Eighteen Woody Allen Films Analyzed: Anguish, God and Existentialism

This new textbook is an abridgment of the author's earlier Woody Allen's Angst: Philosophical Commentaries on His Serious Films (McFarland 1997; "invaluable" — Choice). Five main topics are explored: 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 changes in the cultural expectations of men and women; the idea that American society is descending into barbarism because of its failure to maintain individual moral responsibility; and the use of the techniques of psychoanalysis as a method for understanding behavior.