PHILOSOPHY AND FILM SYLLABUS
Welcome to Philosophy and Film!
In this course we're going to approach three intersections of Philosophy and Film roughly corresponding to three prepositions: "in," "of," and "as."
1. Philosophy IN film: We'll watch and analyze a bunch of films selected because of their ability to portray, in the unique magic and language of cinema, a variety of classic and contemporary philosophical issues -- metaphysical issues (the relationship between the mind and the body, reality and illusion, etc.); epistemological issues (What can I know? How can I be certain? What can I trust? Can I ever be certain of anything?); ethical issues (What are my responsibilities? What is fairness?); and social and political issues (What are the dilemmas and opportunities endemic to all, and our specific, social and political organization?)
2. Philosophy OF film: We'll watch and analyze films selected for their capacity to raise questions about the nature of film as a medium. What is film, exactly? What are the differences between film and photography, or novels, or dreams, or imagination, or philosophy? "Where" exactly does the film image exist? Who exactly creates it? We keep saying it's magical. What exactly does that mean?
3. Film AS philosophy: This is a relatively recent development in philosophy and film studies: Is it possible that films can actually do philosophy? Of course this begs the question of what exactly philosophy is, and does.
OK But what does that look like exactly?
That's a totally fair question. Well, you'll engage in four basic activities: You'll WATCH amazing movies; you'll READ mind-blowing texts -- both classic philosophical ones and insightful analyses of the films; you'll THINK about what you read and watch, and you'll WRITE reflections on your watching, reading, and thinking experiences.
This will all be organized around a total of 12 assignments spread out over 6 weeks plus a final reflection -- so you'll usually be watching 2 movies per week (with one exception on week 4). Each assignment will include a movie (occasionally two), a reading (occasionally two), and a writing prompt. Each assignment is worth 7 points (12*7=84) and the final is worth 16. 84+16=100. Each assignment should be entered in CourseSite. (Please type them directly in, rather than uploading documents.)
Sounds interesting, but I could use a schedule
I got you...
WEEK 1 DUE FRIDAY 5/24 So is this all real or not?
1. Plato’s Cave and Lars and the Real Girl (7 points)
2. Inside (7 points)
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WEEK 2 DUE FRIDAY 5/31 Are these movies telling stories?
3. Bandersnatch (7 points)
4. Mr. Nobody (7 points)
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WEEK 3 DUE FRIDAY 6/7 You are what you think you eat
5. Descartes (7 points)
6. Meet your Meat, The Meatrix, and Peter Singer (7 points)
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WEEK 4 DUE FRIDAY 6/14 Scare, Control, Repeat: The Feedback Loop of Representation
7. Monsters, Inc. (7 points)
8. 13th/Birth of a Nation (7 points)
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WEEK 5 DUE FRIDAY 6/21: The only consistent time travel story
9. Choose Your Own Adventure 1.0 (7 points)
10. La Jetée (7 points)
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WEEK 6 DUE FRIDAY 6/28 Cannibals and Final Thoughts
11. Bad Batch (7 points)
12. Choose Your Own Adventure 2.0 (7 points)
13. Final Reflection (16 points)
attitude
try your best, when going through this course, to go as deep as you possibly can. then go deeper. in the process, reflect on what it meant that you just "went deeper" -- what do the words "deep" (or "deeper," or "deepest" (if there is such a thing...) mean to you? the deeper you go, the better your chances of figuring that out.
Try to avoid, the best you can, taking a"get 'er done" attitude. don't worry about just getting these assignment done so you can get on with your life. have you ever noticed that pretty much everything we do we do with a "get 'er done" mentality? get school done. get work done. we're all hurrying to get things done. sometimes i feel like we're hurrying to get life itself done already. take this class as an opportunity to get out of that mode. these are amazing movies but beyond that you're expanding your horizons on what movies can mean to you in this life...and along the way you're tackling some of the most fundamental questions of what it means to be a human in this world...Don't worry about grades. That said...
grades.
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each assignment is worth 7 points. Here's a rough rubric:
6-7 = yo, you rocked that. you took it seriously and didn't just try to get it done for the grade. you went deep in your reflections and clearly really got something out of it
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5 = you definitely took it seriously. but you know you definitely could have gone further...
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3-4 = you did a pretty good job.
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2 = I guess you basically completed the assignment. like, I guess...
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1 = I mean, it's not like you deserve no credit. but is this really something you're going to look back on one day to see where your mind was at?
e-mail me at keb208@lehigh.edu if you're ever not sure what to do
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