Getting Reel: A Social Science Perspective on Film By Michael D. ...

I do not necessarily agree with the implicit conclusions of the authors that I use to raise these questions. Agreement is not the issue; the challenge is to think about the issues in meaningful ways.

This book is the result of that continual and continuing effort to find questions to ponder that most people might likely appreciate. The results have been most encouraging. The most common remark made about my course and book is: “I will never view a film the same way again.” Consistently my students and readers have said they are more thoughtful about the films they have seen because of my book. I hope you, the new reader, will have that same heightened experience of the heuristic pleasures of “getting reel.”

What kind of book is this, then?

An Overview

If you are watching a film, as possible, suspend disbelief and try to enjoy the ride. Whatever else it is, film is an entertainment medium. But for goodness sake, rationality is one of our characteristics as humans, so why not enjoy thinking about the film afterwards? I’ll even admit to my guilty pleasures afterwards. I truly doubt that The Last Boy Scout has any redeeming social value, but I otherwise “enjoyed” seeing it with my good friend, Jim McGoldrick. However, thinking about films afterwards is also a special pleasure, thus the reason for “film study”.

The more typical introductions to film study include Film History, Film as Literature, Film as Art. Such approaches have great merit, however, my observation is that not nearly enough widespread attention has been given to finding meaningful ways of talking about the content of film. Further, despite the academic strengths of those approaches to film study, I felt that there was still a way to approach film that might be more inclusive of all students’ interests. In my deliberations about how I might include as much of academia as possible in the study of film, I found myself thinking repeatedly about the distinction C.P. Snow makes about the two cultures in the university –science and art.