Aesthetic evaluation and film

by Andrew Klevan

Overview

This book provides an in-depth, holistic examination of evaluative aesthetics and criticism as they apply to film. Organised around the explanation of key concepts, it illuminates connections between the work of philosophers, theorists and critics, and demonstrates the evaluation of form through the close analysis of film sequences. The book advocates that aesthetic evaluation should be flexibly informed by a cluster of concerns including medium, convention, prominence, pattern and relation; and rather than privileging a particular theory or film style, it models a type of approach, attention, process and discourse. Suitable for students of film studies and philosophical aesthetics at both undergraduate and postgraduate levels, Aesthetic evaluation and film also provides a framework for academics researching or teaching in the area. At the same time, the crisp and lucid style will make the book accessible to a wider readership.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9781784991258
Publisher:	Manchester University Press
Publication date:	08/09/2018
Pages:	256
Product dimensions:	5.40(w) x 8.30(h) x 0.90(d)

About the Author

Andrew Klevan is Associate Professor of Film Studies at the University of Oxford. He is the author of Barbara Stanwyck (2013), Film Performance: From Achievement to Appreciation (2005) and Disclosure of the Everyday: Undramatic Achievement in Narrative Film (2000).

Table of Contents

Introduction
PART I: What is evaluative aesthetics?
1.1 The origin and definition of aesthetics
1.2 The aesthetic attitude
1.3 Aesthetic taste
1.4 Sensory immediacy
1.5 Aesthetic pleasure
1.6 Seeking agreement
1.7 Imagination
1.8 Aesthetic appreciation
1.9 Form and style
1.10 Aesthetic qualities
1.11 Specificity
PART II: What is aesthetic criticism?
2.1 Evaluation
2.2 Understanding and interpretation
2.3 Perception
2.4 Experience
2.5 Particularity and responsiveness
2.6 Description and analysis
2.7 Close reading
2.8 Comparison, category, and context
2.9 Intention, achievement, and skill
2.10 Evaluative criteria
2.11 Reasons, argument, and objectivity
2.12 Subjectivity, contingency, and the relational
PART III: The aesthetic evaluation of film
3.1 Medium
3.2 Constraint
3.3 Convention
3.4 Choice and expectation
3.5 Encouraging perceptual activity
3.6 Prominence
3.7 Pattern
3.8 Relation
A note on pedagogy
Bibliography
Filmography
Index

Editorial Reviews

'Klevan has undertaken an extraordinary amount of research, synthesized it, and clearly and cogently explicated a number of difficult and complex ideas and debates in a way that is accessible to non-specialists. Moreover, his own expertise as a film scholar allows him to help such readers grasp abstract concepts by offering perspicuous examples from specific films. He offers a careful and balanced perspective on a number of fairly contentious topics in the philosophy of art and the philosophy of criticism before arguing, often persuasively, for his own view on matters. In other words, Klevan also offers enough claims, analyses, and evaluations to generate discussion and debate in a reading group setting.'
British Journal of Aesthetics

'I would go so far as to say that it is strongly recommended reading for anyone involved with the evaluation of film – which might be the same thing as saying anyone involved with film.'
Senses of cinema

‘This book is a Film as Film for our times. But it is also more than that. Film and cultural studies are increasingly focused on knowing the price of everything in their disciplinary turns towards media-industry studies, and a book that brings genuine and rigorous illumination to questions of value and the skills of evaluation is more necessary than ever. Andrew Klevan’s study of evaluative aesthetics and the practices of aesthetic criticism and evaluation of film succeeds magisterially in its aim of being sufficiently general to apply to all types of films, as well as to cultural forms beyond cinema and screen media, too. It also affords great clarity, perspicacity and detail to its central concepts and cinematic concerns. The chapters on film-focused examples of aesthetic criticism – “the practical wing of evaluative aesthetics” – are more than worth the cover price alone. A complete and, above all, deeply useful tour de force on behalf of the film-critical endeavour.’
Professor Catherine Grant, Birkbeck, University of London

‘I cannot overestimate how important and timely this book is for the still-nascent discipline of film aesthetics. The study does a remarkable job in carving out a space for scholarly work in criticism and aesthetic evaluation, both in general and specifically in relation to film, setting out the essential concepts and principles of this field with incisive reference to key thinkers and critics. One particular strength is the clarity with which concepts are outlined and illustrated with examples of criticism. Another is the way those textual examples are concisely and deftly queried, refined or built upon, so that the book becomes not just an overview but a model of critical engagement in itself. This will make it essential reading for students taking classes in criticism and aesthetics, and a touchstone for academics working in the area of film style.’
Dr Alex Clayton, University of Bristol

'Andrew Klevan’s book Aesthetic Evaluation and Film is both audacious and careful... the virtues of the book in taking up the cause of aesthetics in writing, and doing so through informed, good faith assessments of debates in the philosophy of art, make this book one to admire for both its ambitions and its accomplishments.'
Projections

From the Publisher