Clayton George Wickham - final thesis

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would argue that Donnie Darko has tremendous aesthetic value precisely because of
its lack of “success in carrying out the maker’s intentions.”
Ultimately, poetics refers to a specific type of formalist analysis, which
closely observes the elements and mechanics of a work of art. This, I feel, is the key
type of analysis within formalism, and even film studies, upon which further analysis
should be founded. The next type of formalist analysis does this in a very direct
manner, even adopting the term “poetics” within its name.
Historical Poetics, by extension, observes how the form of a work of art is
situated within its historical context, and responds to trends and stylistic precedent.
Bordwell explains it thus:
A historical poetics of cinema produces knowledge in answer to two
broad questions:
1. What are the principles according to which films are constructed and
by means of which they achieve particular effects?
2. How and why have these principles arisen and changed in particular
empirical circumstances? (1989; 371)
Bordwell then highlights the work of André Bazin in his “Evolution of the
Language of the Cinema” (1967) as an initial starting point for explicating his
concept of historical poetics. Berliner evokes the work of Alexander Veselovsky,
and defines historical poetics, which he claims, “traces the course of development of
artistic forms.” (2010; 19) This differs from poetics alone as a text isn’t viewed in
isolation, but within the context of its contemporaries, antecedents, and its
succeeding texts. Historical poetics shows how the construction of films can