Taking Fiction Film Seriously

A Philosophical Approach to Cinema Studies

Mario Slugan (Queen Mary University of London, UK)

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English

Bloomsbury Academic
30 October 2025

Film theory & criticism; Film & movie: styles & genres; Social & cultural history; Philosophy: epistemology & theory of knowledge

Fiction film has been and remains the privileged site of film studies, with film history regularly being viewed as the rise of the narrative fiction film.

Taking Fiction Film Seriously argues that despite this privileged position, the notion of fiction as it relates to cinema, has yet to be properly interrogated.

Mario Slugan explores the significant misunderstandings concerning the categorisation of film, audience experience, and the real-life effects of fiction. He contends with the contradictory assumption that fiction films have tangible effects on audiences' beliefs and behaviours, while also intuitively being 'not true' or not to be believed in.

Slugan analyses the notion of 'fiction' from a theoretical and historical perspective, considering how it manifests in a broad range of films from the past 110 years, including The Arrival of a Train (Lumière brothers, 1895-1897), The Blair Witch Project (Myrick and Sánchez, 1999), and Waltz with Bashir (Folman, 2008). He supports his close readings with findings from philosophy, psychology, and literary studies, and in doing so seeks to challenge the current state of film studies.

By: Mario Slugan (Queen Mary University of London UK)
Imprint: Bloomsbury Academic
Country of Publication: United Kingdom
Dimensions: Height: 232mm, Width: 156mm, Spine: 16mm
Weight: 460g
ISBN: 9781350505711
ISBN 10: 1350505714
Pages: 272
Publication Date: 30 October 2025
Audience: College/higher education , Primary
Format: Paperback
Publisher's Status: Active

Introduction 1. What Fiction Is 2. Mandate, or, the Temporal Instability of Fiction 3. The Role of Imagination in Fiction 4. The Ethical Paradox of Fiction 5. Fiction and Real-Life Effects Conclusion Bibliography Index

Mario Slugan is Senior Lecturer in Film Studies at Queen Mary, University of London, UK. He is author of Montage across the Arts (2017), Noël Caroll and Film (Bloomsbury Academic, 2019), and Fiction and Imagination in Early Cinema (Bloomsbury Academic, 2019). He is co-editor (with Daniël Biltereyst) of New Perspectives on Early Cinema History (Bloomsbury Academic, 2022).