Cinematic Nihilism Encounters, Confrontations, Overcomings

Exposing and illustrating how an ongoing engagement with nihilistic alienation may contribute to, rather than detract from, the value of life, Cinematic Nihilism both challenges and builds upon past scholarship that has scrutinised nihilism in the media, but which has generally over-emphasised its negative and destructive aspects. Through case studies of popular films, including Prometheus, The Dark Knight Rises, Dawn of the Dead and The Human Centipede, and with chapters on Scotland's cinematic portrayal as both a site of 'nihilistic sacrifice' and as 'nowhere in particular', this book presents a necessary corrective, re-emphasising the constructive potential of cinematic nihilism and casting it as a phenomenon that need not be overcome.

John Marmysz teaches philosophy at the College of Marin in Kentfield, California.

Acknowledgements

Introduction: Plato's Nightmare

Part I: Encounters

Introduction

Chapter 1: Scotland as a Site of Nihilistic Sacrifice

Chapter 2: The Myth of Scotland as Nowhere in Particular

Chapter 3: Monstrous Masses: The Human Body as Raw Material

Part II: Confrontations

Introduction

Chapter 4: From Night to Survival: Nihilism and the Living Dead

Chapter 5: The Lure of the Mob: Cinematic Depictions of Skinhead Authenticity

Chapter 6: Cultural Change and Nihilism in the Rollerball Films

Part III: Overcomings

Introduction

Chapter 7: The Abject Self: Apocalyptic Consequences of Self-Discovery in Fight Club

Chapter 8: Rooting for the Fascists in Avatar

Chapter 9: Yukio Mishima and the Return to the Body

Bibliography

Filmography