What Makes a Film Philosophical?
Feb 17, 2018为什么有些电影在哲学上很重要?人们通常认为这个问题只有一个答案:因为它们揭示了关于生活的重要真相。但这种假设是深刻而重要的错误。
Josh and Ken talk to philosophers, film critics, and listeners in presenting their fifth (mostly) annual Dionysus Awards for the most philosophically compelling movies of the past year. Categories include:
• Most Searing Depiction of Humankind's Propensity to Dehumanize the Other
• Most Philosophically Absurdist and Cinematically Transgressive Film
• Richest Investigation of the Drivers of History
Josh and Ken first considerGet OutandThe Shape of Wateras contenders for the “Most Searing Depiction of Humankind’s Propensity to Dehumanize the Other” award. While the hosts agree thatThe Shape of Waterportrays a “gallery of responses to Otherness,” Ken proposes thatGet Out是一部勇敢的电影。After continuing to debate the merits of each movie, Josh and Ken pick a winner.
In the next segment, Josh and Ken invite Tim Sika, president of the San Francisco Film Critics Circle, Leslie Francis, a professor of law at the University of Utah, and Jorah Dannenberg, professor of philosophy at Stanford, to the show. With Tim, the hosts discuss the comparative merits betweenA Ghost StoryandMother!— with Josh and Tim holding polar attitudes towardA Ghost Story.Next, the hosts consider a winner for the “Richest Investigation of the Drivers of History” award with Leslie, deliberating betweenDunkirkandThe Darkest Hour.Finally, Jorah joins the show to discussBlade Runner以及它所提出的哲学问题,包括语言能力或道德能力是否能使人成为人。
In the last segment, Josh and Ken hear from a listener, who makes a case forStar Wars: the Last Jedito win a Dionysus award. The hosts consider the caller’s comparisons of the Light and Dark Side in Star Wars to Taoism and the concept of Yinyang Eastern philosophy. In the end, the hosts decide whetherStar Wars: The Last Jedideserves an award, too.