•  2557
    Rooting for the Fascists in James Cameron’s Avatar
    Film and Philosophy 16 101-120. 2012.
    Conservative critics have united in attacking James Cameron’s newest blockbuster Avatar for its “liberal” political message. But underneath all of the manifest liberalism of Avatar there is also a latent message. In his valorization of the organic, primal, interconnectedness of Na’vi culture and his denigration of the mechanical, modern, disconnectedness of human culture, Cameron runs very close to advocating a form of fascism. In this paper I describe the overarching philosophical perspective o…Read more
  •  999
    Cultural Change and Nihilism in the Rollerball Films
    Film and Philosophy 8 91-111. 2004.
    In 2002, a remake of the 1975 film Rollerball was released in theaters. It flopped at the box-office, disappearing quickly from movie screens and reappearing shortly thereafter on home video. While aesthetically horrendous, the remake of Rollerball is instructive, as it provides a point of contrast to the original film, highlighting a change in our culture’s manner of engagement with the difficult philosophical problem of nihilism. Both films share a roughly similar plot, yet in the differing …Read more
  •  718
    The Myth of Scotland as Nowhere in Particular
    International Journal of Scottish Theatre and Screen 7 (1): 28-44. 2014.
    In a number of recent films, Scotland has served as the setting for dramas that could have taken place anywhere. This has occurred in two related ways: First, there are films such as Perfect Sense (2011) and Under the Skin (2013). These films involve storylines that, while they do take place in Scotland, do not require the country as a setting. Second, there are films such as Prometheus (2012),The Dark Knight Rises (2012), Cloud Atlas (2012), and World War Z (2013). These films, while being film…Read more
  •  635
    From Night to Day: Nihilism and the Living Dead
    Film & Philosophy (Society for the Philosophic Study of the Contemporary Visual Arts) 3 138-143. 1996.
    Upon its release in 1968, George Romero's Night of the Living Dead was attacked by many critics as an exploitative low budget film of questionable moral value. I argue in this paper that Night of the Living Dead is indeed nihilistic, but in a deeper philosophical sense than the critics had in mind.
  •  103
    The Path of Philosophy introduces you to the study of philosophy through a compelling narrative in which the world's most important philosophers appear as characters. The text traces the history of Western philosophy from its beginnings in ancient Greece to contemporary developments in the modern world. Threads running through the text demonstrate how philosophy is unique and distinct from religion and science, while at the same time showing how all three disciplines are interrelated. Exceptiona…Read more
  •  94
    Disputing the common misconception that nihilism is wholly negative and necessarily damaging to the human spirit, John Marmysz offers a clear and complete definition to argue that it is compatible, and indeed preferably responded to, with an attitude of good humor. He carefully scrutinizes the phenomenon of nihilism as it appears in the works, lives, and actions of key figures in the history of philosophy, literature, politics, and theology, including Nietzsche, Heidegger, Camus, and Mishima. Wh…Read more
  •  82
    Comic Relief: A Comprehensive Philosophy of Humor (review)
    Journal of Aesthetics and Art Criticism 68 (3): 305-308. 2010.
    A review of John Morrreall's book Comic Relief: A Comprehensive Philosophy of Humor.
  •  73
    This collection was inspired by the observation that film remakes offer us the opportunity to revisit important issues, stories, themes, and topics in a manner that is especially relevant and meaningful to contemporary audiences. Like mythic stories that are told again and again in differing ways, film remakes present us with updated perspectives on timeless ideas. While some remakes succeed and others fail aesthetically, they always say something about the culture in which_and for which_they ar…Read more
  •  67
    Review of Scotland: Global Cinema: Genres, Modes and Identities (review)
    Film-Philosophy 15 (2): 159-165. 2011.
    A review of Scotland: Global Cinema, by David Martin-Jones
  •  62
    The Cutting Edge Between Trash Cinema and High Art (review)
    Film-Philosophy 6 (1). 2002.
    A review of Joan Hawkins' Cutting Edge: Art-Horror and the Horrific Avant-gard.
  •  55
    Humor, Sublimity and Incongruity
    Consciousness, Literature and the Arts 2 (3). 2001.
    Humorous laughter is related to the sublime experience in that it involves the transformation of a potentially unpleasant perception into a pleasurable experience. However, whereas sublimity is associated with feelings of awe and respect, humorous laughter is associated with feelings of superiority and contempt. This difference is a result of the fact that sublimity is an affective response involving an individual’s perception of vulnerability while humorous laughter is a response involving pe…Read more
  •  52
    War, Occupation, and Creativity (review)
    Consciousness, Literature and the Arts 3 (2). 2002.
    A review of War, Occupation, and Creativity: Japan and East Asia 1920-1960, edited by Marlene Mayo and Thomas Rimer, with H. Eleanor Kerkham.
  •  31
    The Lure of the Mob: Contemporary Cinematic Depictions of Skinhead Authenticity
    Journal of Popular Culture 46 (3): 626-646. 2013.
    In this paper I examine the history and style of the real-life skinhead subculture in order to clarify its nature and to highlight its preoccupation with the ideal of "authenticity." I then use the insights thus gained in order to understand why it is that the skinhead characters in such fictional films as Romper Stomper, American History X and The Believer are, despite their neo-Nazism, granted a sympathetic depiction.
  •  7
    That’s Not Funny: The Humor of Diogenes
    The Philosophy of Humor Yearbook 1 (1): 97-115. 2020.
    This article offers an analysis of the role humor plays in the philosophy of Diogenes of Sinope. It argues that the Cynicism authored by Diogenes is a philosophy premised on a number of doctrines, and that among these doctrines humor holds the central place. The Cynical humor of Diogenes is characterized as more than just a feature of his personality or a method through which he communicates his real message, but as the actual state of mind that he intends to impart to his students.
  •  4
    Taking Lydia Seriously
    The Philosophy of Humor Yearbook 2 (1): 253-260. 2021.
  •  2
    Exposing and illustrating how an ongoing engagement with nihilistic alienation may contribute to, rather than detract from, the value of life, Cinematic Nihilism both challenges and builds upon past scholarship that has scrutinised nihilism in the media, but which has generally over-emphasisedits negative and destructive aspects. Through case studies of popular films, including Prometheus, The Dark Knight Rises, Dawn of the Dead and The Human Centipede, and with chapters on Scotland's cinematic …Read more
  • Book Reviews (review)
    with Christine A. James, Phillip Deen, Jarno Hietalahti, John Parkin, and Steve Gimbel
    The Philosophy of Humor Yearbook 3 (1): 335-358. 2022.