Philosophizing through the Moving Image: The Case of "Serene Velocity"

Author(s): Noël Carroll

Source: The Journal of Aesthetics and Art Criticism, Vol. 64, No. 1, Special Issue: Thinking
through Cinema: Film as Philosophy (Winter, 2006), pp. 173-185
Published by: Wiley on behalf of The American Society for Aesthetics
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 NOEL CARROLL

Philosophizing Through the Moving Ima

The Case of Serene Velocity

I. INTRODUCTION
film and television can be deployed to set up
philosophical problems, to raise philosophical
As the culture becomes more and more saturated
questions, to motivate philosophical debates, and
with moving images-via television,tovideo
illustrate and thereby clarify philosophical
cassettes, DVDs, video games, computer positions
games, for students. If for no other reason,
and that old stand-by, theatrical movies--educa-
inasmuch as the moving image is such a fami-
tors understandably attempt to harness moving-
liar feature of the students' environment, teach-
image media for their own aims. They hope to
ers should avail themselves of it as a way of
enlist the seductive potential of the moving imageaccessible the often alien and strange
making
for pedagogical purposes. And this is as preoccupations
true of of philosophy. However, once
philosophers as it is of other educators. Thus we
the moving image is admitted into the precincts
encounter with increasing frequency books with
of philosophy, questions, undoubtedly philo-
titles like Philosophy and where the blank
sophicalisin nature, arise about the extent of what
filled-in with the name of some moving-image art
the moving image and its prodigious genres
form, like "film" or "the movies," or, even more
have to offer the field. Yes, motion pictures
specifically, by the names of particular may
motion
illustrate philosophical positions, and that
picture accomplishments such as Seinfeldcan
(Jerry
be beneficial in the classroom. But can
Seinfeld and Larry David, 1990-1998), The pictures contribute more to philosophy
motion
Simpsons (Matt Groening, 1989-), orthanThe
that?
Sopranos (David Chase, 1999-). In many of
In particular, can motion pictures do philo-
the essays one finds in these volumes, and in the
sophy, or can they only ever illustrate philosophy?
journal Film and Philosophy, individual episodes
It is one thing to provide an example of a pre-
and/or movies are discussed as illustrations of
existing philosophical position that has been
various philosophical problems, dilemmas, and already authored and articulated elsewhere. It is
positions. Perhaps some science-fiction depictionsomething distinctly different to create a philo-
of the world the day after a nuclear holocaust willsophical position. With this difference in mind,
be used to portray the notion of the state of nature. then, could there be a motion picture that we
Or the character Data in Star Trek: The Next would treat as an original piece of philo-
Generation (Gene Roddenberry, 1987-1994) sophizing on a par, for example, with a text by
may be discussed in order to motivate the ques-
Ludwig Wittgenstein? Or are there philo-
tion of whether artificial intelligences couldsophical grounds for suspecting that such an
deserve civil rights. Likewise, a film or TV pro-
achievement is beyond the means of the moving
gram might be employed to sketch the problem of
image? That is our question.
subjectivism in morality. And so forth. In this essay, I will argue that this is a live
Clearly, the moving image can be an educa-possibility, since I hope to establish that there is
tional resource for philosophers. Examples from
at least one film-Serene Velocity (1970) by

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 174 Thinking Through Cinema: Film as Philosophy

Ernie Gehr-that may be said, unequivocally,

showing actors mouthing the classic doctrines
of dead philosophers
to be an example of doing philosophy through onscreen, get some live
philosophers
film.1 I do not think that this is theto present
onlytheir cutting-edge ideas
example. But one example is to the camera: to
enough havequell
Hilary Putnam discourse
skeptical misgivings about about thebrains
possibility
in vats and their implications, or
have Christine
altogether of producing philosophy Korsgaard improvise on the
by means
of the moving image. Furthermore,
Kingdom ofI Ends.
will also
Maybe we could film Arthur
Dantopossibility
discuss the ramifications that the developing new themes
of on the trans-
doing philosophy in film has forfiguration
the thesisof the commonplace
that a while strolling
through a gallery in
film interpretation might be philosophical of nine
theindiscernible red
paintings.
strong sense of being an original Would not
addition toany
theof these prospective
blockbusters-and
fund of philosophical knowledge. a horde of easily imagined
But before
comparablethe
turning to that issue, I must address ones-count
reasonsas instances of motion
pictures
that philosophical skeptics advance that denying,
for propound philosophy, original
on conceptual grounds, that whatphilosophy and not reruns?
we might call
"philosophical motion pictures" are feasible.
My hunch is that the skeptic will not buy these
examples. For though state-of-the-art philo-
sophy may be found in these motion pictures, it
II. SKEPTICAL MISGIVINGS: ROUND 1 has not really been made by means of the art of
the moving image-namely, by means of
Initially, the question of whether a motion
the characteristic expositional devices of the
picture can convey philosophy seemsvarious
like amotion picture genres, including their
no-brainer.2 Of course, motion pictures canrecurrent
deliver visual, audio, and narrative structures.
up philosophy. Roberto Rossellini made Here,a the underlying presupposition is that if we
marvelous series of television programs
are toof
say that a motion picture does philoso-
the lives of various philosophers, including
phy, it must be a case where the art of the
Socrates, Augustine, Pascal, and Marx. Asmotion
actorspicture contributes to the construction of
the philosophy in question. Simply mechan-
declaimed the historic texts of these giants,
there is no doubt that philosophy was being ically recording a talking head, no matter how
pro-
pounded directly on film. However, the skeptic eminent and profound, spouting philosophy, no
with respect to motion picture philosophizing matter ishow unprecedented, will not merit being
unlikely to accept works like Rossellini's called a case of a motion picture creating phi-
or, for that matter, Derek Jarman's film of
losophy. For the philosophy in question is only
Wittgenstein's life, as examples of what awould function of a lecture that happens contingently
count as philosophy on film. For, the skeptic to be housed in a film. The philosophy is not
will argue, philosophy is not so much made articulated
in to any appreciable degree by means
films like this as it is recounted. of the art of the motion picture. Being embodied
That is, the question of whether the motion in moving pictures adds nothing to the articu-
picture can be a vehicle for philosophy is really lation of the philosophy at hand.
a question about whether the moving image can In order, then, to make it as an instance of
produce original philosophy and not just illus- moving-image philosophizing, a specimen must
trate or recount already existing philosophy. develop an original philosophical idea-rather
Can motion pictures do philosophy? Clearly, an than merely illustrate, recount, or record one-
actor dressed up and mustachioed like Rend and it must do so in such a way that the art of
Descartes reciting his Meditations on camera is the moving image plays some role in the articu-
not authoring philosophy firsthand, but merely lation of the philosophical point at issue. Need-
parroting it. less to say, the notion of the art of the moving
Nevertheless, it may seem that Rossellini's image here is a bit hazy. However, perhaps it
films-even if they are not examples of doing can be given some measure of operational
philosophy through film themselves-at least specificity by stipulating that it involves the
indicate for us the way in which motion pictures mobilization of some portion of the arsenal of
might be deployed in order to do so. Instead of expressive strategies of moving-image media

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Carroll Philosophizing Through the Moving Image 175

over and above the mere capacity to record

For, typically, the moving image trades in a
philosophical lectures. single case, and one case is not enough to
warrant
Nevertheless, as soon as we clarify the sort
what of general claims that are the
is at
stake-as we have just done-in stuff
alleging that
of philosophy.
moving pictures might make philosophy,So the skeptictheargues: philosophical know-
skeptic is ready to pounce. For if it is
ledge, likerequired
all knowledge, requires, among other
that the philosophy in question be elaborated
things, by A moving image may be
justified belief.
capable of
means of the art of the moving image, conveying
then the a belief and even of pro-
skeptic will maintain that there are insurmount-
moting a general belief. However, the tendency
able limitations to the art of moving
of the motion images
picture toward particularity, both
such that it is not credible to suppose
in its images
that anditits stories, entails that it is
could ever really contribute to the production
highly unlikely that ofa motion picture could ever
philosophical knowledge. justify any general or universal belief of the sort
to which
The first skeptical objection begins byphilosophy
taking aspires. Consequently, the
art of the
note that the moving image typically motion picture is an implausible
concerns
particulars, whereas philosophy is general.
source G.
of philosophical knowledge.
W. Pabst's Geheimnisse einer Seele [Secrets
Here, it needs toof be said that the skeptic is
a Soul] (1926) was intended to be willing
somethingto makeof one concession: a moving
a primer in psychoanalysis (though
picture,one that
in developing a single-case scenario,
perhaps soft pedals some of may Freud's more
succeed in crafting a counterexample to a
philosophical
"scandalous" claims about sexuality). claim, since one instance can
The script
was developed in consultation withunhorse
thea psycho-
universal proposition. Woody Allen's
Crimes expresses
analyst Hans Sachs and it presumably and Misdemeanors (1989) may con-
ceivably
some of Sachs's own individual take onserve to refute a philosophical thesis of
psycho-
the order
analytic theory. Let us suppose that of "necessarily, crime does not pay"
psychoanal-
ysis is a philosophical system, ororthat at least
"immorality can never co-exist with happi-
ness." Nevertheless,
part of it is. Secrets of a Soul was, formally apart from contriving
counterexamples
speaking, an ambitious, state-of-the-art to universal philosophical
piece of
filmmaking dedicated to putting forth claims, moving
elementspictures, the skeptic contends,
of psychoanalytic theorizing. Psychoanalyticare philosophically incompetent. For in special-
ideas were embodied through advanced motion
izing in the individual case, they are deficient in
picture techniques of editing, composition, the wherewithal andto marshal the weight of evid-
special effects. Focusing on a case
ence study,
required to justify general beliefs.3
Secrets of a Soul illustrates certain But maybe this objection only pertains to
psychoana-
lytic doctrines with cinematic 61an. certain kinds of motion pictures, namely,
However, the doctrines it illustrates are character-focused narratives? Yet this is not the
putatively general; maybe they are even thoughtonly way to promote a general conception cine-
to be universal. Consequently, the skeptic matically; there are alternative ways of making
observes, a film about a single case study, evenmotion pictures. V. I. Pudovkin's Mekhanika
one that exploits the resources of the art of the golovnov mozga [Mechanics of the Brain]
moving image as masterfully as Secrets of a(1926) is a celebration of Pavlovian psycho-
Soul does, could never be imagined to deliverlogy. It envisions the marriage of classical con-
knowledge of the general scope to whichditioning and communism as an avenue to some
philosophy pretends, since it is based on nothingfuture social utopia. Let us assume that it, or, at
more than a single instance. That is, given the least, parts of it, represent an instance of social
supposed particularity of the moving image, itphilosophy. The film does not provide us with
provides insufficient evidence for the allegedly just one example of classical conditioning, but
philosophical, general claims it may appear to many, and of different orders of complexity.
proffer. Due to its chronic lack of the amount ofWould this overcome the skeptic's objection?
evidence that it takes to justify general claims, the Probably not. For many of the "experiments"
moving image, the skeptic surmises, is not ain the film were staged for the camera. They
proper channel for conveying general knowledge.were not documentary footage-traces of

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176 Thinking Through Cinema: Film as Philosophy

actual, unstaged events-but enactments,

employ the arts enact-
of the motion picture to articu-
late someto
ments, moreover, made up in order original
depict conceptual point, it is not
classical conditioning and its clear that the sorts
potentials in ofanskeptical misgivings
exceptionally favorable light.rehearsed
Consequently,
thus far with respect to the recurring
though Mechanics of the Brainlack of evidencemany
provides in motion pictures would have
more cases than one, it is still evidentially
any purchase.
challenged, since the "evidence" has been
Furthermore, I maintain that Serene Velocity
constructed precisely to cast to best
is such effect
a motion the
picture.
general hypothesis the film is advocating. Or, to
put it less charitably, the evidence has been
cooked. Moreover, when one recalls
III. SERENE that
VELOCITY,many
META-CINEMA, AND THE NATURE
of the films that may be said to
OF THE do philosophy
MOVING IMAGE

are fictional-with made-up stories expressly

designed to fit their general Serene
theme-one
Velocity ismay
a film by Ernie Gehr that was
made skeptic
feel compelled to agree with the in 1970. It is an example of what is often
that
much of the evidence in fiction referred
films is to as
notstructural
only film, though I prefer to
call the tainted
statistically insufficient, but arguably relevant genre
(or minimal film because it
skewed) to boot. is aligned with the fine art labeled minimalism
in its
So far the skeptic has maintained (1) pursuit
that moving of reflexivity (2) through
pictures cannot support philosophical
reduction.4 That claims
is, minimal art in general and
minimalist
because typically they are woefully short film
oninthe
particular is reflexive in the
evidence required to substantiatesense that its subject
general asser- matter is the nature of the
tions and, in many cases, the "evidence,"
pertinent art in formtheitself and/or the experiences
form of made-up examples, that the works
they doin possess
question engender. The minimalist
has been concocted in a way that artwork
is is intended to disclose essential features
inherently
defective due to bias. In short,ofmotion
the art form or medium it inhabits, and/or is
pictures
are flawed evidentially. designed to promote apperceptive reflection
This objection is very telling on
inthe partcases
the of the viewer
of with regard to the
phenomenological
Secrets of a Soul and Mechanics of the Brain dimensions of his or her
and the kinds of theories they advertise.
encounter Yetincluding the way the
with the work,
workthat
perhaps the reason here is not one modulates or conditions said experience.
is readily
generalizable to every type of Moreover,
philosophy.the minimalist
For work provokes reflexive
even if we allow that these filmsreflection
are in on itselfphil-
part and/or its associated experi-
ences they
osophical, we must also grant that by employing
are alsohighly reductive or limited
means,
presentations of theories that are such as, in
largely the case of painting, the repeti-
empiri-
cal, scientific theories. The question
tion of a single of the configuration or even
geometrical
evidential base of these films bears
just theprimarily
presentation ofon a single colored shape.5
the empirical claims they make. GivenTheitsobjections
concern with the essential features
the skeptic brings against theseand phenomenology
films hit their of art, the dominant themes
mark so accurately because theof minimalism are clearly
philosophies in philosophical. The
question, supposing that they thinking behind
possess minimalism is indebted to
philo-
sophical dimensions, are also substantive Clement Greenberg, though he himself deplored
psychological theories. the movement. Among other things, minimal-
Yet these problems will not arise where the ism involves the notion of an artwork as a form
philosophical subject matter in question is not of critique. The artwork is thought to be an
empirical, but conceptual. Here, I am not occasion for revealing the conditions of possi-
intending to claim controversially that all bility of the art form or medium of which it is a
philosophy, properly so called, is only a matter member. This view has come to be referred to
of concepts. My argument merely requires that as modernism, and minimalism was arguably
there be a dimension of philosophy that is duly the last gesture of modernism before the advent
regarded as conceptual or, at least, not straight- of postmodernism with its anti-modernist and
forwardly empirical. If a motion picture were to anti-minimalist agenda.

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Carroll Philosophizing Through the Moving Image 177

Participants in the artworld in projector

which beam
mini-
overhead becomes a cone whose
malism thrived-including artists,apex iscurators,
the lens of the projector. Here, since
there is so little
critics, gallery owners, and informed else to attend to other than the
civil-
shape
ians-greeted and assessed the work in of the projector's main of light, the
question
viewer (or, atThat
within a modernist interpretive framework. least, the viewer who is party to
the discourse
is, they composed a community of minimalist language
in game), battening upon
which the artwork was expectedthis to suggest
simplified, legible form streaming above
some comment about the nature of its art form his or her head, supposedly educes or is
or medium and/or to promote some recognitionreminded that the projection and shaping of
of the way in which some typical feature orlight is putatively an essential feature of
strategy of the art form shapes and conditions cinema.7 Indeed, due to their emphasis on the
our experience of it. The reductive vocabulary shape of the hallway, many of the still frame
of the minimalist artwork facilitated getting toenlargements from Serene Velocity, the film
the essence of art and/or the experience thereofthat concerns us, look like minimalist paintings.
by clearing away everything but the most fun- The second leading strategy of minimalist
damental variables. Such works were "mini- filmmaking involves the creation of a highly
mal" in the sense of being honed down to the simplified, readily identified system or proce-
dure whose underlying principle of organization
basic features the artist intended to interrogate.
Minimalism is best known as a movement in can be grasped almost immediately. A good
painting and sculpture, but it also found reso- example of the systemic approach to minimalist
nance in music, dance, and even theater. It was filmmaking is Frampton's (nostalgia) (1971).
also a strong presence in the avant-garde or The film comprises a series of individual photo-
experimental filmworld of the late 1960s and graphs of things like bathroom stalls and left-
early 1970s. Among the practitioners of this over, moldering pasta. Each photo lies on a
tendency were Michael Snow, George Landow slow-burning hot plate and gradually inciner-
(a.k.a. Owen Land), Hollis Frampton, Paul ates before our eyes. Each shot lasts just as long
Sharits, Tony Conrad, Anthony McCall, and as it takes each photo to turn to ash. As each
Ernie Gehr. photograph ignites, we hear on the soundtrack a
Minimalist filmmaking is a form of meta- description of the photo we are about to see.
cinema, producing films about film. Many of The structure or system of the film is con-
these films, in turn, were "minimal" films-- spicuously legible. As we watch the previously
films stripped down to just those elements the described photograph burn, we hear about the
filmmaker thought were minimally required in one we will see next. The effect of the time lag
order for a candidate to count as a film. The between the description and the image is to alert
minimal film, were there such a thing, would, us
in to the categorical difference between verbal
other words, discover the essential cinema. A language and picturing as symbol systems.
film historian might even propose that one of None of the descriptions ever fully prepares us
the preoccupations of this movement was thefor the pictures we subsequently encounter.
quest to make the minimal film, the film that Thus, our attention is called to the incommensu-
would reveal the essence of film. Andyrability of words and images.
Warhol's Empire (1964) may be one example Made in 1971, (nostalgia) was, in context, a
of this tendency; Serene Velocity another.6 cautionary take for the semiotics-crazy 1970s,
Broadly speaking, minimalist films generally a time when film theorists and even some
fall into two major stylistic categories. The first,filmmakers were tempted to regard film as a
which reminds one of gallery minimalism, com- language. (nostalgia) is an intervention in that
prises films that might be said to have a dis- discussion that reflects reflexively on the photo-
cernible geometrical shape. McCall's Line graphic dimension of film in order to under-
Describing a Cone (1973) proposes projected score an essential contrast with language. The
light as a constituent element of cinema. The system of the film-the sequence of word
film begins as an imageless, laserlike shaft offollowed by image-tells the tale of the dis-
light hits the screen and then, over a period of parity between the two, serving to correct even
thirty minutes, the initial dot widens and the the theoretically knowledgeable viewer's

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 178 Thinking Through Cinema: Film as Philosophy

inclination to take seriously locutions like

shape, Serene "the moves from a vibrating pulse
Velocity
language of cinema."8' within an optical depth to an accordion-like slam-
Likewise, Warhol's Empire may bestretching
ming and seen as of the visual field.9
falling into the simplified-procedure category
Generated
of minimal filmmaking since there by a simple decision procedure,
is scarcely
a more austere cinematic modus Sereneoperandi
Velocity produces a series of effects that
conceivable than merely turningwithin
the the context of
camera on the world of structural
and pointing it. Moreover, Empire
filmmakingis meta-
and minimalist art are readily inter-
preted by participants
cinematic, foregrounding the recording dimen- in the language game of
sion of film with a vengeance. structural film as comments on the nature or
essence
Gehr's Serene Velocity weds the twoofstylistic
film. Of these, one of the most
tendencies of minimal filmmaking. important
It hasforbothour purposes
a is the way Gehr
makes the
legible shape and a legible system. It impression
is basedof movement the star of
on a zoom shot of an empty green his film. As Sitney notes, at first, the film seems
institutional
hallway, such as one might find virtually static. One
in a hospital or might imagine that one is
watching
a high school. So the film, as well a succession of slides rather than a
as sometimes
looking like a minimalist painting, has But
motion picture. theas the zoom shots converge
ultimate shape of a straight line in
asconfiguration,
it makes its apparent movement erupts
way through the corridor. However,from the screenit where
is a there was only stillness
earlier.
broken straight line because of the way this
zoom shot is regularly readjusted. The filmis
This functions,
whereamong other things, as an
the systemic aspect comes in. object lesson in the principles of animation.
The filmmaker plays the zoom That lens
is, it reminds
on his us of how animation works
and, by extension, reminds
camera like the slide on a trombone-moving it us that this is the
secret behind
forward and backward at a regular pace.the movement
As a in all films. The

result, the different focal lengths four-frame-shot

of the zoom segments play the role of
shot are juxtaposed at uniform intervals frames; they tolast each
long enough for us to register
other, resulting in different phenomenological them as individual units. Thus, when their jux-
effects. For example, when slightly taposition to other four-frame units bursts into
dissimilar
segments of the zoom shots are tumultuous adjacent movement,
to each the underlying dynam-
other, the screen becomes animated and the ics of the movement in films become visually
hallway appears to give birth to the impression palpable. The title Serene Velocity itself sounds
of movement. like an oblique way of recalling the process that
Here is a canonical description of Serene makes movies move-that is, the movement
Velocity by P. Adams Sitney, the leading chroni- (the velocity) comes from stillness (serenely
cler of the American avant-garde cinema. still pictures).
The juxtaposition of moments of stillness and
The filmmaker positioned his tripod within the moments of movement in Serene Velocity
corridor and then proceeded to alter his zoom lens invites the viewer to reflect on the difference
between photography and cinematography. The
every four frames. At first the shifts are not dramatic.
He alternates four frames at 50mm with four frames difference, of course, as the film vividly demon-
at 55mm. After a considerable period the differential strates, is the possibility of movement.10 Serene
increases: 45mm to 60mm. Thus, the film proceeds Velocity is the type of film that we are wont
with increasing optical shocks. In this system, the to call experimental. In this case, the label is
zoom never "moves." The illusion of movement apposite, since the film functions like a philo-
sophical
comes about from the adjustment of the eye from one thought experiment, except rather than
being
sixth of a second of a distant image to one sixth of a articulated in words, as Danto confects
his thought experiments in articles like "Moving
second of a nearer one. Although the absolute rhythm
Pictures," Gehr has literally realized this experi-
never changes, the film reaches a crescendo because
ment
of the extreme illusion of distance by the end.in living color."
Gehr
Furthermore, Gehr cyclically shifts the degree of has made something that everyone
would
exposure of every frame in the phrases of four. In its be willing to agree belongs under the

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Carroll Philosophizing Through the Moving Image 179

stressed
concept of the motion picture, that in its
if only election of movement as an
mini-
essential
mally, and he has done so in a way that feature of film, Serene Velocity is a
beckons
us to notice the way in which moving
significant pictures
piece of original philosophizing. To
are categorically different frommy still pictures
knowledge, the importance of movement to
the conceptual analysis
such as paintings, slides, and photographs. The of cinema was not
advanced
distinction between motion pictures and andphoto-
defended by means of philoso-
graphs is particularly worthy of note,
phical since itin print until 1979 when
argumentation
was the case in the early 1970s Danto
that published
many film his essay "Moving Pictures,"
whereas Serene
theorists remained disposed to regard Velocity premiered nine years
photogra-
earlier.
phy as the essence of cinema (was that Since
notphilosophical
why theses, like the
it was called film?). Instead, belief
Gehr proposes
in free will, quite often preexist their
movement as an essential feature of cinema,
philosophical articulation in the culture, in
establishing
one that has special pride of place for thewhen a philosophical proposal is
philo-
sophical definition of the mediumoriginal, insofar as to see not just when
we need to look
it signals the very species tothe
which films
idea was first aired, but when it is first made
belong-motion pictures or, as I argumentatively prefer to say, compelling.12
moving images. Moreover, if we allow that the experimental
Within the communicative context of mini- film Serene Velocity is something like the cellu-
malist art, it is more than merely appropriate to loid equivalent or embodiment of the kind of
expect a film like Serene Velocity to suggest thought experiments that philosophers of the
something about the nature of the art form or moving image write up in their treatises, then it
the medium to which it belongs. Clearly, themakes no difference that it articulates a general
film is about movement-movement versus philosophical claim on the basis of a single
stillness. Since it is a film, if only minimally,case-indeed,
it a single case that has been
is more than likely that it is advancing move- expressly constructed to support precisely the
ment as the minimal condition for membership conclusion that movement is an essential
in the art form to which it belongs. Thatdefining is, feature of all motion pictures. For th
given that everyone will agree that it isconclusion
an is conceptual and not empirical and
instance of cinema, then, if we ask ourselves therefore, unscathed by the skeptic's misgiving
what about it leads us to categorize it as cinema
regarding the evidential limitation of movies.
rather than as a succession of still photographs
(after the fashion of an automated slide show),
we will feel compelled to say our assessmentIV.isTHE SKEPTIC RESPONDS
based on the fact that it imparts the impression
of movement. That, I believe, is our only Though Serene Velocity is but a single case, it
recourse. Therefore, movement (or the possibil- may nevertheless disclose to us that the po
ity of movement) is an essential attributesibilityof of movement is a necessary criterion f
what it takes to count as an instance of film. our application of the concept of film. For con
If the preceding paragraph is persuasive, thenceptual analysis does not depend on amassing
it would appear that Serene Velocity is an vast selection of films and then finding thei
instance of philosophizing through moving common feature by way of enumerative induc
images. Its topic, the nature of the motion tion; conceptual analysis logically precedes th
picture, is unquestionably philosophical. Thisempirical
is toting up of the features of film
surely not the only question that a philosopher because before we start counting, we need
may ask of motion pictures, but it is undeniably define what we are counting; we need, for
one of them. Moreover, Serene Velocity pro-
example, a way of sorting films from othe
poses its answer to that question by means of things, like slide shows. This is the role o
the art of the motion picture-by the juxtaposi-conceptual analysis and a single example pr
tion of settings on the zoom lens. Indeed, the fabricated to zero-in on the sine qua non o
film and its argumentative purport is entirely motion
an pictures can direct reason to the corre
affair of visual invention, thoroughly without conclusion. The aptness and comprehensivenes
words, except for the title. It should alsoof
bea candidate induced in this manner is tested

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 180 Thinking Through Cinema: Film as Philosophy

in the laboratory of the mind determining

by a processwhat wouldof count as a fair social
reflective equilibrium againstorder
ourfrombackground
behind a veil of ignorance. Rawls does
not take
of real-world experiences and our weba statistical survey of people's responses
of beliefs.
nor does heanalysis
Inasmuch as philosophy as conceptual propose a deduction
is moving forth
not a simple empirical venture,from first principles
a motion picture in order to obtain his
that qualifies as this type of conclusions.
philosophy He encourages
would us to reflect on a
certain array
not be stigmatized by the putative of circumstances in such a way
evidential
liabilities adduced earlier by the that skeptic.
we will arrive at the intended result on our
But, the skeptic will retort, philosophical
own through a process of reflective equilibrium.
knowledge of the conceptual sort An is
argument
still a need not be spelled out deduc-
matter
of justified belief. It still requires tivelysupport.
or inductivelyInstep
the by step in order to
case of conceptual knowledge,count the as justification
an argument. The thought experiment
of a philosophical claim will come in the form
is an argumentative strategyofthat works by guid-
argument and/or analysis. Serene Velocity
ing the reasoning of themay
listener to the desired
evoke the belief that movement is an essential conclusion ineluctably, rather as the punch line
feature of film in the mind of the viewer. But, theof a joke leads the listener to its interpretation.
skeptic charges, it does not substantiate that view With a thought experiment, the argument, so to
by means of argument and/or analysis. Whereasspeak, transpires in the movement of thought in
previously the skeptic contended that the prob-the reader's mind and not necessarily on the
lem with delivering philosophy through film was page. The thought experiment engages the
the lack of empirical evidence, the charge now isreflective resources of the listener-his or her
that films lack argumentation. This, it might bebeliefs about the world and his or her concep-
added, is especially obvious in the case of Serenetual framework-to come to a result. Like the
Velocity, since, as already observed, it is literallyrhetorical question, the thought experiment is a
silent. Moreover, it might be added that in theway of advancing a conclusion and, correspond-
case where films contain arguments, like the trial ingly, it counts as a philosophical argument,
scene in King Vidor's The Fountainhead (1949), generously construed. If it did not and the
all the argument (and, therefore, all the philo-skeptic's assertion that philosophy requires argu-
sophy) is in the speeches-that is, we may bement is correct, much of what we now count as
back at the problem of the mere recording of philosophy, motivated by argumentative thought
talking heads. experiments, would fall by the wayside.
The preceding objection to the philosophical But if philosophers are entitled to deploy
status of Serene Velocity, however, seems to methought experiments argumentatively in defense
to rest on too narrow a view of what counts as of their conceptual analyses, why should artists,
philosophical argumentation-even at the including minimalist filmmakers, not be
hallowed meetings of the American Philoso- accorded a parallel privilege with respect to
phical Association. For a standard piece of phil- their experiments? Danto imagines a minimal
osophical operating equipment includes the film of the title page of War and Peace to
thought experiment. Moreover, the thought promote his conviction that movement is a
experiment is patently a form of argumentation. necessary condition of film.13 Is what Danto has
This is obviously the case with respect to the done in principle different than what Gehr has
counterexample whose task is to negate philo- done with Serene Velocity?
sophical generalizations. A possible, by our Both have invented minimal films-films
lights, generally fictional (or made-up) case-- pared down to their putatively minimal constit-
say, of a jealous husband asking you where you uents-for the purpose of probing the concept
put his revolver--is enough to undermine the of the motion picture, and both have done so in
universal proposition "Never lie." a way that reveals that the prospect of movement
Thought experiments can also be designed to is the crucial differentiae that separates the film
reach positive philosophical conclusions. John from its near neighbors, such as the photograph.
Rawls asks us to arrive at the fundamental The only difference is that you can project
Gehr's film, but not Danto's. So if descriptions
principles of justice by inviting us to indulge
a thought experiment in which we setof tominimal films can function argumentatively

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Carroll Philosophizing Through the Moving Image 181

or analytically as thought experimentsAnd again, that philosophers in the thick

illuminate the conceptual structure sophical
of motion discussion constantly trade
pictures, then there seems no reasonexperiments
to deny without pedantically spel
that actual experimental films may their operate
thrust to others
in in the know. It is the
the same way. Parity of reasoning requires
thought no
experiment that does the philosophical
less. Thought-experimental films work,and actual
that moves the mind of the prepared
experimental films ought to be onlistener,
a par and not the accompanying exegesis.
here.14
One objection that the skeptic isIndeed,
apt most often, the prepared listener may
to voice
haveexperiment,
is that with a philosophical thought no need for the exegesis.
we know what its objective is. ButThe who skeptic should not mistake the accom-
seeing
panying
Serene Velocity has any idea of what Gehr exegesis for the argument. It is the
is up
to? However, the anticipated answer to this
thought rhe-that constitutes the argu-
experiment
torical question is not accurate. Though
ment, not the it prosaic
may explanation of the thought
experiment.
be true that most average filmgoers, accustomed The skeptic must not confuse a
exclusively to the mainstream, narrative
predilection forcom-explicitness for argumentation.
Moreover,
mercial cinema, were at a loss viewing the skeptic should also remember
Serene
Velocity, those who followed thethat conversation
a taste for explicitness over implicitness
of avant-garde, experimental film marks
knew a difference
right in philosophical style and
not the
out of the gate, so to say, what was at distinction
stake inbetween philosophy and
something
Serene Velocity. The situation would appear else that
to is supposedly not philo-
sophy.
be no different than what frequently Consequently,
occurs after it is not a failure of
Serene
a philosophy presentation. Someone Velocity that
imagines a it leaves implicit its rele-
case without announcing its pointvance toahead of
the philosophical discussion to which
time; and everyone familiar with itthe context
belongs, ofexperiment that Gehr has
since the
invented is enough
the debate sees its putative significance, sansto move the mind of the
prefatory remarks. Conversants prepared
who know viewer tothe
the recognition of movement
as an
conceptual lay of the land have no essential
need of feature
an of film.
advance road map; they know where Therefore,
they are. since the actual is possible and
Ditto participants in the experimental
since there is film-
at least one actual case of philo-
world. We would not deny the aforesaid argu-the motion picture, namely,
sophizing through
Gehr's Serene
mentative exchange was philosophical Velocity, the option of full-
because
outsiders, not party to the context blooded,
of the discus-
genuinely philosophical moving-
sion, would be apt to be mystified. Nor
image should
artworks is a live one.1 Furthermore, a
minimal
we deny that prepared viewers were film does
unaware of not argue for an essential
the point that Gehr was making feature
in theofway film hesimply by possessing one. It
made Serene Velocity. must make the feature salient, as, arguably,
The skeptic regarding the philosophical
Serene Velocity does with respect to movement.
status of Serene Velocity may also allege that
when it comes to genuine philosophical thought
experiments, there is always an elucidation of
V. THE POSSIBILITY OF INTERPRETATION
AS PHILOSOPHY
its implications. However, there is no such
accompanying explanation with Serene Velo-
Perhaps
city; it is, after all, mute. But, again, some motion pictures are philosoph
the skeptic's
in the robust sense discussed above. That still
generalizations concerning thought experimen-
leaves open
tation here are too hasty. Wittgenstein the question of whether interpreta-
posed
thought experiments whose precise tionsramifica-
of motion pictures can ever be authentically
tions were unstated; he left themphilosophical
to be worked in their own right.16 Again, this
would require
out in the minds of the audience. But they were that the interpretation not be the
discovery in
no less thought experiments for being less than a film of an already existing philo-
sophical idea other
user-friendly. Nor were they something that is merely being recycled in cine-
than philosophy because they were matic
notgarb. The interpretation itself would have
perspic-
uously transparent. to be a contribution to philosophical knowledge

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182 Thinking Through Cinema: Film as Philosophy

There are philosophical

while, at the same time, being a legitimate inter- insights in the play,
butquestion.
pretation of the motion picture in they are often elliptical and the interpreter
needs
Finding Friedrich Nietzsche's to complete
myth of the them. And that involves
eternal return embedded in Groundhog Day theses philosophically
expanding on Pirandello's
(Harold Ramis, 1993), however interesting andmake them more intelligi-
in ways that not only
ble, terms
rewarding, is not philosophical in but that enhance
of cre- the likelihood of their truth.
ating original philosophy. Interpretively iso-through the voice of the
For example, Pirandello,
lating the preexisting philosophy illustrated
Father, in or philosophical part of
in the "outside"
the play, says that
film is not a matter of doing philosophy, any stage characters have "more
more than identifying various social
life than policy
people who breathe and wear clothes."
recommendations as illustrated in a film like
Here, the interpreter needs to gloss what
Sergei Eisenstein's The General Line (1929)Pirandello
is could mean by "life" here. Where the
interpreter helps Pirandello out by finding an
itself an example of social planning. Further-
interpretation of his highly suggestive, intrigu-
more, since much of the interpreting of film done
ing, but somewhat obscure observation that is
by philosophers nowadays involves claiming that
philosophically
this or that film illustrates this or that philosophy, true-such as that fictional
most of it cannot be taken to be motion picture characters are more vivid because they are more
interpretation qua philosophy. But might thereunified
be in that they are tailored expressly for the
an interpretation of a motion picture artwork that stories in which they are found-the interpreter
would be worthy of the sobriquet "philosophy"? is obviously doing philosophy. That is, both
Of course, answering that question will Piranadello and the interpreter are cooperating in
depend on how one parses philosophy. If you discovering a philosophical insight; Pirandello
hail from a Hegelian tradition in which tracking by initiating the thought, albeit imperfectly, and
the state of society in terms of the play of dia- the interpreter by fleshing it out.
lectical forces is philosophical, then interpreting In such instances, the case is strictly analogous
the interaction and mutation of such factors as to that of the historian of philosophy who in
manifested in a motion picture will count as reconstructing the arguments of a past master
philosophy. However, this view of philosophy fills them out in ways that go beyond the letter of
is at least controversial, since many would con- text but arguably not beyond its spirit. For
tend that it does not sufficiently differentiate instance, identifying and supplying the premises
philosophy from social criticism. an Immanuel Kant or a G. W. Leibniz neglected
Perhaps a less contentious view of philo- to articulate in an argument in order to make
sophy is that conceptual analysis is at least an the argument go through, or clarifying a concept
important part of philosophy, even if philo- that a Plato left ambiguous in a way that puts his
sophy tout court involves more than just con- theory back in the game, are all examples of ways
ceptual analysis. If this is granted, then perhaps historians of philosophy are typically engaged in
we can get a leg up on answering our question doing philosophy firsthand.17 Completing the
by investigating whether a film interpretation underdeveloped or obscure philosophizing in the
can ever contribute to conceptual analysis. course of interpreting a text like Six Characters
It seems clear that interpreting certain art- would appear clearly to be in the same ballpark.
works-especially philosophical artworks-- If interpreting a play such as Six Characters
may require philosophizing on the part of the can be philosophical, then it is very likely that
interpreter. Luigi Pirandello's Six Characters in interpreting a moving-image artwork can be as
Search of an Author explores the categorical well. Let us return to the case of Serene Veloc-
differences between fictional characters and ity. Let us agree that it is a celluloid counterpart
to a philosophical thought experiment designed
real people, a very unique topic of philosophical
concern for the period in which the play wasto advance the conceptual point that an essential
feature of film is movement. I think that
written. Because of the originality of the subject
everyone will agree that Serene Velocity calls
for its time, Pirandello gets at some very inter-
esting distinctions but in language that isfor an interpretation; it hardly wears its meaning
perhaps predictably somewhat obscure and not on its sleeve for the ordinary viewer. I think
fully worked out. that it is a fair conjecture-well warranted

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Carroll Philosophizing Through the Moving Image 183

hermeneutically-that Gehr intends Serene

who recasts certain theses of Baruch Spinoza in
Velocity to provoke the philosophical
a way thatinsight
illuminates contemporary debates
about materialism.
that movement is a necessary condition of film. When a historian of philo-
However, just as the historian ofsophy amplifies or clarifies his or her subject's
philosophy
may amplify or trim the arguments position, orand/or
teases out implications of a text that
were never
analyses of an earlier thinker in such a way madethat
explicit in the first go-around,
they segue with contemporary preoccupations
and the historian proceeds hermeneutically with
and discoveries, so the interpreter of Serene
the commitment to render the pertinent philoso-
Velocity may attempt to limn the philosophical
phy true, the historian of philosophy is himself
significance of the film for current debates
or herself doingin a
philosophy, albeit in concert
way that, while consistent with andwith constrained
the original author. Similarly, when in the
by Gehr's intentions, goes somewhat beyondthe significance of a mov-
course of unraveling
them. Gehr most probably regarded ing picture,Serene
one clarifies, qualifies, or expands
on the
Velocity as a meditation on the nature artwork For
offilm. in ways that improve upon,
him, cinema was film; the motion picture
while was with, the philosophical
being conciliant
celluloid based. Since 1970, the proliferation
position toward which of the auteur was reaching,
the exegete
different technologies for producing moving is himself or herself producing
philosophy.to grow.
images, however, has grown and continues
I have argued
Now it is possible to make movies without that Serene Velocity is an
film;
example of philosophizing through the moving
the prospect of completely computer-generated
image.
moving pictures is in the offing. In thisSpecifically,
context, it is a piece of conceptual
analysis to the
film is coming to be regarded theoretically as effect
just that movement is a
the inaugural medium of the many media
necessary that
condition of film. Likewise, an inter-
pretation of image.
now comprise the art form of the moving the significance of Serene Velocity
Given these circumstances, it ismaypossible
also involvetoa contribution to philosophy
elucidate the significance of Serene Velocity
by refining and adjusting in philosophically
more broadly than Gehr and his informed pertinent respectscon-
the conceptual analysis implicit
temporaries would have. Where they in Serene Velocity-for
would have example, by qualifying
regarded Serene Velocity as a demonstration of a hypothesis by noting
Gehr's original, analytical
necessary condition of (celluloid-based) film,
that it is not movementwesimpliciter, but only the
may now interpret it as heralding the technical possibility of movement, that is the
proposition
that film itself belongs to a larger conditioncategory,
that Gehr is after, and by noting that
namely, the moving image, whoseGehr's finding has larger
members, by implications than he
definition, possess the technical might possibility
have thought:ofhe did not merely identify a
imparting the impression of movement, necessary condition
as high- of the film medium, but
lighted by Serene Velocity. But infound doing an essential,
this,defining
we feature of the larger
are making a philosophical move art thatform Gehr
of which was
film is but a part. In extend-
not yet prepared to make, even though ing, modifying,
it isand notdeveloping Gehr's original
inconsistent with what he probably intended.
insights in these waysByin an effort to account for
making such a philosophical move thein our inter-
significance of Serene Velocity in the most
pretation, we are obviously doing philosophy.
philosophically compelling way, the interpreter
We are going beyond the authorial meaning
does philosophy by fine-tuning the conceptual
of the film for the sake of plumbing broader
analysis Gehr initiated.
philosophical implications of the film than the
inventor of the experiment ever knew.
Insofar as our explanation of the VI. significance
SUMMARY

of Serene Velocity is guided by the commitment

to discover what it can be elucidated to reveal of The primary aim of this essay has been to es
the truth about the nature of the moving image lish that some moving-image artworks can
in relation to film, our interpretation should philosophical in the robust sense of "do
count as doing philosophy in the same vein as philosophy." I attempted to defend this possibi
the contribution to philosophy of the historian by producing an actual example of a mot

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184 Thinking Through Cinema: Film as Philosophy

picture that meets the stringent1. standards

The present essayfor
represents a retreat from the posi-
tion I have defended previously. In earlier essays I was
philosophy set by those skeptical about the
more skeptical about the prospects for theoretical or
prospects of philosophizing through the moving
philosophical filmmaking, especially with reference to the
image. My strategy was to defeat their
avant-garde claims
tradition. I now agree that it may be possible to
that motion picture philosophyconstruct
is impossible by that make original, positive
avant-garde films
demonstrating that in at least contributions
one case,tothat philosophy.
of I still do not believe-for the
reasons expressed in my earlier work-that there are as
Serene Velocity, it has already been done. What
many of these works as some commentators on the avant-
is actual is not impossible. It is not
garde my
appear view that
to believe, but now I concede that there may
Serene Velocity is the only examplebe some,of this
whereas sort;
earlier I was more skeptical. I should also
but one example suffices to defeat add that
themy skeptic.'8
previous skepticism pertained to avant-garde
motion pictures. Even then I agreed that there might be
I have also employed the same strategy to
more prosaically structured motion pictures with theoretical
argue for the possibility that some interpreta-
credentials such as John Berger's TV program Ways of See-
tions of moving-image artworks
ing. Forare philoso-
my earlier views, see Noel Carroll, "Avant-Garde
phical in the sense of being original Film and Film Theory," in my Theorizing the Moving Image
contributions to the corpus of philosophical(Cambridge University Press, 1996); "Avant-Garde Art and
the Problem of Theory," The Journal ofAesthetic Education
knowledge. Again, I have argued this on the29 (1995): 1-13.
basis of an actual example-an interpretation of 2. One source of the kind of skeptical misgivings cited
Serene Velocity that qualifies and expands on
in this article is Bruce Russell, "The Philosophical Limits of
the conceptual analysis launched by Gehr'sFilm," in Special Interest Edition on the Films of Woody
Allen, Film and Philosophy (2000): 163-167.
experiment. Of course, I do not think that this is
3. Ibid.
the only case of an interpretation of a moving- 4. For more on this terminology, see Noel Carroll, "Film
image artwork that counts as philosophy, but in the Age of Postmodernism," in Interpreting the Moving
one example is enough to defend my claim. Image (Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 1998).
Though I have argued for the possibility of 5. Sometimes, the images in Serene Velocity resemble
such paintings.
philosophizing through moving-image artworks 6. Perhaps Warhol's Empire can be seen as correlated
and through interpretations thereof, I should addto one of the most enduring views of film-that it is essen-
that I do not think that either of these possibilities
tially photographic recording.
obtain that often. It is my intuition that authentic 7. Undoubtedly, the salience of the projector beam was
enhanced in the days when minimalist film reigned, since
cases are rare. I sympathize with the skeptic who
most of the people in the screening room at the time were
suspects that most of what passes for philosophy likely to be smoking.
in film is the illustration of preexisting philo- 8. Frampton also broaches this theme is his Poetic
sophical views decanted by interpretations that Justice (1972). A film of a shooting script, it ingeniously
locate their sources. I have not done any statis- and humorously underscores the distance between the page
and the screen, between reading and seeing simpliciter.
tical research to prove this, but it is my impres-
9. P. Adams Sitney, Visionary Film (New York: Oxford
sion after years of reading the relevant literature.University Press, 1979), p. 438.
Lastly, I have relied on the experimental 10. Perhaps the film only suggests that movement is the
cinema to build my argument. I do not believerelevant differentiae here. However, as we reflect philo-
that this is the only place where one can find sophically on the relevant difference in this vicinity, I think
we should qualify this in terms of the technical possibility of
philosophizing through the moving image. It
movement, since there can be films that do not impart the
may occur in the mainstream narrative cinemaimpression of movement at all. I comment on the signifi-
and interpretations thereof as well. However, cance of this interpretive expansion on Gehr's proposal in
the modernist avant-garde is a natural place tothe last paragraph of Section V of this essay. For more on
films that do not impart the impression of movement, see my
look for the phenomenon, since it has declared
"Defining the Moving Image," in Theorizing the Moving
the reflexive interrogation of its own nature-Image.
a philosophical project if there ever was one- 11. Arthur Danto, "Moving Pictures," Quarterly Review
to be its mission.19 of Film Studies 4 (1979): 1-21.
12. Of course, earlier film theorists and even ordinary
folk had observed the relevance of movement to film prior
NOEL CARROLL
to Gehr and Danto. In his 1934 article "Motion," Rudolf
Department of Philosophy Arnheim invokes movement in the course of making certain
Temple University medium-specificity recommendations. He writes: "Motion
Philadelphia, PA 19122 being one of its outstanding properties, the film is required
USA by aesthetic law to use and interpret motion," in Film as Art

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Carroll Philosophizing Through the Moving Image 185

(London: Faber and Faber, 1958), p. 150. slide My of a shelfabove

point of artist's
is materials accompanied by a tape
simply that Danto's is the first full-dress, describing the contents
technical, philo- of the shelf. As different objects on
sophical defense of the notion that movement the shelf are mentioned,
is the defining our eyes search them out. The only
feature of cinema and that Gehr's proposalmovement of this involved
hypothe- is the movement of our eyes. This
sis predates Danto's. arrangement seems to be Snow's way of suggesting that this
13. Ibid. is enough to make for a movie. However, I would argue that
14. Let me take this opportunity to emphasize the waythis
I "film" is not a film at all; to be a film, properly so
think that the manner in which Serene Velocity leads called,
the requires the literal possibility of movement. Snow's
viewer's thinking to a philosophical point is different from embodied
the thought experiment, were it embraced, would
manner in which Errol Morris's Fast, Cheap, and Out of Con- turn family albums into cineplexes. Therefore, not all meta-
cinematic experiments are destined to succeed.
trol (1997) does so. Morris's film presents examples of robotic
engineering and the social organization of mole rats where the 16. The question of whether interpretations of motion pic-
massive parallel processing of dumb activities yields what tures can be philosophical is raised in Thomas Wartenberg,
appears to be intelligent behavior. The thoughtful viewer "Interpreting Films Philosophically," Film and Philosophy 5
(2002): 164-171.
might find himself or herself contemplating the possibility that
human behavior, however apparently intelligent, might also be17. The historian of philosophy who first pointed out that
Charles Darwin's theory challenged the teleological argu-
generated in this way. That is, Morris's film may tentatively
ment for God's existence was himnself/herself doing original
intimate something like a connectionist approach to the mind.
philosophy, since this was not an implication that Darwin
But it does not argue for it. It is my contention that Serene
Velocity, understood as the celluloid equivalent of a thought
himself explicitly drew from his theory in his writing.
experiment, is an argument for a certain conception concern- 18. See also my "The Wheel of Virtue: Art, Literature
ing the essential or minimal conditions of its medium. and Moral Knowledge," in The Journal of Aesthetics and
15. One skeptical argument against my assertion of the Art Criticism 60 (2002): 3-26, and my introductions to the
minimal film as a form of philosophizing might be this: last two sections of Philosophy of Film and Motion
these cases are hardly interesting cases of making philoso-
Pictures: An Anthology, ed. NoUl Carroll and Jinhee Choi
phy through film, since they cannot fail. Making a philo-(Oxford: Blackwell Publishers, 2005). As well, Tom
sophical contribution is an achievement. But one cannot fail
Wartenberg explores the idea of films as thought experiments
to make a film that marks some condition of film. For as in his "Philosophy Screened: Experiencing The Matrix,"
long as it is a film, it will exemplify the conditions of film. Midwest Studies in Philosophy 27 (2003): 139-152.
If this is philosophy, it is the philosophical analog of shoot- 19. I would like to express my gratitude to Sally Banes,
ing fish in a barrel. Annette Michelson, Murray Smith, and Tom Wartenberg
However, it is not true that every attempt at making a for their comments on an earlier version of this essay.
minimal film will succeed. Michael Snow's A Casing They, of course, are not responsible for the defects in this
Shelved (1970) is, I think, an attempt at meta-cinema. It is a essay; I am.

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