Philosophical Films

Use this forum to have philosophical discussions about aesthetics and art. What is art? What is beauty? What makes art good? You can also use this forum to discuss philosophy in the arts, namely to discuss the philosophical points in any particular movie, TV show, book or story.
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Aristocles
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Re: Philosophical Films

Post by Aristocles »

Genesis_pig wrote:Anyone mentioned I heart huckabees?

Also these: Synecdoche, NY Alphaville Seventh Seal Rosencrantz & Guildenstern are dead Billy Liar Schizopolis Last year at Marienbad Suraj ka satvan ghoda The ballad of Cable Hogue El Topo Dead Man The Shooting Ride in the Whirlwind

and also most of the Monty Python movies.


Heck, in fact all movies are philosophical.
I agree all are philosophical, but some more so than others...

"I Heart Huckabees" is the first Hollywood attempt I think of... Zeitgeist is a thinker, as mentioned above, like a Marxist technology cult.... The Life of David Gale, God Is Not Dead, and Irrational Man I add to the list. None of these are a favorite movie; in fact, I think they tend to give philosphy a poor reputation.
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Gumby
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Re: Philosophical Films

Post by Gumby »

I noticed a number of people expressing interest in Tarkovsky here. I didn't see the name Bela Tarr mentioned, and I think for anyone who enjoys Tarkovsky, Satantango is absolutely mandatory viewing material, if you can get your hands on it (it can be a little difficult). Also, his other films are certainly worth watching (I believe 'The Turin Horse' at least used to be on Netflix).
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TSBU
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Re: Philosophical Films

Post by TSBU »

Network (1976).
Her.
The edge (1997)
Collateral.
None of them is very good, but they are more "philosophical" than most of films.

This thread would be obviously better if we put a list with all previous movies in it.
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Felix
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Re: Philosophical Films

Post by Felix »

Meetings with Remarkable Men (1979), about the early life of G.I. Gurdjieff.
Koyaanisqatsi (1982)
Man Facing Southeast (1986) - Defenitely worth seeing if you can find it.
Fearless (1993) with Jeff Bridges
"We do not see things as they are; we see things as we are." - Anaïs Nin
Togo1
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Re: Philosophical Films

Post by Togo1 »

The NeverEnding Story, nominated for it's impact on the ontological proof of God's existence

An entire film that only makes sense if existence is taken to be an attribute, thus emperically disproving the usual philosophical position by Russel that existence can not be understood to be an attribute, but merely a statement as to whether such attributes are instantiated. Bonus points for subjecting a philosophical position to emperical proof, for doing so through a Disney film aimed at 9 years and up, and for containing a flying dog-dragon.
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Felix
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Re: Philosophical Films

Post by Felix »

"It's A Beautiful Life" is another good one - heartbreaking though.
"We do not see things as they are; we see things as we are." - Anaïs Nin
A Poster He or I
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Re: Philosophical Films

Post by A Poster He or I »

The new sci-fi movie "Arrival" currently in theaters has a lot of philosophical meat for the picking. I highly recommend it if you like intelligent sci-fi about ideas instead of bad-ass robots or aliens destroying things. I think individual viewers will find the movie is about different things, depending on the individual. To me, the movie makes a profound observation about the nature of personal sacrifice.
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TSBU
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Re: Philosophical Films

Post by TSBU »

A Poster He or I wrote:The new sci-fi movie "Arrival" currently in theaters has a lot of philosophical meat for the picking. I highly recommend it if you like intelligent sci-fi about ideas instead of bad-ass robots or aliens destroying things. I think individual viewers will find the movie is about different things, depending on the individual. To me, the movie makes a profound observation about the nature of personal sacrifice.
I was thinking about seeing the movie a couple of days ago, there are many alien films in wich they don't want to invade, starting by ET. Have you seen "contact"? When I saw "arrrival" trailer, it was very similar to me.
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Re: Philosophical Films

Post by A Poster He or I »

"Arrival" is rather similar in tone to "Contact" but is more mysterious, and ultimately more of a mind-f***. There are some circumstantial similarities in the plot elements too, though the nature of the alien encounter is very different, with more immediate and deeper ramifications. "Arrival" has far more food for thought than "Contact" and in that regard has more in common with "Interstellar" but is much less far-fetched than "Interstellar."
Gertie
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Re: Philosophical Films

Post by Gertie »

A Poster He or I wrote:"Arrival" is rather similar in tone to "Contact" but is more mysterious, and ultimately more of a mind-f***. There are some circumstantial similarities in the plot elements too, though the nature of the alien encounter is very different, with more immediate and deeper ramifications. "Arrival" has far more food for thought than "Contact" and in that regard has more in common with "Interstellar" but is much less far-fetched than "Interstellar."
Sounds good, thanks for the tip. I'm a sucker for that type of sci fi.
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Renee
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Re: Philosophical Films

Post by Renee »

The two most obvious choices are 2001: A Space Odyssey, and A Clockwork Orange. They, very uniquely, SHOW philosophical arguments, not TELL them.

Some less obvious ones: Two by Antionioni, "Zabriskie Point", which deals with the decadence of an insanely affluent society, which penultimately disregards or mixes up human values due to its inability to tell price from value.

The other of his two films, "Blow Up", deals with largely the same thing, with an extra tint of an individual's inability to cut into the fabric of society; social rules that are broken are part of the causality process, and he can't step outside of it. (By discovering and by being unable to report a crime, a murder.)

"Life of Brian" was the best movie ever made, and it carries much and many heavy psychological, sociological, theist, and political satire.

There were three great Czech movies coming out the sixties' progressive Czech cinema arts: Ecce Homo Homolka, The Homolkas Have Made it, and The Tattooed Man (this last one of 1969.) The first two dealt with the disintegration of the nuclear family unit and the taking over of the traditional family functions by the state; and the latter, it dealt with the dehumanization of a citizen by the hypocrisy of the communist political-industrial-artistic complex which worshipped the almighty buck.
Ignorance is power.
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