Hailed as one of America's original art forms film has the distinctive character of crossing
high and low art. But film has done more than this. According to American philosopher Stanley
Cavell film was also a place where America in the 1930s and 1940s did its thinking a
tradition that was taken up and enriched throughout world cinema. Can film indeed think? That
is can film do the work of philosophy? Following Cavell's lead to think along the tear of the
analytic-continental traditions this book draws from both sides of the philosophical divide to
reflect on this question. Spanning generations and disciplines pondering everything from art
house classics to mainstream blockbusters Thinking Film: Philosophy at the Movies aims to
fling open the doors to this conversation on all sides. Inquiring into both philosophy's word
on film and film's word to philosophy the interdisciplinary dialogue of this book traverses
the conceptual and the particular as it considers how film catalyzes our thinking and sets us
talking. After viewing the world through film we find our world--and ourselves--transformed by
deeper understanding and new possibilities. This book aims to provide a novel and engaging way
in to thinking with and about this enduringly popular art form.
