Level 63
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Aesthetics and Philosophy of Science

Contemporary Philosophy of Film and Popular Art

The extension of aesthetic theory into cinema and popular culture, examining how mass art forms generate meaning, emotion, and philosophical reflection.

60-Second Review

Express review

A condensed, point-by-point summary of the module, for reviewing right before a test or exam.

  1. Film as Art: The Debate over Cinema's Aesthetic Status. Cinema's status as a genuine art form was contested, then defended by Canudo, Münsterberg, and Arnheim.
  2. Bazin and the Ontology of the Photographic Image. André Bazin grounded a realist film aesthetic in photography's indexical, automatic image of reality.
  3. Narrative, Point of View, and Cinematic Identification. Theories of suture, the male gaze, and cognitive engagement explain how viewers identify with film.
  4. Philosophy through Film: Using Cinema to Do Philosophy. Cavell and Mulhall argue film can itself philosophize, not merely illustrate philosophical ideas.
  5. The Paradox of Fiction and Emotional Engagement with Art. The paradox of fiction asks how we feel real emotion for characters we know do not exist.
  6. High Art versus Popular Art: Redrawing the Aesthetic Hierarchy. Greenberg and Adorno condemned popular culture as kitsch; Carroll and Shusterman defended it.
  7. Music, Emotion, and the Philosophy of Popular Culture. Philosophers debate whether music truly arouses emotion or only expresses it, in classical and rock music alike.
  8. Video Games and Interactive Art as a New Aesthetic Category. Interactive, player-shaped video games raise new aesthetic questions no earlier art form fully answers.

This module continues after "Environmental Aesthetics and Philosophy of Nature" in the syllabus. If you haven't reviewed it yet, it may help set the context.

Key points

Visual module map

1Film as Art: The Debate over Cinema's Aesthetic Status
2Narrative, Point of View, and Cinematic Identification
3The Paradox of Fiction and Emotional Engagement with Art
4High Art versus Popular Art: Redrawing the Aesthetic Hierarchy
5Video Games and Interactive Art as a New Aesthetic Category

Alternative visual view: a simplified sequence of some of the module's key points, in their order within the syllabus.

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Final test

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Optional mini-games

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Review Flashcards

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Memory

Match each concept with its definition in as few attempts as possible.

Time Attack

Answer true or false statements before time runs out.

Chronological Order

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Further reading

Bibliography and cited sources used to create this module.

  • Bazin, André (1958–1962). Qu'est-ce que le cinéma? (4 vols.). Paris: Éditions du Cerf.
  • Cavell, Stanley (1979). The World Viewed: Reflections on the Ontology of Film (enlarged ed.). Cambridge, MA: Harvard University Press.
  • Carroll, Noël (1990). The Philosophy of Horror: Or, Paradoxes of the Heart. New York: Routledge.
  • Carroll, Noël (1998). A Philosophy of Mass Art. Oxford: Clarendon Press.
  • Walton, Kendall L. (1990). Mimesis as Make-Believe: On the Foundations of the Representational Arts. Cambridge, MA: Harvard University Press.
  • Tavinor, Grant (2009). The Art of Videogames. Malden, MA: Wiley-Blackwell.