Violent Corporeality in Cinema
Journal
The Palgrave Handbook of Violence in Film and Media
Pages
37-53
ISBN
9783031053900
Date Issued
2022-01-01
Author(s)
Abstract
What I have in mind here is to theorize violent corporeality on the cinematic screen—to treat it as a violent narratology of the body. I contend that violent corporeality is better explained through a commonsensical understanding of how one mobilizes the body in relation to the world and how the screen narratives can transform the interaction. In other words, the audience understands the body on screen just as they understand, to a larger or lesser extent, their own bodies in reality, all caveats considered. Stunt performances are eye-opening because they evoke and stretch the limitation of the body’s affordance—possibility of acting on the world before it would break—the things we know our bodies can and cannot accomplish. Violent corporeality is not simply a violent body. It is a twisted relationship between body and world, a divergence from their eased connection.
SDGs
Type
book part