One principle that I have stuck to throughout my career as an aesthetician is the notion that the most important thing is to generate enlightening interpretations of particular works of art of whatever kind. To my mind, theory is of little use if it cannot serve to heighten our appreciation of particular works of art.
My own work in film-philosophy tends to reflect this approach, focusing as it often does on films that are paradigmatic exemplars of various theories. The best way to proceed is (dare I use such a critically out of fashion phrase) in the hermeneutic circle, honing one's theories by reference to particular readings of films and vice-versa.
I think another fruitful approach is to do auteur style analyses of directors' oeuvres, examining their overall output for consistent answers to some of the most fundamental philosophical questions (e.g., free will vs. determinism, nihilism and meaning, etc). This should involve detailed readings of particular films in that output, quizzing them about their positions on such issues.
Finally, the present formative debate about whether (and how) films can do philosophy is an appropriate subject for such a fledgling enterprise, and much progress is being made on this front (not the least of which is how the debate gets us to examine the question of what it is to do philosophy in the first place). One answers the question differently if one takes an analytic or continental approach to what philosophy is. But if the discussion strays too far away from generating particular readings of particular films it is not as likely to be fruitful.
Daniel Shaw
Professor of Philosophy and Film
Lock Haven University (570) 484-2052
Managing Editor, Film and Philosophy
"And remember you are more authentic the closer you are to the person you dreamed of being"
Pedro Almodovar's All About My Mother
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