The Philosophy of Christopher Nolan (The Philosophy of Popular Culture)

As a director, writer, and producer, Christopher Nolan has substantially impacted contemporary cinema through avant garde films, such as Following and Memento , and his contribution to wider pop culture with his Dark Knight trilogy. His latest film, Interstellar , delivered the same visual qualities and complex, thought-provoking plotlines his audience anticipates. The Philosophy of Christopher Nolan collects sixteen essays, written by professional philosophers and film theorists, discussing themes such as self-identity and self-destruction, moral choice and moral doubt, the nature of truth and its value, whether we can trust our perceptions of what’s “real,” the political psychology of heroes and villains, and what it means to be a “viewer” of Nolan’s films. Whether his protagonists are squashing themselves like a bug, struggling to create an identity and moral purpose for themselves, suffering from their own duplicitous plots, donning a mask that both strikes fear and reveals their true nature, or having to weigh the lives of those they love against the greater good, there are no simple solutions to the questions Nolan’s films provoke; exploring these questions yields its own reward. Table of Contents 7 Introduction 9 Part 1: Moral Philosophy 13 Chapter One: Deceit, Desire, and Mimetic Doubling in the Films of Christopher Nolan 15 Chapter Two: “So You Can Be My ‘John G.’” 33 Chapter Three: White Nights of the Soul 47 Chapter Four: Love, Value, and the Human Destiny in Interstellar 59 Part 2: Politics and Culture 73 Chapter Five: “They Turned to a Man They Didn’t Fully Understand” 75 Chapter Six: The Vale of Top Hats 85 Chapter Seven: Plato, Habermas, and the Demonic Cobb 103 Chapter Eight: “Are You Watching Closely?” 113 Part 3: Epistemology and Metaphysics 127 Chapter Nine: Remembering, Reminding, and Forgetting with Leonard Shelby 129 Chapter Ten: False Tattoos and Failed Totems 137 Chapter Eleven: Inception and Perception 151 Chapter Twelve: Spinning Tops and Brains in Vats 165 Part 4: Time and Selfhood 177 Chapter Thirteen: “You Don’t Know Who You Are” 179 Chapter Fourteen: “Memory Man” 191 Chapter Fifteen: Engaging Otherness through Following 203 Chapter Sixteen: We Are the Change That We Seek 215 Selected Bibliography 231 Index 235 Contributors 241 As a director, writer, and producer, Christopher Nolan has made a substantial impact on contemporary cinema through both avant garde films, such as Following and Memento, and his contributions to major pop culture franchises with his Dark Knight trilogy and his involvement in both Man of Steel and Batman v Superman. His most recent film, Interstellar, delivered the same visual qualities and complex, thought-provoking plotlines his audience has come to expect. This volume collects sixteen essays written by professional philosophers and film theorists that discuss various philosophical themes either represented within a particular film or are characteristic of Nolan's overall thematic vision across his cinematic oeuvre.--Publisher's description The Philosophy of Christopher Nolan collects sixteen essays written by philosophers and film theorists analyzing moral, metaphysical, epistemological, and political themes that characterize the films of Christopher Nolan. Moral Philosophy -- Politics And Culture -- Epistemology And Metaphysics -- Time And Selfhood. Edited By Jason T. Eberl And George A. Dunn. Includes Bibliographical References And Index.