I’ve been thinking more and more about films and film scholarship on this blog lately. Part of it is simply being freed up from the dissertation, which was such a solitary, narrowing endeavor that it’s a liberation to begin to watch films from other periods, genres, and national cinemas, and to read scholarship outside my sub-field. In fact, for the remainder of the summer, it’s a goal of mine to take a look at some of the scholarship in other areas in film studies by taking a couple of essays or book chapters a week. Any suggestions are welcome.
I keep wondering about the future feasibility or likelihood of an academic group blog focused on film studies. At first I was a little miffed that the Valve excluded consideration, but then realized I was jealous of the fact that they did have an online discussion of methodological issues. I know of a couple of film academics who blog on matters related to their work — Chuck Tryon and Nick Rombes both run excellent ones — but in general film scholars look askance at the medium, whether out of concern for circumventing peer-review, anxiety about impact on the job market, technophobia or simply a general lack of time.
Meanwhile, discussion at the Valve has led me (again) to David Bordwell’s website, where I found an excellent, short essay on studying cinema. It’s a pithy summary yet easy read, and I’d highly recommend it to all the readers here interested in what film studies is, but put off by some of its jargon.
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