Dark Thoughts Philosophic Reflections on Cinematic Horror
Produktdetaljer
Biographical note
Steven Jay Schneider is a Ph.D. candidate in Philosophy at Harvard University and in Cinema Studies at New York University's Tisch School of the Arts. He has published widely on the horror film and related genres, and is author of the forthcoming Designing Fear: An Aesthetics of Cinematic Horror. Steven is editor of New Hollywood Violence and The Horror and Psychoanalysis: Freud's Worst Nightmares, and co-editor of Understanding Film Genres and Horror International, all forthcoming. For more information, please visit his "website". Daniel Shaw is Professor of Philosophy and Film at Lock Haven University of Pennsylvania. He is Editor of the journal Film and Philosophy, and secretary-treasurer of its sponsor organization, the Society for the Philosophic Study of the Contemporary Visual Arts. He has published articles in The Journal of Value Inquiry, Kinoeye, and Film/Literature Quarterly. His reviews also appear periodically in the Journal of Aesthetics and Art Criticism and in Choice magazine.This philosophical collection provides an interesting perspective on the film horror genre that would prove beneficial for cinema studies, film history, and film genre courses. Recommended.
CHOICE
...a collection of essays on the philosophic underpinnings of films like Texas Chainsaw Massacre, Henry: Portrait of a Serial Killer, and An American Werewolf in London...
Northeast News Gleaner
The horror film is a fascinating genre from many perspectives, not least of them the philosophical. For those interested in a philosophical approach to horror, read this book! In Dark Thoughts, the editors gather together a remarkable set of essays by philosophers and film scholars, among them well-known names and relative newcomers. Along the way, Dark Thoughts explores the major issues raised by the horror film, and it does so from diverse perspectives. The approaches range from the psychoanalytic to the cognitive, from Nietsche and Heidegger to Carroll and Freeland. This is a welcome and useful addition to the literature on the horror film.
- Carl Plantinga, editor of Passionate Views: Film, Cognition, and Emotion,
If you look at cinema through a philosophic prism however, and agree Schneider and Shaw's introductory contention that horror cinema is "simply a natural extension of a philosopher's inclination to wonder," then you will find the issues reiase by Carroll and those who follow in his footsteps, enlightening.
Video Watchdog
With this important collection in hand, you can stop whistling in the dark and start thinking seriously about scary movies. Why do we voluntarily watch films that shock, frighten, and horrify? Why do we actually like Hannibal Lecter and other monsters andmonstrosities? What defines the horror movie as a genre? What are its connections to tragedy? The essays in this book draw insightfully on classic sources including Plato, Aristotle, Hume, Schopenhauer, Nietzsche, Freud, and Heidegger to answer these andother terrifying questions. In addition, all the major contemporary theorists in the philosophy of horror are represented, including Noël Carroll, Cynthia Freeland, and Robert Solomon The resulting fusion of classic and contemporary insight is this unique and enlightening volume, Dark Thoughts.
- William Irwin, King's College, Pennsylvania,
With this important collection in hand, you can stop whistling in the dark and start thinking seriously about scary movies. Why do we voluntarily watch films that shock, frighten, and horrify? Why do we actually like Hannibal Lecter and other monsters and monstrosities? What defines the horror movie as a genre? What are its connections to tragedy? The essays in this book draw insightfully on classic sources including Plato, Aristotle, Hume, Schopenhauer, Nietzsche, Freud, and Heidegger to answer these and other terrifying questions. In addition, all the major contemporary theorists in the philosophy of horror are represented, including Noël Carroll, Cynthia Freeland, and Robert Solomon The resulting fusion of classic and contemporary insight is this unique and enlightening volume, Dark Thoughts.
- William Irwin, King's College, Pennsylvania,