Abstract

This paper considers the relationship between literary theory and film theory. It introduces Terry Eagleton’s view that literary theory developed in the 1960s to cater for students from uncultivated backgrounds and extends it to introduce an answer: the literary theories developed then can be applied to other things and that is how contemporary film theory arose. But what happens if we take earlier literary theory, even if it is not literary theory in Eagleton’s precise but unclarified sense, such as E.M. Forster’s theory that highbrow literary works feature rounded characters (complex, changing, capable of surprising readers) as their main characters, not flat ones (one defining quality). I interpret Annie Hall as preventing the application of this theory. It is a highbrow film but also an attack on the impression of Annie as revealed by anything but the children’s cartoon. The actress who played her, Diane Keaton, died yesterday. This is not my first essay in response, if it prickles some readers. Analytic philosophy is lightly brought to bear on Forster’s distinction, but it seems Kathleen Stock’s job to me.