Christian Metz (theorist)

Christian Metz
Born(1931-12-12)12 December 1931
Béziers, France
Died7 September 1993(1993-09-07) (aged 61)
Paris, France
Academic background
InfluencesFerdinand de Saussure
Academic work
InstitutionsSchool for Advanced Studies in the Social Sciences (EHESS)
Main interestsFilm studies, media studies
Notable worksLanguage and Cinema
The Imaginary Signifier: Psychoanalysis and the Cinema
Notable ideasFilm semiotics

Christian Metz (French: [mɛts]; December 12, 1931 – September 7, 1993) was a French film theorist, best known for pioneering film semiotics, the application of theories of signification to the cinema. During the 1970s, his work had a major impact on film theory in France, Britain, Latin America, and the United States.[1] As Constance Penley flatly stated in Camera Obscura, "Modern film theory begins with Metz."[2]

  1. ^ Chateau, Dominique; Lefebvre, Martin (2014-05-01). "Dance and Fetish: Phenomenology and Metz's Epistemological Shift". October. 148: 103–132. doi:10.1162/OCTO_a_00177. ISSN 0162-2870. S2CID 57559768.
  2. ^ Metz, Christian (2016-03-29). Buckland, Warren; Fairfax, Daniel (eds.). Conversations with Christian Metz: Selected interviews on film theory (1970-1991). Amsterdam: Wageningen Academic Publishers. p. 12. ISBN 978-90-485-2673-4. OCLC 1018944950.