Disappearing War: Interdisciplinary Perspectives on Cinema and Erasure in the Post-9/11 World

The battles fought in the name of the ‘war on terror’ have re-ignited questions about the changing nature of war, and the experience of war for those geographically distant from its real world consequences. What is missing from our highly mediated experience of war? What are the intentional and unintentional processes of erasure through which the distortion happens? What are their consequences?

Cinema is a key site at which questions about our highly mediated experience of war can be addressed or, more significantly, elided. Looking at a range of films that have provoked debate, from award-winning features like 'Zero Dark Thirty and American Sniper', to documentaries like 'Kill List and Dirty Wars', as well as at the work of visual artists like Harun Farocki and Omer Fast, this book examines the practices of erasure in the cinematic representation of recent military interventions. Drawing on representations of war-related death, dying and bodily damage, this provocative collection addresses ‘what’s missing’ in existing scholarly responses to modern warfare; in film studies, as well as in politics and international relations.

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Contents

Frontmatter
pp i-iv
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Contents
pp v-vi
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List of Figures
pp vii-viii
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Notes on the Contributors
pp ix-xi
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Acknowledgements
pp xii-xiv
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1 - Introduction: Cinema and the Epistemology of War
pp 1-15
- By Christina Hellmich, Associate Professor in International Relations and Middle East Studies at the University of Reading., Lisa Purse, Associate Professor of Film in the Department of Film, Theatre and Television at the University of Reading.
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2 - Good Kill? US Soldiers and the Killing of Civilians in American Film
pp 16-33
- By Cora Sol Goldstein, Professor of Political Science at California State University, Long Beach.
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3 - ‘5,000 feet is the best’: Drone Warfare, Targets and Paul Virilio's ‘Accident’
pp 34-55
- By Agnieszka Piotrowska, award-winning documentary film-maker and a theorist.
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4 - Post-heroic War/The Body at Risk
pp 56-72
- By Robert Burgoyne, Professor of Film Studies at the University of St Andrews.
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5 - Disappearing Bodies: Visualising the Maywand District Murders
pp 73-91
- By Thomas Gregory, Lecturer in Politics and International Relations at the University of Auckland, New Zealand.
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6 - The Unknowable Soldier: Ethical Erasure in The Master's Facial Close-ups
pp 92-110
- By James Harvey, Associate Lecturer in Film Studies at Anglia Ruskin University and the University of Greenwich.
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7 - Visible Dead Bodies and the Technologies of Erasure in the War on Terror
pp 111-130
- By Jessica Auchter, Assistant Professor at the University of Tennessee at Chattanooga, USA.
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8 - Ambiguity, Ambivalence and Absence in Zero Dark Thirty
pp 131-148
- By Lisa Purse, Associate Professor of Film in the Department of Film, Theatre and Television at the University of Reading.
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9 - Invisible War: Broadcast Television Documentary and Iraq
pp 149-169
- By Janet Harris, award-winning documentary producer/director, having worked for many years at the BBC and as a freelancer with experience of working in Iraq in war and in post-war.
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10 - Nine Cinematic Devices for Staging (In)visible War and the (Vanishing) Colonial Present
pp 170-190
- By Shohini Chaudhuri, Senior Lecturer at the Department of Literature, Film and Theatre Studies, University of Essex.
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11 - Afterword: Reflections on Knowing War
pp 191-194
- By Christina Hellmich, Associate Professor in International Relations and Middle East Studies at the University of Reading.
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Index
pp 195-202
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Disappearing War

Interdisciplinary Perspectives on Cinema and Erasure in the Post-9/11 World

Book description

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Contents

Frontmatter
pp i-iv

Contents
pp v-vi

List of Figures
pp vii-viii

Notes on the Contributors
pp ix-xi

Acknowledgements
pp xii-xiv

1 - Introduction: Cinema and the Epistemology of War
pp 1-15

2 - Good Kill? US Soldiers and the Killing of Civilians in American Film
pp 16-33

3 - ‘5,000 feet is the best’: Drone Warfare, Targets and Paul Virilio's ‘Accident’
pp 34-55

4 - Post-heroic War/The Body at Risk
pp 56-72

5 - Disappearing Bodies: Visualising the Maywand District Murders
pp 73-91

6 - The Unknowable Soldier: Ethical Erasure in The Master's Facial Close-ups
pp 92-110

7 - Visible Dead Bodies and the Technologies of Erasure in the War on Terror
pp 111-130

8 - Ambiguity, Ambivalence and Absence in Zero Dark Thirty
pp 131-148

9 - Invisible War: Broadcast Television Documentary and Iraq
pp 149-169

10 - Nine Cinematic Devices for Staging (In)visible War and the (Vanishing) Colonial Present
pp 170-190

11 - Afterword: Reflections on Knowing War
pp 191-194

Index
pp 195-202

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Disappearing War

Interdisciplinary Perspectives on Cinema and Erasure in the Post-9/11 World

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