Contemporary Aesthetic and Critical Theories and their Impact on Post-modern Cinematic Movements

Abstract

The term "postmodernism" was used at the end of the nineteenth century, but contemporary features began to form during the 20th century, to establish different aesthetic and critical theories that enrich the cinematography of the film artworks. This research deals with the most important aesthetic theories in by study and analysis. It deals with structuralism, study of signs and symbols, also phenomenology, Which deals with the cinematic image as a mental and emotional phenomenon, and the reception theory, which sets the foundations of social experimental methods to measure the interaction of the viewer with the cinematic image to allow audiences to engage in the process of artistic creativity, and finally deconstruction which formed the discussions about the cinematic medium itself, and paid attention to the individuality of each cinematic text, and its contradictions sometimes, The efforts that made the cinematic image self-conscious in an immensely unprecedented extent. The research then explores the influence of these theories on postmodern cinematic movements, such as contemporary genre cinema, which combines pastiche and intertextuality, mixing genres to access an innovative vision of the cinematic imagery, and reach an effective communication with the viewer, then the research moves to: feminist cinema, ethnography and post-colonial cinema Which gives a special attention to the social, political and cultural aspects of the cinematic image, as well as (Dogma 95) movement, which prioritize the minimalistic artistic form of cinematography, and the transcendental cinema, that aspires to change the mental state of the viewer during the runtime of the film itself. This research aims to shed light on the most influential movements in the contemporary cinematic form, which is necessarily to affect the work of the cinematographer in innovative and creative ways.

Keywords

• deconstruction; cinematography; postmodernism