HOSPITABLE VISION: Some Notes on the Ethics of Seeing Film

Covered by an engaging plot, special effects, and visual beauty, film communicates values that are seldom examined, yet even if not examined, cinema has transformed the modern view of reality itself. Because movies are powerful, critical attention is not only justified, but important. To be an ethical film viewer, one must recognize distribution structures, the formal aesthetics of film production, along with the great narratives that films bring to life on screen, and must also ask questions about who is producing, promoting, and distributing films, as well as the kind of values the films are offering.