Product Description
by Timothy Corrigan (Volume Editor)
The Humanities and Human Flourishing series publishes edited volumes that explore the role of human flourishing in the central disciplines of the humanities, and whether and how the humanities can increase human happiness.
This edited volume examines the role of cinema and media in the context of human flourishing. The history of cinema is rife with films and genres in which positive cinematic narratives stand out as remarkable and defining achievements. Since the 1930s through the superhero movies of today, from You Can't Take It with You or Toy Story to literary adaptations like Midsummer Night's Dream or Clueless, films have celebrated the resilience and triumphs of people pursuing a life of happiness and contentment. Yet, in the majority of these films, various crises shadow these pursuits, adding obstacles and detours that suggest films require a narrative drama of conflict, out of which human well-being and flourishing eventually emerge. This volume covers a multitude of historical periods and topics, including discussions of the Aristotelian and classical models of a "good life" that inform animated fairy tales today; how 1930s French and Hollywood films responded to the dire need for productive human relationships in a turbulent decade; the polemical positions of black film criticism through the lens of James Baldwin; a discussion of contemporary filmic quests for happiness; the challenges for women filmmakers today in mapping the values of their own world; the scientific, psychological, and philosophical base for human value; and the shifting media frames of modern society and selves. Cinema, Media Studies, and Human Flourishing features a diverse array of approaches to understanding human flourishing through cinematic representations of the journey to a fulfilling life.Author Biography
Timothy Corrigan is a Professor Emeritus of English and Cinema Studies and Media Studies at the University of Pennsylvania. His work in Cinema Studies has focused on contemporary international cinema and documentary film. The Essay Film: From Montaigne, After Marker (Oxford UP), winner of the Katherine Singer Kovács Award for the outstanding book in film and media studies, appeared in 2012. In 2014 he received the Society for Cinema and Media Studies Award for Outstanding Pedagogical Achievement and the Ira H. Abrams Memorial Award for Distinguished Teaching in the School of Arts and Sciences at the University of Pennsylvania.
