Cinema Pessimism : A Political Theory of Representation and Reciprocity

Aesthetic and political representation are often treated separately, but this book argues that film offers a unique perspective through which to understand the dangers to equality and freedom that lurk in representative politics. The potential problems of representative democracy have long been debated: does it cultivate apathy and discourage citizen participation? What does it mean to be faithfully or well represented in a democracy? And how can appropriate, meaningful representation be achieved? Here, these questions are addressed from a new perspective. Representation, Joshua Foa Dienstag argues, can create the illusion of freedom and reciprocity in place of the real thing, and in both cinema and politics, what gives us pleasure is not the same as what secures or supports our existence as free and equal citizens. As this book shows, there are political dangers not visible within the current debates around democratic representation, dangers we can better understand and help to minimize by considering the way that human beings interact, emotionally, with their filmic representations. Dienstag looks at a series of films that directly confront issues of representation ( Her , Blade Runner , The Man Who Shot Liberty Valance , Melancholia , and the Up documentary series) to diagnose these hazards and consider how best to respond to them. Each chapter looks at a specific film as emblematic of a different conception or problem of representation often ignored by mainstream political debates (such as reciprocity, happiness, boundaries, evil) to show that the relationship between representation and freedom is fraught with tension. This book continues Dienstag's earlier groundbreaking work on philosophical pessimism, understood not as something despairing, but as a rejection of the idea that these necessary tensions can be cured. Ultimately, Dienstag seeks to defend a kind of pessimistic politics that might produce a better sort of democratic representation than what we have today. Cinema Pessimism uses the medium of film to explore the dilemmas of democratic representation. When is representation an aid to democracy, and when is it an obstacle? Why are democratic populations so perpetually dissatisfied with their representatives? An exploration of film representation gives us a unique standpoint from which to answer these and other questions. Representation contains dangers for democracy, including its ability to foster illusions of power and freedom in a citizenry rather than genuine autonomy. Film itself can be a powerful political narcotic, suppressing rather than expressing the humanity that is supposed to flourish in democracy. Most popular films today, like many elected representatives, frustrate and interrupt democracy rather than sustain it. In its best form, however, representation, both filmic and political, can add something irreplaceable to our political life. Democratic citizens are hard to represent because human beings only reveal themselves over time. Representing them thus holds special challenges that this work explores. Great representatives and great representations are rare, but when they do appear, they enhance our politics by sustaining the reciprocity and equality that are at the heart of any well-ordered human society. We can draw these lessons from films even as we resist the increasing saturation of modern life with representations that distract or degrade us 'Cinema Pessimism' explores the challenges of representative democracy through film. Film allows us to see the problems of democracy from a unique perspective, illuminating dangers that are not always visible to us either from day-to-day experience or the classics of democratic theory. Joshua Foa Dienstag argues that there are threats lurking in our political systems that we fail to perceive due to the many pleasures that representation (both political and filmic) provides. Ultimately, Dienstag seeks to defend a kind of pessimistic politics that might produce a better sort of democratic representation than what we have today f7b76b48_Cover(full permission) Title_Pages (1) Dedication 52a49087_vii(full permission) f1080e3a_viii(full permission) Acknowledgments IntroductionExperiments_in_the_Representative_Condition Citizenship_in_an_Age_of_RepresentationHer_and_Us Blade_Runners_Humanism The_Legitimacy_of_RepresentationThe_Man_Who_Shot_Liberty_Valance Representing_EvilVon_Triers_Werewolves The_Up_Series_and_the_Future_of_Representation ConclusionCinema_Pessimism Notes Bibliography Index