Philosophy and Film
Dec 17, 2006Despite the crass commercialism that drives the production of many movies, there's no doubt that film is a distinctive and distinctively powerful art form.
I'm sitting in my study at home listening and thought I would get this blog back on track. Right now, a repeat episode of Philosophy Talk s about to air, even as I type. The episode is Philosophy and Film, with noted critic, David Thomson, author of The New Biographical Dictionary of Film. I thought that maybe a good way to get the show started would be to do a little bit of live blogging. I'll get it started by quoting our original blurb description of the show:
Film is a distinctive and distinctively powerful art form. Cinematic representations move us in ways that few others do. Film has also proven to be an outstanding vehicle for conveying philosophical ideas. John and Ken explore both the philosophy of film and philosophy within film with David Thomson, author of The New Biographical Dictionary of Film.
Would be glad to know your thoughts about the show as it develops in the comments section. I'll try to keep the conversation going.
Join in.
Ken
Despite the crass commercialism that drives the production of many movies, there's no doubt that film is a distinctive and distinctively powerful art form.
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Despite the crass commercialism that drives the production of many movies, there's no doubt that film is a distinctive and distinctively powerful art form.
From Star Trek and the Grateful Dead to South Park and Stephen Colbert, philosophical questions are everywhere in popular culture: Is time travel possible?
Anything someone wants to call art? Or are there some objective criteria, that not every instance of paint smeared on canvas and not every murder mystery meets?
Movies play a large role in modern life. We enjoy watching them; we idolize the actors and actresses who appear in them; we analyze the directors.
Speaking to the National Association of Broadcasters in May 1961, FCC Chairman Newton Minow famously introduced the characterization of television as a “vast wasteland.
Why do some people have a strange desire to do weird things for no (good) reason? There's something fascinating about kids who eat laundry soap as part of a “challenge,” or people who deliberately... Read more
Making a better world would be a great thing—but do we need philosophers to help us do that? Famously (or infamously), not all philosophers have been such great people. So are they the folks we... Read more
In her time—the 4th century CE—Hypatia was one of the most famous philosophers in Alexandria, and indeed in the ancient world. She studied and taught mathematics,... Read more
Mexican philosophy is full of fascinating ideas, from Mexica ("Aztec") and Mayan thought to Sor Juana’s feminism and Emilio Uranga’s existentialism... Read more
Your friendly neighborhood Senior Prodcuer here, once again stepping out from behind the mixing board to bring you some bonus content from this week's 17th (!) annual Summer Reading special.... Read more
Gender is a controversial topic these days. To some, gender is an oppressive system designed to keep women down: people go around saying "girls are made of sugar and spice and boys are made of... Read more
Fascism is on the rise, new infectious diseases keep cropping up, and we’re on the verge of environmental collapse: how on earth could art possibly save us? The arts are may be nice distraction,... Read more
Some say the world is full of contradictions, like “parting is such sweet sorrow.” Parting is sweet, but parting is also sad; and sweetness and sadness are opposites. But logicians would say that... Read more
Our minds are amazing prediction machines—and sometimes they can even make their predictions come true!
Does reading that strike you as something out of The Secret—like if you... Read more
Derek Parfit was a really interesting thinker when it came to identity and the self. He had a particularly cool thought experiment involving tele-transportation.
Suppose you’re on your... Read more
When philosophers talk about perception, they tend to focus on what we see and hear, and rarely on what we smell. But olfaction is a strange sense that deserves greater philosophical scrutiny. For... Read more
A caller in this week's episode nominated "Women Talking" for a Dionysus Award. Guest co-host Jeremy Sabol takes that as a springboard to blog about movies and... Read more
This week we’re thinking about Cancel Culture, which some consider a real problem: people losing their jobs, being harassed online, their home addresses being shared—all because they said... Read more
This week we’re asking why we should trust science—which may sound like a weird question. After all, why would we doubt the method that helps us build bridges and skyscrapers, formulate life... Read more
Following up on last year's not-so-new experiment, here's a little behind-the-scenes look into the brief audio montages (produced... Read more
This week we’re asking what it’s... Read more
This essay also appears at the website of Oxford University Press, publisher of Josh's new book,
"The World According to Proust."
... Read more
This week we’re thinking about how to create a world in which our leaders are not just effective legislators, but also good people.
Some might think there are not enough leaders like that... Read more
This week we're thinking about the British Liberal tradition and its relationship to colonialism and self-government. Classical Liberal thinkers, like John Locke and John Stuart Mill, held that... Read more
This week we’re thinking about Collective Action and Climate Change. With floods and fires getting more frequent and intense, and with the summer just ended shattering heat records around the... Read more
This week we’re thinking about cultural appropriation and asking who owns culture—which may be a weird way of thinking about it. It's easy to see how somebody can own the rights to a song they... Read more
This week we’re questioning Effective Altruism. That’s Peter Singer’s idea that you should do the most good you can, and you should figure out what that is by doing your homework and choosing the... Read more
This week we're asking what Political Inequality is. Sounds easy to define, right? That’s when some people don’t get an equal voice in society, because they’re not represented in government, or... Read more
This week we're asking whether it's rational to be optimistic—which seems like bit of a crazy question if you've been reading the news lately. After all, what could possibly justify the belief... Read more
This week we're thinking about the Changing Face of Antisemitism—a program recorded last month at the Stanford Humanities Center for our first live, in-person event in 2-1/2 years.
... Read more
Comments (7)
Ken Taylor
Saturday, July 5, 2008 -- 5:00 PM
David Thomson just said, in passing, that we havDavid Thomson just said, in passing, that we have to be careful about using the word "art" in talking about film as a medium. He's explaining the difference between film and, say, theater. I don't remember why he made the remark about being cautious about the use of the term of art.
Ken Taylor
Saturday, July 5, 2008 -- 5:00 PM
Ah it's because "our role" as spectators and obserAh it's because "our role" as spectators and observers is different from any other art form.
Guest
Saturday, July 5, 2008 -- 5:00 PM
I'm not sure our "role" as spectators and observerI'm not sure our "role" as spectators and observers is that different from other art forms and would appreciate further clarification about why such a difference requires caution using the term art. Film seems to resemble theatre, but on an other level it's much like visual art, only the image appears to be kinetic, and in another way it is like music in that the editing lends creates a rhythmic component.
Ken Taylor
Saturday, July 5, 2008 -- 5:00 PM
Hi Cweiss: Well the conversation has moved on.Hi Cweiss:
Well the conversation has moved on. But he seemed to be making a couple of different points. One had to do with the fact that it isn't a "live" performance and that the actors aren't really "there" and could even be dead when we're watching it. It makes it a lot different from "performance arts" and more like painting in one way. But on the other hand it's not like painting because of its temporality.
His second point seemed to be is that film "externalizes" things that other arts -- like the novel -- can't. We didn't ask him exactly what he meant by the unfortunately.
Guest
Wednesday, July 16, 2008 -- 5:00 PM
Where is the soul (or have it your way, the heart)Where is the soul (or have it your way, the heart) of the film? Having pondered this for many years, I think the person with the final cut contributes the most to what is obviously a group effort. But that means that there have to be many "takes"; it doesn't work with a low budget film. Next the director, if it's a Hitchcock-type director who also spends most of his time storyboarding. Both director and cutter have to have a sense of how many seconds per scene, how many for changes of POV in a scene, and what I think of as the "relief" factor--you need to follow an intense scene with one that allows the audience to relax and catch its breath. In some movies, of course, the great actor takes over. Despite indifferent cutting and direction, "To Die For" is transcendently Nicole Kidman's. And Kate Nelligan "owned" the second half of "Eye of the Needle." Many of Cary Grant's films would be insignificant without him. (See my piece on Cary Grant, especially the counterfactual on how he would have improved other films): http://www.sensesofcinema.com/contents/books/06/38/cary_grant.html )
I've left out the writer, who in one sense is the most important, but only if he or she storyboards the film. Surely without the writer all the rest of the cast would be out of work (except for some recent movies which just seem to have been made up as they were filmed). Writers are a "but-for" cause, but if I had my choice, I'd take the final cut.
Guest
Wednesday, July 16, 2008 -- 5:00 PM
I see that the "html" of my url (above) was cut ofI see that the "html" of my url (above) was cut off in the final posting (what's the preview for? It doesn't tell what the final post will look like)
The complete web address of the Senses in Cinema article is
http://www.sensesofcinema.com/contents/books/06/38/cary_grant.html
Let's see if that works.
Guest
Thursday, July 17, 2008 -- 5:00 PM
I'm glad there was a shout-out (from a caller, noI'm glad there was a shout-out (from a caller, no less) to Au Hasard, Balthazar, which I keep telling people is the greatest film ever.