The Mind Screen: Identification Desire and Its Cinematic Arena

ISBN-13: 9783631668481 / Angielski / Twarda / 2015 / 329 str.

Georg Schmid

Opis

For well over a century cinema has exerted enormous influence, yet many questions regarding its fascination remain unanswered. Films work so well because the viewers tend to unconsciously identify with the actors/actresses. The desire to become another, substituting identity by identification, can be traced to the illusion that the filmic heroes/heroines are immortal - identifying with them raises the possibility of gaining deathlessness. Viewers can, without real life risks, experiment with the existential drafts presented; the power of imagination is mobilized. Based on a multidisciplinary approach (semiotics, psychoanalysis, cultural anthropology, plus a healthy dose of film history), this book presents prolegomena of a philosophy of cinema.

Spis treści

Contents: Fascination of cinema - Identification with actors/actresses - Participating in their immortality - Experimenting with the existential patterns offered - Film analysis - Film history - Semiotics - Psychoanalysis - Cultural anthropology.

O autorze

Georg Schmid has taught modern and contemporary history, mainly at the University of Salzburg.