Lukács and the art of film
on a chapter of his the specificity of the aesthetic
pp. 116-130
in: , The rationalism of Georg Lukács, Berlin, Springer, 2014Abstract
Lukács's conception of film is analyzed here exclusively on basis of the chapter of " The Specificity of the Aesthetic," in which the philosopher endeavored to disentangle the aesthetic problems raised by cinematic art. Does film constitute an artistic form at all, and if it does, in which respect is it an art form? Lukács looked at the question in the framework in which Béla Balázs and Siegfried Kracauer examined it. He attempted to elaborate a proper film theory relying on the general categories of his Aesthetic like homogenous medium, double reflection, unity of atmosphere, indefinite objectivity, and created immediacy. The fertility of these concepts is illustrated with numerous examples.