Description
Book SynopsisLisa Cartwright contributes to feminist film theory by developing a new psychoanalytic theory of spectatorship and human subjectivity.
Trade Review“
Moral Spectatorship is an important and brave book that dares to consider the formation of subjectivity and intersubjectivity in cinema (and life) through concepts such as feeling, affect, dependency, and care. Drawing upon psychoanalytic theory (not Lacan’s), Lisa Cartwright writes with both passion and skepticism about—and around—a selection of films that foreground the radically ethical nature of human communication, reminding us that film studies can change not only the way we see films but also the way we view our lives.”—
Vivian Sobchack, author of
Carnal Thoughts: Embodiment and Moving Image Culture“Uncovering alternative traditions in the psychoanalytic study of affect and object relations, while pairing them with deep explorations of American and continental moral philosophy, Lisa Cartwright proposes a series of arguments that will radically remap our understanding of spectatorship and identification.
Moral Spectatorship is a path-breaking book and perhaps the first entirely new approach to subject, empathy, and affect in visual cultural studies to have appeared in the new millennium.”—
D. N. Rodowick, Professor of Visual and Environmental Studies, Harvard University
Table of ContentsAcknowledgments ix
Introduction: Spectatorship, Affect, and Representation 1
1. Moral Spectatorship: Rethinking Identification in Film Theory 11
2. The (Deaf) Woman's Film and the Quiet Revolution in Film Sound: On Projection, Incorporation, and Voice 51
3. "A Child Is Being Beaten": Disorders of Authorship, Agency, and Affect in Facilitated Communication 157
Conclusion: On Empathy and Moral Spectatorship 229
Notes 241
References 255
Index 281
