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Paper VI I, Philosophy and Film
Semester V
Aims:
1. To acquaint students with a new intriguing subject in Philosophy, i.e. Philosophy of Film.
2. To acquaint students with Film as an independent art form.
3. To acquaint students that the most powerful mass media of communication i.e. film has
its pragmatic aspect and its own axiology.
4. To acquaint students with different aspects of Film philosophically.
Unit I
Ontology of Philosophy and Film
Philosophy- in-Film, Philosophy- of-Film, Film Studies, Film Theories and Film Criticism
Unit II
Film Theories
Auteur Theory, Marxist Film Theory, Feminist Film Theory, Formalist Film Theory and Screen Theory
Unit III
Philosophy Through Films
Knowledge and Truth - Film Text : The Matrix; Problem of Identity - Film Text: Momento, Hindi
Movies with themes of Duplicates; Ethics and Moral Responsibility - Film Text: Crimes and
Misdemeanor, Social Political genre films; Philosophy of Religion - Film Text : The Rapture,
Saint Films, Mythological films (Jai Santoshi Maa, Ramayan: The leg end of Prince Ram , In the
Name of the Rose ); and Philosophy of Sci -Fiction Film – Film T ext: Star Wars, Gravity
Unit IV
Praxis of Philosophy of Film
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Film and Ethics – Film Text: Crime and Punishment, Deewar; Film and Psychoanalysis – Film
Text: Psycho, Ka rthik Calling Karthik; Film and Society – Film Text: Corporate, Fashion, Page
3; Commercial vs Art Film – Mera Naam Joker, Anand ; and Off -beat or Art F ilm – Film Text:
Duvidha, Paar
References:
1. Mary. M. Litch. Philosophy Through Film , 2002, New York : Routledge.
2. Paisly Livingstone and Carl Plantinga (ed) The Routledge Companion of Film and
Philosophy . 2009 New York: Routledge
3. Toby Miller and Robert Stam (ed) A Companion of Film Theory. 1999. Blackwell Publishing
4. Carroll, Nőel and Choi, Finhee (ed.). Philosophy of Film and Motion Pictures – An
Anthology . Blackwell Publishing, 2006.
5. Buchanan, Ian. A Dictionary of Critical Theory. Oxford University Press, 2010.
6. Conrad, Mark T . The Philosophy of Film Noir . American University Press (The
University Press of Kentucky) 2007.
7. Encyclopedia Britannica .
8. Stanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy .
Semester VI
Aims:
1. To acquaint students with history of Film and Philosophy.
2. To acquaint students with how films can render influence on society and vice versa.
3. To acquaint students with different isms in Philosophy through film, this can be an effective media of demonstrating theoretical philosophy.
4. To acquaint students with limitations of film making and rights of film.
Unit I
Film His tory and Distinguished Film Makers
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Lumiere Brothers, Dada Saheb Phalke, Jean Luc Goddard, Satyajit Ray, Andrei Tarkovsky
Unit II
Film and Reformation
Film and Social Reform – Film Text: Achut Kanya,Sujata ; Film and Politics – Film Text: New
Delhi Times, Z (French Movie Director: Costa -Gavras); Film and Economic Reforms – Film
Text: Do Bighs Zam in, Hum Hindustani; Sexuality, Film as/ and Activism – Film Text : Milk,
Fire; and Film and Racism – Film Text: To Kill a Mocking Bird, Selma (On Martin Luther King
(Jr.) Director: Ava DuVernay )
Unit III
Philosophy in Film
Film and Existential ism – Film Text: Akiru (Japanes, Director: Akira Kurosawa), Wild
Strawberries (Swedish, Director: Ingmar Bergman); Film and Feminism – Film Text: Offside
(Persian from Iran. Director: Jafar Panahi), Paroma; Film and Philos ophers – Film Text: Hannah
Arendt; Adi Shankaracharya; Film and Plato’s Allegory of Cave – Film Text: Matrix ,
Interstellar; and Film and Post- Modernism: Film Text: Pulp Fiction (Director: Quentin
Tarantino), Life and Nothing More (Persian, Iran; Director: Abbas Kiarostami)
Unit IV
Censorship
Liberal Approach - Dworkin’s Taking Rights Seriously, Utilitarian Approach - J.S.Mill ‘s On
Liberty and Films, Marxist Approach – Marcuse’s Repressive Tolerance, Feminist Approach –
Catherine MacKinnon Pornography and Censorship, and Language and Censorship – K. A.
Abbas
References:
1. Chester, G. and Dickey, J. (eds.), 1988, Feminism and Censorship, London: Prism Press.
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2. Kumar, Girija. Censorship in India: Studies in Fundamentalism, Obscenity, and Law.
Har Anand Publications, 2009.
3. Carroll, Nőel and Choi, Finhee (ed.). Philosophy of Film and Motion Pictures – An
Anthology . Blackwell Publishing, 2006.
4. Buchanan, Ian. A Dictionary of Critical Theory. Oxford U niversity Press, 2010.
5. Conrad, Mark T . The Philosophy of Film Noir . American University Press (The
University Press of Kentucky) 2007.
6. Encyclopedia Britannica .
7. Stanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy .
8. Saran, Renu. History of Indian Cinema. Diamond Pocket Books Pvt. Ltd. 2014
9. Rajadhyaksha, Ashish and Willemen, Paul. Encyclopedia of Indian Cinema. Routledge,
2014
10. Robinson, Andrew . Satyajit Ray: The Inner Eye . Rupa & Co. 1990
11. Nochimson, Martha. World on Film . John Wiley and Sons, 2010
12. Tirard, Laurent. Movie Maker’s Master Class: Private Lessons from World’s Foremost
Directors. Farrar, Straus and Giroux, 2002
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