The Natural History of Film Form

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by Pansy Duncan

Type

Essays

Subject

Sociology

Keywords

sociology, social aspects, politics

Publishing date

2025 (November 30, 2025)

Publisher

Edinburgh University Press

Collection

Screens, Thinking, Worlds

Language

English

Relative size

Physical desc.

Paperback • 128 pages
5 ½ x 8 ½ inches (14 x 21.5 cm)

ISBN

978-1-3995-4825-0

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Book Presentation:
The Natural History of Film Form argues that, more than simply ingredients in film stock, gelatin, silver and celluloid helped shape early film aesthetics. Drawing on fan and industry periodicals, as well as the testimony of pioneering filmmakers and film manufacturers, the book reveals that the “politico-material” properties of these geo- and bio-physical materials influenced a range of aesthetic regimes – from the turn-of-the century “trick” film, to developments in popular science cinema, to early studio-era fantasies of the “silver screen.” In the process, the book offers a fresh perspective on the interplay between “nature” and “culture” in film history.

About the Author:
Pansy Duncan is a senior lecturer in the Media Studies programme at Massey University, Auckland, where she writes on the politics of film and media aesthetics in both contemporary and historical contexts. She is also the author of The Emotional Life of Postmodern Film (2016) and the co-author, with Missy Molloy and Claire Henry, of Screening the Posthuman (2023).

Press Reviews:
Forget what you thought you knew about film stock. More than simply the material support for filmed images, celluloid becomes, in Duncan’s incisive history and adventurous readings, an active agent in early film aesthetics. Read this book for its vital contribution to reconnecting material history and visual form. ― - Brian Jacobson, author of The Cinema of Extractions: Film Materials and Their Forms

See the publisher website: Edinburgh University Press