Stanley Kubrick And Philosophy

9/6/23. And so on to a new blog. This one is going to be about the philosophy in Kubrick's movies. So an exploration of both the films of Kubrick and philosophical ideas. Now that philosophy appears to be becoming a new critical and analytical approach to movies perhaps this is a good time to do this.

10/7/23. So a start has been made. I have a DVD in the excellent Masters of Cinema series, of Kubrick's first feature length film, Fear and Desire which includes three short documentary films so I watched those yesterday. They sprang out of his work as a photo-journalist for Look magazine. The first one was Day of the Fight a twelve minute film following boxer Walter Cartier as he prepares for his fight that same evening. The second is a short of eight minutes called Flying Padre in which Kubrick follows a padre ministering to his flock over such a large space of desert in New Mexico that he needs a small private aeroplane to do it. Then the third The Seafarers, at half an hour easily the longest of the three is essentially a promo film for the Seafarers International Union. I enjoyed all three so a fitting appetiser for the feature length pleasures to come.

12/7/23. Fear and Desire(1953).

So onto the first narrative feature film of Kubrick's career made when he was in his early twenties. Made on a very small budget independently, so a small cast and a small crew and just over an hour long. It's a war film, a genre Kubrick would return to regularly, about four soldiers stuck behind enemy lines in a deliberately unspecified war. My intention with this blog is to look at Kubrick's oeuvre in conjunction with reading a book called 'The Philosophy of Stanley Kubrick' and examine philosophical ideas explored in Kubrick's films. The essay for this film talks mainly about the existential aspects of the story so a chance for me to do some background reading on existentialism and its proponents such as Sartre, Camus and Kierkegaard. War films of course lends themselves to themes of an existential nature with the proximity of death and questioning of the meaning or meaninglessness of life being so central and the four main characters all experience those things in this film and I am sure I will be coming back to existentialism throughout this blog as I think it will be a recurring thing in Kubrick's work. But existentialism aside some more general comments on this debut movie from Stanley. It feels like a debut film of a young and promising director. Kubrick himself thought it pretentious and I would go along with that. But it is always interesting and it's a film I would happily watch again.

12/7/23. Killer's Kiss.

The chapter on Killer's Kiss in 'The Philosophy of Stanley Kubrick' actually has little to say on this film. The philosophical ideas the chapter explores are not really incorporated into a study of Killer's Kiss but concentrate more on three of Kubrick's later more revered films, namely 2001, A Clockwork Orange and Eyes Wide Shut. The chapter did introduce me to a couple of new philosophical ideas in the shape of phenomenology or the philosophy of lived experience and somatic philosophy or the notion that our bodies are our primary source of experience of being alive. It's possible I may come back to one or more of these things at some point but for now a few lines about Killer's Kiss. This is essentially Kubrick doing a film noir with a story about a boxer and a taxi dancer attempting to develop a relationship while embroiled with some criminal elements. Like the characters in Fear and Desire one could say they are in an existential struggle to find some meaning in their lives. Like his first film the critics at the time and even retrospectively seem to agree that Kubrick's second film was likewise evidence of a new talent with a 'good eye' emerging in a film which in part is poorly acted. I wouldn't disagree with that.

17/7/23. The Killing.

The chapter on 'The Killing' in the book 'The Philosophy of Stanley Kubrick' is subheaded Fate, Morality and Meaningful Life in The Killing and throw in a bit of Stoicism and there you have it. This film had the biggest budget so far of Kubrick's early films some of it provided by a major Hollywood studio in the form of United Artists. He also had a serious producer in James B Harris and the film benefits from all that. It looks much more polished than the previous two. Also Kubrick was able to get the services of some much better actors such as Sterling Hayden, Jay C Flippen and Elisha Cook junior so it's better acted. The story is a noirish tale of a heist gone wrong. All the protagonists are looking to the money gained from the robbery at a racetrack to solve the various problems besetting their lives. But fate and human frailty step in to thwart the carefully planned robbery with the arrogance of Sterling Hayden's mastermind, the infidelity of a dissatisfied wife, the paranoia of the aforementioned's husband all leading to the killing of all the protagonists barring Johnny the mastermind whose getaway is foiled by a dog and a faulty suitcase. Really enjoyed this film.

20/7/23: Paths of Glory.

Kubrick returns to the war film genre he started his career off with. In this one the war is specified as the First World War. For the first time Kubrick has a bona fide Hollywood star as his lead in the shape of Kirk Douglas. So a bigger budget again. A career gaining momentum. In the book The Philosophy of Stanley Kubrick the chapter looks at the film from an existential point of view again and in particular in relation to authenticity and inauthenticity insofar as they relate to existentialism. These concepts are related, I think, to the notion that given our being 'thrown into the world' and our inevitable mortality the best way to lives is to decide our own moral framework and live according to it. The chapter goes on to compare the Kirk Douglas character Colonel Dax to the George Macready character General Mireau. Dax acts in an authentic way because he is true to his soldierly principles and defends the men under his command when they are court martialled for cowardice by what appears to be a rigged court and are eventually executed for said crime. Mireau on the other hand has engineered the whole thing to further his own career. But here's my question: If Mireau's moral code is pragmatism and disregard for others in his progress through his life is he not in his own way, whether you are appalled by it or not, being true to himself or authentic. Just a thought to consider. Can someone selfish or amoral still be authentic. And are we just doing the good guys and bad guys thing we like in our narratives.

25/7/23: Spartacus.

Spartacus is one of those lengthy historical epics that Hollywood used to churn out in the 50s and 60s to counter the threat television had become in the need for an audience. People were staying home and watching TV so Hollywood's response, or one of them, was scale and spectacle. Kubrick was largely a hired hand on this one being hired by executive producer Kirk Douglas after he had fired original director Anthony Mann. Kubrick has always thus downplayed the idea of this as a Kubrick auteurist film. Having said that many film critics regard this as one of the more interesting of these epics. As far as philosophy goes I found most interest to be found in the political philosophy aspect of the film especially in the clash between the political ideas of the two senators played by Laurence Olivier and Charles Laughton. Crassus (Olivier) is an ideologue and like many ideologues leans towards authoritarianism which is very much his direction of travel the further we get into the film. Gracchus (Laughton) is a wily scheming pragmatist who is more likely to bend whichever way the wind is blowing. It is the ideologue who wins, at least in the short term, as is so often the case. This is an entertaining film with lots to engage the audience in which at over three hours in length it needs to do.

27/7/23: This was the first time I have seen Lolita so going to skip the philosophical aspects of the film to give my initial feelings and reaction to it. It took me a little while to get into this film but this is often the case for me for some Kubrick films the first time I see them but Kubrick is so good at the form, so technically good that that in itself can hold the attention until one warms to the characters. And with Lolita of course the subject matter is tricky. It is after all about two middle aged men having sexual relationships with a 12 year old girl. But that is not overt in the film. There were a few times during the film where I asked myself 'does that line mean Lolita has had sex with Humbert/Quilty and the casting of 14 year old Sue Lyon as Lolita did have me wondering at times as to how old Lolita is supposed to be. All that aside James Mason is excellent as the sexually obsessed Humbert Humbert. Peter Sellers is on hand to scene steal as the devious Clare Quilty and Kubrick gives him plenty of opportunity to show off his gift for mimicry. Kubrick is starting to hit top speed now and some masterpieces are just around the corner.

04/08/23: Dr Strangelove.

This is a Kubrick film I have seen before. In fact of the films left to watch I have seen them all. So know them all to varying degrees. Dr Strangelove is an anti war film from the 60s and the Cold War period. The reader on Kubrick and philosophy I am reading in conjunction with watching these films lumps this film with Fear and Desire and thus there is much discussion around existentialism, Sartre and Camus and the meaninglessness and absurdity of human existence. Plenty of absurdism with this film in its dark comedy of nuclear annihilation. There is madness here in many of the characters including the Sterling Hayden character General Jack D Ripper who initiates the narrative of the film by putting into action a nuclear attack on Russia. The rest of the film could be seen as a series of conversations between mad men and less mad men or being kinder rationally and irrationaly minded men. Peter Sellers plays two of the more rationally minded men who try to find a way to reverse the calamity that has just been released in the shape of the US President and a group Captain who tries valiantly but unsuccessfully to get a code from Ripper to reverse the impending catastrophe. Sellers also plays the titular character of the film Dr Strangelove a mad nazi scientist nostalgic for his Fuhrer. It all ends with a bang and Vera Lynn and is for many Kubrick's first masterpiece.

07/08/23. 2001. A Space Odyssey.

2001 is a film that frequently appears on best ever films lists. It is a film I have seen many times and along with The Shining is one of my two favourite Kubrick films. That of course may change as I go through my Kubrick retrospective. Not that I'm saying l am about to fall out of love with the two films mentioned but that sometimes rewatching films can deepen an appreciation of it. I am also finding as I do this Kubrick retro blog I am enjoying the background reading. Must admit some of the ideas in the Philosophy of Stanley Kubrick book I struggle with. For the chapter on 2001 there is a lot about Nietzsche and the evolutionary trajectory of humankind. In some ways 2001 was ahead of its time as it addresses a current concern about machines, computers, AI superseding humans particularly in the narrative strand about HAL the on board computer running the Jupiter mission who is disconnected by astronaut Dave after Hal kills the other crew members. The disconnection of Hal is like a death scene as Hal's voice slowly fades and one begins to feel sorry for him. Mortality is also a theme of the film and a theme I picked up on more readily as the 68 year old I am now than the teenager I was when I first saw it. Still think this is a great film.

11/08/23: A Clockwork Orange.

For some reason 'A Clockwork Orange' does not get a chapter to itself in The Philosophy of Stanley Kubrick book so for this entry I'm going to look at a couple of philosophically related topics raised in the film. Firstly it seems to me the central thrust of the film is looking at the idea of how society deals with people who disrupt it in some way, in this particular instance violent behaviour towards others. In A Clockwork Orange central character Alex (Malcolm McDowell) spends his evenings perpetrating ultra violence and rape. One evening he murders a woman whose house he has broken into and goes to prison. Two years into his sentence he volunteers to take part in a government sponsored trial to prevent crime by use of aversion therapy. So basically Alex is shown lots of images of violence whilst being given things to make him feel ill. So we are forced to ask ourselves whether this is desirable and what happens to free will. Do we like Alex more or alternatively dislike him less after he has had his aversion therapy. Difficult to say given that Malcolm McDowell gives the 'bad' Alex a cocky likeable charm in the early scenes whilst wreaking his violence upon people. And we do feel some sympathy for him in the latter part of the film when the people he has injured take their revenge upon him and inflict their vengeful violence upon Alex. I did wonder as I watched these scenes if Kubrick was using Buddhist ideas of karma as a theme for the film.

14/08/23: Barry Lyndon.

So let's start with a quote for this one.

"It was in the reign of George III that the

aforesaid personages lived and quarrelled;

good or bad, handsome or ugly, rich or

poor, they are all equal now".

And so ends the tale of Barry Lyndon, with this epilogue. A tale of fictional historic characters from the second half of the 18th century. Based on a picaresque novel by Thackeray this tale of an Irish adventurer is at three hours Kubrick's longest film and its intermission serves to punctuate the rise and fall of aforementioned Barry Lyndon. And what the epilogue seems to do to my thinking is to sum up the futility and absurdity of life as we are made aware that all the scheming and arguing of the characters as they chase their dreams and ambitions end in the graveyard. Barry chases his ambition for money and societal position determinedly and ruthlessly, along the way marrying someone who he thinks can give him those things and ultimately loses not only a leg through amputation but also the only person he loves in the shape of his young son. All the while much of the events are being foretold by a detached slightly cynical narrator (voiced by a brilliant Michael Hordern) lending the film a fatalistic attitude that also emotionally distances we, the viewers, from the events that are occurring on screen. Kubrick uses that impassive face of Ryan O'Neal to further the emotional distancing. Some consider this Kubrick's best film. They might have a point.

16/08/23: The Shining.

The Shining has always been one of my two favourite Kubrick films (along with 2001). It is the most entertaining in my view helped much by having a genuinely charismatic movie star in it's central role. The great Jack Nicholson here at his most charismatic. My reading of the film is that Kubrick uses the horror genre to ground a tale of a man who in an isolated situation is unable to cope with some unpleasant truths about weaknesses in his character and transfers the blame onto his wife and young son. Jack Torrance (Nicholson) has taken a job at an isolated hotel at The Overlook Hotel in the Colorado mountains. He says and thinks it will give him the time and quiet to do some writing. But no writing gets done by Jack and he puts the blame onto wife Wendy and son Danny. And this being a horror movie of the haunted house variety Jack seems to become possessed and he turns violent and murderous. There has been lots written about this film and whether or not it works as a horror film. For me this does not matter. And Kubrick may be out more to unsettle people than to scare them. The thing I have always found with genre films be they horror, Western, Gangster, detective movie etc they all have strong conventions and tropes in them to anchor the audience and then a clever director can subvert or play around with those tropes and conventions to say or show something they want to. And I think this is what Kubrick is doing in this film.

19/08/23: Full Metal Jacket.

Order, chaos, Nietzsche and Flux Metaphysics are some of the things mentioned in the chapter on Full Metal Jacket in 'The Philosophy of Stanley Kubrick' book. Order, in this instance being represented by the first half of the film set in the Marines training camp and chaos represented by the Vietnam War to which the newly trained marines are sent. The difficulty I've had with this film in the past is that I've found the first half of the film so magnetic, due mainly to the charismatic performance of R Lee Ermey that it has overshadowed the second half of the film. Same again to a certain extent though I did find the last part of the film, where the squad are being picked of by a solitary sniper and their efforts to find and overcome said sniper, to be suspenseful and engrossing. As for flux metaphysics I think this is the idea of everything being in a state of flux. Nothing stays the same, everything is constantly changing and chaos may be the natural state of things with entropy built in and we humans deal with that by trying to impose some sense of order on things. Certainly the order that Sgt. Hartman tries to impose on his young trainees backfires as it sends one of them, Private Pyle, mad and murderous as he shoots Hartman on their last night in the training camp. Perhaps the trainees are getting an aperitif of madness before embarking on the full on madness of war.

20/08/23: Eyes Wide Shut.

And so to Kubrick's final movie released in 1999 not that long after his passing away. As far as I can remember I have only seen this film once before when it first came out. Watching again nearly 25 years older has been interesting. It's essentially a film about marriage, sex, desire, consumerism, complacency and ultimately renewal if you are one of those who consider the film optimistic about human relationships. The plot is built around the marriage of Bill and Alice Harland which seems at first to be happy until Alice confesses to an incident where she felt a sexual attraction to another man which shakes Bill's world and he goes off into the nighttime city where he experiences various sexual temptations he resists and which lead him into possibly being in danger from some powerful people whose masked orgy he has gate crashed. There is also a confession of an erotic dream by Alice which further jeopardises the long term security of her marriage to Bill. So is there a guilty party here and if so is it Alice for fancying another man that she doesn't actually have sex with or is it Bill who in response goes out in search of sexual adventures then does no act upon them. At the end, whilst out Xmas shopping with their young daughter, they decide to learn from their sex dreams and adventures and to carry on with their relationship. This is, like many Kubrick films one that probably gets richer with each viewing. So one more entry in this blog as an overview of my Kubrick retrospective.

24/08/23: Final Thoughts.

So some final reflections on this Kubrick blog and retrospective. The usual stuff is verified. The meticulous working practices and attention to detail for which he was famous do pay off in terms of the overall consistency and excellence of his movies. There are thirteen films in this Kubrick oeuvre and not one of them is uninteresting. True the earlier ones do have a rough and ready feel to them but that is easily put down to the inexperience of a young man learning his craft. His films do stand up to repeat viewings which is probably why critics tend to revise their opinion of his films upwards over a period of time. Also from my background reading on the making of his films and comments from cast and crew I have come to like Kubrick the man much more. Tales of his perfectionism and tendency for multiple takes may have negated what comes across from some comments as Kubrick being a kind, considerate and thoughtful man. Thirteen films over a period of forty years is not prolific but it is an impressive body of films.