Christopher Nolan: Filmmaker and Philosopher (Paperback) (ISBN-13: 9781350139978)

Christopher Nolan is the writer and director of Hollywood blockbusters like The Dark Knight and The Dark Knight Rises, and also of arthouse films like Memento and Inception. Underlying his staggering commercial success however, is a darker sensibility that questions the veracity of human knowledge, the allure of appearance over reality and the latent disorder in contemporary society.

This appreciation of the sinister owes a huge debt to philosophy and especially modern thinkers like Friedrich Nietzsche, Sigmund Freud and Jacques Derrida. Taking a thematic approach to Nolan's oeuvre, Robbie Goh examines how the director's postmodern inclinations manifest themselves in non-linearity, causal agnosticism, the threat of social anarchy and the frequent use of the mise en abyme, while running counter to these are narratives of heroism, moral responsibility and the dignity of human choice. For Goh, Nolan is a 'reluctant postmodernist'. His films reflect the cynicism of the modern world, but with their representation of heroic moral triumphs, they also resist it.

Author: Robbie B. H. Goh
ISBN-10: 1350139971
ISBN-13: 9781350139978
Publisher: Bloomsbury Academic
Language: English
Published: 12/02/2021
Pages: 200
Format: Paperback
Weight: 0.60lbs
Size: 8.40h x 5.40w x 0.70d

Review Citation(s):
Choice 10/01/2022