On Film (Thinking in Action) [Paperback]

""On Film presents an always engaging, often provocative, and frequently brilliant philosophical investigation of the 'Alien' quartet of science-fiction/action/horror films...the book achieves the rare distinction of having something interesting and important to say to philosophers, fans and cinema studies scholars simultaneously."
-"American Society of Aesthetics Newsletter
"A new and noteworthy addition to Routledge's high-profile "Thinking in Action" series, Stephen Mulhall's "On Film presents an always engaging, often provocative, and frequently brilliant philosophical investigation of the 'Alien' quartet of science-fiction/action/horror films initiated in 1979 with Ridley Scott's eponymous classic...the book achieves the rare distinction of haiving something interesting and important to say to philosophers, fans, and cinema studies scholars simultaneously."
-"Film and Philosophy
"This is clearly an important series. I look forward to reading future volumes."
-Frank Kermode
"As a study showing how this particular film quartet thematizes deep metaphysical and existential eissues the book succeeds in an admirable manner, and makes for a thought-provoking read. It is clear, accessible and engaging, and thus certainly fulfills the aims of the series it appears in."
-Simo Saatela, Uppsala University, "Philosophy in Review

Few movies of recent times have caught and shocked our imagination as the Alien cinematic quartet and the quest of Sigourney Weaver's Flight Lieutenant Ellen Ripley. But what deeper issues about the nature of film and philosophy does the Alien story raise? On Film shows in beautifully clear style how these films are themselves examples of philosophy in action. By bringing a philosopher's eye to film Stephen Mulhall reflects on what these films tell us about relation of human identity to the body, explores the nature of sequeldom and how the Alien narrative renews itself over time and asks what logic, if any, underlies the apparently Darwinian universe the alien beings inhabit. He also discusses the significance of different directors and questions how that director is the film's "author". Throughout he asks what the timely question of what it means to read a film on its own terms, before we excitedly read theories into it.

Stephen Mulhall is Fellow and Tutor in Philosophy at New College, Oxford, and author of Heidegger and Being and Time (Routledge) and The Conversation of Humanity. --This text refers to an alternate Paperback edition.