This seminal work offers an in-depth analysis of the history of film criticism and how critics interpret cinema, while proposing an alternative program for film studies. David Bordwell constructs an anatomy of film criticism, aiming to reshape the agenda of film research. As such, Making Meaning stands as a pivotal work that will remain at the heart of future debates in film theory and interpretation.
Bordwell develops strategies for interpreting films and extracting meaning, illustrating his theoretical framework with numerous examples from Western film criticism. After defining the key terms and scope of his argument, he examines how critical theories tend to restrict practical engagement with texts, asserting that interpretation has become central to the humanities.
The book explores the development of film criticism in France, Britain, and the United States since World War II, focusing on two major, often contrasting, approaches to criticism. Bordwell reveals that these seemingly opposing traditions share significant common ground. His study, which discusses conventional, rhetorical, and problem-solving techniques within both schools of thought, concludes by asserting that historical poetics offers the most productive framework for film analysis.
