"Screening Solidarity: Possible Lives in the Films of the Dardenne Brothers."

In this essay I will develop a theory of solidarity as a modal concept. I will use the works of film-philosophers and film-makers Jean-Pierre and Luc Dardenne to show how this modal solidarity is tenable in late capitalism. My goal is to enhance how we can understand solidarity philosophically, and to offer an exemplar of how research can be conducted at the intersection of film-philosophy, film-theory, philosophy itself, and sociology. The Dardennes, I argue, more than just adding colour to concepts through their filmic and philosophical work, also provide indispensable insights into how solidarity can emerge in late capitalist societies in the face of practices which imperil collective experiences, such as globalising economies, outsourcing, privatisation of public interest industries, the defanging of collective bargaining and the dismantlement of old working-class kinship networks.