A Flickering Reality: Cinema and the Nature of Reality

I highly recommend this enjoyable book to anyone interested in philosophy, psychology (especially Carl Jung), physics, films, and social theories of any kind. While exploring the history of drama and comedy and the effects of cinema on individuals and society, Dr. Peat comments on every area of human thought while stating: "This book is about enjoying movies, revisiting favorite films, discovering new films we may like to see, and noticing the way films connect to all areas of life and culture. While this invokes ideas from science, psychology and philosophy it is not meant to be a heavy textbook or something to study; it's a book to pick up and enjoy" (p. 77).In fact, I have found it quite difficult to put down. And do not skip the Introduction. He had me as soon as he compared the flickering motion picture in the darkened movie theater to the cave paintings flickering and moving in the torch light. I spent a good deal of my baby boomer childhood in that cool flickering cave. Back in the days before my family had more than one channel on the television and homes and cars were not usually air conditioned, the "picture shows" were magical places. For a child of today, my young world may as well have been located in the Flintstone Ages. Yet, Dr. Peat's book is thoroughly modern, swinging his pendulum from archetypal past to projected future. Reading it is like an adventure in the Tardis; I could land anywhere and learn something unexpected.I do not usually mark in pleasurable books, but have underlined this one thoroughly, have had conversations with it, have told it stories and memories, and have noted other movies not mentioned that could serve to illustrate the points made. My Netflix list has lengthened considerably, as well, and Federico Fellini: the Book of Dreams is on my Amazon Wish List with Carl Jung's Red Book. But read A Flickering Reality first.