Philosophy and Film
Content
VES 292r. Philosophy and Film: Stanley Cavell Instructor Professor David Rodowick (Visual & Environmental Studies) Office hours:
Monday and Wednesday 3-4 pm or by appointment th M-06 Sever Hall (4 floor) Phone: 617-496-6076 Email: <[email protected] <[email protected]> >
Course website: http://isites.harvard.edu/k17145 Meeting times. Tuesdays 1-3 pm in Sever 411
Course description This semester’s seminar is devoted to Stanley Cavell’s writings on film as read in the context of his larger philosophical project. Two principle ideas unite Cavell’s writings writings on film and philosophy. These are less separate ideas than iterations of the same ethical problem that succeed one another more or less chronologically; namely, the philosophical confrontation with skepticism and the concept of moral perfectionism. Keeping in mind Cavell’s emphasis that film is not separate from philosophy, but is, rather, a philosophical accompaniment to our everyday lives, we will discuss all of his major works on cinema and many of the occasional essays while examining his major conceptual contributions to the study of photography and moving images. Cavell’s original contributions to the critical study of Hollywood and European cinema, the phenomenology of film and photography, the concept of g enres, the study of gender, acting, and film stardom, and to relation between psychoanalysis and film will also be discussed.
Enrollment and registration This course is restricted restricted to graduate students only. only. There are no prerequisites. Cross-registration. Cross-registration. Students from other Harvard schools, M.I.T., or Tufts must cross-register cross-register through the Faculty of Arts and Sciences (not the Graduate School of Design).
Student responsibilities responsibilities Seminar participation and discussion. Your first and most important responsibility is to keep up with assigned readings and screenings and to think about them seriously. Each student will also be responsible for organizing weekly discussion as part of a small group. This does not mean a formal presentation. Rather, in each seminar there will be a group of students who will together prepare a set of questions and topics around the weekly readings and films that they wish to discuss with the class. Each group may also want to select clips from relevant films films or videos as platforms for discussion. Groups are expected to meet with me before the seminar. Assessed work . During the course of the term, students students will keep a philosophical journal in in response to the readings. This journal will take the form of short papers of around around five pages (1500 words), which will be collected every other week. These papers may be informal in style, but should be typewritten typewritten and double-spaced. Consider them thought pieces pieces where you work through and respond critically to the concepts, problems, and arguments presented presented in the readings and films. The journals should also help you prepare for the last two seminar meetings where Professor Cavell will attend the course and engage us in discussion.
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Students with a special interest in Cavell’s work my propose, alternatively, to work on a longer research paper or conference paper in lieu of all or part of the journal. Screenings. VHS and/or DVD copies of recommended videos are available for individual viewing at both th Lamont and the Film Study Library on the 4 floor of Sever Hall. You may want to obtain copies of the course videos for your own use and your own video collection. Many can be found used online. For a complete list, see the course filmography after the Weekly Topics section.
Required texts (available at the Harvard Co-op or on reserve at Lamont) Cavell, Stanley. The World Viewed: Reflections on the Ontology of Film. Enlarged Edition. Cambridge: Harvard UP, 1979. Cavell, Stanley. Pursuits of Happiness: The Hollywood Comedy of Remarriage. Cambridge: Harvard UP, 1981. Cavell, Stanley. Contesting Tears: The Melodrama of the Unknown Woman. Chicago: U Chicago P, 1996. Cavell, Stanley. Cities of Words. Cambridge: Harvard UP, 2003. Rothman, William, ed. Cavell on Film. Albany: State University of New York P, 2005.
Recommended texts (available at the Harvard Co-op or on reserve at Lamont) Mulhall, Stephen. Stanley Cavell: Philosophy’s Recounting of the Ordinary . Oxford: Oxford UP, 1994. Rothman, William and Marian Keene. Reading Cavell’s The World Viewed . Detroit: Wayne State UP, 2000.
Weekly Topics and Readings Nota bene. The films and readings listed each week are suggested as anchors or starting points for discussion. In the course of the semester, you should endeavor to see all the films listed in the course filmography and to read completely the required books. Week 1 (September 18). Seminar introduction Week 2 (September 25). What philosophy offers film; what film offers philosophy It Happened One Night (Frank Capra, USA/Columbia, 1934), 105m Cities of Words “Preface” “Introduction: In the Place of the Classroom” The World Viewed “Foreword to the Enlarged Edition” “Preface” “An Autobiography of Companions” Pursuits of Happiness, 265-274 “Appendix: Film in the University” [1975] Cavell on Film “The Thought of Movies” [1983] • •
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Week 3 (October 2). Ontology, automatism, and medium The World Viewed “Sights and Sounds” “Photograph and Screen” “Audience, Actor, and Star” “Types; Cycles as Genres” “Ideas of Origin” “Baudelaire and the Myths of Film” “The Medium and Media of Film” “Automatism” “Excursus: Some Modernist Painting” “Exhibition and Self-Reference” Cavell on Film “The Fact of Television” [1982] “The Advent of Videos” [1988] • • • • • • • • • •
• •
Submit first journal. Week 4 (October 9). A moving image of skepticism La règle du jeu (Jean Renoir, France, 1939), 110m Mr. Deeds Goes to Town (Frank Capra, USA/Columbia, 1936), 115m The World Viewed “More of The World Viewed” Cavell on Film “What Becomes of Things on Film?” [1978] “What Photography Calls Thinking” [1985] Cities of Words “Mr. Deeds Goes to Town” •
• •
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Week 5 (October 16). Moral perfectionism: film as the (moral) accompaniment to everyday life The Philadelphia Story (George Cukor, USA/MGM, 1940), 112m Cities of Words “Emerson” “Themes of Moral Perfectionism in Plato’s Republic ” Cavell on Film “Philosophy the Day after Tomorrow” [2000] “The Good of Film” [2000] • •
• •
Submit second journal. Week 6 (October 23). An intermezzo on genre and another conversation on perfectionism Now, Voyager (Irving Rapper, USA/Warner Bros., 1942), 117m Pursuits of Happiness “Introduction: Words for a Conversation” Contesting Tears “Introduction” •
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Week 7 (October 30). Comedies of remarriage The Lady Eve (Preston Sturges, USA/Paramount, 1941), 97m Bringing Up Baby (Howard Hawks, USA/RKO, 1938), 102m Pursuits of Happiness “Cons and Pros: The Lady Eve” “Knowledge as Transgression: It Happened One Night ” “Leopards in Connecticut: Bringing Up Baby ” “The Importance of Importance: The Philadelphia Story ” • • • •
Submit third journal. Week 8 (November 6). Comedies of remarriage, cont’d Adam's Rib (George Cukor, USA/MGM, 1949), 101m His Girl Friday (Howard Hawks, USA/Columbia, 1940), 92m The Awful Truth (Leo McCarey, USA/Columbia, 1937), 91m Pursuits of Happiness “Counterfeiting Happiness: His Girl Friday ” “The Courting of Marriage: Adam’s Rib” “The Same and Different: The Awful Truth” • • •
Week 9 (November 13). Melodramas of the unknown woman Stella Dallas (King Vidor, USA/Goldwyn, 1937), 106m Contesting Tears “Ugly Duckling, Funny Butterfly: Bette Davis and Now, Voyager ” “Stella’s Taste: Reading Stella Dallas” Cities of Words “Stella Dallas” • •
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Submit fourth journal.
Thanksgiving Week 10 (November 27). On psychoanalysis and cinema, philosophy and feminism Gaslight (George Cukor, USA/MGM, 1944), 114m Letter from an Unknown Woman (Max Ophuls, USA, 1948), 86m Contesting Tears “Naughty Orators: Negation of Voice in Gaslight ” “Psychoanalysis and Cinema: Moments of Letter from an Unknown Woman” “Postscript: To Whom It May Concern” • • •
Submit fifth journal. Week 11 (December 4). A conversation with Stanley Cavell Week 12 (December 11). A conversation with Stanley Cavell, cont’d Week 13 (December 18). Seminar conclusion
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Filmography Blonde Venus (Joseph von Sternberg, USA/Paramount,1932), 93m It Happened One Night (Frank Capra, USA/Columbia, 1934), 105m Mr. Deeds Goes to Town (Frank Capra, USA/Columbia, 1936), 115m Showboat (James Whale, USA/Universal, 1936), 113m Stella Dallas (King Vidor, USA/Goldwyn, 1937), 106m The Awful Truth (Leo McCarey, USA/Columbia, 1937), 91m Bringing Up Baby (Howard Hawks, USA/RKO, 1938), 102m La règle du jeu (Jean Renoir, France, 1939), 110m His Girl Friday (Howard Hawks, USA/Columbia, 1940), 92m The Philadelphia Story (George Cukor, USA/MGM, 1940), 112m The Lady Eve (Preston Sturges, USA/Paramount, 1941), 97m Now, Voyager (Irving Rapper, USA/Warner Bros., 1942), 117m Random Harvest (Mervyn LeRoy, USA/MGM, 1942), 125m Gaslight (George Cukor, USA/MGM, 1944), 114m Letter from an Unknown Woman (Max Ophuls, USA, 1948), 86m Adam's Rib (George Cukor, USA/MGM, 1949), 101m Smiles of a Summer Night (Ingmar Bergman, Sweden, 1955), 105m The Marquise of O (Eric Rohmer, France/Germany, 1976), 102m A Tale of Winter (Eric Rohmer, France, 1992), 114m La captive (Chantal Akerman, France/Belgium, 2000), 118m
Monday and Wednesday 3-4 pm or by appointment th M-06 Sever Hall (4 floor) Phone: 617-496-6076 Email: <[email protected] <[email protected]> >
Course website: http://isites.harvard.edu/k17145 Meeting times. Tuesdays 1-3 pm in Sever 411
Course description This semester’s seminar is devoted to Stanley Cavell’s writings on film as read in the context of his larger philosophical project. Two principle ideas unite Cavell’s writings writings on film and philosophy. These are less separate ideas than iterations of the same ethical problem that succeed one another more or less chronologically; namely, the philosophical confrontation with skepticism and the concept of moral perfectionism. Keeping in mind Cavell’s emphasis that film is not separate from philosophy, but is, rather, a philosophical accompaniment to our everyday lives, we will discuss all of his major works on cinema and many of the occasional essays while examining his major conceptual contributions to the study of photography and moving images. Cavell’s original contributions to the critical study of Hollywood and European cinema, the phenomenology of film and photography, the concept of g enres, the study of gender, acting, and film stardom, and to relation between psychoanalysis and film will also be discussed.
Enrollment and registration This course is restricted restricted to graduate students only. only. There are no prerequisites. Cross-registration. Cross-registration. Students from other Harvard schools, M.I.T., or Tufts must cross-register cross-register through the Faculty of Arts and Sciences (not the Graduate School of Design).
Student responsibilities responsibilities Seminar participation and discussion. Your first and most important responsibility is to keep up with assigned readings and screenings and to think about them seriously. Each student will also be responsible for organizing weekly discussion as part of a small group. This does not mean a formal presentation. Rather, in each seminar there will be a group of students who will together prepare a set of questions and topics around the weekly readings and films that they wish to discuss with the class. Each group may also want to select clips from relevant films films or videos as platforms for discussion. Groups are expected to meet with me before the seminar. Assessed work . During the course of the term, students students will keep a philosophical journal in in response to the readings. This journal will take the form of short papers of around around five pages (1500 words), which will be collected every other week. These papers may be informal in style, but should be typewritten typewritten and double-spaced. Consider them thought pieces pieces where you work through and respond critically to the concepts, problems, and arguments presented presented in the readings and films. The journals should also help you prepare for the last two seminar meetings where Professor Cavell will attend the course and engage us in discussion.
2
Students with a special interest in Cavell’s work my propose, alternatively, to work on a longer research paper or conference paper in lieu of all or part of the journal. Screenings. VHS and/or DVD copies of recommended videos are available for individual viewing at both th Lamont and the Film Study Library on the 4 floor of Sever Hall. You may want to obtain copies of the course videos for your own use and your own video collection. Many can be found used online. For a complete list, see the course filmography after the Weekly Topics section.
Required texts (available at the Harvard Co-op or on reserve at Lamont) Cavell, Stanley. The World Viewed: Reflections on the Ontology of Film. Enlarged Edition. Cambridge: Harvard UP, 1979. Cavell, Stanley. Pursuits of Happiness: The Hollywood Comedy of Remarriage. Cambridge: Harvard UP, 1981. Cavell, Stanley. Contesting Tears: The Melodrama of the Unknown Woman. Chicago: U Chicago P, 1996. Cavell, Stanley. Cities of Words. Cambridge: Harvard UP, 2003. Rothman, William, ed. Cavell on Film. Albany: State University of New York P, 2005.
Recommended texts (available at the Harvard Co-op or on reserve at Lamont) Mulhall, Stephen. Stanley Cavell: Philosophy’s Recounting of the Ordinary . Oxford: Oxford UP, 1994. Rothman, William and Marian Keene. Reading Cavell’s The World Viewed . Detroit: Wayne State UP, 2000.
Weekly Topics and Readings Nota bene. The films and readings listed each week are suggested as anchors or starting points for discussion. In the course of the semester, you should endeavor to see all the films listed in the course filmography and to read completely the required books. Week 1 (September 18). Seminar introduction Week 2 (September 25). What philosophy offers film; what film offers philosophy It Happened One Night (Frank Capra, USA/Columbia, 1934), 105m Cities of Words “Preface” “Introduction: In the Place of the Classroom” The World Viewed “Foreword to the Enlarged Edition” “Preface” “An Autobiography of Companions” Pursuits of Happiness, 265-274 “Appendix: Film in the University” [1975] Cavell on Film “The Thought of Movies” [1983] • •
• • •
•
•
3
Week 3 (October 2). Ontology, automatism, and medium The World Viewed “Sights and Sounds” “Photograph and Screen” “Audience, Actor, and Star” “Types; Cycles as Genres” “Ideas of Origin” “Baudelaire and the Myths of Film” “The Medium and Media of Film” “Automatism” “Excursus: Some Modernist Painting” “Exhibition and Self-Reference” Cavell on Film “The Fact of Television” [1982] “The Advent of Videos” [1988] • • • • • • • • • •
• •
Submit first journal. Week 4 (October 9). A moving image of skepticism La règle du jeu (Jean Renoir, France, 1939), 110m Mr. Deeds Goes to Town (Frank Capra, USA/Columbia, 1936), 115m The World Viewed “More of The World Viewed” Cavell on Film “What Becomes of Things on Film?” [1978] “What Photography Calls Thinking” [1985] Cities of Words “Mr. Deeds Goes to Town” •
• •
•
Week 5 (October 16). Moral perfectionism: film as the (moral) accompaniment to everyday life The Philadelphia Story (George Cukor, USA/MGM, 1940), 112m Cities of Words “Emerson” “Themes of Moral Perfectionism in Plato’s Republic ” Cavell on Film “Philosophy the Day after Tomorrow” [2000] “The Good of Film” [2000] • •
• •
Submit second journal. Week 6 (October 23). An intermezzo on genre and another conversation on perfectionism Now, Voyager (Irving Rapper, USA/Warner Bros., 1942), 117m Pursuits of Happiness “Introduction: Words for a Conversation” Contesting Tears “Introduction” •
•
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Week 7 (October 30). Comedies of remarriage The Lady Eve (Preston Sturges, USA/Paramount, 1941), 97m Bringing Up Baby (Howard Hawks, USA/RKO, 1938), 102m Pursuits of Happiness “Cons and Pros: The Lady Eve” “Knowledge as Transgression: It Happened One Night ” “Leopards in Connecticut: Bringing Up Baby ” “The Importance of Importance: The Philadelphia Story ” • • • •
Submit third journal. Week 8 (November 6). Comedies of remarriage, cont’d Adam's Rib (George Cukor, USA/MGM, 1949), 101m His Girl Friday (Howard Hawks, USA/Columbia, 1940), 92m The Awful Truth (Leo McCarey, USA/Columbia, 1937), 91m Pursuits of Happiness “Counterfeiting Happiness: His Girl Friday ” “The Courting of Marriage: Adam’s Rib” “The Same and Different: The Awful Truth” • • •
Week 9 (November 13). Melodramas of the unknown woman Stella Dallas (King Vidor, USA/Goldwyn, 1937), 106m Contesting Tears “Ugly Duckling, Funny Butterfly: Bette Davis and Now, Voyager ” “Stella’s Taste: Reading Stella Dallas” Cities of Words “Stella Dallas” • •
•
Submit fourth journal.
Thanksgiving Week 10 (November 27). On psychoanalysis and cinema, philosophy and feminism Gaslight (George Cukor, USA/MGM, 1944), 114m Letter from an Unknown Woman (Max Ophuls, USA, 1948), 86m Contesting Tears “Naughty Orators: Negation of Voice in Gaslight ” “Psychoanalysis and Cinema: Moments of Letter from an Unknown Woman” “Postscript: To Whom It May Concern” • • •
Submit fifth journal. Week 11 (December 4). A conversation with Stanley Cavell Week 12 (December 11). A conversation with Stanley Cavell, cont’d Week 13 (December 18). Seminar conclusion
5
Filmography Blonde Venus (Joseph von Sternberg, USA/Paramount,1932), 93m It Happened One Night (Frank Capra, USA/Columbia, 1934), 105m Mr. Deeds Goes to Town (Frank Capra, USA/Columbia, 1936), 115m Showboat (James Whale, USA/Universal, 1936), 113m Stella Dallas (King Vidor, USA/Goldwyn, 1937), 106m The Awful Truth (Leo McCarey, USA/Columbia, 1937), 91m Bringing Up Baby (Howard Hawks, USA/RKO, 1938), 102m La règle du jeu (Jean Renoir, France, 1939), 110m His Girl Friday (Howard Hawks, USA/Columbia, 1940), 92m The Philadelphia Story (George Cukor, USA/MGM, 1940), 112m The Lady Eve (Preston Sturges, USA/Paramount, 1941), 97m Now, Voyager (Irving Rapper, USA/Warner Bros., 1942), 117m Random Harvest (Mervyn LeRoy, USA/MGM, 1942), 125m Gaslight (George Cukor, USA/MGM, 1944), 114m Letter from an Unknown Woman (Max Ophuls, USA, 1948), 86m Adam's Rib (George Cukor, USA/MGM, 1949), 101m Smiles of a Summer Night (Ingmar Bergman, Sweden, 1955), 105m The Marquise of O (Eric Rohmer, France/Germany, 1976), 102m A Tale of Winter (Eric Rohmer, France, 1992), 114m La captive (Chantal Akerman, France/Belgium, 2000), 118m
