n the early stages of film theory, films were all silent and the theorists were mainly concerned with understanding and defining the important elements of film. Theorists pointed out how films were vastly different from reality, and yet it could be classified as genuine art. Many argued with that premise and claimed that the essence of filmmaking lies in the capability of exactly reproducing reality and not in distorting it. It was not until the late 1960s and early 1970s that film theory began to be studied in the halls of academia and, in doing so, borrowing concepts from other branches of study such as gender studies, anthropology, psychoanalysis and literary theory. Finally in the early 1990s, film theory achieved such high standing and recognition that it began replacing many studies of humanities in some universities. It replaced the earlier, widely held, auteur theory which mainly focused on the practical aspects of making, editing and producing films. It was not so concerned with the philosophical insights and understandings of filmmaking.