Philosophy & Film (Philosophy in Motion Pictures)

PHIL 464 (Spr 2019): Final Assignment Due​: ​Tuesday, May 21​ by ​11:59 pm​ (submit on iLearn)

The numbered questions you see below (#1-3) are what you need to answer if you choose the quiz option for your final assignment. Alternately, you could answer the essay prompt, which is located on the last pages of this document. As a third option, you may take the quiz and answer the essay. But only do this if you think you can do a good job on both; otherwise it’s probably best to focus your energy on a single assignment.

QUIZ #3

Chapter Seven: Evaluation

Carroll insists that “our assessment of the merits of a motion picture depends upon placing the movie in question ​in a certain category​,” and this is because “categories are generally connected to ​acknowledged purposes​ which, in turn, provide ​standards of evaluation​” (198, my italics). Indeed, this set of assumptions is a core contention in the final chapter, and it motivates and informs the different approaches to movie evaluation that Carroll describes. Your main task in what follows is to demonstrate these principles using a movie of your choosing, and then to evaluate the movie according to Carroll’s preferred approach—namely the “pluralistic-category approach.” To this end, please complete the following three tasks, beginning with categorization.

1) Categorization​. Select a movie that you have seen and that you have some feelings, ideas or judgments about, then do two things:

a) Name the movie and identify the category (genre) that it fits into best. (You can name more than one category, if needed, but stick to ones that are most applicable.)

b) Defend your categorization with reasons of the sort that, for Carroll, “come into play most frequently in classifying motion pictures” (201)—i.e., ​structural​, ​intentional​, and contextual (historical and/or cultural) considerations​ (see pp. 210-212).

Part b) was modeled to you in class in an effort to categorize the ​Emoji Movie​. You’ll want to do the same thing here, but with a different movie of your choosing. To this end, you should invoke all three kinds of reasons that typically “come into play.” Show, for one, that the movie possesses a large number of features that are typical of motion pictures that inhabit the category you’ve selected. (This will require you to list some of those typical features.) As for authorial intention, try to find an actual quote from the filmmaker (writer, director, etc.) that makes it clear how the movie ought to be received and classified. (You’ll need to do a little research here. The quote from Jordan Peele about the movie ​US​, which I included on the handout, is a good example of how to demonstrate authorial intent.) The historical and/or cultural context is harder to identify and use as justification for your classification, so it’s okay if you struggle here. I know I do.

2) Purposes and standards​. Take the category that you proposed (in question 1), and do two things 1

with it:

a) Identify and describe some of the ​main purposes​ of the genre—in other words, what this kind of movie is trying to accomplish (with its audience).

b) Identify and describe some of the ​standards of excellence​ for movies within this genre—in other words, what needs to be true of a movie ​within this category​ in order for it to be considered excellent. Focus on standards that are traditional and generally accepted by fans of the genre, but feel free to add some of your own standards if they aren’t among the norm.

For part (b), try to show a connection between the purposes of the genre (part a) and the standards of excellence; that is, show that the standard is present ​because ​of one of the aims. For example, an excellent psychological horror film is one that frightens and disturbs its viewers to a very high degree—and does so not just through graphic depictions and jump scares, etc., but through the disturbed mental or emotional states of its characters. The latter distinguishes psychological horror from just plain horror, and it is a standard of excellence because one of the main purposes of the genre is to “expose common or universal psychological and emotional vulnerabilities/fears” in audiences. (I’m quoting wikipedia. If you use quotes in your answer, be sure to give proper credit.) The mental lives of the disturbed characters, to which film viewers are given access by various means, act as mirrors in which the viewers catch sight of their own vulnerabilities, fears, and the “darker parts” of their psyches. A psychological horror film that manages to frighten and disturb its audience yet without employing this type of character-based mirror-mechanism just isn’t worth its salt!

3) Evaluation​. Now here’s where the rubber meets the road! What you will do now is determine the goodness or quality of the movie that you choose in step (1) by evaluating it according to the standards of excellence for the category in which you placed it (step 2). There are many different ways to do this, and probably no perfect one. So you can be a little creative. Your end goal is to determine a score for your movie—either a point score of some sort (like IMDb) or a percentage (like Rotten Tomatoes and Metacritic). To set the score, you’ll need to take the standards of excellence you presented in step (2) and assign point totals to each. The different standards can be weighted differently if, for instance, certain ones strike you as more important than others. (When I did this on the spreadsheet hand out, I just gave each criterion a max point value of 10, so I didn’t weight the standards differently. But it’s probably more accurate to give some of the criteria more weight than others. For a superhero movie, e.g., it’s probably more important to tap into deep and universal themes about the human condition, or to strike the right balance between humor and seriousness, than it is to have fewer villains.) Then, you’ll want to score your movie according to the criterion you’ve established. Lastly, you’ll need to add up the points and convert them into a percentage or into a fraction out of 10 or 100.

Document the evaluation process thoroughly and report your result. Use spreadsheets or whatever other aids you might need to capture the process and communicate your findings. You don’t have to explain every choice you make along the way, but I would like you to explain some

1 If you proposed more than one category, select only one to focus on for the present task.

of them. If you weight the various criteria differently, for instance, say why you gave some of the categories more weight than others. (Select a few to talk about; be specific.) Also, pick several of your ratings and explain your thinking: if, e.g., you gave ​Avengers: Endgame​ a rating of 9/10 for the criterion “flawed hero and/or likeable villain,” offer a few reasons for your praise. (Say what makes Thanos likeable, or describe Tony Stark’s many flaws, etc.) Again, you don’t have to explain every judgment, just mention a few key ones. Make me privy to the specific thinking process that helped you develop the rubric and produced your final score. I hope this task doesn’t strike you as too daunting; I really want you to have some fun with it.

ESSAY

Write a (roughly) 3-4 page essay (typical fonts, sizes, margins) that completes the following tasks : 2

1) Choose ​one​ chapter from Carroll (that will be the focus of your essay).

2) Describe, in your own words, the main​ ​goal of the chapter. Your description should be put in terms of an important ​question​ about motion pictures (e.g., “Can film be art?”). Try to stick to just one question, or a few closely-related ones. Also try as best as possible to identify the questions that are ​most ​important for the purposes of the chapter. (​Carroll asks or addresses lots of different questions throughout each chapter, but these are all connected to one or two main concerns—viz, questions or problems—that constitute the focus of the chapter. You should focus on these same concerns, and be single-minded about them. Don’t get hung up on minor questions or problems.​) ​Please put the question(s) in bold to make the motivation for your essay super obvious to me (/your reader).

3) Identify and explain, in detail, ​one ​possible ​answer/solution​ to the question(s) posed. Choose an answer or solution that Carroll entertains, but ​ultimately ​rejects​. (​A lot of times Carroll presents these answers as “theses,” or “hypotheses” and gives them names, but this is not always the case. If he doesn’t give it a name, you should give it one so you can call upon it directly throughout your essay. And it doesn’t have to be a “thesis” ​per se​; it could simply be an “argument” or proposal.​) Try to be as thorough and detailed as possible in your explanation, such that someone reading your essay who hasn’t read Carroll or taken PHIL 464 could easily grasp both what the answer/solution is and ​why it makes sense as an answer to the question.

4) Explain, in detail, Carroll’s ​critique​ of the answer or solution (thesis, argument, proposal, etc.) that you just described (step 3). Note that Carroll’s critique is often nuanced, and is sensitive to the strengths​ ​of the argument, not just to its weaknesses. Likewise, you should try to note what is good about the thesis and what is worth preserving in the final analysis. As before, try to be as thorough and detailed as possible in your presentation, such that someone reading your essay who hasn’t read Carroll or taken PHIL 464 could easily grasp both what the shortcomings of the answer/solution are, and ​why ​it makes sense that these are shortcomings. To fully complete this task, you’ll probably end up having to say some things about Carroll’s own answer/solution to the question, as most often his solutions are meant to rectify the shortcomings of the positions that he considers and rejects.

5) Weigh in on the debate. Offer your own judgments about the central question that was posed in the chapter. To this end, a) explain how ​you​ would answer the question, and b) describe the extent to which you agree with Carroll’s critique. (​Do you think Carroll is right to reject those ideas that he in fact rejects? Why or why not? If he is right, is he ​completely ​so; or are there perhaps some aspects of the rejected answer/solution that he is overlooking or devaluing? Is there something in your own answer to the question that he fails to consider? How do you feel about ​Carroll’s​ answer to the question? Is his answer correct? Does something need to be added or removed from his account? Etc.​)

2 The tasks are numbered here, but you’ll want your essay to look like an essay, rather than a series of numbered responses to a list of questions. The whole essay should hang together and appear as a single piece, as it were.

You may notice that the above set of tasks mirrors the questions that you answered on quizzes. Indeed, you should treat this essay like a “long-answer” version of the short-answer questions you encountered on quizzes 1 and 2. This essay ​does ​need to be longer and ​more detailed ​than those answers, even if the basic approach is the same. That said, the length of the essay should not be your focus. Rather, you should focus on completing all the tasks listed above as thoroughly, effectively, and accurately as possible. If you do this, trust me, your essay will be long enough. If you try to do this and still end up with a short essay, you probably haven’t done the tasks well and you need to go back and add more details and be more specific, thorough, and thoughtful. Look, your answer to step 5 could take up an entire page or more on its own—​if ​you spend some time with it and don’t simply say “I agree” or “I disagree,” then add a few brief, vague, and overly-general comments to help explain your pronouncement. Step 5 notwithstanding, most of your efforts should be dedicated to steps 3 and 4, since this is where you demonstrate your understanding of the core issues and criticisms. In terms of a typical essay structure: step 2 is your “Introduction”; steps 3 and 4 are the “Body”; step 5 is your “Conclusion”. You can break down the Body and the Conclusion into as many paragraphs as are needed for thoroughness and clarity; the Introduction should probably just be one paragraph.

A final note: You may quote Carroll and (possibly) other sources. In fact, I encourage you to do so. However, please use quotes ​sparingly​, and if and when you do use them, make sure they serve a purpose and that you don’t leave them to do all the work of explaining what it is I am asking ​you ​to explain. Use your own words as much as you possibly can. Good luck! I’m hoping you do well!