Devices of Curiosity

Early Cinema and Popular Science

Dados Bibliográficos

ID19969405
AutoresOliver Gaycken (autor correspondente)
Ano2015
Páginas270
Data de publicação2015-05-01
Open AccessNão
TipoBOOK
PeriódicoDevices of Curiosity (SOURCE_BOOK)
EditoraOxford University Press (PUBLISHER • GB)
DOI10.1093/acprof:oso/9780199860685.001.0001
OpenAlexW2494478891
ISBN9780199860685
Open LibraryOL27517612M
IdiomaEN
Citações recebidas27

This book excavates a largely unknown genre of early cinema, the popular-science film. Primarily a work of cinema history, it also draws on the insights of the history of science. Beginning around 1903, a variety of producers made films about scientific topics for general audiences, inspired by a vision of cinema as an educational medium. This book traces the development of popular-science films over the first half of the silent era, from its beginnings in England to its flourishing in France around 1910. These films initially relied upon previous traditions such as the magic-lantern lecture for their representational strategies, and they continually had recourse to established visual iconography, but they also created novel visual paradigms and led to the creation of ambitious new film collections. The book thus also considers how popular-science films exemplify the circulation of knowledge. Finally, the book discerns a transit between nonfictional and fictional modes, seeing affinities between popular-science films and certain aspects of fiction films, particularly Louis Feuillade’s crime melodramas. This kind of circulation is important for an understanding of the wider relevance of early popular-science films to cinema studies, in particular their influence on documentary, educational, and avant-garde cinemas.

Aesthetics · Art · Art history · circulation of knowledge · Curiosity · Documentary film · early cinema · educational films · England · experimental film · film collections · Film studies · Flourishing · France · History of science · Literature · Louis Feuillade · MAGIC (telescope) · magic lantern · Mathematics education · Movie theater · Popular science · popular science films · Science education · silent film · Visual arts · visual iconography · Cinema and Media Studies · Cinema History and Criticism · Climate Change Communication and Perception · History and Developments in Astronomy · Literature, Film, and Journalism Analysis · Psychology · Science Education and Perceptions · Social Psychology · Film criticism · History and criticism · Motion pictures in science · Science fiction films · Science films · Science in motion pictures