# Tom Gunning [wikipedia](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tom_Gunning) (1949– ) ## Description American film historian who, with André Gaudreault, developed the concept of the "cinema of attractions" to describe early cinema's direct, exhibitionist appeal to spectators before narrative absorption became the dominant mode; his extensive writing on Griffith, Lang, and the prehistory of moving images has been foundational to early-cinema and avant-garde film historiography alike. ## Key Tags #theorist #critic #film-theory #pre-cinema #film-historiography ## Essential Works - "The Cinema of Attractions: Early Film, Its Spectator and the Avant-Garde" (1986 essay, with André Gaudreault) - foundational essay reframing early cinema through direct spectacular address rather than narrative - [D.W. Griffith and the Origins of American Narrative Film](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tom_Gunning) (1991) - major study of the emergence of narrative technique in early American cinema ## Details Taught for decades at the University of Chicago after earlier posts at NYU. The "cinema of attractions" concept, developed with André Gaudreault, reframed pre-1906 cinema not as a primitive precursor to narrative film but as a distinct mode of direct spectacular display — a mode Gunning traces resurfacing in later avant-garde and experimental practice. Also a leading scholar of D.W. Griffith and Fritz Lang, and of the broader prehistory of moving images in magic and phantasmagoria. ### Concepts and Theories - [[Avant Garde Film]] - the "cinema of attractions" concept explicitly links early cinema's spectatorship to later avant-garde strategies ### Creative and Technical Practices %% none yet %% ### Collaborators %% none yet %% ### Institutional Affiliations and Associated Movements - University of Chicago - Edwin A. and Betty L. Bergman Distinguished Service Professor in Art History and Cinema and Media Studies ## References ### Primary Sources Bibliography Gunning, Tom. "The Cinema of Attractions: Early Film, Its Spectator and the Avant-Garde." *Wide Angle* 8, no. 3/4 (1986). ### Secondary Sources Bibliography %% none yet %%