Nationality correct: the invention of portuguese cinema

Nationally Correct: the Invention of Portuguese Cinema

In December 2007, the Cinemateca Portuguesa (the Portuguese Film Museum) ended a yearlong programme dedicated to ‘national genres’ with a selection of 18 Portuguese fi lms not associated with any particular genre, but with the category of ‘Portuguese cinema’ itself . It seemed an odd choice, even if one took into account the very loose definit ion of ‘f i lm genre’ of the previous months – who ...

Early cinema, late cinema: permutations of the public sphere

There tends to be a moment in the development of cultural practices when discourses of the recent past become history; they are no longer just outdated but, like bell-bottom jeans, mini-skirts and platform shoes, acquire historicity. This is what seems to have happened with film theory of the 1970s and early 1980s, particularly as it revolved around the notion of 'the spectator'. I am thinking ...

Development of the Cinema

the invention of capitalism

The structure of invention

This paper explores the process by which radically novel technologies – ones such as radar, the turbojet, or the polymerase chain reaction – come into being. It shows that this process – “invention” – has a certain logical structure common to all cases. Invention is a process of linking some purpose or need with an effect that can be exploited to satisfy it. It may begin with a purpose or need ...