Mulholland Drive

<p>Beloved by film and art aficionados and fans of neo-noir cinema <i>Mulholland Drive</i> is one of the most important and enigmatic films of recent years. It occupies a central and controversial position in the work of its director David Lynch who won the best director award at the 2001 Cannes Film Festival for the movie.</p><p>Mulholland Drive in the Routledge <i>Philosophers on Film</i> series is the first full philosophical appraisal of Lynch's film. Beginning with an introduction by the editor the volume explores the following topics:</p><ul> <li>the identity of the self and its persistence through time</li> <li>the central dual roles played by fantasy and reality throughout the film</li> <li>whether <i>Mulholland Drive</i> is best understood epistemologically via reason and language or whether as Lynch himself argues by one's 'inner feelings' and emotions</li> <li>parallels between <i>Mulholland Drive</i> and Kafka's <i>The Castle</i> both of which pit their protagonists at the mercy of unseen forces</li> <li> <i>Mulholland Drive</i> and romanticism.</li> </ul><p>Additional key themes are also discussed such as the interpenetration of ethics classical tragedy and the contrasting philosophical arguments of Plato and Nietzsche on tragic drama. These themes make <i>Mulholland Drive</i> essential and engaging reading for students of philosophy especially aesthetics and ethics as well as film studies.</p>