In recent years some of the most innovative European and American
directors have made films that place the spectator in a position of
intense discomfort. Systematically manipulating the viewer, sometimes by
withholding information, sometimes through shock or seduction, these
films have often been criticised as amoral, nihilistic, politically
irresponsible or anti-humanistic. But how are these unpleasurable
viewing experiences created? What do the directors believe they can
achieve via this 'feel-bad' experience? How can we situate these films
in intellectual history? And why should we watch, study and teach
feel-bad films?
Answering these questions through the analysis of work by directors such
as Lars von Trier, Gus Van Sant, Claire Denis, Michael Haneke, Lucille
Hadzihalilovic, Brian de Palma, Bruno Dumont and Harmony Korine, The
Feel-Bad Film invites readers to consider cinematic art as an
experimental activity with ethical norms that are radically different
from the ones we would hope to find outside the movie theatre.
This textbook offers invaluble insights for students of film-philosophy,
film and spectatorship and film theory.
About the series: Edinburgh Studies in Film and Intermediality
includes scholarly research intended to challenge and expand on the
various approaches to Film Studies, bringing together film theory and
film aesthetics with the emerging intermedial aspects of the field.
