Academy Award–winning director Martin Scorsese is one of the most significant American filmmakers in the history of cinema. Although best known for his movies about gangsters and violence, such as Mean Streets, Goodfellas, Casino, and Taxi Driver, Scorsese has addressed a much wider range of themes and topics in the four decades of his career. In The Philosophy of Martin Scorsese, an impressive cast of contributors explores the complex themes and philosophical underpinnings of Martin Scorsese’s films. The essays concerning Scorsese’s films about crime and violence investigate the nature of friendship, the ethics of vigilantism, and the nature of unhappiness. The authors delve deeply into the minds of Scorsese’s tortured characters and explore how the men and women he depicts grapple with moral codes and their emotions. Several of the essays explore specific themes in individual films. The authors describe how Scorsese addresses the nuances of social mores and values in The Age of Innocence, the nature of temptation and self-sacrifice in The Last Temptation of Christ and Bringing Out the Dead, and the complexities of innovation and ambition in The Aviator. Other chapters in the collection examine larger philosophical questions. In a world where everything can be interpreted as meaningful, Scorsese at times uses his films to teach audiences about the meaning in life beyond the everyday world depicted in the cinema. For example, his films touching on religious subjects, such as Kundun and The Last Temptation of Christ, allow the director to explore spiritualism and peaceful ways of responding to the chaos in the world.Filled with penetrating insights on Scorsese’s body of work, The Philosophy of Martin Scorsese shows the director engaging with many of the most basic questions about our humanity and how we relate to one another in a complex world.

With Richard Schickel as the canny and intelligent guide, these conversations take us deep into Scorsese's life and work. He reveals which films are most autobiographical, and what he was trying to explore and accomplish in other films.

This book is open access and available on www.bloomsburycollections.com. It is funded by Knowledge Unlatched. Catherine O'Brien draws on the structure of Dante Alighieri's Divine Comedy to explore Martin Scorsese's feature films from Who's That Knocking at My Door (1967-69) to Silence (2016). This is the first full-length study to focus on the trajectory of faith and doubt during this period, taking very seriously the oft-quoted words of the director himself: 'My whole life has been movies and religion. That's it. Nothing else.' Films discussed include GoodFellas, The Last Temptation of Christ, Taxi Driver and Mean Streets, as well as the more recent The Wolf of Wall Street. In Dante's poem in 100 cantos, the Pilgrim is guided by the poet Virgil down through the circles of Hell in Inferno; he then climbs the steep Mountain of the Seven Deadly Sins in Purgatory; and he finally encounters God in Paradise. Embracing this popular analogy, this study envisions Scorsese as a contemporary Dante, with his filmic oeuvre offering the dimensions of a cinematic Divine Comedy. Drawing on debates at the heart of religious studies, theology, literature and film, this book goes beyond existing explorations of religion in Scorsese's work to address issues of sin and salvation within the context of wider debates in eschatology and the afterlife.

“This lively collection of essays on the ideas underpinning his films enriches and enlarges our understanding of Spielberg’s complex body of work.” —Joseph McBride, author of Steven Spielberg: A Biography Few directors have had as powerful an influence on the film industry and the movie-going public as Steven Spielberg. Whatever the subject—dinosaurs, war, extra-terrestrials, slavery, the Holocaust, or terrorism—one clear and consistent touchstone is present in all of Spielberg’s films: an interest in the human condition. In movies ranging from Jaws to Schindler’s List to Amistad to Jurassic Park, he has brought to life some of the most popular heroes—and most despised villains—of all time. In Steven Spielberg and Philosophy, Dean A. Kowalski and some of the nation’s most respected philosophers investigate Spielberg’s art to illuminate the nature of humanity. The book explores rich themes such as cinematic realism, fictional belief, terrorism, family ethics, consciousness, virtue and moral character, human rights, and religion in Spielberg’s work. Avid moviegoers and deep thinkers will discover plenty to enjoy in this collection.

Roger Ebert wrote the first film review that director Martin Scorsese ever received - for 1967's I Call First, later renamed Who's That Knocking at My Door - creating a lasting bond that made him one of Scorsese's most appreciative and perceptive commentators. Scorsese by Ebert offers the first record of America's most respected film critic's en...

Explores philosophical themes and ideas inherent in classic noir and neo-noir films, establishing connections to diverse thinkers ranging from Camus to the Frankfurt School. The authors, each focusing on a different aspect of the genre, explores the philosophical underpinnings of classic films.

From the Academy Award--winning Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind (2004) and Academy Award--nominated Adaptation (2002) to the cult classic Being John Malkovich (1999), writer Charlie Kaufman is widely admired for his innovative, philosophically resonant films. Although he only recently made his directorial debut with Synecdoche, New York (2008), most fans and critics refer to "Kaufman films" the way they would otherwise discuss works by directors Woody Allen, Martin Scorsese, or the Coen brothers. Not only has Kaufman transformed our sense of what can take place in a film, but he also has made a significant impact on our understanding of the role of the screenwriter. The Philosophy of Charlie Kaufman, edited by David LaRocca, is the first collection of essays devoted to a rigorous philosophical exploration of Kaufman's work by a team of capable and critical scholars from a wide range of disciplines. From political theorists to philosophers, classicists to theologians, professors of literature to filmmakers, the contributing authors delve into the heart of Kaufman's innovative screenplays, offering not only original philosophical analyses but also extended reflections on the nature of film and film criticism.