I have been assigned to teach a philosophy course next semester. It is a very basic, introductory course. Looking at my class list, I might be in trouble. I know that some of the students will have difficulty bending their mind around some of these abstract ideas.
I watched a movie last night called The Cube. It seemed to be a lot of “why are we here?” type stuff with different characters filling out different philosophical roles (such as the nihilist for example). I thought it might be useful to show this to my class. It occurred to me that there are probably many films like this. Some that I have probably seen before.
Does anyone have an examples that they would like to share?
*The Fountainhead *meets that criterion with the characters of Ellsworth Toohey and others. However it’s not (and isn’t intended to be) a film about Objectivism, only the subject of Individuality . . . which is not to say it wouldn’t make an interesting subject for a class, examining the various views of the characters.
If Waking Life were any good, I’d recommend it here, but it isn’t, so I’ll warn you away from it instead. Unless you need an effective soporific, that is.
Mindwalk was a movie made in 1990 whose plot (such as it was) involved a U.S. politician (Sam Waterston) and his friend an English poet (John Heard) meeting a European scientist (Liv Ullmann) at Mont St. Michel and discussing life, the universe and everything for 90 minutes. It’s a completely talky movie- no action- and its entire purpose was to dramatize the books of physicist Frijof Capra with each character representing, if not exactly a formal philosophy, a particular mindset.
Does it have to be formally organized ideologies, or can it be more loosely defined personal ideologies?
Stay Hungry is one movie that shows a wide array of personal ideologies, though none of them really fall into any formal definition like “objectivism.” However, if you are an expert on philosophy, you might be able to watch it and then fit them into those categories yourself, if you choose to see it that way. It would probably be appropriate for all ages if you skip the sex scene with the two prostitutes at the end.
Do the Right Thing is a good example, but most of the ideologies presented involve race.
If you don’t mind a TV series, I’ve been watching Homicide: Life on the Street and one of the things I really like about this is that it has characters with different philosophical viewpoints and doesn’t make it seem like any one is more right or wrong than the other.
You’d have to watch the show to look for examples to show your class, but it’s absolutely worth watching anyway. I’d look at at least half of the conversations involving John Munch as a good example. Episodes involving Frank Pembleton and his struggle with religion would also be good, or a lot of his conversations with Tim Bayliss.
