Screening Torture : Media Representations of State Terror and Political Domination / Fabiola Fernandez Salek, Michael Flynn.

Format:

Book

Author/Creator:

Flynn, Michael, author.

Fernandez Salek, Fabiola, author.

Language:

English

Subjects (All):

Torture in motion pictures.

Torture on television.

Local Subjects:

Torture in motion pictures.

Torture on television.

Physical Description:

1 online resource (327 p.)

Place of Publication:

New York, NY : Columbia University Press, [2012]

Language Note:

In English.

Summary:

Before 9/11, films addressing torture outside of the horror/slasher genre depicted the practice in a variety of forms. In most cases, torture was cast as the act of a desperate and depraved individual, and the viewer was more likely to identify with the victim rather than the torturer. Since the terrorist attacks of September 11, 2001, scenes of brutality and torture in mainstream comedies, dramatic narratives, and action films appear for little other reason than to titillate and delight. In these films, torture is devoid of any redeeming qualities, represented as an exercise in brutal senselessness carried out by authoritarian regimes and institutions.This volume follows the shift in the representation of torture over the past decade, specifically in documentary, action, and political films. It traces and compares the development of this trend in films from the United States, Europe, China, Latin America, South Africa, and the Middle East. Featuring essays by sociologists, psychologists, historians, journalists, and specialists in film and cultural studies, the collection approaches the representation of torture in film and television from multiple angles and disciplines, connecting its aesthetics and practices to the dynamic of state terror and political domination.

Contents:

Frontmatter

Contents

Screening Torture / Flynn, Michael / Salek, Fabiola F.

Part I: Torture and the Implications of Masculinity

1. Countering the Jack Bauer Effect / Danzig, David

2. Mel Gibson's Tortured Heroes / Quinby, Lee

3. It's a Perfect World / Flynn, Michael / Salek, Fabiola F.

Part II: Torture and the Sadomasochistic Impulse

4. Lust, Caution

5. The Art of Photogenic Torture / Carney, Phil

6. Beyond Susan Sontag / McCoy, Alfred W.

7. Stanley Kubrick's A Clockwork Orange as Art Against Torture / Strange, Carolyn

Part III: Confronting the Legacies of Torture and State Terror

8. "Accorded a Place in the Design" / Swanson Goldberg, Elizabeth

9. Confessing Without Regret / Alexander, Livia

PART IV: Torture and the Shortcomings of Film

10. Movies of Modern Torture as Convenient Truths / Rejali, Darius

11. Torture at the Limit of Politics / Devji, Faisal

12. Doing Torture in Film / Lazreg, Marnia

13. Documenting the Documentaries on Abu Ghraib / Mestrovic, Stjepan G.

Contributors

Index

Notes:

Description based upon print version of record.

Includes bibliographical references and index.

Description based on online resource; title from PDF title page (publisher's Web site, viewed 08. Jul 2019)

ISBN:

0-231-52697-0

OCLC:

812924902