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The most philosophically bad movies you've ever seen

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Indeed. You have grossly misinterpreted Gattaca in the same way many modern bioethics professors have grossly misinterpreted Gattaca. Thread on the film here. I keep meaning to write a detailed analysis, but have been busy these past three years. Perhaps next month.

I was offended by Crash (the Paul Haggis film, not the David Cronenberg film). Haggis also was lead writer for Quantum of Solace and is primarily to blame for that film's problems. He had less of a hand in writing Casino Royale, but his influence can be seen in that film too, specifically in Vesper's betrayal. I think Haggis harbors a deep hatred for humanity and frankly the Bond franchise would do well to drop him. In my view, his best work to date has been his decision not to direct Casino Royale.

Torture porn (Hostel, Turistas, the Saw films, the upcoming The Collector from what I've seen) is disgusting, though I think it says more about the people who go watch that sort of thing than it does about the filmmakers - these sorts of films are notably light on artistic (and therefore philosophical) content, with the possible exception of the first Saw. The category as a whole exhibits a malevolent universe premise, but I responded more negatively to Saw because it seemed more purposeful.

Watching Seven Pounds on DVD made me wish I had seen it in a movie theatre, so I could have walked out (something I have only ever done once, during a screening of The Ring, and then only because of a disruption in the theatre that made viewing impossible) and demanded a refund. I didn't ever see The Happening because I knew better.

I anticipate horrible premises from the upcoming 2012. Disaster flicks can have decent premises (the Airport series comes to mind, and some parts of the first The Poseidon Adventure, though it is a mixed bag), but nothing in the 2012 trailers looks good.

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ANY MOVIE where an animal or forest creature can talk, and has something to say about humanity

I just noticed this and I have to disagree with the categorical approach. Coming to mind as an immediate counterexample is Ratatouille, in which Remy (a rat who, although he cannot speak to humans in the film, can communicate with them through signs and has an internal monologue audible to the audience) has a number of very positive things to say about humanity. The use of an anthropomorphized animal as a vehicle for the viewer's interaction with the principal human characters is not automatic proof of bad philosophy.

There are a bunch of bad talking animal movies out there though - Garfield, Dr. Dolittle, Cats & Dogs, and G-Force (now in theaters) come to mind.

Edited by Qwertz
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And don't forget the profound wisdom found in Bugs Bunny cartoons!

Don't forget the Bugs Bunny Principle: You realize this means war! :P Plus Bugs Bunny was the first prominent female impersonator to cross the species line. That's remarkable for a rabbit (hare?)

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I was offended by Crash (the Paul Haggis film, not the David Cronenberg film).

What's wrong with Crash? I thought it was pretty good, philosophically, in terms of trying to dispel racial stereotypes and showing how people can overcome whatever prejudices they might have.

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I can't believe no one's mentioned the "6th Day".

Hero with bad philosophy? Check.

Religionism? Check.

Luddism? Check.

Then there's the "End of Days" - arguably worse.

I'd also steer well clear of "What the Bleep do we know?" if you value your sanity - it presents a worldview that is the complete polar opposite of Objectivism.

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Big movie buff here - you guys are attacking some of my favorite films! I don't believe film is supposed to reflect my philosophy to have merit as artwork. I will defend Natural Born Killers and True Romance if pressed.

I'll jump in the fray with a couple of offenders nonetheless. SPOILERS galore in case you have masochistic tendencies.

1. The Piano - Talentless woman who noodles on a piano decides to stop speaking for no reason, neglects her sole responsibility as a parent, and is sexually turned on by blackmail and manipulation. Oppress me, please! She gets everything she wants, and then either considers to, or actually does kill herself over that stupid piano.

2. The Devil's Rejects - the concept of anti-hero is not accomplished here. This family of interchangeable evil is loyal to one another, and the cops are just as evil. I would tell Rob Zombie to stick with music, but I don't want him to do that either. Philosophically - we should probably entertain the exact opposite position to this. We should be disloyal to our family if our family kidnaps, rapes, tortures, and kills. (This is actually my pick for worst film ever.)

3. Home Alone - Where do I start? You guys probably already know why I picked this one. Feels too laborious to type it all out.

4. I Am Legend - It was the premonitions of god and gods imposed purpose over Will Smith's character that offends my sense of reason to the core. After I read what the actual message was supposed to be via the novel- that Smith's character was actually an oppressor and kidnapper performing scientific experiments on a sentient being who deserved to be free in her new existence... I yearned that the film had not decided to change that message.

My brain is busted for now. Gah.

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Big movie buff here - you guys are attacking some of my favorite films! I don't believe film is supposed to reflect my philosophy to have merit as artwork. I will defend Natural Born Killers and True Romance if pressed.

I'll jump in the fray with a couple of offenders nonetheless. SPOILERS galore in case you have masochistic tendencies.

1. The Piano - Talentless woman who noodles on a piano decides to stop speaking for no reason, neglects her sole responsibility as a parent, and is sexually turned on by blackmail and manipulation. Oppress me, please! She gets everything she wants, and then either considers to, or actually does kill herself over that stupid piano.

2. The Devil's Rejects - the concept of anti-hero is not accomplished here. This family of interchangeable evil is loyal to one another, and the cops are just as evil. I would tell Rob Zombie to stick with music, but I don't want him to do that either. Philosophically - we should probably entertain the exact opposite position to this. We should be disloyal to our family if our family kidnaps, rapes, tortures, and kills. (This is actually my pick for worst film ever.)

3. Home Alone - Where do I start? You guys probably already know why I picked this one. Feels too laborious to type it all out.

4. I Am Legend - It was the premonitions of god and gods imposed purpose over Will Smith's character that offends my sense of reason to the core. After I read what the actual message was supposed to be via the novel- that Smith's character was actually an oppressor and kidnapper performing scientific experiments on a sentient being who deserved to be free in her new existence... I yearned that the film had not decided to change that message.

My brain is busted for now. Gah.

You can't be serious? Why?

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Big movie buff here - you guys are attacking some of my favorite films! I don't believe film is supposed to reflect my philosophy to have merit as artwork. I will defend Natural Born Killers ...if pressed.

Yes, but why would you argue with listing a movie that reflects bad philosophy in a thread that asks for movies, good or bad, that reflect bad philosophy?

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Yes, but why would you argue with listing a movie that reflects bad philosophy in a thread that asks for movies, good or bad, that reflect bad philosophy?

NBK does not reflect 'bad philosophy' per se. It points out the evil of the decline of American culture into mediocrity with a good dose of dark satire. It certainly does not advocate a bad philosophical world-view.

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NBK is a discussion on the sensationalistic trends in the media and entertainment industries, like Network. Why would I disagree with that philosophically if it really happens?

However - there have been some films that I disagree with philosophically that I really enjoy for the art of the film. A good example of that would be Magnolia - which is in my top 5.

BTW - Home Alone is thrown in there as a joke. I like my lists to have at least 4 entries. The joke went over swimmingly as you can see.

Edited by synrose
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I can't believe no one has mentioned the more recent Star Wars movies!

Those are just plain bad movies. The problem isn't so much that Anakin turns nihilist in the end, but that he does so for no good reason. When Pinky and The Brain resorted to such plot devices, they ahd the decency to at least mock them.

Aside from that, and including all the SW movies, I noticed two peculiarities in the SW universe recently when I happened upon SW VI on TV.

1) Fragile-Explosive Machine Syndrome. The Empire's military hardware breaks up and blows up if hit hard with logs or if it falls to the ground. When explosives are placed in an Imperial military building, hardware outside the blast radius blows up as well. This is similar to Fragile-Explosive Robot Syndrome, first observed in 60s and 70s Saturday morning cartoons, but FEMS actually does not affect the SW universe's droids.

2) No Cause Of Death Sudden Gradual Death Syndrome. SW characters die of the strangest things. Darth vader dies as a result of having his artificial hand severed, Padme Amidala dies as a result of seeing Anakin go over to the Dark Side™. In both cases death follows slowly but inexorably and nothing can be done to stop it. This last fact is so certain that nobody even attempts to do anything to stop it

Research is still ongoing in the Mysterious Loss Of Blood Loss Light-Sabre injury and the Inexplicable Massive Third-Degree Burn Chronic Survivability Ability. It is belived that the Let Us Split Our last Remaining Forces To Chase After Non-Essential Targets Syndrome, the What The Hell I'll Let Him Live Complex and the We Will Be Fooled By A Minor Name Change Condition are in fact mentall illnesses affecting Jedi and Sith only; no doubt a disturbance in the force

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I actually really enjoy The Devil's Rejects and while it is a rather nasty and exploitive piece of work I think what you took away from it is not the message Zombie intended.

Start from a faulty moral premise and you end up with evil.

In that regard the deranged family and the cop proved to be more alike than dissimilar.

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Has anyone else here seen "the secret"? Its a movie based on a book of the same name. It is quite possibly the most offended i have ever been after viewing a film (outside of the "Torture Porn" mentioned earlier).

It has the same mystic and absolutely insane premises of "What the bleep...". Its basic tenant is that you can visualize whatever you want and it will come to you. If you can "see" yourself in that new car it will come to you. If you can "see" $250,000 in your bank account, it will be there. Its based on the "law" of attraction. Complete rubbish. If you want a good laugh have a look.

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Has anyone else here seen "the secret"? Its a movie based on a book of the same name. It is quite possibly the most offended i have ever been after viewing a film (outside of the "Torture Porn" mentioned earlier).

It has the same mystic and absolutely insane premises of "What the bleep...". Its basic tenant is that you can visualize whatever you want and it will come to you. If you can "see" yourself in that new car it will come to you. If you can "see" $250,000 in your bank account, it will be there. Its based on the "law" of attraction. Complete rubbish. If you want a good laugh have a look.

They made a movie of that? Ahahaha! I'm surprised you hadn't heard of it earlier. I'd say perhaps that had been fortunate for you, except that it resulted in you ending up ignorantly walking into what was bound to be a really bad movie. Heh, "The Secret," talk about some really blatant, old as dirt, recycled primacy of consciousness run amuck. It's one thing to think of the placebo effect and "self-fulfilling prophecies" as cases where somebody's assumptions and attitudes can actually make things happen, but those are limited to areas where you have direct ability to take physical actions in regard to something and thus their power ends where your body's power ends. If you are physically incapable of making something happen (or just plain don't do the requisite though possible physical actions), you can't just will it to be so and it will come to you anyway.

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He actually dies because the Emperor's Force Lightning shorted his life support system.

Funny then he gets showered by lightning, presumably shorting out his life support, but he can easily carry the emperor several steps and hurl him down the ridiculously placed shaft.

Also, don't you think that 1) a Death Star should come equipped with spare aprts for Vader and 2) surely the Alliance has the technology to keep him alive? The will or desire is another matter (I would keep him alive in order to try him for his crimes, then execute him). I can buy that he chose to die, faked having difficulties with his life support and asking Luke, indirectly, to kill him.

But as the movie stands, he died of missing his artificial hand.

What did Padme die of? "Broken Heart Movie Syndrome"?

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