Clayton George Wickham - final thesis

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the understanding of film aesthetics and the last thirty years of cinema history,
particularly within the horror genre. Despite being basic observations, they appear
necessary to initiate potentially significant discourse within Film Studies.
Form vs Theory
In the introduction, I outlined the different approaches to formalism, and how
I see my own work situated within the range of methods that the term “formalism”
encapsulates. I will now conclude my thesis by clearly outlining arguments against
this method, and why I not only continue utilising formalist analysis, but also why I
find it preferable to other methods.
As discussed in my introduction, the appearance of formalism in Berliner's
teaching methods brought some frustration and even anger to some of the students in
the class. This response is not limited to undergraduate students, as formalism has
become the subject of criticism from some writers who utilise other methodologies.
The major arguments against formalism, which I will now engage with, are:
1) Formalism is a method that is too cold, clinical, and dull for an approach to
the arts, which are designed to elicit passion and emotion;
2) By its very nature, formalism cannot engage with questions of value, which
is of utmost importance in discussing art;
3) By attempting not to adopt, bare, or communicate an ideology, formalism
either works contrary to socio-political/economic positions that are more
progressive, or, it upholds dominant ideologies;
4) By focusing on microcosmic elements of film form, formalists risk missing,
and failing to engage with, the “big picture” or larger “meaning”, even to the
point where formalists ignore basic representative indicators (i.e.-this image