“Persona…the personality that an individual projects to others, as differentiated from the authentic self. The term, coined by Carl Jung, is derived from the Latin persona, referring to the masks worn by Etruscan mimes. According to Jung, the persona enables an individual to interrelate with the world around him by reflecting the role in life […]
Entries Tagged as 'Film Criticism'
Ingmar Bergman’s Persona
August 21st, 2007 · No Comments
Tags: Film Criticism
The Nights of Caberia
August 20th, 2007 · 4 Comments
Cabiria, Heart of Italy
The landing of allied forces, on the beaches of Sicily in the south of Italy, on July 10, 1943, signaled the end of the reign of Benito Mussolini and his regime of Italian fascism. Prior to his capture, Italian cinema had been highly censored by the fascist authorities. Films produced under the […]
Tags: Film Criticism
Black Orpheus
August 20th, 2007 · No Comments
“Myths embody the common ideals and aspirations of a civilization…[and] encourage viewers to participate ritualistically in the basic beliefs, fears, and anxieties of their age” (Giannetti 350).
The French New Wave, or nouvelle vague, films of the late 1950’s grew out of a critical interest in the art of film. Like many French directors who followed […]
Tags: Film Criticism
Powerful Portrayals of Women in Film
August 20th, 2007 · No Comments
Gillian Armstrong’s work as author/director of both documentaries and feature films, in Australia and the United States, has done much to bring attention to the female perspective on life, love, and the pursuit of freedom from male patriarchal domination and oppression. Armstrong, unlike so many film creators, has resisted making movies solely for male spectatorship. […]
Tags: Film Criticism
Complexities of Interpretation: Fire
August 20th, 2007 · No Comments
Non-Western films, made by females, offer the possibility of numerous problems in regard to interpretation—problems for both Western and indigenous audiences. These films are often regarded as resources that will give evidence of relationships of power within gender issues. For the Western viewer, however, it is difficult to determine if these relationships within unfamiliar cultures […]
Tags: Film Criticism
The Humanist Approach to Film: My Brilliant Career
August 20th, 2007 · 2 Comments
Everyone seeing a film for the first time makes a value judgment, even if it is only based on an emotional response, but the humanist goes back to probe these initial responses more deeply. The student of the humanist approach seeks to learn what film can tell about the human condition by searching for the […]
Tags: Film Criticism


