Theorizing Film Acting

Aaron Taylor is an Assistant Professor in the Department of New Media at the University of Lethbridge. His recent publications on film acting can be found in Quarterly Review of Film and Video (2012), Acting and Performance in Moving Image Culture (2012), and Stages of Reality: Theatricality in Cinema (2011). He has recently written on It’s a Wonderful Life for the Cultographies series.

Introduction: Acting, Casually and Theoretically Speaking, Aaron Taylor I. Aesthetics: Understanding and Interpreting Film Acting 1. Acting Matters: Noting Performance in Three Films, Brenda Austin-Smith 2. Living Meaning: The Fluency of Film Performance, Andrew Klevan 3. Play-Acting: A Theory of Comedic Performance, Alex Clayton 4. Performed Performance and The Man Who Knew Too Much, Murray Pomerance 5. Brando Sings! The Invincible Star Persona, George Toles II. Reception: Film Acting, Audiences and Communities 6. "Look at Me!": A Phenomenology of Heath Ledger in The Dark Knight, Joerg Sternagel 7. Is Acting a Form of Simulation or Being? Acting and Mirror Neurons, William Brown 8. The Bond That Unbinds By Binding: Acting Mythology and the Film Community, Kevin Esch 9. From Being to Acting: Performance in Cult Cinema, Ernest Mathijs 10. Acting and Performance in Home Movies and Amateur Films, Liz Czach III. Culture: Film History, Industry and the Vicissitudes of Star Acting 11. Story and Show: The Basic Contradiction of Film Star Acting, Paul McDonald 12. The Screen Actor’s "First Self" and "Second Self": John Wayne and Coquelin’s Acting Theory, Sharon Marie Carnicke 13. Acting Like a Star: Florence Turner, Picture Personality, Charlie Keil 14. Niche Stars and Acting "Gay," Christine Holmlund IV. Apparatus: Technology, Film Form and the Actor 15. What Becomes of the Camera in the World on Film? William Rothman 16. Sonic Bodies: Listening as Acting, Jennifer M. Barker 17. Dance of the Übermarionettes: Toward a Contemporary Screen Actor Training, Sean Aita 18. Articulating Digital Stardom, Barry King