THE MEETING OF FILM AND PHILOSOPHY: A âDEEP-STRUCTUREâ PERSPECTIVE

• Main Author: Rossouw, Martin Paul
• Other Authors: Prof PJ Visagie
• Format: Others
• Language: en-uk
• Published: University of the Free State 2013
• Subjects: Philosophy
• Online Access: http://etd.uovs.ac.za//theses/available/etd-05172013-105155/restricted/

Over the past two decades the field of âphilosophy of filmâ has become increasingly concerned with the self-reflective question of what constitutes the relationship between film and philosophy itself. This study proposes and explores a unique âdeep-structureâ perspective on their relationship. It engages particularly with the question of âphilosophy in filmâ â that is, the ability of film to embody philosophical thought â from within the theoretical framework of Discourse Archaeology (DA), a theoretical system researched and taught at the Department of Philosophy, UFS. Certain assumptions that are at work within DA are explored in order to present an original and illuminating ground-perspective on how film and philosophy meet. Detailed analyses will illustrate how grounding concepts, identified by different sub-theories of DA, represent constitutive deep-structure âspacesâ within which film and philosophy interact in a variety of ways. While current approaches to this question tend to lack the meta-philosophical leverage which this question requires, DAâs systematic theories of philosophical discourse (and by implication philosophical âmomentsâ in any other discourse, like film) are illuminating âtoolsâ which allow the film-philosopher to deal with these two kinds of discourse in the same unifying terms. The study is conducted through five extensive case studies of how different DA sub-theories could be applied in probing the deep-structures that allow philosophy to be âinâ a film. The main analyses are of The Man who shot Liberty Valance (John Ford 1962), Brokeback Mountain (Ang Lee 2005), Modern Times (Charles Chaplin 1936), Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind (Michel Gondry 2004) and The Matrix (Andy and Larry Wachowski 1999). The DA sub-theories that are employed in analysis are Macro-motive theory, a theory of logosemantics (âKey theoryâ), a figurative semiotics (or âMetaphor theoryâ), a theory of ethical âposturesâ and a theory of ideology. In an attempt to investigate different theoretical avenues and possibilities, each chapter of analysis examines a particular sub-theory and has its own unique exploratory aims and procedures. Yet, to anchor this study in an active and ongoing debate, each of the analyses (apart from that of Brokeback Mountain) also seeks to establish some form of dialogue with Thomas Wartenbergâs analyses in Thinking on screen: Film as philosophy (2007). Apart from offering new perspectives on âphilosophy in filmâ, four of the case-studies could therefore also be seen as âDA-repliesâ to aspects of Wartenbergâs work on exactly the same films.