Even the best of the essays here, Gaut s, just removes some of the rubbish that lies in the way of answers to the questions. It is fair to say that philosophy of film is in its infancy compared, for example, to philosophy of music. If the papers in this journal are a representative sample, the contrast between philosophy of film and philosophy of music is striking. Philosophers of music primarily concern themselves with musical masterpieces. In this journal, some of the worst films are among the most discussed.
Music is of supreme importance to most writers on philosophy of music.
Some of the contributors to this journal seem not to like film at all. Most strikingly, of course, philosophers of music engage in philosophical analysis more than sociology and armchair abnormal psychology. Perhaps philosophy of film will only mature when a body of important cinematic art is available for analysis. It is worth bearing in mind cinema is, by the standard of the arts, a callow youth, a mere one hundred years old. The novel was almost exactly a century old when Austen produced the first masterpieces of the genre.