Apparatus theory
Apparatus theory, derived in part from
Marxist theory, semiotics, and psychoanalysis, was the dominant theory within
cinema studies during the 1970s. It maintains that
cinema is by nature
ideological because its mechanics of representation are
ideological. Its mechanics of representation include the
camera and
editing. The central position of the spectator within
the
perspective of the composition is also ideological.
Apparatus theory also argues that cinema maintains the dominant ideology of the culture within the viewer. Ideology is not imposed on cinema, but is part of its nature.
Apparatus theory follows an institutional model of spectatorship.
Apparatus theorists
Jacques Lacan
Louis Althusser
Jean-Louis Baudry
Jean-Louis Comolli
Christian Metz
Laura Mulvey
Peter Wollen
Further reading
- Narrative, Apparatus, Ideology: A Film Theory Reader, Columbia University Press 1986
Categories: Filming | Film criticism | Film theory