‘Introduction: Photography’ and ‘Basic Concepts’, from Theory of Film (Kracauer 1960)

Abstract

This chapter is a close analysis of the two chapters from Kracauer’s 1960 book Theory of Film: The Redemption of Physical Reality. The chapter covers Kracauer’s increasing influence by phenomenology and outlines his key notion of the ‘basic aesthetic principle’ of film and photography, the ‘cinematic approach’, and the ‘realist’ and ‘formative’ stages of the aesthetic process in both film and photography. Kracauer’s contention that film is ‘uniquely equipped to record and reveal physical reality’ is discussed.