This book explores the nexus between gender; ageing and culture in dancers practicing a variety of genres. It challenges existing cultural norms which equate ageing with bodily decline and draws on an interdisciplinary theoretical framework to explore alternatives for developing a culturally valued mature subjectivity through the practice of dance.
#3901159 in eBooks 2011-02-02 2011-02-02File Name: B009ATD0O0
Review
1 of 1 people found the following review helpful. Worthwhile collection of essays outlining a range of possibilities for a philosophical approach that takes film seriouslyBy NateOver the last couple of decades. film has become a serious and lively topic for philosophical investigation. Some approaches to film focus on its potential to evoke rich examples for philosophical consideration. or to illustrate philosophical themes in practice. or merely to provide a convenient occasion for discussing philosophy. Others focus on aesthetic questions raised by this relatively new medium. or apply philosophical or cognitive science methods to the investigation of questions raised by films. This volume of essays is drawn from a range of researchers whose work aims to outline a relatively new approach to philosophy and film. unified by the conviction both that philosophy has something to offer the study of film and that film has the potential to transform philosophy. "Film-philosophy" (the new approach with roots in the work of both Stanley Cavell and Gilles Deleuze) is thus distinguished from the "Philosophy of Film" which treats film as the object of a study whose methods are drawn from philosophy and even from "Philosophy and Film" that still implies a presumed demarcation between philosophy and film studies while drawing insights from their comparison.The essays are generally of very high quality. with several that draw general insights regarding possibilities of this new approach. and others that illustrate it in practice by focusing on specific films or themes. Thomas Wartenberg. Robert Sinnerbrink. Andrew Klevan and John Mullarkey consider the question. which remains pivotal for the "film-philosophy" approach. of whether films can be considered to "do philosophy" in ways distinct from traditional philosophizing. (Wartenbergs and Mullarkeys essays function largely to introduce theses developed in more detail in their recent books - Philosophy and the Moving Image: Refractions of Reality and Thinking on Screen). Stephen Mulhall treats the film Wanted as a film that does philosophy by reflecting upon the conceptual shifts introduced by the rise of digital film technologies. Other essays explore the role of affect in film. the question of medium specificity and how it impacts message. whether there are contents that film is uniquely suited to revealing. and how film and phenomenology can learn from each other. The last few essays offer an eclectic approach to several films. such as Derek Jarmans Blue. the films of the Coen Brothers. Hanekes Funny Games. and Tsukamotos Vital.The best and most illuminating approaches to philosophy dont take place in a vacuum. but draw upon and reflect the richness of reality as it is revealed by a wide range of disciplinary approaches. Philosophy of science. for example. is much richer for having gone beyond its early armchair philosophizing about what science ought to be and actually engaging with the history and practice of science. While not all of the essays in this collection reflect an equal familiarity with traditions of reflection on cinema and philosophical methods. several do. and as a whole they suggest the promise and possibilities of an interdisciplinary approach to film and philosophy. (For another. earlier. collection of comparable quality. that focuses more directly on the question whether films can be considered to "do" philosophy. see Thinking Through Cinema: Film as Philosophy).
