Book description
In the course of fifty years, director Stanley Kubrick produced some of
the most haunting and indelible images on film. His films touch on a
wide range of topics rife with questions about human life, behavior, and
emotions: love and sex, war, crime, madness, social conditioning, and
technology. Within this great variety of subject matter, Kubrick
examines different sides of reality and unifies them into a rich
philosophical vision that is similar to existentialism. Perhaps more
than any other philosophical concept, existentialism-the belief that
philosophical truth has meaning only if it is chosen by the
individual-has come down from the ivory tower to influence popular
culture at large. In virtually all of Kubrick's films, the protagonist
finds himself or herself in opposition to a hard and uncaring world,
whether the conflict arises in the natural world or in human
institutions. Kubrick's war films (Fear and Desire, Paths of Glory, Dr.
Strangelove, and Full Metal Jacket) examine how humans deal with their
worst fears-especially the fear of death-when facing the absurdity of
war. Full Metal Jacket portrays a world of physical and moral change,
with an environment in continual flux in which attempting to impose
order can be dangerous. The film explores the tragic consequences of an
unbending moral code in a constantly changing universe. Essays in the
volume examine Kubrick's interest in morality and fate, revealing a
Stoic philosophy at the center of many of his films. Several of the
contributors find his oeuvre to be characterized by skepticism, irony,
and unfettered hedonism. In such films as A Clockwork Orange and 2001: A
Space Odyssey, Kubrick confronts the notion that we will struggle
against our own scientific and technological innovations. Kubrick's
films about the future posit that an active form of nihilism will allow
humans to accept the emptiness of the world and push beyond it to form a
free and creative view of humanity. Taken together, the essays in The
Philosophy of Stanley Kubrick are an engaging look at the director's
stark vision of a constantly changing moral and physical universe. They
promise to add depth and complexity to the interpretation of Kubrick's
signature films. Jerold J. Abrams is assistant professor of philosophy
at Creighton University.
