Description
Book SynopsisGathers pivotal and more mundane moments, dispersed across a predominantly Western history of moving images, in which animals materialize in movies and TV shows, from iconic scenes of cattle slaughter in early Soviet montage to quandaries over hunting trophies in recent home-renovation reality TV series, to animals in Black horror films.
Trade Review“O’Brien’s wonderful study offers rich readings of the mediation of animal lives and deaths by cinema and television, its connections to slaughter and taxidermy, and related questions of race and commodification. O’Brien traces the historical and material contours of these entanglements in highly astute and accessible terms, prompting us to look anew at animal and animalized presences on-screen, from slaughter cinema to ‘TV trophies’.”—Laura McMahon, University of Cambridge “
Bits and Pieces explores the ways in which film and television mediate our understanding of animal life and death, and especially the issue of animal slaughter. The scholarship is sound, and the presentation of the material and writing style are wonderfully clear and crisp.” —Claire Jean Kim, University of California, Irvine “O’Brien rightly finds images of animals everywhere—but doesn’t try to approach the subject encyclopedically. Instead, she hones in on parallel thematic and imagistic tracks, and takes intensive looks within.
Bits and Pieces is a compelling, well-written, and deeply researched work.”—Cynthia Chris, College of Staten Island, CUNY
Table of Contents
- List of Illustrations
- Acknowledgements
- Introduction
- Filmography
- Chapter 1: Slaughter Cinema
- Chapter 2: Glass Walls
- Chapter 3: Cabinets of Curiosity
- Chapter 4: TV Trophies
- Conclusion
- Index
