Philosophy 176: Topics in Aesthetics: Film

Winter 2005

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When and Where: Mondays 5:00p - 6:50p, Warren Lecture Hall 2204
Thursdays 5:00p - 5:50p, Warren Lecture Hall 2111

Instructor: Jonathan Cohen (joncohenREMOVETHIS@aardvark.ucsd.edu (omit text in caps, which reduces automated spam))
office: (858) 534 6812

Office hours: Thursdays 3:30-5:00, in H&SS 8072 (and by appointment; please feel free to call)

Overview -- Topics -- Books -- Movies -- Written Work -- Grading -- Schedule

Overview

Almost everyone enjoys a night at the movies. Movies are (often) entertaining, easily available, relatively inexpensive (although decreasingly so), and known by large numbers of our friends and acquaintances. In addition to all this, movies raise a number of interesting philosophical questions. These include some issues specific to movies in particular (e.g., what counts as a movie?, how do the elements of moviemaking -- say, the screenplay -- figure in our evaluations of movies?), and other, more general aesthetic issues that come up with particular force in thinking about movies (e.g., how should our evaluation of a work of art take account of the various categories in which the work falls? what is the nature of our emotional involvement with fictional characters and events depicted in works of art?).

In this course I want to focus on issues of the more general sort, and I want to do this by thinking about movies --- especially popular movies. This is a useful approach, I think, because it allows us to view abstract philosophical questions through a lens with which we all have lots of experience. It is my hope, then, that the extensive experience each of us brings to the subject matter of this course will provide us with strong philosophical intuitions, and will put us in an excellent position to evaluate critically the philosophical views we'll examine.

Topics

1. Mass Art
2. Genre and Individual Works
3. Case Studies in Genre
4. Film and Emotion

Books

There are two required books for the class. These are Carroll's Philosophy of Mass Art and Carroll's The Philosophy of Horror (both available at the University Bookstore). In addition, there are a number of assigned articles from other sources; all of these are on reserve at Geisel Library.

Movies

Our class meets once a week for two hours and once a week for one hour (rather than twice for an hour and a half or thrice for an hour) so that we can screen whole movies on four occasions during the quarter. In addition to these in class screenings, you will be required to screen four other movies as (mandatory) homework on your own time. You can watch almost all of the movies for the course (those we view in class and those you'll have to view on your own) at the Film and Video Reserve Collection in Geisel Library (lower level, west wing). You may, of course, also rent these movies at video stores.

Written Work

Your grade for the course will be determined by your performance on two (out of three) papers and a (take home) final exam. For the papers, I'll be handing out three paper topics during the quarter; you'll have to write papers for two of those three -- your choice which ones. (Think of the final exam as just another paper; the only difference between the exam and the papers is that you'll have more time for the exam because of exam week.)

Please note that this course is an upper level rather than an introductory philosophy class, and that, consequently, I expect a reasonable level of philosophical sophistication (i.e., rigor and argumentation) in your work. This does not mean that every paper must contain earth-shattering arguments of publishable quality. It does mean that papers should be clearly written, well-argued, and so on. Moreover, while I am most interested in the philosophical quality of your ideas, poor grammar or spelling will cause me to lower my evaluation of your paper substantially.

I'll collect all papers at the beginning of class. Anything handed in after the beginning of the class -- be it 5 minutes or 5 days after the beginning of the class -- is late. I don't accept late assignments unless I have given an extension. I only give extensions in advance and only in cases of real need. Please familiarize yourself with the University's policies on academic honesty; you will be held to them.

Grading

I will assign your grade based on the following breakdown:
33% first paper
33% second paper
33% final exam

Tentative Schedule

Readings are either from the required Carroll books or else on the library's electronic course reserves. (Readings marked with a '*' are optional but recommended.)
Segment 1 (weeks 1-3): Mass art
Reading: Carroll, A Philosophy of Mass Art, 1-70, *70-89, 89-109, 172-211, *211-241, 242-244.
In class viewing: The Usual Suspects
At home viewing: Do the Right Thing
Segment 2 (weeks 4-5): Genre and individual works
Reading: Walton, "Categories of Art"; Cavell, "Types: Cycles as Genres", from The World Viewed, 29-37; Braudy, "Genre: The Conventions of Connection"; Cavell, "Introduction: Words for a Conversation", from Pursuits of Happiness, 1-42
In class viewing: Double Indemnity
At home viewing: It Happened One Night
Segment 3 (weeks 6-8): Case studies in genre
Reading: Cavell, Pursuits of Happiness, 71-109 ("Knowledge As Transgression: It Happened One Night"), 133-160 ("The Importance of Importance: The Philadelphia Story", 112-132 ("Leopards in Connecticut: Bringing Up Baby"); Carroll, The Philosophy of Horror, 1-58, 97-144, *144-157, 158-161, *161-168, 168-214.
In class viewing: The Philadelphia Story
At home viewing: Bringing Up Baby
Segment 4 (weeks 9-10): Film and emotion Reading: Walton, "Fearing Fictions"; Neill, "Fear, Fiction, and Make-Believe"; Carroll, The Philosophy of Horror, 59-96; Carroll, A Philosophy of Mass Art, 245-290.
In class viewing: The Blair Witch Project
At home viewing: Psycho

Here's a tremendous resource for information about movies: The Internet Movie Database.