Miriam Hansen offers an original perspective on American film by tying the emergence of spectatorship to the historical transformation of the public sphere. Focusing on exemplary moments in the American silent era, she explains how the concept of the spectator evolved as a crucial part of the classi[...]

Siegfried Kracauer, Walter Benjamin, and Theodor W. Adorno - affiliated through friendship, professional ties, and argument - developed an astute philosophical critique of modernity in which technological media played a key role. This book explores in depth their reflections on cinema and photograph[...]