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Explores contemporary expressions of these two genres, and their continuing relevance, in recent Hollywood films.
Stanley Cavell's influential philosophical work on American cinema concerns itself with the thought that some of the most popular movies of Hollywood's Golden Age constitute two related, but previously undefined, genres that he names "the comedy of remarriage" and "the melodrama of the unknown woman," respectively. In this collection, the first devoted to the subject, leading figures in philosophy and film studies provide detailed readings of more recent Hollywood films that show how these two genres continue to be inherited in American cinema, not least by the films' participation in a certain moral outlook—concerning personal and cultural transformation—that Cavell calls "Emersonian Perfectionism." The films discussed include Rich and Famous, As Good as It Gets, My Best Friend's Wedding, Revolutionary Road, On the Rocks, Palm Springs, and Tenet.
"This collection demonstrates that Stanley Cavell's writings on films and cinema are more important now than ever. Key writers on Cavell offer comprehensive reflections on the nature and form of contemporary films, showing that his approach to cinema is essential for our understanding of the significance of film and its relation to philosophy." — Richard Rushton, Lancaster University
Paul Deb is Research Associate in Philosophy at New College, Oxford.
List of Illustrations
Abbreviations
Acknowledgments
Introduction
Paul Deb
1. The Question of Sex: Thoughts on the Cavellian Couple Inspired by Rich and Famous
Catherine Wheatley
2. Asking for More than As Good as It Gets
Daniel Varndell
3. Contesting Marriage: My Best Friend's Wedding
Sandra Laugier
4. Imagining Life Together: Psychosexual Intimacy, Social Roles, and Contemporary Comedies of Remarriage
Richard Eldridge
5. "I Saw a Different Life. I Can't Stop Seeing It": Perfectionist Visions in Revolutionary Road
Paul Deb
6. I Love You, Man: The Bromance as Remarriage
Rex Butler
7. The Time of Their Lives: Before Midnight and the Conversation of Marriage
William Day
8. Golden Years: Generational Contest, Terms of Talent, and Remarriage in Noah Baumbach's While We're Young
David LaRocca
9. Staging Unknown Women
Murray Pomerance
10. Moral Imperfectionism and Ethical Melodrama: The Case of Carol
Robert Sinnerbrink
11. The Same Only a Little Different: A Star is Born is Reborn (Again)
William Rothman
12. An End of Wandering: Coming to Believe in Palm Springs
Steven G. Affeldt
13. The Comedy of Remarriage in the Age of Lean-In Feminism: Sofia Coppola's On the Rocks
Fiona Handyside
14. The Proving Window: Inversion, Perfectionism, and the Unknown Woman in Christopher Nolan's Tenet
Stephen Mulhall
List of Contributors
Index