Abject pleasures in the cinematic : the beautiful, sexual arousal, and laughter / Aaron Kerner.

Format:

Book

Author/Creator:

Kerner, Aaron, 1972- author.

Series:

Edinburgh scholarship online.

Edinburgh scholarship online

Language:

English

Subjects (All):

Sense and sensation in motion pictures.

Motion pictures--Psychological aspects.

Motion pictures.

Motion picture audiences--Psychology.

Motion picture audiences.

Laughter--Psychological aspects.

Laughter.

Pleasure--Psychological aspects.

Pleasure.

Physical Description:

1 online resource (xi, 283 pages) : digital, PDF file(s).

Edition:

1st ed.

Place of Publication:

Edinburgh : Edinburgh University Press, 2023.

Summary:

<i>Abject Pleasures in the Cinematic</i> examines the cinematic strategies that elicit visceral pleasure - tears, goosebumps, sexual arousal, laughter-even in the face of content that is crass, politically problematic, or unethical. <br><br>While there might be a progressive predisposition within our discipline, affect pledges no allegiance to any particular political inclination. Progressives, or progressive content, does not hold a monopoly on affect. The beautiful has no inherent bond to the good (i.e., morally good, or having cultural merit), rather it is an affective experience, and it might come to us in the most unlikely and unsavory places. Pornography, even with the most regressive content, wields the possibility to be sexually arousing even despite our own ethical objections. While well-intended academics routinely claim that watching people get hurt is not funny, and we might appreciate the gesture to cultivate our better angels, but such assertions do not necessarily align with our lived-experience.

Contents:

Frontmatter

Contents

List of Figures

Acknowledgments

Preface

1 Abject Pleasures in the Cinematic: A Taxonomy of Cinematic Strategies for Eliciting Pleasure

PART 1

2 On the Beautiful

3 Neo-Giallo: "It's beautiful, it's beautiful, it's beautiful," the Affective Experience in Suspiria

4 Musicality: Poetic Ruptures in Spike Lee's 25th Hour, and Chris Cunningham/Björk's Music Video "All Is Full of Love"

PART 2

5 On Sexual Arousal

6 Pornography: Erotic Disavowal, Regressive Content, and the Chikan (Sub-)Genre

7 Romance: The Handmaiden and its Arousing Spectacles

PART 3

8 On Laughter

9 Body Humor: Dick Pics in Cringe Comedy and the Carnivalesque Grotesque Body

10 Conclusion: The Limitation of Theories of Affect

Bibliography

Media-ography

Index

Notes:

Title from publisher's bibliographic system (viewed on 16 Nov 2023).

Includes bibliographical references, media-ography and index.

Description based on publisher supplied metadata and other sources.

ISBN:

1-3995-0113-5

1-3995-0112-7

OCLC:

1417147467