Acknowledgments -- Introduction : Philosophy and the Popular Arts -- The Ontology of Mass Art -- Modernity and the Plasticity of Perception -- The Ties that Bind : Characters, the Emotions, and Popular Fictions-- Character, Social Information, and the Challenge of Psychology -- Movies, the Moral Emotions, and Sympathy -- The Problem with Movie Stars -- Cinematic Narrative -- Cinematic Narration -- Psychoanalysis and the Horror Film -- Philosophical Insight, Emotion, and Popular Fiction : The Case of Sunset Boulevard -- Vertigo and the Pathologies of Romantic Love -- What Mr Creosote Knows about Laughter -- Memento and the Phenomenology of Comprehending Motion Picture Narration -- Tales of Dread in The Twilight Zone : A Contribution to Narratology -- Sympathy for Soprano -- Consuming Passion : Sex and the City -- Art and Friendship -- Martin McDonagh's The Pillowman, or The Justification of Literature -- The Fear of Fear Itself : The Philosophy of Halloween -- The Grotesque Today : Preliminary Notes toward a Taxonomy-- Andy Kaufman and the Philosophy of Interpretation -- Index.