Eighteen Woody Allen Films Analyzed: Anguish, God and Existentialism

This new textbook is an abridgment of the author’s earlier Woody Allen’s Philosophical Commentaries on His Serious Films (McFarland, 1997; “invaluable”– Choice .) Five main topics are the desire of many of his characters to ground their lives in traditional ethical values despite their realization that such values may no longer be certain; the opposition between pessimism and optimism throughout his films; gender issues relating to romantic love, sexual desire and the ongoing changes in our cultural expectations of both men and women; the idea that contemporary American society is rapidly descending into barbarism precisely because of societal failure to maintain a sense of individual moral responsibility; and a critique of psychoanalysis as a method for understanding human behavior. Instructors considering this book for use in a course may .