Publisher's Synopsis
One of the most significant areas of concern in contemporary film studies is spectatorship, a recently developed but now central and extremely controversial issue. In this book Judith Mayne examines and assesses the major theories of spectatorship as they have developed over the last 15 years, and aims to explore how the analysis of a genuine dialogue between theory and history can lead to an understanding of the complex ways in which the cinema engages its viewers - as a way of "putting theory to the test of history". In the book's first section Mayne examines three theoretical models of spectatorship, the perceptual, the institutional and the historical. The second section focuses on case studies which crystallize many of the issues already discussed, concentrating on textual analysis, the "disrupting genre", "star gazing" and finally, the audience itself.
