Death in Classic and Contemporary Film : Fade to Black

Mortality is a recurrent theme in films across genres, periods, nations, and directors. This book brings together an accomplished set of authors with backgrounds in film analysis, psychology, and philosophy to examine how the knowledge of death, the fear of our mortality, and the ways people cope with mortality are represented in cinema. Mortality is a recurrent theme in films across genres, periods, nations, and directors. This book brings together an accomplished set of authors with backgrounds in film analysis, psychology, and philosophy to examine how the knowledge of death, the fear of our mortality, and the ways people cope with mortality are represented in cinema Front Matter....Pages i-ix Introduction: When the Lights Go Down....Pages 1-15 Front Matter....Pages 17-17 A Terror Management Analysis of Films from Four Genres: The Matrix, Life is Beautiful, Iron Man 2, and Ikiru....Pages 19-36 The End is Near: Mortality Salience in Apocalyptic Films....Pages 37-52 Front Matter....Pages 53-53 Little Murders: Cultural Animals in an Existential Age....Pages 55-71 Icons of Stone and Steel: Death, Cinema, and the Future of Emotion....Pages 73-90 Consumed in the Act: Grizzly Man and Frankenstein....Pages 91-103 Black Swan/White Swan: On Female Objectification, Creatureliness, and Death Denial....Pages 105-117 Death, Wealth, and Guilt: An Analysis of There Will be Blood....Pages 119-134 The Birth and Death of the Superhero Film....Pages 135-150 Front Matter....Pages 151-151 Bergman and the Switching Off of Lights....Pages 153-165 Kubrick and Death....Pages 167-183 Haneke’s Amour and the Ethics of Dying....Pages 185-196 Front Matter....Pages 197-197 Visions of Death: Native American Cinema and the Transformative Power of Death....Pages 199-216 From Despair and Fanaticism to Awe: A Posttraumatic Growth Perspective on Cinematic Horror....Pages 217-229 Conclusion: Cinematic Death Benefits....Pages 231-245 Back Matter....Pages 247-263