Film Theory Guide: 5 Types of Film Theory

Film theory is the study of film and how its many elements work together to present a vision of reality. Film theory takes an academic approach to explaining the essence of cinema and how it holds a mirror up to its audience and the world at large. Film theory differs from film criticism (which involves evaluation of a film's effectiveness) and film history (which explores the development and evolution of cinema over time).

Around the beginning of the twentieth century, motion pictures emerged as a new form of mass entertainment. Critics and theorists were quick to analyze the new medium, comparing it to a similar art form: theater. In particular, they focused on the work of influential early directors like Dziga Vertov, Sergei Eisenstein, and Germaine Dulac.

After World War II, French philosopher André Bazin (founder of French film magazine Cahiers du Cinéma) began writing about film. He believed a film should be a director’s vision, and that it is up to the viewer to interpret the content—ideas that influenced the French New Wave. Film theory in this era brought new focus on realism, auteur theory, and avant-garde filmmaking.

As gender issues, psychoanalysis, and sexuality began to dominate the modern conversation in the 1960s and ’70s, film theorists became increasingly interested in reading films through the lenses of these disciplines. In the decades since, film theory has developed as an academic discipline, with cinema studies becoming more common in universities.

Below are some examples of the different types of film theory.

1. 1. Feminist: Feminist film theory studies representations of women in cinema. A foundational work of feminist film theory is Laura Mulvey’s 1975 essay “Visual Pleasure and Narrative Cinema,” in which she coined the term “male gaze.” Feminist theory may investigate how filmmakers objectify and sexualize female characters without regard for their subjectivity.
2. 2. Marxist: Marxist film theory studies the representation of power structures and class struggle in film. In Marxist readings of a film, the theorist may focus on protagonists fighting for the needs of a group against the powers of capital.
3. 3. Psychoanalytic: Psychoanalytic film theory emphasizes the study of the human psyche, analyzing the effect of things like narcissism, sexual desire, or unconscious thoughts on a character’s movement through a narrative.
4. 4. Queer: Queer emphasizes queer subject matter and subtexts in film, exploring how sexual orientation and gender identy manifest in cinema.
   
5. 5. Auteur: Auteur theory assumes that the director is the primary artistic visionary of a film. This theory functions under the belief that the best films are made by filmmakers with a unique, personal vision who write and direct their own films.

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