Morality and the Movies: Reading Ethics Through Film
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Overview
Morality and the Movies presents the ideal introduction to philosophical ethics for film lovers. Dan Shaw uses a series of sixteen popular films, including Hotel Rwanda, Casablanca, Citizen Kane, A Clockwork Orange, Dead Man Walking and Full Metal Jacket, to illustrate all the major ethical theories and key contemporary moral issues. The book provides a brief summary and philosophical interpretation of each film, with reference throughout to primary philosophical sources. A unique pedagogical feature is that each chapter begins with a five-step summary of the theoretical position in question and a critical evaluation of its strengths and weaknesses through a specific film. Topics covered include:
- divine authority
- the social contract
- moral relativism
- virtue ethics
- freedom and determinism
- euthanasia
- capital punishment
- war and terrorism
- abortion
- business ethics
Ideal for undergraduate students coming to philosophical ethics for the first time, this book utilizes popular film to introduce a central topic in the study of philosophy.
An introduction to ethical theories and contemporary moral issues through film.
This introductory text uses popular films to illustrate key theories and themes in philosophical ethics.
Each chapter uses one popular film - including Hotel Rwanda, Casablanca, Citizen Kane, A Clockwork Orange, Dead Man Walking, and Full Metal Jacket - to illustrate major ethical theories and key contemporary moral issues.
Ideal for undergraduate students coming to moral philosophy for the first time.
Introduction: Studying Philosophy Through Film
1. Submission to God’s Will in A Man for All Seasons
2. Egoism and Utilitarianism in Casablanca
3. Legal Conventionalism in The Man Who Shot Liberty Valence
4. Kant’s Man of Good Will and Hotel Rwanda
5. Moral Relativism, Perspectivism and Citizen Kane
6.Virtue Ethics and Ghost Dog
7. Freedom and Determinism in A Clockwork Orange
8. Sexual Morality and Kinsey
9. Assisted Suicide, Euthanasia and The Sea Inside
10. Capital Punishment and Compassion in Dead Man Walking
11. The morality and meaning of war in Full Metal Jacket
12. Autonomy and Abortion Rights in The Cider House Rules
13.Gun Control and Bowling for Columbine
14. Terrorism and Counterterrorism in Munich
15. Business Ethics and Wall Street
16. Affirmative Action, Diversity and Remember the Titans
Conclusion: How Films can Elucidate Philosophies, and Vice Versa
Further Reading
Index
Shaw makes morality go down as easily as a bag of popcorn. No more will philosophy be dull. I can only wish that I had had a text like Morality and the Movies when I was a student just encountering ethics. This book is certain to engage students, as they discover they were already thinking about morality when they were watching movies.
Morality and the Movies vividly and even-handedly presents topics from ethical theory and applied ethics by means of well-chosen illustrations from classic and newer films. Its combination of clear presentation, compatibility with other introductory materials, and provocative examples should make it especially attractive for instructors as well as students.
Summing Up: Optional. Graduate students and faculty.
Morality and the Movies is intended as a study book in which movies serve as an illustration of certain theories, ideas, and themes in ethics... Every chapter provides an interesting and pedagogically careful introduction to the different theories and topics... The conciseness of the book and its pedagogical set-up make it very accessible.
- Title: Morality and the Movies: Reading Ethics Through Film
- Author: Dan Shaw
- Publisher: Continuum
- Print Publication Date: 2012
- Logos Release Date: 2024
- Pages: 208
- Language: English
- Resources: 1
- Format: Digital › Ebook
- ISBNs: 9781441188281, 9781441145413, 1441145419, 1441188282
- Resource ID: LLS:9781441188281
- Resource Type: Monograph
- Metadata Last Updated: 2025-04-22T12:20:50Z
Dan Shaw is Professor of Philosophy and Film at Lock Haven University, USA. He is the managing editor of the journal Film and Philosophy, co-editor (with Steven Schneider) of Dark Thoughts: Philosophic Reflections on Horror Films (2003) and author of Film and Philosophy: Taking Movies Seriously (2008).