Screening Torture

Michael Flynn; Fabiola Fernandez Salek

Michael Flynn and Fabiola Fernandez Salek

Screening Torture

Media Representations of State Terror and Political Domination

Columbia University Press | 2012

https://doi.org/10.7312/flyn15358

Overview
Contents

About this book

Before 9/11, films addressing torture outside of the horror/slasher genre depicted the practice in a variety of forms. In most cases, torture was cast as the act of a desperate and depraved individual, and the viewer was more likely to identify with the victim rather than the torturer. Since the terrorist attacks of September 11, 2001, scenes of brutality and torture in mainstream comedies, dramatic narratives, and action films appear for little other reason than to titillate and delight. In these films, torture is devoid of any redeeming qualities, represented as an exercise in brutal senselessness carried out by authoritarian regimes and institutions.

This volume follows the shift in the representation of torture over the past decade, specifically in documentary, action, and political films. It traces and compares the development of this trend in films from the United States, Europe, China, Latin America, South Africa, and the Middle East. Featuring essays by sociologists, psychologists, historians, journalists, and specialists in film and cultural studies, the collection approaches the representation of torture in film and television from multiple angles and disciplines, connecting its aesthetics and practices to the dynamic of state terror and political domination.

Author information

Michael Flynn is associate professor of psychology at York College, City University of New York, and associate director of the Center on Terrorism at John Jay College of Criminal Justice. He is the coeditor, with Charles B. Strozier, of Genocide, War, and Human Survival; Trauma and Self; and The Year 2000: Essays on the End; and, with David C. Brotherton, of Globalizing the Streets: Cross-Cultural Perspectives on Youth, Social Control, and Empowerment.

Fabiola F. Salek is the chair of the Department of Foreign Languages, ESL, and Humanities and coordinator of women's studies at York College, City University of New York. She is also a research fellow at the Center on Terrorism at John Jay College of Criminal Justice. Her research focuses on film and contemporary culture and their relationship to human rights, immigration, gender, and the construction of identity and nationality.

Reviews

This book is a compelling critique of our dominant political and media discourses.

Marita Gronnvoll:
Thoughtful, insightful, and compelling.... Flynn and Salek have gathered together a collection of essays that will have wide appeal to communication scholars, film scholars and graduate students.

Dr Ruth Kitchen:
...adds breath and freshness to the analysis of media representations of state terror and political violence.

Frontmatter Free access PDF PDF	i
Contents Free access PDF PDF	vii
Screening Torture Michael Flynn and Fabiola F. Salek Access restricted Content is available PDF PDF	1
Part I: Torture and the Implications of Masculinity
1. Countering the Jack Bauer Effect David Danzig Access restricted Content is available PDF PDF	21
2. Mel Gibson’s Tortured Heroes Lee Quinby Access restricted Content is available PDF PDF	35
3. It’s a Perfect World Michael Flynn and Fabiola F. Salek Access restricted Content is available PDF PDF	53
Part II: Torture and the Sadomasochistic Impulse
4. Lust, Caution Access restricted Content is available PDF PDF	71
5. The Art of Photogenic Torture Phil Carney Access restricted Content is available PDF PDF	93
6. Beyond Susan Sontag Alfred W. McCoy Access restricted Content is available PDF PDF	109
7. Stanley Kubrick’s A Clockwork Orange as Art Against Torture Carolyn Strange Access restricted Content is available PDF PDF	143
Part III: Confronting the Legacies of Torture and State Terror
8. “Accorded a Place in the Design” Elizabeth Swanson Goldberg Access restricted Content is available PDF PDF	167
9. Confessing Without Regret Livia Alexander Access restricted Content is available PDF PDF	191
PART IV: Torture and the Shortcomings of Film
10. Movies of Modern Torture as Convenient Truths Darius Rejali Access restricted Content is available PDF PDF	219
11. Torture at the Limit of Politics Faisal Devji Access restricted Content is available PDF PDF	239
12. Doing Torture in Film Marnia Lazreg Access restricted Content is available PDF PDF	257
13. Documenting the Documentaries on Abu Ghraib Stjepan G. Mestrovic Access restricted Content is available PDF PDF	273
Contributors Access restricted Content is available PDF PDF	293
Index Access restricted Content is available PDF PDF	295

Screening Torture

Media Representations of State Terror and Political Domination

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