Film noir is a classic genre characterized by visual elements such as tilted camera angles, skewed scene compositions, and an interplay between darkness and light. Common motifs include crime and punishment, the upheaval of traditional moral values, and a pessimistic stance on the meaning of life and on the place of humankind in the universe. Spanning the 1940s and 1950s, the classic film noir era saw the release of many of Hollywood's best-loved studies of shady characters and shadowy underworlds, including Double Indemnity, The Big Sleep, Touch of Evil, and The Maltese Falcon. Neo-noir...
Film noir is a classic genre characterized by visual elements such as tilted camera angles, skewed scene compositions, and an interplay between dar...
Academy Award--winning director Martin Scorsese is one of the most significant American filmmakers in the history of cinema. Although best known for his movies about gangsters and violence, such as Mean Streets, Goodfellas, Casino, and Taxi Driver, Scorsese has addressed a much wider range of themes and topics in the four decades of his career. In The Philosophy of Martin Scorsese, an impressive cast of contributors explores the complex themes and philosophical underpinnings of Martin Scorsese's films. The essays concerning Scorsese's films about crime and violence investigate the nature...
Academy Award--winning director Martin Scorsese is one of the most significant American filmmakers in the history of cinema. Although best known fo...
Over the past forty years, football has surpassed baseball as America's favorite game. The game has become an institution of our national culture: the Super Bowl is regarded as an unofficial national holiday, and our annual Thanksgiving Day celebrations would be incomplete without it. The sport brings in massive amounts of revenue to high schools and both public and private universities as spectators enjoy a unique and celebratory social scene. Professional football teams across the country cultivate and foster a sense of community in urban areas. Surely a game this influential, with its...
Over the past forty years, football has surpassed baseball as America's favorite game. The game has become an institution of our national culture: ...
In the course of fifty years, director Stanley Kubrick produced some of the most haunting and indelible images on film. His films touch on a wide range of topics rife with questions about human life, behavior, and emotions: love and sex, war, crime, madness, social conditioning, and technology. Within this great variety of subject matter, Kubrick examines different sides of reality and unifies them into a rich philosophical vision that is similar to existentialism. Perhaps more than any other philosophical concept, existentialism -- the belief that philosophical truth has meaning only if...
In the course of fifty years, director Stanley Kubrick produced some of the most haunting and indelible images on film. His films touch on a wide r...
In The Philosophy of The X-Files, Dean A. Kowalski has gathered a remarkable cast of contributors to shed light on the philosophical mysteries of the television show The X-Files. With sections devoted to the show's credos, such as "The Truth Is Out There," individual characters, and specific episodes, The Philosophy of The X-Files illuminates the philosophical assumptions and presuppositions of the show as well as presents discussions through the show to help the reader better understand philosophy and philosophical inquiry.
In The Philosophy of The X-Files, Dean A. Kowalski has gathered a remarkable cast of contributors to shed light on the philosophical mysteri...
Examining the evolving role of horror, this title investigates works such as Mary Shelley's Frankenstein (1818), horror films of the 1930s, Stephen King's novels, Stanley Kubrick's adaptation of The Shining (1980), and Alfred Hitchcock's Psycho (1960).
Examining the evolving role of horror, this title investigates works such as Mary Shelley's Frankenstein (1818), horror films of the 1930s, Stephen Ki...
In a game where players are expected to call their own penalties and scoring the least points leads to victory, decorum takes precedence over showmanship and philosophical questions become par for the course. Few other sports are as suited for ethical and metaphysical examination as golf. It is a game defined by dichotomies -- relaxing, yet frustrating, social, yet solitary -- and between these extremes there is room for much philosophical inquiry.In "Golf and Philosophy: Lessons from the Links," a clubhouse full of skilled contributors tee off on a range of philosophical topics within the...
In a game where players are expected to call their own penalties and scoring the least points leads to victory, decorum takes precedence over showmans...
Widely regarded as a turning point in American independent cinema, Steven Soderbergh's sex, lies, and videotape (1989) launched the career of its twenty-six-year-old director, whose debut film was nominated for an Academy Award and went on to win the Cannes Film Festival's top award, the Palme d'Or. The Philosophy of Steven Soderbergh breaks new ground by investigating salient philosophical themes through the unique story lines and innovative approaches to filmmaking that distinguish this celebrated artist. Editors R. Barton Palmer and Steven M. Sanders have brought together leading scholars...
Widely regarded as a turning point in American independent cinema, Steven Soderbergh's sex, lies, and videotape (1989) launched the career of its twen...
Every generation produces a counterculture icon. Joss Whedon, creater of the long-running television series Buffy the Vampire Slayer, is famed for his subversive wit, rich characters, and extraordinary plotlines. His renown has only grown with subsequent creations, including Angel, Firefly, Dollhouse, and the innovative online series Dr. Horrible's Sing-Along Blog. Through premises as unusual as a supernatural detective agency run by a vampire and a Western set in outer space, Whedon weaves stories about characters forced to make commonplace moral decisions under the most bizarre of...
Every generation produces a counterculture icon. Joss Whedon, creater of the long-running television series Buffy the Vampire Slayer, is famed for his...
Originating from underworld slang-the domain of hustlers, drug addicts, and petty thieves-the term "Beat" was short for "beaten down" or downtrodden. To writer Jack Kerouac it symbolized being at the bottom of society's hierarchy and looking up. Kerouac introduced the phrase "Beat Generation" in 1948 to characterize the underground, anti-conformist youth gathering in New York City at that time. The Beat Generation consisted of writers, artists, and activists, and they became a uniquely American cultural phenomenon with a worldwide influence that introduced new ways of looking at visual art,...
Originating from underworld slang-the domain of hustlers, drug addicts, and petty thieves-the term "Beat" was short for "beaten down" or downtrodden. ...