On this episode on Conversations with History, Stanley Cavell, Professor Emeritus of Philosophy at Harvard University, joins UC Berkeley's Harry Kreisler to talk about his life as a philosopher and...
On this episode on Conversations with History, Stanley Cavell, Professor Emeritus of Philosophy at Harvard University, joins UC Berkeley's Harry Kreisler to talk about his life as a philosopher and his passion for movies. Series: "Conversations with History" [12/2002] [Public Affairs] [Humanities] [Show ID: 6919]
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Cavell was a casualty of the development of Film Studies, which saw him as a threat because of his philosophical approach. This left its mark on a generation. One could denounce Cavell in a film journal without knowing anything about philosophy or Cavell. But the study of film has advanced. Now there are knowledgeable critical publications on Cavell and also acceptance and integration by a growing number of film scholars. The damage was done--to the detriment of film studies--but things change.
Why have under 5,000 people watched this? I'm convinced Cavell will be lauded by future generations who will find the discrepancy between the low interest in his work and the phenomenon of celebrity worship to be a sure indicator of our culture's anti-intellectualism and academia's isolationism. We need to be paying attention to this guy.
It's a question Cavell himself might ask, in a slightly different spirit: What is it about our experience of film that resists our taking it as seriously as he would want it to be taken--that resists the idea that everything in a film matters?
OTOH, I have seen Cavell keep a roomfull of self-consciously hip and radical academics spellbound with a clip and subsequent discussion of Fred Astair doing "I've Got a Shine on my Shoes" (Bandwagon), so clearly there are limits to the indifference.
You are worried that popular culture ignores important thinkers like Cavell? Look at the pompous language that you use to claim something as mundane as this. I suspect that it is language like this that contributes to what you call "our culture's anti-intellectualism".
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OTOH, I have seen Cavell keep a roomfull of self-consciously hip and radical academics spellbound with a clip and subsequent discussion of Fred Astair doing "I've Got a Shine on my Shoes" (Bandwagon), so clearly there are limits to the indifference.