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Before 70s, prescriptive, universal, and dogmatic theories were dominant in the world of film theories. These theories were based on Marxist and Liberal grand narratives. Since 1970, the increasing validity crisis has begun in film theories, in other words, both of the previous film theories lost their validity and there began a process of producing and reproducing of small film theories. These theories are limited in their effects and lifetimes. So in current time we cannot rely on a trustworthy theoretical framework or a grand narrative. Concerning the condition, it could be asked whether in this situation a consensus in film theory can be reached and new meta narrative can be produced or not? What could be basically written about cinema without a theoretical framework? In this article old and current conditions of film theory are described by using language game theory and the important moments and turning points of film theory would be analyzed. The main goal is to choose a way and a new goal for film theory in current time.

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As one of the realist film theorists Siegfried Kracauer was born contemporary to the advent of cinema and his life was set againstcaincided with cinematic developments. In his Theory of Film (1960) he tried to offer a systematic film theory in order to define the new born medium and thereafter, using structural and teleological distinctive, and to distinguish it from other artistic genres. This article is a critical introduction to Kracauer's Theory of Film and is organized under chapter headings different from those available in the book itself. The chapter headings and divisions applied in this article are carried out following the social systems theory of Niklas Luhmann. This article would discuss the structure of cinema, namely its basic components (visual elements, time and space, set design, acting, and sound), the relations of these components (editing, story and script, and the dominant orders in documentary and experimental cinema) and its social purposes, as depicted in Kracauer's Theory of Film. Thereafter, there would be concise discussion about the most important critiques on Kracauer only to finally focus on Richard Corliss's 1970 article in which all the key critical views on Kracauer film theory are gathered and presented.