Kupfer, a philosophy professor at Iowa State University, has written widely on ethics and aesthetics, and in Visions of Virtue he offers an account of virtue deeply indebted to the work of Alisdair MacIntyre, and to the cluster of neo-Aristotelian thinkers with whom MacIntyre is now regularly associated. Nowhere in his book does Kupfer make clear why the films he chooses to discuss are better suited to his purpose than any of a large number of similarly popular films, all possessing more or less the same sorts of moral outlooks, or better even than a host of otherwise promising so-called ‘art’ films. It is the quest to understand and live a life of moral character. This is where we come to the question of revenge, because FMA:B quite consistently argues that pursuing revenge turns you into a bad person. Yet Kupfer's critical emphasis on language in Rob Roy, and especially on the connection between moral standards of speech (reciprocity, regard for promise keeping, etc.) It lets you understand hopes, aspirations, dreams, and fears. Now certainly Roger Ebert didn’t assume that all films generated empathy to the same degree. In life we sift through thousands of acquaintances to find a few true friends; although it may seem one of life’s most elusive aspirations, a loving friendship is one of God’s most beautiful blessings. Oxford University Press. CREDIT: Fer Gregory/Shutterstock. At the same time, Phil comes to value people for their own sakes, not for what they can provide him’ (52). 55-67). It is not that difficult to watch the movie, learn something from it, analyze the behavior of main “Groundhog Day” characters, and comprehend the essence of ethical aspects such as human duties, self-esteem, and respect to the others. Love, or at least the process of falling in love, is chaotic, passionate, capricious, contradictory, and often whimsical, all of which makes it wonderfully well-suited for representation in narrative films, including The African Queen. Virtue ethics is a more appropriate vehicle for expressing these aspects of engineering professionalism. Chris Vogt The Aristotelian view is that, with few exceptions, each person is responsible for their own state of character. Virtues and vices in the movie. Menu. These ‘appearances’ are more or less our deeply held beliefs about what things are really like, and according to Aristotle we have a responsibility as members of a community to foreground these beliefs so as to try and reconcile them with those of others with whom we might otherwise markedly disagree, and with whom we desire to live together in a community. A Vision of Blindness: Blade Runner and Moral Redemption, A Universal Narrative? It seems strange how easily Kupfer borrows from MacIntyre given the sustained philosophical attack on him following the publication of After Virtue, his landmark critique of modernity and defense of community standards and practices. TV Shows . By enacting or representing for a mass audience their beliefs about virtues such as honour, love, courage, and so on, the audience (ideally) comes to understand what love, etc., really mean (for them), and at least minimally is presented with the basis for ongoing deliberation and clarificatory debate. Why do we frame our analysis under the title of “Virtue Ethics at the Movies”? You OUGHT do that which is Virtuous - Your PURPOSE - Teleological Reasoning To a lesser extent this same problem bedevils Kupfer's account of Aliens, in which he offers a compelling reading of Ripley (Sigourney Weaver) as an agent of justice, a reading which for the most part neglects the ethical implications of her concurrent role as a surrogate mother. As is often the case with good stories, Avengers: Infinity War and Avengers: Endgame are … ISBN 9780521449298. Movies have the advantage of distance. We cannot maintain our self-respect and integrity unless we exercise these virtues in social intercourse. The conference has been running since 2008 and takes place at a different university every year. Movies are a popular form of entertainment that not only hold people’s attention but also provide models of behavior (Bandura, 2001; Bushman and Huesmann, 2006). Johnny Rico. Stories shape our vision. Youth discuss how a contemporary movie for youth represents issues of respect. And while many have nostalgia for a previous era when kids read more books and had less “screen time,” it is worth saying that film as an art form has real value for Christian formation, not simply for pleasure and escapist entertainment. By so doing he hopes to encourage a dialogue with Aristotle ‘by reinterpreting the Aristotelian perspective in light of popular American movies, which confront it with a contemporary sensibility. What troubles me about Kupfer's reading is how reductive and flat it seems. It can be easier for students to discuss what's happening on screen than to talk about what's going on in their personal lives. Movies dealing with serious morality or ethical issues. Virtue ethics framework has its own negatives like the other normative ethical frameworks. However, some portrayals are more likely to be emulated than others. Popular films, simply by being ‘of’ the people in significant ways, are presumably one such site at which appearances converge. Specifically, Kupfer defines virtues as ‘the qualities that promote attainment of those goods that are internal to activities’ (29), and goes on to analyze the actions or activities of characters in films like Groundhog Day in terms of the extent to which they promote (or fail to promote) eudaimonia or wellbeing. Similarly effective is Kupfer's juxtaposition of Groundhog Day with Stephen Frears's 1989 film Dangerous Liasons. It's funny and I think it could lead to good discussions about the difference between virtue ethics, deontology, and utilitarianism. By practicing being honest, brave, just, generous, and so on, a person develops an honorable and moral character. Beginning with the notion that ‘lovers inspire one another to be better than they presently are and enable each other to see their potential for moral improvement’ (63), Kupfer goes on to show how Charlie loses his loutishness and Rose her priggishness as their journey down river progresses, and how consequently ‘they see themselves as ennobled by one another. If you’ve seen Life Itself, you know that Gene Siskel and Roger Ebert often had very different reactions to the same film. The ethics theory further asserts that there are two types of virtues, moral and intellectual virtues; moral virtues emanate from habits while intellectual virtue is an innate characteristic that undergoes a transformation in the course of life due to teaching and experience. It can define what we truly are as a person. Ethics In The Movie: The Emperor's Club. It would be too strong to call this a misreading of the film, but nonetheless it does suggest a regrettable under-reading of it. The ethical view takes value in either the actions in themselves (Deontology) or the consequences of the act (consequentialism) based upon the character of the individual. Tobias Winright, "Fasting, therefore, consists in freeing our existence...from the habits and dependencies that bind us, to open the�, "The solution to the problem of burnout is not working less or learning how to do leisure better...When we unite th�, Fourth Sunday in Ordinary Time – The Nature and Ethics of a Prophet, Mad Max: Fury Road – More Than Just an Action Film. (See Aquinas, Summa, IaIIae, q. Does going to the movies make me a better Christian? 1023 Words 4 Pages. Her first book, Catholic Theology of Marriage in the Era of HIV and AIDS: Marriage for Life was published by Lexington Books in 2015. The ethical payoff for viewers of these films consists in their ability to reveal -- through a by now well-established convention which holds that narrative films ‘are like case studies in law, filled with the subtlety and messiness that naturally elicit attention to those loose ends of life so easily lost on the clean edges of academic theory’ (32) -- the narrative content of our own ethical-interpretive frameworks. Virtue ethics Character-based ethics. What's on TV & Streaming What's on TV & Streaming Top Rated Shows Most Popular … A Clockwork Orange (1971, Stanley Kubrick) Malón (Arch Sexual Behav 44(4):1071–1083, 2015) concluded that the usual arguments against sexual relationships between adults and prepubertal children are inadequate to rule out the moral permissibility of such behaviour in all circumstances. Each enables the other person to see herself or himself developing into a finer individual’ (78). Perhaps the most successful reading in Visions of Virtue is of Harold Ramis's 1993 film Groundhog Day. Does the film offer role models for virtuous living—for example, protagonists who are honest, just, prudent, courageous, willing to sacrifice for a greater good? At the end of this month, on February 28th, the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences will award one of the following films as Best Picture in the 88th Academy Awards show: Only one, Spotlight, is explicitly about the Catholic Church. Ethics Movies . and virtues such as respect, integrity, and fidelity, ultimately proves rewarding, not least because of its clarification of the nature of the reciprocity linking Rob Roy to his clan. Jim McDermott, SJ, a screenwriter and the Los Angeles correspondent for America, has said in a recent post about the Star Wars series: “Within its fanciful stories of wars in distant, long-ago galaxies I still find lessons of faith, sin and redemption.”. Movies are one tool that we can use to teach students about ethics. Virtue in the Media World: Responsible practice in news, PR, and advertising, by Patrick Plaisance, Ph.D. Description of Activity. Years of research have found reliable evidence of the socializing effects of repeated exposure to violence in entertainment media and aggressive tendencies in youth (Anderson et al., 2017). In our own day, films are perhaps the primary medium for storytelling. The late film critic, Roger Ebert, in the documentary about his life and death (Life Itself, 2014), said: “For me the movies are like a machine that generates empathy. We provide an important avenue for publication in the field of film and philosophy. In order to explain the theory efficiently, defining the theory and then applying The first three chapters address issues of ‘virtue acquisition’, the next three with issues of ‘virtue exhibition’, and the results of Kupfer's analysis are mixed. Test electronic equipment. Aristotelian Virtue Ethics is an agent-centered theory in virtue of a primary focus on people and their characters rather than singular actions. What is an example (or as many as you can think of) of Aristotle’s Nichomachean Ethics. Where would we be without stories? In this case, ethics are driven by our actions and choices. In the absence of this reconciliation a community weakens and slowly begins to pull itself apart. While none of the contributors in this series has particular expertise in film criticism, we write as teachers trained in the field of theological ethics. Virtue Ethics is a normative philosophical approach that urges people to live a moral life by cultivating virtuous habits. [2] By connecting ethics to popular film we place ourselves in a position to observe not simply ethics in practice, but to recognize the manifold beliefs which ground our daily lives. By continuing to browse the site you are agreeing to our use of cookies. In our tradition, a virtue is described as a good habit or disposition that inclines the person toward the good. As a result, the world of the film-fiction and the ethical contestations therein have remained subordinate to (or in extreme cases they have become read simply as a function of) the ethical imperatives organizing the world of the viewer. Watch the film Easy A. Edinburgh University Press. Nicomachean Ethics is the name of a series of books that Aristotle wrote about ethics. So how should Christians evaluate what makes a film ‘good’? In our tradition, a virtue is described as a good habit or disposition that inclines the person toward the good. The first set, consisting of chapters on Groundhog Day, The African Queen, and Parenthood, deal with characters who undergo processes of moral education and reform; the second set, consisting of Rob Roy, Fresh, Aliens, and Jaws, centrally concerns characters whose virtues are put to the test, usually in do-or-die situations. In considering the relationships, emotional sensitivities, and motivations that are unique to human society it provides a fuller ethical analysis and encourages more flexible and creative solutions than principlism or consequentialism alone. The Christian moral tradition is full of stories. And yet Kupfer's reading of Aliens is finally a satisfying one. John Berkman The film, which revolves around the conceit of a protagonist forced to re-live the same day over and over again until he becomes a better person, is ideally suited to a discussion of virtue; indeed it is a case study of moral reform, with the protagonist Phil (Bill Murray) becoming progressively more attentive, self-deprecating, generous, and kind. God welcoming home the sinner, no matter what…” In the Catholic tradition, liturgies become the place where we not only listen to the stories of our tradition but become part of the story ourselves. Ethical Position Paper Ethics plays an important role in our society. Movies are one tool that we can use to teach students about ethics. Film, by way of contrast, was originally created primarily as a means of mass entertainment, and so from its start conceded the ethical terrain to literature, offering instead vaudevillian slapstick and (at best) a minimal narrativity. Economic Inequality: Complicated (in a Good Way), Mad Max: Fury Road – More Than Just an Action Film | Catholic Moral Theology, The Martian and a Courageous World | Catholic Moral Theology, Ambiguity and Discernment on the Big Screen: A Theologian’s Look at Brooklyn | Catholic Moral Theology, Spotlight: Engaging Emotion in Pursuit of Justice | Catholic Moral Theology. Did I break it?” Instead, virtue ethics invites us to consider the kinds of … Film-Philosophy is an open access peer-reviewed academic journal dedicated to the engagement between film studies and philosophy. Reflection on the virtues takes us away from a linear legalism that asks only “What is the law? It's also a good introduction to Woody Allen, who writes movies with some serious philosophical themes. 55-67). 2. Taste of Cinema - Movie Reviews and Classic Movie Lists > Lists > Film Lists > The 10 Best Movies That Deal With Kantian Ethics The 10 Best Movies That Deal With Kantian Ethics. 5 no. Pip. Even today, at a time in which film is most often taught as ‘art’, the technical sophistication and accomplishments of directors, cinematographers, and performers frequently justifies its being so-conceived; only secondarily is film celebrated for its ethical complexity and depth, and for its role as an instrument of narrative communication. But each of these films, in its own way, creates a moral universe worth analyzing and deconstructing from the perspective of Catholic moral theology. Pop culture, such as the Batman comics and movies, provides an opportunity to think philosophically about issues and topics that parallel the real world.