The Importance of Thematic Arguments
Today, I want to look at a question posed by British Philosopher, John Stuart Mill, who once made the valuable and vital distinction between higher and lower pleasures. Mill believed that ‘Higher pleasures are pleasures caused by the exercise of our higher faculties… our intellect, our imagination, our moral sentiments, whereas lower pleasures are pleasures caused by the exercise of our lower capacities, found off impulse and desire’ (Gibbs, 1986). In theory, this might look like the choice between reading a well-written book versus scrolling 3 hours on Instagram or TikTok – it could look like a choice between hiking in the Himalayas vs sitting on a cruise ship… or finally, it could look like watching Parasite rather than binge watching, I don’t know, She-Hulk…
This is not about snobbery, judgement, or whether you’re Team Scorsese or Team Marvel. Afterall, there’s context… often dependent on what you’re in the mood for at any given time… whether it be wanting light and easy entertainment after a long and stressful day, or something dark and thought-provoking because you haven’t been emotionally or philosophically challenged in a while. Likewise, the distinction maybe harder to define, as philosopher Julian Baggini (2018) stated, ‘the difference between higher and lower pleasures is not what you enjoy but how you enjoy it.’ We often see this with keen sports fan, able to bring a deeper appreciation for certain competitions than the average member of public as they have more knowledge and understanding of the effort and work involved the build-up to the event.
Ultimately, John Stuart Mill’s framework is about trying to recognise the objective quality with what you are engaging with and understanding the ‘value added.’ With regards to film, and the point of cinema, and art, in general, is fundamentally, about sharing ideas, and then having these ideas experienced, debated, and perhaps integrated in an audience…
So let’t get objective - thinking of film as an essay - there are three key components: firstly the thematic argument, the overarching statement or point of view. Second, the debate, this is the conflict between the two sides of that argument. And then, finally, there’s the execution… the dialogue, the symbolism, the overall design… so, in theory, the more compelling the theme, the more balanced the debate, and the more slick the execution – the better and more sophisticated the story…