Synopses & Reviews
This collection builds on the growing recognition and critical acclaim of Volumes 1 and 2 of Violence, Desire, and the Sacred with a distinct focus on media, film and television. It showcases the work of outstanding scholars in mimetic theory and how they are applying and developing René Girards insights. Consistent with the previous volumes, Mimesis, Movies, and Media presents the most up-to-date interdisciplinary work being developed with the ground-breaking insights of Girard. This volume has a more popular focus with the contributors analyzing well-known films and television series. It brings together major Australian and international scholars working in this area.
Synopsis
Building on the growing recognition and critical acclaim of volumes 1 and 2 of Violence, Desire, and the Sacred, this third volume in the series showcases the most groundbreaking, interdisciplinary research in mimetic theory, with a focus on well-known films, television series, and other media. Mimesis, Movies, and Media reaches beyond the traditional boundaries of continental theory to demonstrate how scholars apply and develop René Girard's insights in light of contemporary media. It brings together major Australian and international scholars working at the intersection of popular culture and philosophy.
About the Author
Scott Cowdell is Research Associate Professor in Public and Contextual Theology at Charles Sturt University, Canberra, Australia, and Canon Theologian of the Canberra-Goulburn Anglican Diocese. He is Founding President of the Australian Girard Seminar.
Chris Fleming is Senior Lecturer in Philosophy and Anthropology, School of Humanities and Languages, the University of Western Sydney, Australia. His is the author of Violence and Mimesis (2004) and is Vice-President of the Australian Girard Seminar.
Joel Hodge is Lecturer in Systematic Theology, School of Theology, Australian Catholic University, Australia. He is the author of Resisting Violence and Victimisation: Christian Faith and Solidarity in East Timor (2012) and is Treasurer and Secretary of the Australian Girard Seminar.
Table of Contents
Contributors
Introduction
Section 1: Media and Representation1. The Scapegoat Mechanism and the Media: Beyond the Folk Devil Paradigm
John O'Carroll (Charles Sturt University) 2. The Apocalypse Will Not Be Televised
Chris Fleming (University of Western Sydney) and John O'Carroll (Charles Sturt University)Section 2: Film3. Mirrors of Nature: Artificial Agents in real life and virtual worlds”
Paul Dumouchel (Graduate School of Core Ethics and Frontier Sciences, Ritsumeikan University, Japan)4.Against Romantic Love: Mimeticism and Satire in Woody Allen's
Vicky, Cristina, Barcelona,
To Rome with Love, and
You Will Meet a Tall Dark StrangerScott Cowdell (Charles Sturt University)5. Superheroes, Scapegoats and Saviours: Mimesis, Sacred Violence, and the Redemptive Vision of
The Dark KnightJoel Hodge (Australian Catholic University)6.
The Dark Knight and My Community Gotham
Debra MacDonald (University of Auckland)7. The Mimetic E-Motion: From
The Matrix to
AvatarNidesh Lawtoo (University of Lausanne)8. Dreams Decaying: American Utopias and Tragic Violence
Carly Osborn (University of Adelaide)9. Mimetic Desire, Self-Hatred, and Human Extermination: Trends in Recent Horror Cinema
Peter Paik (University of Milwaukee)10. Ups and Downs in
The Hi-Lo Country: Enactments of Positive and Negative Mimesis in the film by Stephen Frears
Thomas Ryba (Purdue University/University of Notre Dame)11. Judgement Day at Bodega Bay
Dietmar Regensburger (University of Innsbruck)
Section 3: Television12. The Self in Crisis: Girard, Hegel,
Homeland and
Mad MenPaolo Diego Bubbio (University of Western Sydney)13. Media, Murder and Memoir: Girardian Baroque in Robert Drewe's
The Shark NetRosamund Dalziell (Charles Sturt University)14. Conversion in
DexterMatthew Tan (De Paul University)15. The Butler did it: A Girardian reading of the problem of class in
Downton AbbeyNigel Zimmermann (University of Notre Dame Australia)Glossary
Index