formalismo

Formalismo, or formalism, is a family of theories that prioritizes form, structure, and the formal properties of a work over content, intention, or social context. The term is used across disciplines such as aesthetics, literary studies, film theory, art criticism, and the philosophy of mathematics to signal analyses that seek to understand how patterns, techniques, and rules produce meaning or effect.

In literary theory, especially Russian formalism, scholars such as Viktor Shklovsky, Boris Eikhenbaum, Yury Tynianov, and Roman Jakobson studied literariness as a property of the text’s form. They emphasized devices like defamiliarization (ostranenie), narrative technique, and the ways language itself functions to make the familiar seem strange. For them, the value of a work lay in its formal organization and its capacity to disruption perception, rather than in social function or biographical context.

In the visual arts and criticism, formalism concentrates on the autonomous properties of art—line, color, composition, texture, and medium. Influential figures include Clive Bell, who argued for the significance of form, and Clement Greenberg, whose modernist formalism elevated the assessment of medium-specific qualities. Critics argue that formal analysis can reveal the intrinsic logic of a work, sometimes downplaying historical, political, or biographical considerations.

In the philosophy of mathematics, formalism (notably Hilbert’s program) treats mathematics as the manipulation of symbols within formal systems defined by axioms and rules. The focus is on consistency and deductive proof rather than interpretation of meaning. Gödel’s incompleteness theorems later challenged the prospects of a fully formalistic foundation.

In film theory, formalism analyzes cinematic form—editing, shot composition, rhythm—emphasizing how structure shapes perception and effect, often apart from narrative content or context.