Film Studies, Film Theory & Film Aesthetics

I'm trying to learn about Film Studies, Film Theory and Film Aesthetics but I'm reeeally confused about what each entails.

Can someone explain to me the differences between these three things, and what type of stuff is looked at in each one?

Thank you!!

Reply 1

stantontaylor

Original post by ValentinePin

If you wanna be really specific, 'aesthetics' is a subset of philosophy that deals with the appreciation of beauty and the 'aesthetic experience'. It tends to search for some sort of greater truth or principle underlying nature of beauty, art etc and how those things should be appreciated. It's usually tied into the larger ideological structure of one particular philosopher, school, era etc. 'Theory' tends to look more at the specific issues and operations involved in specific activities (literature, art film etc.). It tends to be more topical and descriptive while less idealistic and prescriptive than 'aesthetics' proper. Kant's thoughts on art, for example, would be read as 'aesthetics' whereas Walter Benjamin's would be read more as 'theory'. But the distinction isn't so important to make since more often than not they overlap.

I've never seen a BA course specifically devoted to film theory/aesthetics. The most common type of course would be something like film or media studies. They tend to compose of the history of film/media, theory/aesthetics of film/media, some kind of social science component relating to film/media and depending on the program some production oriented courses. Then again, I'm studying art so you might want to get a second opinion on that.