Synopses & Reviews
Each month brings new scientific findings that demonstrate the ways in which human activities, from resource extraction to carbon emissions, are doing unprecedented, perhaps irreparable damage to our world. As we hear these climate change reports and their predictions for the future of Earth, many of us feel a sickening sense of
dandeacute;jandagrave; vu, as though we have already seen the sad outcome to this story.
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Drawing from recent scholarship that analyzes climate change as a form of andldquo;slow violenceandrdquo; that humans are inflicting on the environment, Climate Trauma theorizes that such violence is accompanied by its own psychological condition, what its author terms andldquo;Pretraumatic Stress Disorder.andrdquo; Examining a variety of films that imagine a dystopian future, renowned media scholar E. Ann Kaplan considers how the increasing ubiquity of these works has exacerbated our sense of impending dread. But she also explores ways these films might help us productively engage with our anxieties, giving us a seemingly prophetic glimpse of the terrifying future selves we might still work to avoid becoming.and#160;
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Examining dystopian classics like Soylent Green alongside more recent examples like The Book of Eli, Climate Trauma also stretches the limits of the genre to include features such as Blindness, The Happening, Take Shelter, and a number of documentaries on climate change. These eclectic texts allow Kaplan to outline the typical blind-spots of the genre, which rarely depicts climate catastrophe from the vantage point of women or minorities. Lucidly synthesizing cutting-edge research in media studies, psychoanalytic theory, and environmental science, Climate Trauma provides us with the tools we need to extract something useful from our nightmares of a catastrophic future. and#160; and#160;
Review
andquot;Proposing a powerful new analytic in the and#39;pretraumaand#39; concept, Kaplanand#39;s fresh and insightful work goes directly to the heart of the matter:and#160; cinemaand#39;s role in negotiating a dire circumstance we humans neglect at our peril.andquot;
Synopsis
Women in Film Noir is one of the classic course texts of film studies, a groundbreaking attempt to chart the ways in which meanings and fantasies are produced in film noir through representations of the femme fatal and other female roles. First published in 1978,
Women in Film Noir assembled a group of scholars and critics committed to understanding the cinema in terms of gender, sexuality, politics, psychoanalysis, and semiotics. This work remains fresh and insightful and is reprinted here.
For this new expanded edition, the editor has brought together further essays that reflect renewed interest in film noir. Exploring "neo-noir," postmodernism, and other contemporary trends, new essays offer readings of, among others, Bound and Basic Instinct, broadening the scope of the book to include questions of race and homosexuality.
Synopsis
Published in 1978, the first edition of this text assembled scholars and critics committed to understanding the cinema in terms of gender, sexuality, politics, psychoanalysis and semiotics. This edition is expanded to include essays which explore "neo-noir", postmodernism and other trends.
Synopsis
Examining a variety of films that imagine a catastrophic future, from
Children of Men to
The Book of Eli, E. Ann Kaplan considers how they have exacerbated our sense of impending dread, triggering what she terms andldquo;Pretraumatic Stress Disorder.andrdquo; But
Climate Trauma also explores ways these films might help us productively engage with our anxieties about climate change, giving us a prophetic glimpse of the terrifying future selves we might still work to avoid becoming. and#160;
Description
Includes bibliographical references (p. 229-[234]) and index.
About the Author
E. ANN KAPLAN is a distinguished professor of English and Cultural Analysis and Theory at Stony Brook University, where she also founded and directed the Humanities Institute. The past president of the Society for Cinema and Media Studies, she is also the author and editor of over a dozen books, including
Trauma and Cinema and
Trauma Culture (Rutgers University Press).
Table of Contents
Klute 1 - a contemporary Film Noir and feminist criticism, Christine Gledhill--woman's place - the absent family of Film Noir, Sylvia Harvey--women in Film Noir, Janey Place--duplicity in "Mildred Pierce", Pam Cook--the place of women in Fritz Lang's "The Blue Gardenia", E. Ann Kaplan--"Double Indemnity", Claire Johnston--"Klute" 2 - feminism and "Klute", Christine Gledhill--resistance through charisma - Rita Hayworth and "Gilda", Richard Dyer--postscript - queers and women in Film Noir, Richard Dyer--female spectator, lesbian spectator - "The Haunting", Patricia White--femme fatale or lesbian femme - "Bound" in sexual difference, Chris Straayer--the postmodern always rings twice - constructing the femme fatale in 1990's cinema, Kate Stables--the "dark continent" of Film Noir - race, displacement and metaphor in "Cat People" and "The Lady from Shanghai", E. Ann Kaplan--"Gilda" didn't do any of those things you've been losing sleep over - the central women in 1940s Film Noir, Angela Martin.