Overview

When we think of the pulse in cinema, we may think of the heartbeat of the spectator as they respond to affective or moving scenes in the film, or how fast-paced and shocking images exacerbate this affective response. Conceptually extending cinema spectatorship, The Pulse in Cinema contends that cinema is an energetic arrangement of affective and intense forces, where the image and the spectator are specific components. Analysing body horror films such as The Tingler (1959), Dawn of the Dead (1978) and The Beyond (1981), this book builds on Lyotard's concept of the dispositif, Deleuze's work on sensation and Bataille's economic theory to conceptualise a pulse in cinema, arguing for its importance in cinema spectatorship theory.

Full Product Details

Author:   Sharon Jane Mee (Publications Officer, ANROWS)
Publisher:   Edinburgh University Press
Imprint:   Edinburgh University Press
Weight:   0.494kg
ISBN:  

9781474475846

ISBN 10:   1474475841
Pages:   232
Publication Date:   15 December 2020
Audience:   Professional and scholarly ,  Professional & Vocational
Format:   Hardback
Publisher's Status:   Active
Availability:   Temporarily unavailable  
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Table of Contents

Acknowledgements List of Illustrations Introduction Rosalind E. Krauss’s Theory of the Pulse Rhythm and Pulse The Pulse: A Philosophical Enquiry Body Horror 1. The Rhythm of Life: The Pulse in the Image Rhythm and Pulse Rhythm in Experimental Cinema American Avant-garde and the Structuralist/Materialists The French Impressionists Dada Protocinema: Étienne-Jules Marey The Pulse in Psychoanalysis: Sigmund Freud 2. The Rhythm of Life: The Pulse in the Spectator Surfaces of Inscription and Passages of Intensity Movement, and an Opening The Logic of Sensation as a Diastolic–systolic Opening The Aesthetics of the Open: Georges Franju’s Le Sang des bêtes/Blood of the Beasts (1949) A Libidinal Economy, and an Opening Candour as the Body’s Openness to an Outside 3. Aisthesis and Dispositif: The Pulse and its Analogues Extracting the Fear that Tingles the Spine: The Hype, the Buzz of the Gimmick, and the Bottom Line The Execution: The Tingler (1959) Aisthesis and Prescribed Lines Prescription and the Aesthetics of Blood Spilled The Pulse ‘Exposed’ Dispositif: Lines of Fright Figural Analogues or ‘a Metonymy Without End’: The Heart that Throbs, the Spine that Tingles, the Mouth that Screams. Do you have the Guts? 4. Automutilation and Metonymy: The Economy of the Pulse General Economy as Energetic Expenditure Two General Economies of Communication and Communion Automutilation: Effects on the Flesh Metonymy and the ‘Operation’ to Undo Identity Automutilation and George A. Romero’s Dawn of the Dead (1978) An Operation in the Morgue: Lucio Fulci’s L’aldilà/The Beyond (1981) The Sovereign Operation as Affective Experience The Pulse as a Sovereign Operation in Horror Cinema 5. Blood and Convulsive Affect: Vectors of the Pulse as Sovereign Operations Andrzej Żuławski’s Possession (1981) Possession and Dispossession Body Horror and Convulsive Affect The Copula and the Copulation of Bodies: The Convulsions of Language and Self, Even (Fucking Language) The Movement-Image and Vectors of Sensation The Machinic and the Non-Machinic The Vector and Communication The Magnitude and Direction of Vectors that Result in Possession and Dispossession Material Vectors and their (Non)sense Bibliography Filmography Index.

Reviews

"Mee's impressive analysis of film is matched by her ability to connect complex ideas to films that are recognized as canon and films that are often marginalized. [...] Highly recommended.--S. B. Skelton, Kansas State University ""CHOICE"" In this book, Sharon Jane Mee gives a bold new account of the power of cinema. Movies both enthrall us and unsettle us. The Pulse in Cinema works through this double allure, and offers us a profound meditation on what aesthetic experience might mean in the twenty-first century.--Steven Shaviro, DeRoy Professor of English, Wayne State University"

Mee's impressive analysis of film is matched by her ability to connect complex ideas to films that are recognized as canon and films that are often marginalized. [...] Highly recommended.--S. B. Skelton, Kansas State University ""CHOICE"" In this book, Sharon Jane Mee gives a bold new account of the power of cinema. Movies both enthrall us and unsettle us. The Pulse in Cinema works through this double allure, and offers us a profound meditation on what aesthetic experience might mean in the twenty-first century.--Steven Shaviro, DeRoy Professor of English, Wayne State University

Author Information

Dr Sharon Jane Mee is Publications Officer at Australia’s National Research Organisation for Women’s Safety (ANROWS)

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