Article

Etiske lesninger i fiksjonens frirom

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Abstract

Ethical Readings in the Unbiassed Sphere of Fiction:This article defends an ethical criticism of fiction film. Drawing on the so-called »ethical turn« in philosophy and literary criticism, as well as perspectives from new tendencies in cognitive film theory, Gjelsvik argues that an ethical criticism is not just possible, but unavoidable.Using contemporary American fiction film and the depiction of violence as her main case-study, she aims to show that there is no such thing as a separate fictional realm beyond the scope of ethical evaluations. A central example in her discussion is Quentin Tarantino’s Kill Bill, a movie which was regarded by the Norwegian film reviewers as a fairy-tale and »just for fun«; accordingly the movie’s depiction of violence was not subject to an ethical criticism. Gjelsvik points to several reasons why this position (close to »aestheticism« in art theory) is inadequate, and she proposes a moderate version of ethical criticism instead. She discusses the moderate position as formulated by Berys Gaut and Noël Carroll, both philosophers who also have worked extensively on film art, trying to transfer their perspectives on art onto popular culture.She argues that such an approach also needs to take into consideration the emotions evoked by the movie and by violent depictions in particular. Whereas cognitive film theorists have foregrounded the similarities between the viewers’ emotional response to film and their real-life emotions, Gjelsvik makes a case for the importance of considering the distinctive features of fiction and cinematic depictions.The overall argument is that, as the relation between moral and aesthetic values is complex, ethical criticism should not aim for categorical evaluation. On the contrary, the position should take into consideration the heterogeneousness of fiction film, for instance in the differences between different movies’ depiction of violence, and acknowledge the value of ambivalent reactions towards fiction as well.

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Chapter
This major collection of essays stands at the border of aesthetics and ethics and deals with charged issues of practical import: art and morality, the ethics of taste, and censorship. As such its potential interest is by no means confined to professional philosophers; it should also appeal to art historians and critics, literary theorists, and students of film. Prominent philosophers in both aesthetics and ethics tackle a wide array of issues. Some of the questions explored in the volume include: Can art be morally enlightening and, if so, how? If a work of art is morally better does that make it better as art? Is morally deficient art to be shunned, or even censored? Do subjects of artworks have rights as to how they are represented? Do artists have duties as artists and duties as human beings, and if so, to whom? How much tension is there between the demands of art and the demands of life?
Chapter
This major collection of essays stands at the border of aesthetics and ethics and deals with charged issues of practical import: art and morality, the ethics of taste, and censorship. As such its potential interest is by no means confined to professional philosophers; it should also appeal to art historians and critics, literary theorists, and students of film. Prominent philosophers in both aesthetics and ethics tackle a wide array of issues. Some of the questions explored in the volume include: Can art be morally enlightening and, if so, how? If a work of art is morally better does that make it better as art? Is morally deficient art to be shunned, or even censored? Do subjects of artworks have rights as to how they are represented? Do artists have duties as artists and duties as human beings, and if so, to whom? How much tension is there between the demands of art and the demands of life?
Article
Presentation des debats actuels sur la critique ethique de l'art, inauguree par Platon et negligee par les philosophes analytiques du XX e siecle. Examinant les principaux arguments autonomistes, cognitifs et anticonsequentialistes opposes au criticisme ethique, ainsi que les principales reponses qui leur ont ete apportees, l'A. montre que leur problematique centrale concerne la relation entre le domaine moral et le domaine esthetique, d'une part, et la possibilite de l'evaluation de l'un par l'autre, d'autre part.
For en grei introduksjon til feltet se Stephen K. George: Ethics, Literature, Theory. An Introductory Reader
  • Se Wayne
  • C Booth
Se Wayne C. Booth: The Company We Keep. An Ethics of Fiction, Berkeley 1988, Martha Nussbaum: Love's Knowledge. Essays on Philosophy and Literature, Oxford 1990, David Parker: Ethics, Theory and the Novel. New York and Melbourne 1994. For en grei introduksjon til feltet se Stephen K. George: Ethics, Literature, Theory. An Introductory Reader, Lanham & Oxford, 2005. Jeg har selv hatt saerlig glede av Jerrold Levinson (ed.): Aesthetics and Ethics. Essays at the Intersection, Cambridge 1998.
Making Meaning. Inference and Rhetoric in the Interpretation about Art, London: 1995 (2002) for diskusjon av samme eksempel
  • David Bordwell
David Bordwell: Making Meaning. Inference and Rhetoric in the Interpretation about Art, London: 1995 (2002) for diskusjon av samme eksempel.
Gaut mener imidlertid at det finnes tre plausible svar på kunstestetikkens kjernespørsmål, henholdsvis autonomisme (estetisisme), immoralisme og moralisme. Gaut »Art and ethics«. Jeg foretrekker altså begrepet moralsk ståsted i stedet for moralisme
  • Noël Carroll
Noël Carroll: »Art and Ethical Criticism: an Overview of Recent Directions of Research«, in Ethics, Vol. 110, no. 2 (Jan 2000) pp.350-387. Gaut mener imidlertid at det finnes tre plausible svar på kunstestetikkens kjernespørsmål, henholdsvis autonomisme (estetisisme), immoralisme og moralisme. Gaut »Art and ethics«. Jeg foretrekker altså begrepet moralsk ståsted i stedet for moralisme, se også note 11.
Se for eksempel Gaut op.cit og Matthew Kieran: »In defence of the ethical evaluation of narrative art«
Se for eksempel Gaut op.cit og Matthew Kieran: »In defence of the ethical evaluation of narrative art«, in British Journal of Aesthetics, Vol 41, No 1, January 2001.
Art, narrative, and moral understanding«. Denne argumentasjonen er fundamentalt kognitiv, og kan finnes igjen hos kognitive teoretikere som David Bordwell og Paul Messari
  • Carroll
Carroll: »Art, narrative, and moral understanding«. Denne argumentasjonen er fundamentalt kognitiv, og kan finnes igjen hos kognitive teoretikere som David Bordwell og Paul Messari.
Vondt og vakkert. Vold i audiovisuelle medier, for en grundig gjennomgang av mottakelsen av denne filmen
  • Se Gjelsvik
Se Gjelsvik: Vondt og vakkert. Vold i audiovisuelle medier, for en grundig gjennomgang av mottakelsen av denne filmen.
Yehoshua og David Perker in Stephen K. George Ethics, Literature, Theory. An Introductory Reader, for lignende argument
  • Marshall Se
  • Abraham B Gregory
Se også Marshall Gregory, Abraham B. Yehoshua og David Perker in Stephen K. George Ethics, Literature, Theory. An Introductory Reader, for lignende argument.
»They (moral phenomena) are not regular, repetitive, monotonous and predictable in a way that would allow them to be represented as rule-guided«. Parantesen er mitt innskudd fra setningen før
  • Bauman Op
  • Cit
Bauman op.cit, p.11. »They (moral phenomena) are not regular, repetitive, monotonous and predictable in a way that would allow them to be represented as rule-guided«. Parantesen er mitt innskudd fra setningen før.