The Oxford Guide to Film Studies succeeds where most other film studies textbooks fail, by making the material it is focusing on accessible and engaging. Although clearly aimed at the Undergraduate Film or Media Studies student, there is much here to interest even the casual reader.
The book covers almost every important area of film studies in some detail, ranging from semiotics to feminism, post-modernism to pornography, film and cultural identity to film history. This range is not only exhaustive, but each essay is written by a top lecturer or researcher in the field. Along with informed commentary and well-placed case studies/film readings, this book just can't help but educate you. Quite simply, much more than your average textbook.