History of Film

The origin and the history of film is a fascinating topic to proceed with if you are interested in the evolution of film and film through the ages. Take a look at these suggestions:

Example history of film dissertation topic 1:

The popularity of true crime portrayals and crime fiction in French media between the wars: An exploration of the transfer from published formats to cinema. The onset of printing developments that allowed photographs to be reproduced cheaply enhanced the popularity of crime fiction and non-fiction in French publications (such as magazines) in the inter-war period (Walker, 1995: 35). This dissertation considers whether this popularity spurred the trend to ‘policier’-style cinema in France during the period, particularly during a time when American Westerns were declining in approval. Further, it investigates the socio-political dimension of such changes with regard to wider global tensions, including the assertion that films such as Le crime de Monsieur Lange (Renoir, 1936) included a militant political resonance, even to being described as revolutionary. Suggested initial topic reading:

• Buchsbaum, J. (1988) Cinema engagé: Film in the Popular Front. Urbana-Champaign: University of Illinois Press.
• Petersen, D. (2012) ‘the politics of popular genres in Jean Renoir’s Le crime de Monsieur Lange’, Studies in French Cinema, Vol. 12(2), pp. 107-122.
• Walker, D.H. (1995) Outrage and insight: Modern French writers and the ‘faits divers’. Washington, DC: Berg.