Rhetorical Transcendence Revisited: The 'Thin Red Line' as Perennial Philosophy.

N

9

Audience Awareness; Film Criticism; Films; Higher Education; Philosophy; Rhetorical Criticism; Scholarship

Fifteen years ago, J. H. Rushing published a seminal article addressing the fragmentation within contemporary society and the ways in which myths (films) may address this exigence. The exigence of fragmentation is relieved, according to her analysis, by mediated recourse to the perennial philosophy of monistic holism that is found across the globe. This paper contends that Rushing's predictions for the future of hero-quests can be critically tested by analyzing a popular 1998 film, "The Thin Red Line," directed by Terrence Malick. The paper states that the film, while centering on a story of American soldiers during World War II's battle of Guadalcanal, also draws upon the perennial philosophy to offer modern audiences as a mediated reaction to the continued exigence of fragmentation. "The Thin Red Line," through drawing on the perennial philosophic references found in the ancient Hindu text, the "Bhagavad Gita," offers a diagnosis of the existential causes of fragmentation and provides an individual solution that audience members can integrate in confronting the fragmentation and suffering of individual existence. To present its argument, the paper first examines the predictions and implications for future hero-quests in Rushing's article. After presenting these, the paper explicates the perennial philosophy as a precursor to the analysis of "The Thin Red Line." It presents the perennial philosophy, as enshrined in "The Bhagavad Gita," and uses it in the analysis of "The Thin Red Line." The paper's conclusion provides implications drawn from this study, specifically in light of the predictions made by Rushing's study on hero-quests. (Cites 24 works.) (NKA)

2002

ED458649