Eziezek And Media Studies: Reader, A

Description: Since the early 1970s, film, media, and cultural theorists have appealed to Lacanian psychoanalytic theory in order to discern processes of subjectivization, representation, and ideological interpellation. However, beginning with the work of theorists such as Jacqueline Rose, Joan Copjec, and Slavoj Zizek, a new approach to Lacan has been advanced, one which pays closer attention to concepts such as sexual difference, the 'objet petit a' (the object-cause of desire), fantasy, the Real, enjoyment, and the drive. Zizek in particular has advanced a political-philosophical re-interpretation of Lacan that has spawned a whole new wave of film, media, and cultural theory that shows a marked difference from an early Lacanian approach. The contributors in this book take up a specifically Zizekian approach to studies of cinema and media, both old and new, raising questions about power, ideology, sexual difference, and enjoyment. Including chapters written by key figures in Zizekian film, media, and cultural theory such as Jodi Dean, Todd McGowan, Paul A. Taylor, and Fabio Vighi, it concludes with a response from Zizek himself.

Review: "Flisfeder and Willis completely reshape our understanding of the history of psychoanalytic film theory by contextualizing it through Slavoj Zizek's impact. Zizek and Media Studies comes at a time when contemporary psychoanalytic film theory has changed substantially and this contribution is thus required reading." - Hilary Neroni, Film and Television Studies, University of Vermont, USA and author of The Subject of Torture: Psychoanalysis, Biopolitics, and Media Representations "One thing that makes reading Zizek so interesting and (let's be honest) entertaining is the way he engages popular culture and media. Unfortunately the impact of this effort has been largely underappreciated within the discipline of Media Studies. This book repairs that deficiency by developing a distinctly Zizekian approach to media scholarship. It is indispensable for anyone interested in Zizek and a must-read for students, teachers, and researchers in Media, Film, and Communication Studies." - David J. Gunkel, Professor, Northern Illinois University, USA and author of The Machine Question and Heidegger and the Media

Contents: Introduction: Zizek and Media Studies, Beyond Lacan; Matthew Flisfeder and Louis-Paul Willis PART I: MEDIA, IDEOLOGY, AND POLITICS 1. Zizek's Reception: Fifty Shades of Gray Ideology; Paul A. Taylor 2. The Sublime Absolute: Althusser, Zizek, and the Critique of Ideology; Agon Hamza 3. Student Fantasies: A Zizekian Perspective on the 2012 Quebec Student Uprising; Louis-Paul Willis 4. The Objective: The Configuration of Trauma in the 'War on Terror,' or the Sublime Object of the Medium; Richard Begin PART II: POPULAR CULTURE 5. The Priority of the Example: Hegel Contra Film Studies; Todd McGowan 6. Imagining the End Times: Ideology, the Contemporary Disaster Movie, and Contagion; Matthew Beaumont 7. Zizek and the 80s Movie Song: "There Is a Non-Relationship"; Graham Wolfe 8. A Little Piece of the Reel: Prosthetic Vocality and the Obscene Surplus of Record Production; Mickey Vallee 9. White Elephants and Dark Matter(s): Watching the World Cup with Slavoj Zizek; Tim Walters PART III: FILM AND CINEMA 10. Contingent Encounters and Retroactive Signification: Zooming in on the Dialectical Core of Zizek's Film Criticism; Fabio Vighi 11. How to Kill Your Mother: Heavenly Creatures, Desire and Zizek's Return to Ideology; Cindy Zeiher 12. Dialogue with American Skepticism: Cavell and Zizek on Sexual Difference; Keiko Ogata 13. From Interpassive to Interactive Cinema: A Genealogy of the Moving Image of Cynicism; Tamas Nagypal 14. Beyond the Beyond: CGI and the Anxiety of Overperfection; Hugh Manon PART IV: SOCIAL MEDIA AND THE INTERNET 15. Slavoj Zizek as Internet Philosopher; Clint Burnham 16. The Real Internet; Jodi Dean 17. Enjoying Social Media; Matthew Flisfeder 18. Is Torture Part of Your Social Network; Tara Atluri Afterword: Staging Feminine Hysteria: Schoenberg's Erwartung; Slavoj Zizek



Author Biography: Matthew Flisfeder has held teaching positions at Ontario College of Art and Design University, Ryerson University, Trent University, and Wilfrid Laurier University, Canada. He is the author of The Symbolic, the Sublime, and Slavoj Zizek's Theory of Film. Louis-Paul Willis is Department Head of New Media Creation and Assistant Professor of Film and Media Studies at Universite du Quebec en Abitibi-Temiscamingue, Canada.