Minervas Night Out: Philosophy, Pop Culture, and Moving Pictures

Minerva’s Night Out showcases noted philosopher and motion picture and media theorist Noël Carroll addressing the philosophical aspects of popular films and pop culture in thought–provoking essays at the intersection of the popular and the profound. Ranging across the philosophy of Halloween to psychoanalysis and the horror film, from Vertigo and the pathologies of romantic love to Andy Kaufman and the philosophies of interpretation, Carroll delivers the insight, wit, and serious engagement for which he’s known. At once accessible and intellectually stimulating, Minerva’s Night Out plumbs the depths beneath the surface of motion pictures and popular culture.

Acknowledgments ix Introduction: Philosophy and the Popular Arts 1 Section I The Philosophy of Mass Art 7 1 The Ontology of Mass Art 9 2 Modernity and the Plasticity of Perception 29 3 The Ties that Bind: Characters, the Emotions, and Popular Fictions 40 4 Character, Social Information, and the Challenge of Psychology 64 Section II The Philosophy of Motion Pictures 83 5 Movies, the Moral Emotions, and Sympathy 85 6 The Problem with Movie Stars 106 7 Cinematic Narrative 122 8 Cinematic Narration 133 9 Psychoanalysis and the Horror Film 145 Section III Philosophy and Popular Film 159 10 Philosophical Insight, Emotion, and Popular Fiction: The Case of Sunset Boulevard 161 11 Vertigo and the Pathologies of Romantic Love 183 12 What Mr Creosote Knows about Laughter 194 13 Memento and the Phenomenology of Comprehending Motion Picture Narration 203 Section IV Philosophy and Popular TV 221 14 Tales of Dread in The Twilight Zone: A Contribution to Narratology 223 15 Sympathy for Soprano 234 16 Consuming Passion: Sex and the City 247 Section V Philosophy on Broadway 267 17 Art and Friendship 269 18 Martin McDonagh’s The Pillowman, or The Justification of Literature 276 Section VI Philosophy across Popular Culture 289 19 The Fear of Fear Itself: The Philosophy of Halloween 291 20 The Grotesque Today: Preliminary Notes toward a Taxonomy 302 21 Andy Kaufman and the Philosophy of Interpretation 324 Index 348

Noël Carroll is a Distinguished Professor of Philosophy at the CUNY Graduate Center. A former journalist, screenwriter, and President of the American Society for Aesthetics, Carroll is the author of 16 books, including Art in Three Dimensions (2010), On Criticism (2009), The Philosophy of Motion Pictures (Blackwell, 2008), Beyond Aesthetics (2001), A Philosophy of Mass Art (1999), and Interpreting the Moving Image (1998).