Tag: Film
We’re excited that you’ve joined the conversation! At HMU, we want to continue the great authors’ conversations in a contemporary context, and this blog will help us do that. We look back to Aristotle and the early philosophers who used reason and discourse to gain wisdom and now we endeavor to do the same every day.
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August 28, 2026
Thanks to Alissa Simon, HMU Tutor, for today’s post.
Emerald Fennell says that, in her films, every single detail matters. That every detail should create an emotional response. Her slightly exotic, absurd, and otherworldly adaptation of Emily Brontë’s Wuthering Heights certainly achieves this goal. Throughout the film, brilliant colors, lush fabrics, overstated décor, and hypnotic music set the tone. From the astonishing opening scene,
» Read more about: Review of Fennell’s 2026 Adaptation of Wuthering Heights »
February 27, 2026
Thanks to Alissa Simon, HMU Tutor, for today’s post.
The soundtrack to The Hours by Philip Glass
The Hours, a 2002 film based on the novel by Michael Cunningham, weaves together the lives of three complicated women. First, Virginia Woolf is shown writing the manuscript for Mrs. Dalloway. Next, Laura Brown, a housewife in the 1950s,
August 2, 2024
Thanks to 2023 HMU Fellow in Ideas Chad Greene for today’s post.
“We’re on a road to nowhere”?
Why was that line – seemingly depressing on a surface level – so inspiring to me that I unexpectedly found myself on my feet in front of the TV in my living room, dancing, singing, and even crying?
During my 2023 Fellowship in Ideas at Harrison Middleton University,
March 24, 2023
Thanks to Eden Tesfaslassie, HMU 2022 Fellow in Ideas, for today’s post.
In Black Swan, the film utilizes the ballet performance Swan Lake, based on a fairytale, as a frame. The film uses other elements of the fairy tale genre, as evidenced by the character archetypes. The viewer can see characteristics of mothers, Prince Charmings, and villains reflected in the film’s ensemble cast.
March 17, 2023
Thanks to Alissa Simon, HMU Tutor, for today’s post.
“[P]erhaps art is not, we might speculate, in the product itself, nor necessarily in the process, but in the impulse.” – Brian Christian from The Most Human Human
HMU recently wrapped up the Winter Film Series, which focused on the great idea of art. Discussions centered around three films: Black Swan (2010,
March 3, 2023
Thanks to Ally Zlatar, a 2023 HMU Fellow in Ideas, for today’s post.
Japanese death game films, also known as ‘Battle Royale’ films, typically depict a scenario where a group of individuals are forced to participate in a deadly game or competition, often with the goal of being the last survivor. Think of movies like Squid Game (2021) and Hunger Games (2012) but more grim.
» Read more about: The Art of Japanese Death Game Films Through Analysis of As The Gods Will »
February 24, 2023
Thanks to Eden Tesfaslassie, a 2022 Fellow in Ideas, for today’s post.
Quintilian said, “the height of art is to conceal art.” In this quote, conceal does not mean to hide away but to be fully immersed. There should be no separation between the art and the experience of the art itself– as a viewer or an artist. This idea can be seen in the film Black Swan when the dance instructor,
February 3, 2023
Thanks to Chad Greene, a 2023 HMU Fellow in Ideas, for today’s post.
The tradition of utopias in imaginative literature – whether in a dialogue by Plato, a comic by Stan Lee and Jack Kirby, or a movie by Ryan Coogler – is an attempt to answer some of the most essential “big questions” at the heart of the humanities. What is justice? What would a just society look like?
» Read more about: Read Classics, Then Watch … Wakanda Forever »
March 11, 2022
Thanks to Alissa Simon, HMU Tutor, for today’s post.
Last week marked the end of HMU’s Winter Film Series. I cannot express how much I love this series. If you were unable to join us, never fear, we will host another film series next winter. In the meantime, the following thoughts resulted from this wonderful discussion.
As usual, leader Gary Schoepfel opened discussion with some quotations focused on the idea of Truth.
» Read more about: Rosencrantz and Guildenstern Are Dead, Film Discussion »
February 11, 2022
Thanks to Gabriel E. Etienne, a 2021 Fellow in Ideas recipient, for today’s post.
The movie Moonlight is a coming-of-age story that details the complexity of the journey of boyhood to manhood of the character Little/Black/Chiron through the issues of authentic Blackness and hegemonic masculinity (Johnson 2003). This review uses the concepts of Quiet and Silence to view and understand the movie Moonlight.
» Read more about: Film Review: Quiet and Silence in Moonlight »