Critical theory and Taxi Driver: Difference between pages
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'''''Taxi Driver''''' is a 1976 [[Martin Scorsese]] film in which [[Robert De Niro]] plays Travis Bickle, an alienated [[insomnia|insomniac]] [[taxi]] driver. Bickle spends his spare time watching [[pornography]] in seedy theaters and driving purposelessly at night. He is horrified by what he sees as the moral decay around him, and when a 14-year-old prostitute rides in his cab one night, he becomes obsessed with saving her despite her total lack of interest in the idea. Also stars [[Harvey Keitel]], [[Jodie Foster]], [[Cybill Shepherd]], and [[Albert Brooks]]. Score by [[Bernard Herrmann]], noted for his work with [[Alfred Hitchcock]] (especially ''[[Psycho]])''. |
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'''Critical theory''' began as a label used by members of the Institute for Social Research of [[Frankfurt University]] to describe their own work. The Institute was founded in [[1923]] by [[Max Horkheimer]] and closed in [[1934]]; many of its members emigrated to New York City and helped found the New School for Social Research there. The original [[Frankfurt am Main|Frankfurt]] school re-opened in the [[1950s]] and its chief modern representative is probably [[Jurgen Habermas|Jürgen Habermas]]. |
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The film won the Golden Palm at the [[Cannes Film Festival]] in 1976; was #47 on the [[American Film Institute]]'s list of 100 Years, 100 Movies, and #22 on its 100 Years, 100 Thrills; is consistently in the top 50 on the [[Internet Movie Database]]'s list of top 250 films; and has been selected for preservation in the United States [[National Film Registry]]. |
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The Frankfurt school were dissident [[Marxism | Marxists]], severe critics of capitalism who believed that a narrow selection of [[Karl Marx | Marx's]] ideas were being parroted by those who claimed to follow his lead, usually in defense of the Communist Party. They took up the task of choosing what parts of Marx's thought might serve to clarify social conditions he had never seen. They drew on other schools of thought to fill in perceived omissions in Marx's. [[Max Weber]] was a principal influence, but [[Herbert Marcuse]], for example, sought to combine the views of [[Karl Marx | Marx]] and [[Freud]]. |
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The movie was part of a delusional fantasy by [[John Hickley]] |
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The Frankfurt school was literally a school, a place where individuals taught and learned. There is no one method, ambition, or conclusion shared by all of them. However, there is a broad emphasis on criticizing the <i>culture</i> of capitalism (and orthodox communism). The title of one book, Leo Lowenthal's <i>Literature, Popular Culture, and Society</i>, suggests their interests. In [[Habermas]], the work focuses on the question of what cultural conditions are needed to make good intellectual work possible -- or, more pessimistically, how far economic interests and political dogma can corrupt science and philosophy. |
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which triggered his attempted assassination of [[Ronald Reagan]] |
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in 1981, an act for which he was found not guilty by reason of |
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This general emphasis on culture as a product of economic systems has shaped literary historians, film critics, historians of science, and others. The search for useful ideas from other fields has also been imitated. Therefore, the term "critical theory" now is used loosely to group all sorts of work--[[Structuralism]], the anti-structuralist views known as [[Postmodernism]], and so on. See [[Cultural movement]]. |
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[[insanity]]. |
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Notable figures in critical theory: |
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* [[Walter Benjamin]] |
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* [[Theodor Adorno]] |
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* [[Herbert Marcuse]] |
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* [[Max Horkheimer]] |
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* [[Jurgen Habermas]] |
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* [[Max Weber]] |
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See also: [[hermeneutics]] |
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What are our priorities for writing in this area? To help develop a list of the most basic topics in Critical Theory, please see [[Critical Theory basic topics]]. |
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Revision as of 01:33, 27 August 2002
Taxi Driver is a 1976 Martin Scorsese film in which Robert De Niro plays Travis Bickle, an alienated insomniac taxi driver. Bickle spends his spare time watching pornography in seedy theaters and driving purposelessly at night. He is horrified by what he sees as the moral decay around him, and when a 14-year-old prostitute rides in his cab one night, he becomes obsessed with saving her despite her total lack of interest in the idea. Also stars Harvey Keitel, Jodie Foster, Cybill Shepherd, and Albert Brooks. Score by Bernard Herrmann, noted for his work with Alfred Hitchcock (especially Psycho).
The film won the Golden Palm at the Cannes Film Festival in 1976; was #47 on the American Film Institute's list of 100 Years, 100 Movies, and #22 on its 100 Years, 100 Thrills; is consistently in the top 50 on the Internet Movie Database's list of top 250 films; and has been selected for preservation in the United States National Film Registry.
The movie was part of a delusional fantasy by John Hickley which triggered his attempted assassination of Ronald Reagan in 1981, an act for which he was found not guilty by reason of insanity.