
• Cinema is an art because it cuts itself off (as our mental operations do) from the real
world
• Films consonance with mental operations distinguish it from the ‘laws’ of the external
world and proves its status as art
• Filmic techniques allow for exercising of memory (flashback) and imagination (flash-
forward)
find more resources at oneclass.com
find more resources at oneclass.com
Document Summary
M nsterberg: keys to understanding m nsterberg, m nsterberg and the psychology of the spectator, ontology, epistemology, aesthetics (every film theorist is supposed to have these three in their theory) Hugo m nsterberg (1863-1916: a psychologist by trade, wrote one of the earliest attempts at film theory, formalist, anti-realist film theory. Fundamental precepts of aesthetics in the early 20th century: legacy of kant, case for medium specificity, need to establish cinema"s cultural credibility. Immanuel kant (1724-1804: three features of kant"s thinking useful for understanding m nsterberg , art is not designed for practical use, art"s beauty derives from an internal coherence, this internal coherence helps reinforce its separateness from the external world. The case for medium specificity: any art form, to be considered art, had to establish its kantian-prescribed credentials as such by distinguishing itself from reality by virtue of its unique features, need to establish cinema"s cultural credibility.
