Minerva's Night Out
Philosophy, Pop Culture, and Moving Pictures

Minerva?s Night Out presents series of essays by noted philosopher and motion picture and media theorist Noël Carroll that explore issues at the intersection of philosophy, motion pictures, and popular culture.

• Presents a wide-ranging series of essays that reflect on philosophical issues relating to modern film and popular culture
• Authored by one of the best known philosophers dealing with film and popular culture
• Written in an accessible manner to appeal to students and scholars
• Coverage ranges from the philosophy of Halloween to Vertigo and the pathologies of romantic love

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).