Race, Philosophy, and Film (Routledge Studies in Contemporary Philosophy Book 50)

250 Pages·2013·2.103 MB·English

by  Mary K. Bloodsworth-Lugo (editor), Dan Flory (editor)

Race, Philosophy, and Film
Edited by Mary K. Bloodsworth-Lugo
and Dan Flory
First published 2013
by Routledge
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Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data
Race, philosophy, and (cid:2) lm / edited by Mary K. BloodsworthLugo
and Dan Flory.
pages cm. (Routledge studies in contemporary philosophy ; 50)
Includes bibliographical references and index.
1. Minorities in motion pictures. 2. Race in motion pictures.
3. Race Philosophy. I. BloodsworthLugo, Mary K. II. Flory, Dan.
III. Flory, Dan. Imaginative resistance and the White gaze in Machete
and The Help.
PN1995.9.M56R33 2013
791.43'6529 dc23
2012042461
ISBN: 9780415624459(hbk)
ISBN: 9780203104637(ebk)
Typeset in Sabon
by Apex CoVantage, LLC
For Carmen and Emmy M.K.B-L.
For Michaela and Alexandra D.F.
Thispageintentionallyleftblank
Race, Philosophy, and Film
This collection of original essays investigates one of the least-explored top-
ics in the philosophy of (cid:2) lm and the philosophy of race: the nexus of our
ideas and attitudes toward race and how they arise in cinematic narrative
and viewership. Employing a wide range of Continental and analytic per-
spectives, this collection addresses how different philosophical sub(cid:2) elds
would look if racial considerations were moved from the periphery to posi-
tions of centrality. As the (cid:2) rst anthology to focus on this provocative in-
tersection of topics, its chapters explore issues in epistemology, aesthetics,
moral philosophy, social and political philosophy, and technology and the
body. The essays assume no prior knowledge of philosophy of race and
aim to illuminate not only the philosophical perspectives employed but also
the cinematic examples analyzed. This anthology offers a timely collection
of essays providing broad considerations of race (including ethnicity and
whiteness); their connections to sex, gender, and the body; and their fre-
quent manifestations in ideology through a variety of (cid:2) lm genres. Works
discussed include A vatar , T he Help, M anderlay , T he Matrix, T he Prin-
cess and the Frog , T rading Places, T wilight , and the television series True
Blood . Contributors include Charles Mills, George Yancy, Michael Levine,
Monique Roelofs, and Naomi Zack.
Mary K. Bloodsworth-Lugo is professor of critical culture, gender, and race
studies at Washington State University, USA.

Dan Flory is associate professor of philosophy at Montana State University,

USA.
Thispageintentionallyleftblank
Routledge Studies in Contemporary Philosophy
For a full list of titles in this series, please visit www.routledge.com
18 The Force of Argument 26 Civil Society in Liberal
Essays in Honor of Timothy Democracy
Smiley Mark Jensen
Jonathan Lear and Alex Oliver
27 The Politics of Logic
19 Autonomy and Liberalism Badiou, Wittgenstein, and
Ben Colburn the Consequences of Formalism
Paul M. Livingston
20 Habermas and Literary
Rationality 28 Pluralism and Liberal Politics
David L. Colclasure Robert B. Talisse
21 Rawls, Citizenship, and 29 Kant and Education
Education Interpretations and Commentary
M. Victoria Costa Edited by Klas Roth and Chris W.
Surprenant
22 Objectivity and the Language-
Dependence of Thought 30 Feminism, Psychoanalysis, and
A Transcendental Defence of Maternal Subjectivity
Universal Lingualism Alison Stone
Christian Barth
31. Civility in Politics and Education
23 Habermas and Rawls Edited by Deborah S. Mower and
Disputing the Political Wade L. Robison
Edited by James Gordon

Finlayson and Fabian 32 Philosophical Inquiry into
Freyenhagen Pregnancy, Childbirth, and
Mothering
24 Philosophical Delusion and its Maternal Subjects

Therapy Edited by Sheila Lintott and
Outline of a Philosophical Maureen Sander Staudt

Revolution
Eugen Fischer 33 Authenticity as an Ethical Ideal
Somogy Varga

25 Epistemology and the Regress
Problem 34 The Philosophy of Curiosity
Scott F. Aikin Ilhan Inan
35 Self-Realization and Justice 43 Reference and Structure in the
A Liberal-Perfectionist Defense Philosophy of Language
of the Right to Freedom from A Defense of the Russellian
Employment Orthodoxy
Julia Maskivker Arthur Sullivan
36 Narrative Identity, Autonomy, 44 Civic Virtue and the Sovereignty
and Mortality of Evil
From Frankfurt and MacIntyre Derek Edyvane
to Kierkegaard
John J. Davenport 45 Philosophy of Language and
Webs of Information
37 Contemporary Feminist Heimir Geirsson
Pragmatism
Edited by Maurice Hamington and 46 Disagreement and
Celia Bardwell Jones Skepticism
Edited by Diego E. Machuca
38 Morality, Self Knowledge, and
Human Suffering 47 Philosophy in Schools
An Essay on The Loss of An Introduction for Philosophers
Con(cid:2) dence in the World and Teachers
Josep Corbi Edited by Sara Goering,
Nicholas J. Shudak, and
39 Contrastivism in Philosophy Thomas E. Wartenberg
Edited by Martijn Blaauw
48 A Philosophy of Material
40 Aesthetics After Metaphysics Culture
From Mimesis to Metaphor Action, Function, and Mind
Miguel de Beistegui Beth Preston
41. Foundations of Freedom 49 A Philosophy of the Screenplay
Welfare-Based Arguments against Ted Nannicelli
Paternalism
Simon R. Clarke 50 Race, Philosophy, and
Film
42 Pittsburgh School of Philosophy Edited by Mary K.

Sellars, McDowell, Brandom Bloodsworth Lugo and
Chauncey Maher Dan Flory
Contents
List of Figures xi
Acknowledgments xiii
Introduction: Philosophical Approaches to Race in Film 1
DAN FLORY AND MARY K. BLOODSWORTH-LUGO
PART I
Epistemology
1 Imaginative Resistance and the White Gaze in Machete
and The Help 17
DAN FLORY
2 “Born into Bondage”: Teaching T he Matrix and
Unlearning the Racial Organization of Knowledge 35
MICHAEL ENG
3 What’s So Bad About Blackface? 51
CHRISTY MAG UIDHIR

PART II
Aesthetics

4 “So Now You’re Swedish-American?” Jewish-American
Women and Philosophies of Beauty in R equiem for a Dream 71

RENÉE R. CURRY AND WILLIAM BRIGHAM

5 Cruising through Race 84

MONIQUE ROELOFS