Cavell
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It is through Stanley Cavells view of moral perfectionism that the following essay will examine two genres of film; melodrama of the unknown women and comedy and remarriage. In Cavells book “Cities of Words” he assigns multiple movies and philosophers to each genre, for the purpose of this essay, the following two movies and primary philosophers have been chosen for discussion. The movie Now, Voyager and philosopher Friedrich Nietzche will be grouped together in relation to melodrama of the unknown women genre. The comedy and remarriage genre will feature the movie His Girl Friday along with the philosopher Plato. This essay will also include some personal comments in response to Cavells writings.
First lets begin with Cavells view of moral perfectionism “this aspect or moment of morality Ð- in which a crisis forces an examination of ones life that calls for a transformation or reorientation of it Ð- it is the province of what I emphasize as moral perfectionism” (pp 11, Cavell) a view that was heavily influenced by such philosophers as Emerson and Wittgenstein. Cavell view is focused around the idea that most people in society including society itself are chained to conformity, and afraid to think for themselves. It is through the acceptance of societal norms that one just accepts what he / she should consider right or wrong leaving people with an inability to think as individuals. In addition a major contributor to societal conformity is the lack of true dialogue that exists in everyday interaction between people. Many words in todays society have lost there true meaning, leaving people to become confused and constricted in their daily life. Cavell through the aid of movies, and discussion by philosophers in “Cities of Words” encourages how important it is for a person to have a true dialogue life partner, challenging the other to continuously search inward for their true self and true voice. As explained in Cavells book, it is extremely important for both films in the melodrama of an unknown women genre and comedy and remarriage genre that the leading movie characters only become a true human beings through the aid of their dialogue partner. This line of thinking created some fear on my part. I found myself wondering if I have found my true dialogue partner in life, or will I exist in a shallow dark world bound to chains that I cannot even see with my own eyes. Perhaps this line of thinking and wondering is why I felt the desire to take philosophy courses during my undergrad at UNB Saint John. I often harbor a personal desire for a more meaningful life within my studies of business administration and philosophy. I feel an obvious conflict of what I am taught to think, but this is a problem in itself. In essence Cavell brings light to the fact that people do not want to think for themselves anymore “Man is timid and apologetic; he is no longer upright; he dares not say “I think,” “I am” but quotes some saint or sage”. How do I begin my own process of releasing myself from the chains of conformity in my life? More importantly, do I even recognize what things in my life cause these chains to exist? Recently I was sitting in an upper level business class where the topic of the days lecture was corporate growth. The instructor began the days class by posing the question, how do you grow? Obviously being a business class, an answer that was not related to revenues would have been incorrect. I remember the question striking a cord within me, provoking thoughts that growth in todays society is mostly only concerned with monetary rewards. It is through these monetary rewards that people can afford to buy nice things like big houses, and fancy cars so that they can have the things they want in life, but also because so they can fit in with a certain group of people. Conformity has become so deeply routed in our society that wanting to exist without it, makes that person an outcast, such as Mr. Deeds. It becomes clearer to understand Cavells thoughts that people dont want to challenge their personal and societal constraints, due to the difficult process. I am reminded of multiple discussions within most philosophy classes I have taken, which simply begin by asking “why are people afraid to think for themselves?”. Again as Cavell and many other philosophers point out, thinking for one self is hard to do, and most people dont like doing hard things. I have to wonder if I am guilty of this same fault in writing this paper, fortunately I do not bear the task of that judgment. Once again I find my self being drawn back to Cavell and Wittgenstien thoughts, that the journey to one finding ones self is a continuous one, as depicted in the first film to be analyzed Now, Voyager.
The film Now, Voyager which was originally marketed as a Hollywood chick flick, and a marketing strategy which Cavell strongly rejects, shows the transformation of a so called ugly duckling in the character of Charlotte into a beautiful swan with the aid of her true dialogue partner Dr. Jaquith. Now certain themes that Cavell identifies within the melodrama of the unknown women genre movies is that the movie takes place over a long period of time, allowing the film to show the main female character go through a change from her crisis state at the beginning of the movie, to her continuous healing state by the end of the movie. The primary female character refuses the traditional views of wanting to be married and have a happy little life. What made this movie so appealing to Cavell was not only the powerful acting, but the infusion of philosophy in Charlottes life by the character Dr. Jaquith. The intervention of philosophy in a persons life as a therapeutic tool rather than a theoretical tradition is what Cavell along with Emerson, Wittgenstein and Nietzche all stand for. Discussed earlier in the definition of moral perfectionism, is that philosophy calls for a reorientation of ones life in response to crisis. It is obvious to see at the beginning of the film Now, Voyager that the character of Charlotte is in crisis. Charlotte due to her mothers overbearing nature has had very few opportunities, if any to experience true dialogue with another human. Any attempt by Charlotte to reach out to be her own person, follow her own childhood dreams had been crushed by her mother. The character of Charlotte represents so much more than just one confused person trying to exist within a family, she represents society and the confusion that most people simply conform to in their daily lives. Cavell continuously points out that conformity crushes peoples child hood dreams and doesnt encourage independent thought of any sort. It is easy to see that the character of Charlotte needs help within the movie, but why it is so hard for individual