Synopses & Reviews
How is watching a movie similar to dreaming? What goes on in our minds when we become absorbed in a movie? How does looking “ into” a movie screen allow us to experience the thoughts and feelings of a movie’ s characters? These and related questions are at the heart of The Power of Movies, a thoughtful, invigorating, and remarkably accessible book about a phenomenon seemingly beyond reach of our understanding. Colin McGinn– “ an ingenious philosopher who thinks like a laser and writes like a dream, ” according to Steven Pinker– enhances our understanding of both movies and ourselves in this book of rare and refreshing insight.
Synopsis
A philosopher addresses the question of why movies have become such a compelling form of entertainment, analyzing how film works on the human mind and imagination, how it expresses human emotion in all its variations, and how a connection to movies allows one to better understand aspects of human nature. Reprint.
About the Author
Colin McGinn is a professor of philosophy at Rutgers University. He is the author of sixteen previous books, including
The Making of a Philosopher: My Journey Through Twentieth-Century Philosophy; Space Trap, a novel; and, most recently,
Mindsight: Image, Dream, Meaning. McGinns writing has appeared in such publications as
The New York Review of Books, London Review of Books, The New Republic, and
The New York Times Book Review.From the Hardcover edition.