Plain-language explanation.
Film and television studies analyses movies and TV shows as cultural objects — how they are made, what stories they tell, and how they reflect and shape society. Films are not just entertainment; they are texts that carry ideological messages about gender, race, class, and power. Film theory offers tools to analyse and interpret these messages.
Core concepts and standard treatment.
Film theory: formalism (Eisenstein's montage theory — collision of images creates meaning), auteur theory (Sarris: director as author of film, identifiable personal style across works), genre theory (conventions, iconography, and ideology of genres — western, horror, musical, film noir), feminist film theory (Mulvey's male gaze — classical Hollywood cinema structures visual pleasure for heterosexual male spectators), and psychoanalytic film theory (Metz: cinema as dream-work, identification, and the scopophilic drive).
Deeper theory, debates and edge cases.
Narrative theory: Propp's morphology of folk tales (31 narrative functions, character spheres), Todorov's narrative equilibrium (disruption, recognition, resolution), and Barthes' narrative codes (proairetic, hermeneutic, semic, symbolic, cultural) applied to film analysis. Television studies: quality TV and the third golden age of television (The Sopranos, The Wire, Breaking Bad), convergence television (streaming, binge-watching, social viewing), and the global formats market (Big Brother, The Voice, Strictly Come Dancing). Postcolonial film theory: national cinemas, Third Cinema (Solanas and Getino: documentary realism in political service), and decolonising the screen (representation of the Global South).
How it is applied in practice.
Film industry economics: the Hollywood studio system (vertical integration, blockbuster economics, franchise culture — MCU, Star Wars, Fast & Furious), global box office (China as second-largest market), streaming disruption (Netflix, Disney+, Amazon Prime Video displacing theatrical-first releases and transforming content commissioning). Diversity and representation: Oscars So White campaign, Bechdel-Wallace test, Geena Davis Institute research on gender in media — data on representation driving industry accountability. Independent film and arthouse cinema: financing models (co-productions, film council grants, tax incentives), festival circuit (Cannes, Venice, Sundance, Berlin), and critical reception vs. commercial performance. Documentary filmmaking: observational, participatory, expository, reflexive, and performative modes (Nichols), and the ethics of representation in documentary subjects.