Metz Film Language a Semiotics of the Cinema PDF
FILM LANGUAGE
FILM
LANGUAGE
A Semiotics of the Cinema
Christian Metz
Translated by Michael Taylor
The University of Chicago Press
Published by arrangement with Oxford University Press, Inc.
The University of Chicago Press, Chicago 60637
© 1974 by Oxford University Press, Inc.
All rights reserved. English translation. Originally published 1974
Note on Translation © 1991 by the University of Chicago
University of Chicago Press edition 1991
Printed in the United States of America
09 08 07
6 7 8 9 10
Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data
Metz, Christian.
[Essais sur la signification au cinéma. English]
Film language: a semiotics of the cinema / Christian Metz: translated by Michael Taylor.
p. cm.
Translation of: Essais sur la signification au cinéma, tome 1.
Reprint. Originally published: New York: Oxford University
Press, 1974.
Includes bibliographical references.
ISBN 0-226-52130-3 (pbk.)
1. Motion pictures—Semiotics. 2. Motion pictures—
Philosophy. I. Title.
PN1995.M4513 1991
791.43 '014—dc20
90-46965
C1P
The French edition of Christian Metz 's Essais sur la signification au cinema, volume 1, was published by Editions Klincksieck in
1971, © Editions Klincksieck, 1968.
ΘThe paper used in this publication meets the minimum requirements of the American National Standard for Information
Sciences-Permanence of Paper for Printed Library Materials,
ANSI Z39.48-1992.
To George Blin, Profesor at the Collège de France, whithout whom none of these pages would have been started. CONTENTS
A Note on the Translation by Bertrand Augst, ix
Preface, xi
A Note on Terminology, xiii
I
Phenomenological Approaches to Film
Chapter I. On the Impression of Reality in the Cinema, 3
Chapter 2. Notes Toward a Phenomenology of the
Narrative, 16
II
Problems of Film Semiotics
Chapter 3.
Chapter 4.
Chapter 5.
The Cinema: Language or Language System? 31
Some Points in the Semiotics of the Cinema, 92
Problems of Denotation in the Fiction Film, 108
III Syntagmatic
FILM
LANGUAGE
A Semiotics of the Cinema
Christian Metz
Translated by Michael Taylor
The University of Chicago Press
Published by arrangement with Oxford University Press, Inc.
The University of Chicago Press, Chicago 60637
© 1974 by Oxford University Press, Inc.
All rights reserved. English translation. Originally published 1974
Note on Translation © 1991 by the University of Chicago
University of Chicago Press edition 1991
Printed in the United States of America
09 08 07
6 7 8 9 10
Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data
Metz, Christian.
[Essais sur la signification au cinéma. English]
Film language: a semiotics of the cinema / Christian Metz: translated by Michael Taylor.
p. cm.
Translation of: Essais sur la signification au cinéma, tome 1.
Reprint. Originally published: New York: Oxford University
Press, 1974.
Includes bibliographical references.
ISBN 0-226-52130-3 (pbk.)
1. Motion pictures—Semiotics. 2. Motion pictures—
Philosophy. I. Title.
PN1995.M4513 1991
791.43 '014—dc20
90-46965
C1P
The French edition of Christian Metz 's Essais sur la signification au cinema, volume 1, was published by Editions Klincksieck in
1971, © Editions Klincksieck, 1968.
ΘThe paper used in this publication meets the minimum requirements of the American National Standard for Information
Sciences-Permanence of Paper for Printed Library Materials,
ANSI Z39.48-1992.
To George Blin, Profesor at the Collège de France, whithout whom none of these pages would have been started. CONTENTS
A Note on the Translation by Bertrand Augst, ix
Preface, xi
A Note on Terminology, xiii
I
Phenomenological Approaches to Film
Chapter I. On the Impression of Reality in the Cinema, 3
Chapter 2. Notes Toward a Phenomenology of the
Narrative, 16
II
Problems of Film Semiotics
Chapter 3.
Chapter 4.
Chapter 5.
The Cinema: Language or Language System? 31
Some Points in the Semiotics of the Cinema, 92
Problems of Denotation in the Fiction Film, 108
III Syntagmatic