Among the three major film and television research results published by Bordwell and Kristen Thompson, the monograph "The Art of Cinema: Form and Style" has attracted great influence and attention. This work has given a huge impetus to the world of film criticism and led the audience into a whole new realm of cinematic art. Using multiple scientific methods such as history, psychology and formal theory, Bode deeply explores the potential meaning of film.
Explores Beauty and American films from the '60s and '70s
Early in his academic career, Bordwell wrote an essay on his 1946 masterpiece, The Beauty Trick, which became a crucial starting point for his academic journey. Although he neglected most of the American works of the '60s and '70s in his early years, this experience laid a solid foundation for his academic exploration. At that time, there was no rigorous system in the field of film studies, and Baldwell stood out for his innovative thinking and empirical spirit.
French Film Studies and Stylistic Conventions
Baldwell pointed out that the study of the Dreyer case by drawing on French film theory would help the analysis to progress. At the same time, he emphasized that cross-cultural perspectives can broaden the horizon of evaluation and lead to new thinking. By studying the creative norms of filmmakers at the beginning of the last century, this paper explores the development and inheritance of film aesthetics in the historical context to deeply understand its evolution process.
Narrative and Affective Cognition
In the process of dissecting the narrative, Baldwell advocates the audience to reveal its essence through sober analysis, which triggers people's confusion about the transformation of viewing patterns caused by the results of neuroscience research. He firmly believes that cognitivism and emerging structuralist theories can effectively interpret the narrative of film and television scenes. In addition, he clearly states the equal importance of emotional experience and comprehension in the process of film and television viewing and the independent relationship between them.
Directorial style, national cinema and categorical characters
Baudwell delved into the directorial styles, such as the masterpieces of Eisenstein, Ozu, Dreyer and others, as well as the ethnic cinema of Hong Kong, China, and advocated the use of category taxonomy to dig deeper meanings more precisely, revealing the general influence of cultural context on the creation of works. In addition, this taxonomy provides a comprehensive understanding of the historical process and the evolution of genre diversification.
Classical Narrative Patterns and Historical Saliency
After delving into cinematic classicism and its filming techniques, Bordwell makes it clear that this tradition played a decisive role in the development of cinema, summarizing it as a "foundational" narrative model. While the various emerging models have their own merits in breaking with tradition, this far-reaching influence has made classical narrative forms an important subject of much attention and in-depth interpretation.
From Semiotics to Cultural Studies: Ideological Transformation and Discipline Development
According to Baldwell's main theory, human beings are prone to rapid change of preconceived notions and acceptance of new knowledge, a process that involves many aspects such as symbolism, psychology and cross-culturalism. Bodwell delved into the intersection of different schools of thought in academia, advocating a sensible and inclusive approach to the core of each discipline and the key questions of its methodology.
Current status and future prospects of film studies
However, at the end of the essay, Patrick Bordwell points out the limitations of modern film studies. He advocated that attention should be paid to the study of historical processes and comprehensive analysis (i.e., "meso-level research"), and advocated focusing on concrete issues rather than empty and abstract discussions. The corresponding transformation strategy guidance and methodology may promote a further in-depth and rigorous process of film research.
