Ordinary Monsters in a Galaxy Far, Far Away
In 2005, when Star Wars and Philosophy was published, one of the highlights was a chapter by Richard Dees, “Moral Ambiguity in a Black-and-White...
Becoming Real: Barbie and the Crisis of Existential Identity
At the beginning of the 2023 blockbuster hit, Barbie, the narrator makes two claims: “All of these women are Barbie and Barbie is all...
White Privilege and Antisemitism in James Gray’s Armageddon Time
In “Shannon Sullivan’s White Privilege and Antisemitism in James Gray’s Armageddon Time,” I delve into Shannon Sullivan's concept of white privilege as it manifests...
Rebelling or Revelling?: Humor as a Sisyphean Task in Mystery Science Theater 3000, Part...
The Loving Ironic Cutification of Bad Movies through Ridicule
It might be thought that the many ridiculing jokes directed against a bad movie can only...
Rebelling or Revelling?: Humor as a Sisyphean Task in Mystery Science Theater 3000, Part...
The now classic movie-riffing series Mystery Science Theater 3000 (MST3K), and its spinoffs such as Rifftrax, can tell us something about how to deal...
Bluey and Philosophy
In his beautiful film Tree of Life, Terrance Malick attempts to tackle philosophical issues such as the meaning of life, the problem of evil,...
Reflections on Culture in American Film
I have taught intercultural communication and film, both separately and together, for more than two decades in the US and Hong Kong. I have...
Brent Hoff’s “The Love Competition”
0. I will discuss here a short documentary movie, Brent Hoff’s “The Love Competition.”
First, I will summarize the movie. (§1) Then, I will lay...
The Invader, Self-Knowledge: Four Science Fiction Films that Intuit the Human Future. Part 2: ...
Ex Machina (2014)
Arrival (2016)
Annihilation (2018)
I Am Mother (2019)
In the film Arrival, human exploration comes in the form of empathetic engagement by linguist Louise Banks....
The Invader, Self-Knowledge: Four Science Fiction Films that Intuit the Human Future. Part 1:...
Ex Machina (2014)
Arrival (2016)
Annihilation (2018)
I Am Mother (2019)
I am a huge science fiction film buff. In my adolescence, I was a prolific reader of so...