Overview

Exploring anti-mimesis and image destruction in Western European films, Iconoclasm in European Cinema: The Ethics and Aesthetics of Image Destruction offers the first comprehensive study of philosophical iconoclasm in cinema. Drawing on continental philosophy of the image, medieval theology and recent developments in film ethics, it investigates the aesthetic and ethical significance of destroying certain film images, both literally (via damages to the filmstrip) and metaphorically (through blank screens, altered motion and disruptive sounds). Analysing the work of various filmmakers, the book considers iconoclastic gestures against the film image's ability to mimetically represent contents on the verge of the invisible and the ineffable. This book demonstrates that the overlooked issue of iconoclasm in film is essential for understanding contemporary attitudes towards images and argues that cinematic iconoclasm can encourage an ethics of (in)visibility by questioning the limits of our right to see and show something on a screen.

Full Product Details

Author:   Chiara Quaranta (Teaching Fellow in Film Studies, University of Edinburgh)
Publisher:   Edinburgh University Press
Imprint:   Edinburgh University Press
ISBN:  

9781474494465

ISBN 10:   1474494463
Pages:   240
Publication Date:   30 May 2025
Audience:   General/trade ,  General
Format:   Paperback
Publisher's Status:   Active
Availability:   Temporarily unavailable  
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Table of Contents

Figures Acknowledgements Introduction Prologue: The Eikōn-Eidōlon Dichotomy from Plato to Film Part I. Cinematic Iconoclasm as Critique: The Image as Eidōlon Chapter 1. Aural Cinema: Isidore Isou’s Traité de bave et d’éternité Chapter 2. An Aesthetics of Displeasure: Guy Debord’s Destructive Oeuvre Chapter 3. Towards a Radical Voice: Carmelo Bene’s Our Lady of the Turks Chapter 4. In Search of a True Image: Jean-Luc Godard’s Histoire(s) du cinéma Part II. Cinematic Iconoclasm as an Ethics of (In)visibility: The Eikōn as Iconoclastic Chapter 5. Impossible Encounters: Marguerite Duras’s Le Navire Night Chapter 6. Blind Vision, Aural Resonances: Derek Jarman’s Blue Chapter 7. Crumbling Faces: Ingmar Bergman’s Cries and Whispers Chapter 8. Blocks of Suffering: Krzysztof Kieślowski’s Three Colours: Blue Conclusion: A Communal Vision through Broken Images Notes Glossary Bibliography Filmography

Reviews

Brimming with sharp insights and concise observations, Chiara Quaranta's scintillating and exquisitely interdisciplinary study engages with a broad range of canonical works of art cinema and the avant-garde to analyze how the destruction of images can be a productive practice both artistically and ethically.--Asbjørn Grønstad, University of Bergen Through detailed and engaging readings of select films--by Bene, Bergman, Debord, Duras, Godard, Isou, Jarman, and Kieślowski--Chiara Quaranta demonstrates impressively how the destruction of the image within European cinema can be generative of an enabling ethics which foregrounds the importance of listening and imagining in the film experience.--Sarah Cooper, King's College London Iconoclasm in European Cinema is an extremely useful guide for thinking about the nature of moving images as processual apparatuses, never constricted or reduced to their apparent representational function, but rather to be intended as experiential and dialogical means of signification. --Francesco Sticchi ""Film-Philosophy""

Author Information

Chiara Quaranta is Teaching Fellow in Film Studies at the University of Edinburgh

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