Overview

Explosive images of sex and violence in films by directors such as Catherine Breillat, Gaspar Noe, Michael Haneke and Lars von Trier have attracted media attention for the ways in which they seek to shock and provoke the spectator into powerful affective and visceral responses.This first collection of essays devoted to the new extremism in contemporary European cinema critically interrogates this highly contentious body of work and demonstrates that these films and the controversies they engender are indispensable to the critical task of rethinking the terms of spectatorship. Through critical discussions of key films and directors, this book sheds new light on cutting-edge debates in Film Studies regarding sexuality, violence and spectatorship, affect and ethics, and the political dimensions of extreme cinema.Including important new work from internationally renowned scholars Martin Barker and Martine Beugnet, as well as combining a range of approaches to extreme cinema across audience research and theories of spectator ship, this exploration of the darkest side of cinema will be an invaluable resource for film scholars and students.

Full Product Details

Author:   Tanya Horeck (Professor of Film and Feminist Media Studies, Anglia Ruskin University) ,  Tina Kendall (Anglia Ruskin University)
Publisher:   Edinburgh University Press
Imprint:   Edinburgh University Press
Dimensions:   Width: 15.60cm , Height: 2.00cm , Length: 23.40cm
Weight:   0.509kg
ISBN:  

9780748641604

ISBN 10:   0748641602
Pages:   248
Publication Date:   29 June 2011
Audience:   College/higher education ,  Professional and scholarly ,  Undergraduate ,  Postgraduate, Research & Scholarly
Format:   Hardback
Publisher's Status:   Active
Availability:   Temporarily unavailable  
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Table of Contents

Contents Acknowledgements 1 Introduction Tanya Horeck and Tina Kendall 2 Flesh and Blood: Sex and Violence in Recent French Cinema James Quandt Part I French Cinema and the New Extremism 3 The Wounded Screen Martine Beugnet 4 Reframing Bataille: On Tacky Spectatorship in the New European Extremism Tina Kendall 5 Beyond Anti-Americanism, Beyond Euro-Centrism: Locating Bruno Dumont's Twentynine Palms in the Context of European Cinematic Extremism Neil Archer Part II Becoming Animal: Posthumanism and the New Extremism 6 Shadows of Being in Sombre: Archetypes, Wolf-Men and Bare Life Jenny Chamarette 7 Eastern Extreme: The Presentation of Eastern Europe as a Site of Monstrosity in La Vie nouvelle and Import/Export Michael Goddard 8 Naked Women, Slaughtered Animals: Ulrich Seidl and the Limits of the Real Catherine Wheatley Part III Watching the Extreme: Cultural Reception 9 Watching Rape, Enjoying Watching Rape!: How does a Study of Audience Cha(lle)nge Film Studies Approaches?' Martin Barker 10 Censorship, Reception and the Films of Gaspar Noe: The Emergence of the New Extremism in Britain Daniel Hickin 11 'Sex and Violence from a Pair of Furies': The Scandal of Baise-moi Leila Wimmer 12 'Close Your Eyes and Tell Me What You See': Sex and Politics in Lukas Moodysson's Films Mariah Larsson Part IV Ethics and Spectatorship in the New Extremism 13 Lars von Trier's Dogville: A Feel-Bad Film Nikolaj Lubecker 14 A 'Passion for the Real': Sex, Affect and Performance in the Films of Andrea Arnold Tanya Horeck 15 Interrogating the Obscene: Extremism and Michael Haneke Lisa Coulthard 16 On the Unwatchable Asbjorn Gronstad Afterword 17 More Moralism from that 'Wordy Fuck' James Quandt Notes on Contributors Works Cited Index

Reviews

An excellent source for students of film violence. Highly recommended. -- S. C. Dillon, Bates College * Choice * This is the first important study of its kind, and it is both perspicacious and unflinching in examining the provocative issues raised by such directors as Lars von Trier and Gaspar Noe with their graphic portrayals of sex and violence. Critical methods and the contentious debates regarding the expression of sexuality are both handled by the contributors with great rigour. -- Barry Forshaw * Crimetime *

A stimulating, wide-ranging survey of a controversial and confrontational field of new European cinema. Addressing a style of film that challenges both the viewer and a wide range of taboos, the collection questions the meanings and uses of 'extremity' and conveys the complexity and diversity of a cinema that is vital, troubling and above all, itself critical. -- Jonathan Romney, Film Critic, Independent on Sunday A stimulating, wide-ranging survey of a controversial and confrontational field of new European cinema. Addressing a style of film that challenges both the viewer and a wide range of taboos, the collection questions the meanings and uses of 'extremity' and conveys the complexity and diversity of a cinema that is vital, troubling and above all, itself critical.

Author Information

Tanya Horeck is Professor of Film and Feminist Media Studies at Anglia Ruskin University. She is the author of Justice on Demand: True Crime in the Digital Streaming Era (2019) and Public Rape: Representing Violation in Fiction and Film (2004). She is co-editor of Rape in Stieg Larrson’s Millennium Trilogy and Beyond (2013) and The New Extremism in Cinema (2014, EUP). Tina Kendall is Senior Lecturer in Film Studies at Anglia Ruskin University, where she is also Pathway Leader for the undergraduate Film Studies degree. Her research interests include theories of spectatorship, affect, and unpleasure, especially as these relate to contemporary European cinema. She has published on questions of stillness, intermediality, disgust, and the new materialism in film. She is currently preparing a monograph on the cinema of Bruno Dumont.

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