The Movie List for Happiness

The Movie List

Here's a list of recommended recent movies that you can use to explore cinematic representations of the problem of happiness. You can also use this list on a slow Thursday or weekend night. I'm not sure all of these will work for an individual paper, but I'll make notes about the ones I know about. Please look at the assignment description for advice on how to do a movie reflection paper. Feel free to add your thoughts on these movies or suggest others.

The first nine are solid.  Add your own suggestions and we'll talk:

1. 13 Conversations about One Thing - Should almost be required viewing.
2. Amelie - Excellent at capturing the subtlety of a form of state-happiness that is often overlooked.
3. Crash
4. American Beauty - Good for both cultural critique of forms of American happiness and for state-happiness.
5. Lost in Translation
6. About Schmidt - Excellent for issues of meaningfulness.
7. Life is Beautiful - Raises profound questions about how we respond to evil in maintaining happiness.
8. Groundhog Day - Makes a philosophically interesting case for perfectionism and happiness.
9. 21 grams
10. Broken Flowers
11. The Pusuit of Happyness

I'm not sure that next ones will work, even though some of them are really good movies:

1. I Heart Huckabees - Ok, but a bit more about the fun of thinking about big philosophical issues.
2. The Waking Life
3. Lost Horizon
4. The Family Man
5. City Slickers
6. It's a Wonderful Life - a classic with a good message, but let's skip it, ok?
7. Office Space - This is a funny and strangly insightful movie for thinking about some of the contemporary obstacles to happiness, but let's not use it for a whole movie reflection paper since it isn't as serious or complex as many others. Combine it, perhaps, or use details from it in other papers. Definitely worth watching for this class. In conjunction with some other comedies that are critiquing modern life, this would be a good film to reference.