On film

pp. 201-228

in: Robert Wood, Nature, artforms, and the world around us, Basingstoke, Palgrave Macmillan, 2017

Abstract

This is the new Gesamtkunst and the most powerful shaper of disposition. It contests Aristotle's contention that spectacle is the most dispensable aspect of drama. As the concluding art form, it invites comparison with the media of the other arts. This chapter explores the possibilities of presentation afforded by the peculiar characteristics of the medium. It presents a brief history of film. The chapter ends with an analysis of Babette's Feast