Kwame Anthony Appiah in "Examined Life," Zeitgeist Films, 2009

That experience was an essential one because in my whole childhood, we're not being told to wake up at 9 a.m., we're not being told to read this book at that time, and every other kid we encounter is. It marked us as outsiders, and [that] really affected my development. I'm not very good at doing things when I'm told to do them, but I'm very good at doing things if I want to. [laughs] I think it's a consequence of being allowed to follow my own curiosity and whims. In a sense, I see that in the format of "Examined Life." Philosophy, as much as I love it, is really associated with academia, with a certain professionalization right now. Most philosophers are professional philosophers, including all the people in my film. I wanted to break philosophy out of that rarefied ivory tower space and show how compelling it can be when it's directly connected to ordinary life.

The single largest limitation I see with philosophy is, because it's a sharing of ideas -- that questioning and argumentation you mentioned -- where's the pragmatic next step? How effective is any philosophy if ideas aren't being executed?

That's a question that a lot of people pose to documentary filmmakers in general: "How is your film going to affect social change?" In a sense, they're similarly impotent disciplines. [laughs] You make a film about a social issue, and what you're trying to do is shift people's perception of reality. Philosophy is similar. You're walking down a street, but you're [oblivious] to the way the street is inaccessible to someone in a wheelchair, or perhaps you ignore the consequences of what buying that $300 handbag might be [instead of] giving that money to another cause. Both philosophy and filmmaking are about shifting perceptions and shedding light on things that were normally in shadows. Now, the transformation that results is never guaranteed, but there can be a profound transformation on a personal level. If you see yourself according to the image Martha Nussbaum talks about of the self-made man, autonomous and sovereign, perhaps then you hear a critique of the social contract. Perhaps you see yourself embedded in a social space as somebody who has benefited from nurturing and care. That could transform the way you act every day.

Novels are hard enough to adapt to cinema's unlike medium, but philosophy seems far more abstract. What were your concerns with a film like this that mere sights, sounds and on-camera discourse wouldn't have the dry didacticism of a textbook?

Yeah, well, that's a challenge. There's no reason to use the cinematic format unless you're expressing something that can only be expressed through that medium. Why bother? When you're working with moving images, you have sound and the ability to move through space. I wanted to make something more cinematic, and just for selfish reasons, become a better moviemaker. There is an amazing tradition of filming philosophers. Thousands and thousands of hours are broadcast on French television, and it's almost all static camera, talking heads. I've been joking that mine are "walking heads." What I'm trying to show, and it's a very basic thing, is philosophy's connection to the space we're in every day.

I wanted to make each segment its own short film, and through the style of shooting and the environments, express something that I perceive about the subject. They're not radically different, but there's visual diversity and different camera techniques. The scene in San Francisco is handheld on a dolly, so that's a bit grittier, the tracking shots to the airport are very smooth, and there's also a fish-eye lens. Tompkins Square Park was great because -- sadly, I couldn't shoehorn it all into the film -- the gutter punks were chasing us around, throwing beer bottles at us. For the most part, the audience is being talked at, so through the use of cutaways, for lack of a better word, I tried to create the sense that the audience is on the walk, not just witnessing it. When you're moving through space in everyday life, things catch your eye, your attention is diverted, so I tried to capture that feeling.

We have similar tastes, and similar values in terms of not selling out, of always wanting to elevate. We both really have faith in the creative process, and a lot of respect for the people on the receiving end, the audience. There's so much work out there that talks down to people or gives them prepackaged artistic clichés. We both believe people want more. Certainly, he's taught me that you never stop working on something until you know that it's done. There's no reason to compromise, that's one of the most profound things he's shown me. There's so much pressure to produce and to succeed according to traditional standards, to make something very palatable and potentially popular, and that's certainly not the message I'm getting from him. This is such a hard question. How do you sum up the influence of somebody who is just everything to you?

"Examined Life" opens in New York on February 25.

[Additional photos: Slavoj Žižek, Avital Ronell, Cornel West, "Examined Life," Zeitgeist Films, 2009]

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Michael Kelly

Dear Ms. Taylor,
I saw your film "Examined Life" today in NYC. To get about 50 people in a room for a film about philosophy (3:15 show) is not easy, and I'm glad you made this film if only for that reason.
But I'm more glad because I am a philosopher/theorist at heart, and avocation, and found your selection--as Mr. Scott in the Times mentioned--perfect for my taste, so very selective. I spent a good amount of time after the film thinking about the people, what really worked idea-wise and as narrative. I have not read Ms. Butler's work in its native form, but an excerpt in Johnathan Culler's little book on literary theory, and it knocked me out. So it was so interesting to see her.
I went without reading any reviews once I found out that you had done "Zizek!", about which so much could be said. It was nice to see him again, although I did see his film on film at MOMA as well because of becoming so fond of him via your film.
I've now done some research and see that a number of critics have found that the sequence with Butler and your sister (!) was one of the best. And Cornell West! Nothing I could say....

All for now,
Thanks again,
Michael

Gray Kane

I love what Taylor, Fiennes, West, Zizek, and a host of others are doing to overcome the social divide between the lived world & theoretical analysis. Both the classroom & the traditional academic documentary produce, as Taylor says, static engagements that facilitate compartmentalization, as if critical thinking were confined to a mostly socially divorced time & space that neutralize its effect on material circumstances. Just as a desk physically confines the student, such compartmentalizations teach us not to stand up for what we believe in, but rather to sit down & immobilize ourselves to the point that we don't know how to apply complex thought to action. I can't wait to complete the five-hour drive to Nashville to see "Examined Life," even if none of my friends are coming. And I don't travel for movies.