Outline - Essay 1

Main Argument: There are vastly differing approaches to writing about film, with two main styles being a formalist approach and an ideological approach; while no writing style is perfect, I believe a formalist criticism of film is the more effective, accessible, and intrinsically valuable approach to studying film.

Claim 1: Formalist criticism allows the critic to fully investigate important moments of a film, which can then provide a better understanding of the film.

Support: Quotes V.F. Perkins’ Film on Film article examining Psycho

Claim 2: Formalist criticism is a more accessible form of film study, as prior knowledge of the subject enhances the understanding, yet is not a requirement for it.

Support: Quotes from Siegfried Kracauer’s “Basic Concepts”

Claim 3: Formalist criticism requires the critic to examine what is present in the film (as opposed to projecting a specific reading on a film).

Support: Quotes from Louis Baudry’s “The Apparatus” and Sergei Eisenstein’s “The Dramaturgy of Film Form”

Extra: To clarify what I mean when I say that a formalist approach is more “intrinsically valuable” – I mean to say that examining a moment of the film can help a viewer better understand a film, while examining the film through a certain perspective (e.g. Marxist) can help a viewer better understand Marxism. The value of formalist criticism, then, is that it relates back to the film, giving the film intrinsic value. I’m not positive if this is going to work as an argument, and I’m not sure if the term “intrinsically valuable” is the best to describe the advantage of formalist criticism, but since it’s only a rough draft I thought I’d entertain the idea.