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Skepticism Films
Knowing and Doubting the World in Contemporary Cinema
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Book Presentation:
Skepticism Films: Knowing and Doubting the World in Contemporary Cinema introduces skepticism films as updated configurations of skepticist thought experiments which exemplify the pervasiveness of philosophical ideas in popular culture. Philipp Schmerheim defends a pluralistic film-philosophical position according to which films can be, but need not be, expressions of philosophical thought in their own right. It critically investigates the influence of ideas of skepticism on film-philosophical theories and develops a typology of skepticism films by analyzing The Truman Show, Inception, The Matrix, Vanilla Sky, The Thirteenth Floor, Moon and other contemporary skepticism films. With its focus on skepticism as one of the most significant philosophical problems, Skepticism Films provides a better understanding of the dynamic interplay between film, theories of film and philosophy.
About the Author:
Philipp Schmerheim is a university lecturer in children's media research at the University of Bremen, Germany, and an adjunct lecturer for film-philosophy at the Philosophy Department of the University of Amsterdam, The Netherlands. His research focuses on film-philosophy, philosophical film analysis, the history and analysis of children's film, and theories of intermediality.Bernd Herzogenrath is Professor of American literature and culture at Goethe University of Frankfurt am Main, Germany. He is the author of An Art of Desire: Reading Paul Auster (1999) and An American Body|Politic: A Deleuzian Approach (2010)and editor of The Farthest Place: The Music of John Luther Adams (2012)and Deleuze|Guattari & Ecology (2009).His latest publications include the collections The Films of Bill Morrison. Aesthetics of the Archive (2017), Film as Philosophy (2017), and Practical Aesthetics (Bloomsbury, 2020).Patricia Pisters is Professor of Film Studies at the Department of Media Studies of the University of Amsterdam, the Netherlands, and director of the Amsterdam School of Cultural Analysis (ASCA). She is one of the founding editors of Necsus: European Journal of Media Studies, program director of the research group Neuroaesthetics and Neurocultures, and co-director of the research group Film and Philosophy. Publications include The Matrix of Visual Culture (2003); Revisiting Normativity with Deleuze (with Rosi Braidotti; 2012) and The Neuro-Image (2012). See for articles, her blog, and other information at www.patriciapisters.com.
Press Reviews:
"Here is an intriguing volume about a small group of mainstream contemporary films that question the very notion of ‘reality,’ films such as The Truman Show, The Matrix, The Thirteenth Floor, Vanilla Sky, and Inception. A scholar of the philosophy of film, Schmerheim uses a finely focused theoretical lens to unpack the films and the ways in which they leave viewers without solid ground to stand on, upending traditional notions of narrative and conventional cinematic structure. What is perhaps most refreshing about this volume is the author's scrutiny of films ordinarily dismissed as entertainment, as lacking depth. Schmerheim demonstrates that that is manifestly not the case. Through an intensive application of the work of Stanley Cavell, David Bordwell, Gilles Deleuze, Thomas Elsaesser, and others, the author peels back the layers of these well-known films to reveal alternative thought systems that would not at first occur to even the most sophisticated viewer. A plethora of well-chosen frame grabs illuminates the text. Thoughtful and intriguing, this entry in Bloomsbury’s new "Thinking Media" series will amply repay close attention. Summing Up: Recommended. Graduate students, researchers, faculty, professionals." -CHOICE
"Drawing from both analytically-inspired film philosophy as well as the work of Deleuze, Philipp Schmerheim identifies a distinct trend in contemporary mainstream filmmaking, which he calls 'skepticism films' – narrative films that dramatize suspicion and doubt about what we know about the world. This book is a bold and ambitious contribution to current debates within film philosophy." ―Warren Buckland, Reader in Film Studies, Oxford Brookes University, UK
"Philipp Schmerheim's book is an important intervention in the growing field of film philosophy. It makes a persuasive case for introducing the tradition of philosophical skepticism into current debates about how the cinema shapes our view of the world and offers cogently executed critical engagements with leading figures such as Stanley Cavell, Gilles Deleuze or D.N. Rodowick. In highly original readings of a number of recent international Blockbusters, Schmerheim's ambitious study draws our attention to a forceful skepticist undercurrent running at the heart of contemporary popular cinema. Without a doubt, Skepticism Films is a brilliant accomplishment, opening up a whole new way of thinking about film." ―Michael Wedel, Professor of Media History, Film University Babelsberg KONRAD WOLF, Germany
See the publisher website: Bloomsbury Academic
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