Tag Archives: self-deception

“You mustn’t be afraid to dream a little bigger, darling.”

Posted on July 18, 2010 by

Like all of Christopher Nolan’s movies Inception (Nolan, 2010) is about self-deception (self-inception?, being the beginning of oneself?), particularly the self-deception involved in giving meaning to your life after a tragic and life-shattering event.  I’ve only seen the movie once, … Continue reading →

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“We must always remember and we must never forget, the fact that the person being executed is a human being.”

Posted on July 9, 2010 by

I’ve long been a fan of Errol Morris’s documentaries The Thin Blue Line and The Fog of War — and not just because they both have beautiful musical scores by Philip Glass! — but now, having just seen Mr. Death, … Continue reading →

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“You see the world in a way that nobody else sees the world, and I like the way you see the world.”

Posted on June 6, 2010 by

In The Invention of Lying (Gervais, 2009), Ricky Gervais asks what a world without lying would look like.  His answer is interesting:  No one would be able to look beneath the surface.  The people of Gervais’s imaginary world are slaves … Continue reading →

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“You’re working for me now.”

Posted on February 13, 2009 by

I currently live in Berkeley but Los Angeles is my home. So I never miss a chance to watch L.A.-themed movies. This week I watched for the first time To Live and Die in L.A. (Friedkin, 1985). It was a … Continue reading →

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“We all need mirrors to remind ourselves who we are.”

Posted on May 21, 2008 by

In recent posts, I’ve been exploring films that generate in their views a kind of self-deception. Today, I want to discuss a film that doesn’t necessary trick us in this way, but rather explicitly addresses the issue of self-deception: Christopher … Continue reading →

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Deconstructing Fight Club

Posted on May 19, 2008 by

Updated: Be sure to read the comments to this post where I clarify the claims I am making. I’ve already written about a couple of movies that seduce us into a kind of self-deception. Rashomon tempts us into reading its … Continue reading →

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Rashomon and Other Misunderstood Clichés

Posted on May 16, 2008 by

Any time I tell people I am interested in philosophy and film, they inevitably say “Oh, like The Matrix?” This cliché even comes from professional philosophers — The Matrix is at least mentioned in every textbook I know on using … Continue reading →

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