The Sublimeness of Nature in Days of Heaven
The article is a short discussion on the concept of the lofty/sublime and the role of nature in Days of Heaven (1978) by Terrence Malick. The nature immediately comes across as an illustrative concretisation of Kant’s definition of the sublime. In discussing the concept, the author draws on the conceptual shift from Burke to Kant, especially in relation to the filmic sublime, which the American philosopher of art
Cynthia A. Freeland also discussed. In Days of Heaven, nature does not appear merely as a backdrop, but is also revealed as a mighty dynamic openness of life. Following this filmic experience, the last part of the article turns from Kant’s aesthetic epistemological framework to Heidegger’s ontological understanding of human existence.
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