Breaking the Glass Armor Kristin Thompson's * is an English-language printed study book about film theory and criticism. It targets higher-education students and professionals within the film and media world.
In this book, Thompson discusses how classic films are often covered with a 'glassy armor' of familiarity. She argues that critics typically work with fixed analytical methods and choose films that simply fit those methods. By contrast, neoformalism encourages the critic to deal differently with each film and to continuously adjust his or her assumptions.
With analyses of eleven films—ranging from Hollywood classics such as Terror by Night to masterpieces such as Late Spring and Lancelot du Lac—Thompson addresses, among other things, formalism, realism, and breaking conventions. She shows how films such as Bicycle Thieves and The Rules of the Game approach formal realism historically, while other films defamiliarize the viewer by breaking expectations.
This reference work avoids jargon and makes neoformalism accessible without sacrificing analytical depth. Breaking the Glass Armor aims to offer new ways to understand cinema and approach it critically.
Subjects: film history, theory, critical approaches, neoformalism, classical cinema.