ABSTRACT
The detailed exegesis of Cavell’s philosophy of language and of the human as being burdened by language in the previous chapters showed how ‘attunement’ is the pivotal concept for Cavell’s thought. Now the question arises how to understand this concept? How does attunement function, how is it achieved, threatened, or forgone? I take Cavell’s writings on Hollywood Comedies of Remarriage and Hollywood melodramas to be philosophical explorations of this conceptual centerpiece of his work.1 These ‘extra-philosophical’ topics are not exemplifications or applications of a philosophical concept. Rather, by interpreting movies Cavell explores what turned out to be a deep question in his work: what constitutes our being in tune with each other?
