Celluloid Babel : Pursuing a Universal Language in Cinema.

Format:

Book

Author/Creator:

Levin, Ori.

Series:

SUNY Series, Horizons of Cinema Series

Language:

English

Genre:

Film criticism

Physical Description:

1 online resource (272 pages)

Edition:

1st ed.

Place of Publication:

Albany : State University of New York Press, 2025.

Summary:

Traces the intellectual history of cinema's aspiration to create a universal language, examining how this vision has been articulated in both writings and films.Celluloid Babel offers a transnational intellectual history of cinema's quest for universal language, unfolding through both writings and films.

Contents:

Intro

Contents

List of Illustrations

Acknowledgments

Introduction

Film Theory: Uncovering the First Paradigm

Unaddressed Inquiries and Lingering Key Questions

A Comprehensive Look at the Structure of the Book

Media's Address to the Audience: Universality vs. Personalization

1 Early Years, Conceptual Schools, and the Rise of Technological Utopia

Visual Esperanto as a Technological Utopia: The Ghosts of Tomorrow

Speculative Literature: The Film as a Miracle

New Technologies: Progress and Faith in Tomorrow

The Language to Come: Technological Utopia and Historical Awareness

The International Language Ideal in Adjacent Technologies

The Universal Language of Photography

The Universal Language, the Phonograph, the Telegraph, the Telephone, and Speaking Machines

The Kingdom of Shadows: Ghost Esperanto

Slapstick and Trick Films: Ghost Esperanto and Technology

Trick Films and Ghost Films

2 The Modern Crisis of Language and the Distribution of the Sensible in the German-Speaking World

The Language of Gestures as an Alternative to Written Language

The Depletion of Everyday Language

The Origin of Language and Its Demise

Two Ancient Alternatives for a New Tomorrow: Hebrew and the Language of Gestures

Written Language vs. Visual Language

Titles, Translation, and the Universality of Film

Visual Esperanto and the Avoidance of Titles

Shell Shock Muteness and the Avoidance of Titles

Absolute Film: The International Language of the Senses

On the Avoidance of Titles in Kammerspielfilm

Stylized Titles: Picturizing Script

One Picture, Many Words

Conclusion: The Media's Role in the Redistribution of the Sensible

3 The Universal Language of the Pulse: City Symphony Films and the Conception of Time

Time in the City Symphony Films.

The City Symphony Films, Time Management, and Mechanical Tempo

Black and White Symphony: Music as a Direct Appeal to the Viewer's Emotions

The Breath of the Film and the Rhythm of the Heart: Cinematic Time vs. Clock Time

The Rhythms of the Heart and the Conception of Visual Esperanto

Conclusion

4 Abstraction and Mass Culture: Chaplin's Reception and the International Language of Film

The Pariah as a Symbol of Universality

Esperanto Laughter

Move to Tears: Visual Esperanto, Identification, and Abstraction

5 The End of a Dream: Elegy for a Future That Didn't Come

Talking Film: Prisoner of Language?

The Universality of Silence: Prominent Filmmakers

The Loss of Silence: The Death of the Seventh Art and Silent Film's Unique Identification

Hollywood, Foreign Markets, and the Universal Talkie

Curtailing Experimentation and "Death of the Avant-Garde"

Talking Film and the Passive Audience

Introducing the Distinction Between High and Low Culture in Film Discourse

The Hierarchy of Taste: A Threat to the Universal Language of Film Ideal

Cosmopolitanism and Universality |Beneath the Rise of Fascism

Avant-Garde: A Guard Leading the Camp or a General Without an Army?

Conclusion: Lost Faith in the Future and Separation from the Crowds

Notes

Works Cited

Filmography

Index.

Notes:

Description based on publisher supplied metadata and other sources.

ISBN:

979-88-558-0444-7

OCLC:

1545640338