Virtue and Vice in Popular Film PDF
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Virtue and Vice in Popular Film This book addresses a prominent group of virtues and vices as por- trayed in popular films to further our understanding of these moral character traits. The discussions emphasize the interplay between the philosophical conception of the virtues and vices and the cine- matic representations of character. Joseph H. Kupfer explores how fictional characters possessing certain moral strengths and weaknesses concretize our abstract un- derstanding of them. Because the actions that flow from these traits occur in cinematic contexts mirroring real world conditions, the narrative portrayals of these moral characteristics can further our appreciation of their import. Humility, integrity, and perseverance, for example, are depicted in Chariots of Fire, The Fabulous Baker Boys, and Billy Elliot, while the vices of envy, arrogance, and vanity are captured in Amadeus, Whiplash, and Young Adult. This interdisciplinary work in philosophy and film criticism will be of great interest to scholars and students of film studies, philos- ophy of film, ethics, aesthetics, and popular culture. Joseph H. Kupfer is University Professor of Philosophy at Iowa State University. He has previously written on such topics as pri- vacy, lying, the parent-child relationship, aesthetics of nature, and the virtues. His most recent book, Aesthetic Violence and Women in Film: Kill Bill with Flying Daggers, addresses philosophical issues in popular action movies. Routledge Focus on Film Studies 1 Robot Ecology and the Science Fiction Film J. P. Telotte 2 Weimar Cinema, Embodiment, and Historicity Cultural Memory and the Historical Films of Ernst Lubitsch Mason Kamana Allred 3 Migrants in Contemporary Spanish Film Clara Guillén Marín 4 Virtue and Vice in Popular Film Joseph H. Kupfer Virtue and Vice in Popular Film Joseph H. Kupfer First published 2021 by Routledge 2 Park Square, Milton Park, Abingdon, Oxon OX14 4RN and by Routledge 605 Third Avenue, New York, NY 10158 Routledge is an imprint of the Taylor & Francis Group, an informa business © 2021 Joseph H. Kupfer The right of Joseph H. Kupfer to be identified as author of this work has been asserted by him in accordance with sections 77 and 78 of the Copyright, Designs and Patents Act 1988. All rights reserved. No part of this book may be reprinted or reproduced or utilised in any form or by any electronic, mechanical, or other means, now known or hereafter invented, including photocopying and recording, or in any information storage or retrieval system, without permission in writing from the publishers. Trademark notice: Product or corporate names may be trademarks or registered trademarks, and are used only for identification and explanation without intent to infringe. British Library Cataloguing-in-Publication Data A catalogue record for this book is available from the British Library Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data A catalog record has been requested for this book ISBN: 9780367543709 (hbk) ISBN: 9780367543730 (pbk) ISBN: 9781003088998 (ebk) Typeset in Times New Roman by codeMantra For Judy Taylor & Francis Taylor & Francis Group http://taylorandfrancis.com Contents Introduction 1 1 Taking humility in stride in Chariots of Fire 9 2 Arrogance in the classroom: The Prime of Miss Jean Brodie and Whiplash 24 3 Art and integrity in The Fabulous Baker Boys 44 4 Amadeus as a portrait of envy 63 5 The virtues of aspiration: three boys make good 80 6 The calamity of vanity in Young Adult 102 Index 117 Taylor & Francis Taylor & Francis Group http://taylorandfrancis.com Introduction Philosophy and film In discussing virtue and vice in mass marketed films, this book attempts to accomplish two, entwined, purposes: to develop our understanding of these moral traits by examining movies and to enrich our experience of movies by employing moral theory to in- terpret them. The book, then, offers a philosophical exploration of moral psychology in concert with doing film criticism. The benefits of the book for virtue ethics and film study are the result of the in- terplay between film criticism and philosophical theorizing about moral character. I have chosen films whose portrayals of virtue and vice seem to me to accurately reflect the way these moral dispositions operate in the real world. Interpreting the fictional worlds of these films, I believe, broadens our understanding of virtue and vice, reveal- ing connections among them that might otherwise go unnoticed. When we see how Salieri is riven with envy for Mozart, for exam- ple, we realize how the threat to one’s self-image can drive a person to justify his resentment. At the same time, the representation of Salieri vivifies the way in which envy can comport with unabashed admiration. The vanity of Mavis and her subsequent public expo- sure reveal how vanity and shame mirror one another: where van- ity craves the gaze of other people, shame shrinks from it, seeking concealment. The provisional view of the virtues and vices I bring to the films, therefore, is subject to modification and amplification through the cinematic interpretations. Bringing virtue theory to bear on film criticism also adds to our appreciation of the films. Articulating the visions of virtue and vice embodied in the movie stories provides a fresh angle on the films. The ideas about moral psychology that are disclosed in the phil- osophical analyses of the films enlarge our aesthetic appreciation
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