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Film and the Space-Time Continuum

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Philosophy of Film Without Theory

Part of the book series: Palgrave Film Studies and Philosophy ((PFSP))

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Abstract

Films that exploit a single, continuous shot, like 1917 (Mendes, 2019), are appearing at a time when complex, multiple-shot films, like Dunkirk (Nolan, 2017) are undergoing extreme development. This chapter identifies some of the more pressing philosophical questions arising from these attempts to represent or complicate the space-time continuum. It connects these issues with previous philosophizing about film, including well-known debates about whether film is art and whether it is dream. And it argues that confronting such issues requires a closer collaboration between philosophy and film criticism. We need to attune film criticism’s characteristic focus on the salient features of particular films and philosophy’s attention to clarifying analysis and argument.

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Author information

Authors and Affiliations

  1. University of Reading, Reading, UK

    Maximilian de Gaynesford

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  1. Maximilian de Gaynesford
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Correspondence to Maximilian de Gaynesford .

Editor information

Editors and Affiliations

  1. Philosophy, Pennsylvania Western University, California, PA, USA

    Craig Fox

  2. Philosophy, University of York, York, UK

    Britt Harrison

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de Gaynesford, M. (2023). Film and the Space-Time Continuum. In: Fox, C., Harrison, B. (eds) Philosophy of Film Without Theory. Palgrave Film Studies and Philosophy. Palgrave Macmillan, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-031-13654-2_6

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