“Signs and Meaning in the Cinema” was the grad school textbook I got the most out of.

Iconic images freighted with symbolic meaning, layers of interpretation added to film beyond what dialogue, exposition and performance could carry — Wollen made it simple and obvious. Once he pointed out these extra layers, you couldn’t unsee them.

A genuine film scholar, one of the important ones.

https://www.hollywoodreporter.com/news/peter-wollen-dead-author-signs-meaning-cinema-was-81-1264534