Beyond the pleasure principle: exploring the limits of a pervasive term
Beyond the pleasure principle: exploring the limits of a pervasive term
This article aims to discuss pleasure as a way of understanding film. I do not seek to judge the correctness, political or otherwise, of certain pleasures, or to offer any overarching theory of pleasure. Instead I investigate what film scholars talk about when we talk about pleasure. Understanding pleasure more as an attitude to film spectatorship rather than an object in and of itself, I consider the importance not solely of the rational pursuit of prima facie pleasures but also of more enigmatic emotional needs relating to intimacy, pain and the confirmation of shared values. Separating cinematic pleasure from any necessary association with positivity, I caution against the potential for pleasure to be instrumentalized as part of a neo-liberal ethic of happiness.
123-134
Bayman, Louis
4ac4c78c-a62e-43a4-aa70-497ab56dcad4
2017
Bayman, Louis
4ac4c78c-a62e-43a4-aa70-497ab56dcad4
Bayman, Louis
(2017)
Beyond the pleasure principle: exploring the limits of a pervasive term.
New Cinemas Journal of Contemporary Film, 14 (2), .
(doi:10.1386/ncin.14.2.123_1).
Abstract
This article aims to discuss pleasure as a way of understanding film. I do not seek to judge the correctness, political or otherwise, of certain pleasures, or to offer any overarching theory of pleasure. Instead I investigate what film scholars talk about when we talk about pleasure. Understanding pleasure more as an attitude to film spectatorship rather than an object in and of itself, I consider the importance not solely of the rational pursuit of prima facie pleasures but also of more enigmatic emotional needs relating to intimacy, pain and the confirmation of shared values. Separating cinematic pleasure from any necessary association with positivity, I caution against the potential for pleasure to be instrumentalized as part of a neo-liberal ethic of happiness.
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e-pub ahead of print date: 1 September 2016
Published date: 2017
Organisations:
Film
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Local EPrints ID: 405138
URI: http://eprints.soton.ac.uk/id/eprint/405138
ISSN: 1474-2756
PURE UUID: 61d9283a-5f22-4078-b72b-f0887946b303
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Date deposited: 27 Jan 2017 14:01
Last modified: 16 Mar 2024 04:23
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