Many screen adaptations of the classics are informed by social justice concerns. Films
construct a social space—a space for socialization and discussion of social justice issues—where
the characters’ and audiences’ universes intersect. Some films imagine the classics to have a
remedial effect on our society.
Film as an art form is constituted by light, illusion of movement, and the manipulation of space and time. This section covers the basic vocabulary for film analysis.
Formalism, a filmmaking approach advocated by Sergei Eisenstein in the Soviet Union in the 1920s, is now a classic Hollywood style that gives meanings to the dramatic action through film techniques.
