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Applying film theory in teaching fiction.

Article Excerpt
Abstract

To augment the traditional analysis of a literary text, teachers may consider applying concepts from film theory to a literary work. Often film theory concepts appeal to highly visual students and provide a framework to thoroughly discuss image. The construction of images can underscore a work's theme, symbolism, and character development.

Introduction

The study of literature has a long and rich history in terms of forms of analysis. Almost any student who emerges from even a rudimentary course in literature will be able to identify literary themes, symbols, narrative structure, and character development as primary issues in the analysis of a literary work. Today's students, more than any other population in our history, are also particularly visually oriented. The impact of film, television, and video games on the general population has created visually savvy viewers and readers if for no other reason than simple saturation. Although the benefits and disadvantages of an overwhelmingly visual culture can be debated, the impact cannot be denied. Students often have a highly hewed understanding of visual images; this talent can be applied to the study of literature. By using some of the concepts from film theory, we can augment the teaching of literature by using the skills developed from a highly visual culture.

Most films have a great deal of commonality with most novels. Both tend to be narrative in structure, have characters and conflict. A good film, like a good novel, will also have theme and symbols. What differs then is how the two are constructed. The construction of the image impacts the response of the reader and viewer. Marshall McLuhan, the seminal philosopher on mass media, developed the concept of hot and cool media. He differentiated between the novel, a cool medium, and the film, a hot medium, based on how much the viewer/reader had to work to complete the image. In the novel, the reader must picture the images in her mind. Conversely, a viewer of a film has to do little work, other than stay awake, to complete the cinematic image. Perhaps this difference can explain why most people believe that the book is usually better than the film. They have more of an investment in completing the image in the book. They can picture their Uncle Al or the neighbor's English sheep dog in the novel; in the film, they see Mel Gibson.

What can be gained by merging the two is a thorough analysis of the image itself, whether cinematic or literary, and how that image contributes to all the other standards of literary analysis. How does the image assist in character development?...

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