Humanism, Social Realism and Normative Ethics in John Sayles' Casa de los Babys

Abstract

The filmmaker John Sayles has often been described as a humanist, and his works "humanistic dramas." This dissertation inquires into contemporary humanism and its use in cinematic narrative, foregrounding the work of Sayles, and in particular his 2003 international adoption drama Casa de los Babys. 1 situate the humanistic drama among related artistic endeavours, including social realist traditions. In assessing Sayles' use of realist imagery, sound and story tropes, I argue that Sayles regularly attempts to create work that is "invisible", as originally theorised by André Bazin. Contemporary filmic humanism offers a critique of post- Foucaultian film theory by suggesting that realism can ask the viewer to concentrate on ethical engagement with character rather than film as form, and moreover that this process does not require the viewer to be an uncritical observer. A study of humanism as it applies to film places under scrutiny the value of empathie relationship to narrative, in the past chiefly applied to fiction by scholars such as Martha Nussbaum and Brian Boyd.