The horror of the other: Stanley Cavell and the genre of skepticism

Abstract

<p>This essay is about two things. On the one hand, it is about film genre, and on the other it is about philosophical skepticism. For the most part, it is about the work Stanley Cavell has done in film genre, but it is also about his work in philosophy, chiefly his concern with the skeptical problematic. In his book Pursuits of Happiness, he outlines a genre he has discovered, which he calls the comedy of remarriage, which include the films Bringing Up Baby (1938), The Lady Eve (1941), It Happened One Night (1934), The Philadelphia Story (1940), Adam's Rib (1949), The Awful Truth (1937), and His Girl Friday (1940), and he involves himself with discussions of the nature of genre, the nature of film, the nature of human relationships, and the nature of philosophy once these have all come together. It is my desire in this essay to work with these concerns, but it is also my desire to follow my own Whim with regard to them.</p>