Trust and Truth in Shutter Island

2019 ◽  
Vol 23 (3) ◽  
pp. 351-371
Author(s):  
Suzanne Cataldi Laba
Keyword(s):  
The Other ◽  
Moral Order ◽  
Institutional Trust ◽  
Psychological Healing ◽  
Martin Scorsese ◽  
Reflective Consciousness ◽  
Fantasy World ◽  
Film Spectatorship ◽  
Film Making

This article examines questions of trust in cinema through the lens of Shutter Island (Martin Scorsese, 2010). With its self-referential allusion to the mechanical “eye” of a camera, a stage-managed fantasy embedded within its plot and image of a dark lighthouse, Shutter Island explores its spectators' and its own cinematic sense of suspicion. The plot revolves around a protagonist who has locked himself out of certain memories and into a fantasy world. The article links pathological and therapeutic aspects of trust with interpersonal and institutional trust issues in ways that blur distinctions between trusting others and trusting oneself, and shows how reliant each is on the other. Construing trust as a type of participant attitude and highlighting techniques used to render it cinematically, the article tracks its emergence and erosion, both in terms of the diegesis and its bearing on film spectatorship. As a post-classical commentary on film-making, Shutter Island is viewed as intricately exemplifying what Robert Sinnerbrink (2016) describes as an action-driven film with “a highly reflective consciousness of cinematic spectatorship” (p. 70), as well as what Thomas Elsaesser (2009) describes as a “mind-game film”. To make sense of its ending, which may strike viewers as baffling and unnerving, and show how the protagonist's seemingly irrational decision is part of its film-philosophical point, traumatic disturbances in subjectivity and “monstrosities” depicted in the film are linked to Jean Epstein's notion of “something monstrous” in cinematic imagery. The protagonist's deliberately chosen fate is interpreted as a reparative gesture, expressing a desire for psychological healing and a way of helping him to marshal and recover a semblance of moral order and integrity under demoralizing circumstances.

The Failure of Self-Consciousness in Sartre's Being and Nothingness

Dialogue ◽  
1993 ◽  
Vol 32 (4) ◽  
pp. 737-756
Author(s):  
Kathleen Wider
Keyword(s):  
Common Sense ◽  
Sense Of Self ◽  
The Self ◽  
The Other ◽  
Reflective Consciousness ◽  
Central Tenet ◽  
Ultimate Failure ◽  
The One

The central tenet in the ontology Sartre describes and seeks to defend in Being and Nothingness is that being divides into the for-itself and the in-itself. Self-consciousness characterizes being-for-itself and distinguishes it from being-in-itself. What it means for a being to exist for itself is that it is self-conscious. How Sartre characterizes self-consciousness in Being and Nothingness is, however, a question that remains to be asked. There is no simple answer to this question. For Sartre, there are really several levels of self-consciousness: the self-consciousness of consciousness at the pre-reflective level, at the level of reflection (both pure and impure) and at the level of being-for-others. There is a profound difference between the self-consciousness of being-for-others and impure reflection, on the one hand, and the self-consciousness of reflection and pre-reflective consciousness, on the other. With being-for-others and impure reflection, self-consciousness involves the attempt to grasp the self as an object for consciousness. Although the nature of this attempt and the reasons for its ultimate failure differ at each level, these levels are bound together by a common sense of self-consciousness as a consciousness of the self as an object.

scholarly journals Anti-ELAB Movement, National Security Law, and heterogeneous institutional trust in Hong Kong

2021 ◽  
Vol 22 (4) ◽  
pp. 287-311 ◽  
Author(s):  
Hans H. Tung ◽  
Ming-Jen Lin ◽  
Yi-Fan Lin
Keyword(s):  
Hong Kong ◽  
National Security ◽  
Natural Experiment ◽  
The Other ◽  
Institutional Trust ◽  
Short Term ◽  
Political Preferences ◽  
Trust In Institutions ◽  
Institutional Landscape ◽  
The One

AbstractHow does repression on opposition protests affect citizens' institutional trust under dictatorships? There has been a burgeoning literature investigating empirically both long- and short-term impacts of protests and their repression on citizens' political preferences in both democratic and nondemocratic contexts. Yet, the literature tells us relatively little about how the above question could be answered. This paper tries to answer this question by taking advantage of a recent natural experiment in Hong Kong when Beijing suddenly adopted the National Security Law (NSL) in June 2020 to repress dissidents' protest mobilization. Our findings are twofold. First of all, the NSL drove a wedge in the Hong Kong society by making the pro-establishment camp more satisfied with the post-NSL institutions on the one hand, while alienating the pro-democracy camp who lost tremendous trust in them on the other. Second, our study also reveals that one's trust in institutions is significantly associated with the regimes' ability to curb protesters' contentious mobilization. The Hong Kongers who had higher confidence in the NSL to rein in protests would also have a greater level of trust than those who didn't. The effect, however, is substantially smaller among pro-democracy Hong Kongers except for their trust in monitoring institutions. As Beijing is transforming Hong Kong's current institutions from within hopes of bringing about a new political equilibrium, our study helps provide a timely assessment of Hong Kong's institutional landscape and sheds light on how likely this strategy can work.

scholarly journals ‘Inaccurate but Truthful’: Q&A with Screenwriter Peter Morgan

2015 ◽  
Vol 4 ◽  
pp. R1-R15
Author(s):  
Julia Lajta-Novak ◽  
Werner Huber
Keyword(s):  
Life Writing ◽  
The Other ◽  
Structure Approach ◽  
University Of Vienna ◽  
Ludwig Boltzmann ◽  
Lecture Series ◽  
The Many ◽  
The University ◽  
Film Making ◽  
Shed Light

In the spring of 2014, the University of Vienna in cooperation with the Ludwig Boltzmann institute for the history and Theory of Biography in Vienna organised an interdisciplinary lecture series “The Many faces of Biography”. This lecture series brought together scholars and practitioners of various historical and recent biographical forms, focusing on the specificities and challenges posed by different biographical media. One of them was Peter Morgan, a major name in contemporary biographical film-making (and playwriting), noted for his characteristic dual-structure approach to writing lives for the screen. During one of the sessions of the lecture series he was interviewed by Julia Novak and Werner Huber about some of his most famous work, such as The Deal (2003), The Queen (2006), Frost/Nixon (2008), The Other Boleyn Girl (2008), and Rush (2013). In this Q&A he shed light on the principles guiding the screenwriter-biographer’s work, his conflicting responsibilities towards biographee and audience, and the biopic’s potential to impact on the fame and after-fame of historical and contemporary celebrities. This article was submitted to the European Journal of Life Writing on 28 Februay 2015 and published on 6 July 2015. A second version of this article was uploaded, with one minor alteration, on 12 August 2015.

Criminal law as a moral stronghold

2019 ◽  
pp. 59-74
Author(s):  
Hans Boutellier
Keyword(s):  
Criminal Law ◽  
The Other ◽  
Moral Order ◽  
Complex World ◽  
Legal Practice ◽  
Moral Issues ◽  
Moral Space ◽  
Security Discourse ◽  
The Relationship

This chapter analyses the position of criminal law in order to understand the dominance of the security discourse. In a morally coherent community, criminal law functions as a last resort — an ultimum remedium. This was the case until the 1970s. Due to rising crime figures and societal unease, the position of criminal law shifted from a legal practice on the periphery to a central institution of moral order. The chapter discusses a switch in the relationship between morality and criminal law. After the 1970s, criminal law was no longer the result of consensus on moral issues, but it was the other way round: criminal law became the defining authority in the design of moral space. It is the moral stronghold in a liquid society, an anchor in a complex world without direction. The chapter shows how ‘the victim’ was the key in this ‘inversion’ of morality and criminal law.

Morality at dinnertime: The sense of the Other as a practical accomplishment in family interaction

2017 ◽  
Vol 29 (1) ◽  
pp. 43-62 ◽  
Author(s):  
Renata Galatolo ◽  
Letizia Caronia
Keyword(s):  
Social Interaction ◽  
Everyday Life ◽  
The Other ◽  
Analytic Approach ◽  
Moral Order ◽  
Family Dinner ◽  
Everyday Activities ◽  
The World ◽  
Powerful Means ◽  
Moral Dimensions

Since Garfinkel brought our attention to the moral order implied in everyday activities, studies on social interaction have described the practices through which members constitute the moral dimensions of everyday life. Drawing on Duranti’s notion of the ‘sense of the Other’, this article illustrates how mundane morality is presupposed and (re)constructed in the micro-order of everyday life. Examples of video-recorded family dinner interactions are discussed, adopting a conversation analytic approach. The analysis illustrates how the sense of the Other is made relevant by parents as an organizing principle of ongoing activities and ‘talked into being’ to manage ordinary tasks (e.g. pursuing synchronicity and distributing food). The analysis reveals that parents use siblings as a resource to embody the ‘generalized other’ and socialize children to take the other’s perspective. Our study contributes to demonstrating the relevance of looking at ordinary practices as powerful means through which members orient to a moral version of the world and treat it as a natural one.

scholarly journals The Politics Around ‘B-Grade’ Cinema in Bengal: Re-viewing popular Bengali film culture in the 1980s‒1990s

2011 ◽  
Vol 12 (2) ◽  
pp. 13-30 ◽  
Author(s):  
Anugyan Nag ◽  
Spandan Bhattacharya
Keyword(s):  
Film Industry ◽  
The Other ◽  
Film Culture ◽  
Diverse Range ◽  
Popular Cinema ◽  
Social Perspectives ◽  
The World ◽  
Film Making ◽  
Jawaharlal Nehru ◽  
Academic Discourses

Jawaharlal Nehru UniversityThe 1980–90s was a turbulent period for the Bengali cinema, the events being triggered by a series of industrial problems, the anxiety of a new film public and the pressing necessity for newer forms of articulation. During this time, Bengali popular cinema responded with newer genres of narratives (elaborated later) that emerged from dissimilar aesthetic positions and different social perspectives. But it is unfortunate that instead of engaging with this diverse range of film making practices, the journalistic and academic discourses on the 1980–90s Bengali cinema present only the ‘crisis-ridden’ scenarios of the Bengali film industry―suffering from multiple problems. Interestingly, this marginalized and unacknowledged cinema of the 1980–90s almost became synonymous to the concept of the ‘B-grade’ cinema, although it is not similar in formation, circulation and reception like the other established B-circuit or B-grade cinemas across the world. This paper aims to criticize this simpler ‘crisis narrative’ scenario by looking at the categories of class and audience and questioning the relevance of issues related to the popularity of these films. In brief, our article aims to problematize the notion of what is ‘B-grade’ cinema in the context of the Bengali cinema of the 1980–90s and by referring to this film culture, it tries to open up some other possibilities to which this notion can refer.

Simone de Beauvoir

Philosophy ◽  
2015 ◽  
Author(s):  
Edward Fullbrook ◽  
Margaret Simons
Keyword(s):  
Continental Philosophy ◽  
Physical World ◽  
The Other ◽  
Human Consciousness ◽  
Simone De Beauvoir ◽  
Intellectual Culture ◽  
Philosophical Work ◽  
Ethical Implications ◽  
Reflective Consciousness ◽  
Second Sex

Simone de Beauvoir (b. 9 January 1908–d. 14 April 1986) contributed to shaping the philosophical movement of French existential phenomenology. But recognition of her importance as a philosopher has come mostly since her death. The delay resulted from the convergence of two factors. One was the sexism that ruled Western intellectual culture; the other was Beauvoir’s close half-century working relationship with the philosopher Jean-Paul Sartre, which meant that all the ideas that they publicly shared could, given the dominance of sexism, automatically be attributed to him. By the time of Beauvoir’s death sexism’s grip on intellectual culture was, thanks in part to her book The Second Sex, beginning to weaken. Also beginning in 1983 the voluminous diaries and letters of Beauvoir and Sartre were published, which revealed in chronological detail the her/him origins of the philosophical ideas that they so famously shared. These developments led to an increasing proportion of Beauvoir scholarship focused on her work and role as a philosopher. Continental philosophy tends to be more inclusive with regard to literary form than does the analytical tradition. This is especially true of its phenomenological branch, which includes existentialism, the school to which Beauvoir belonged and helped develop. This inclusiveness stems directly from the method of discovery employed by phenomenological philosophers. One of Beauvoir’s foundational ideas was that the universal point of view is, as with everyone else, not available to the philosopher. Instead, thought begins from individual points of view and then proceeds on the basis of inductive generalization. This emphasis on the particular and the concrete, from which philosophical propositions may be drawn, invites the use of fiction as a medium for philosophical discovery, especially at the ontological level. For this reason and because traditional publishing platforms for philosophers were not generally open to women, Beauvoir used this method extensively. Beauvoir’s primary focus in the earliest stage of her philosophical work was on the structure of human consciousness: how it relates to itself, how it relates to the physical world, and, most especially, on the problem of the existence of other human consciousnesses. She developed her theory of the Other from the experience of finding oneself the object of the other’s gaze. The second stage of Beauvoir’s philosophical work, reflecting her experience of living under the Nazi occupation, moves from the metaphysical and moral solipsism of She Came to Stay to focus on the ethical implications of relationships with the Other. In the third and final stage, Beauvoir returned to her earlier focus on the structure of human consciousness to work on the problem of ontological commonalities among individuals who share social and historical situations. In The Second Sex she originated a theory of the structural variability of pre-reflective consciousness to describe women’s experience as the Other in a sexist society. Later, she applied a similar approach to condemn the treatment of the aged poor in Old Age.

scholarly journals Gestalt-Terapia e Daniel Stern: Dialogando sobre a Relevância da Corporeidade e da Dimensão Afetiva na Psicoterapia

2021 ◽  
Vol 27 (3) ◽  
pp. 316-327
Author(s):  
Thatiana Caputo Domingues da SILVA ◽  
Mônica Botelho ALVIM
Keyword(s):  
Theory And Practice ◽  
Gestalt Therapy ◽  
The Other ◽  
Reflective Consciousness ◽  
Affective Attunement ◽  
The Difference ◽  
Daniel Stern ◽  
Bodily Knowledge ◽  
The Moment ◽  
Relationship Of

This paper discusses the importance of the corporal and implicit dimension of the experience for the theory and practice of Gestalt-Therapy psychotherapy. We believe in a model of clinical practice that leans on this affective dimension. We start with a brief exploration of the notion of self as a process of contact, emphasizing the pre-contact and the id function of the self as the moment of the common dimension of the experience we share with the world and with the other. As we understand it, the id function is predominantly sensory, based on corporeality, being configured as a fundamental support for the experience of the difference and the novelty. From this, we propose a dialogue with Daniel Stern, exploring his concepts of vitality affect and affective attunement to affirm that our communication with the other is established not only by the way of speech, by formal thought, explicit and reflective, but also by an affective and vital dimension. From these notions, we discuss the concept of Gestalt-Therapy's awareness, differentiating it from the notion of reflective consciousness and considering it a kind of "bodily knowledge" and implicit experience, apprehended when relating to otherness. Finally, we conclude that psychotherapeutic work and dialogue constitute a relationship of coaffectation that generates deviations, "dis-centerment", and transformations. Palavras-chave : Gestalt-Therapy; Corporeity; Id Function; Awareness; Psychotherapy.

Sign in / Sign up

Export Citation Format

Share Document