The Films of Lars Von Trier and Philosophy : Provocations and Engagements

"Grappling with the social, emotional, and aesthetic dilemmas that von Trier's films put into the spectator's court, this book pushes philosophy and aesthetics to take up vast queries about value, destruction, racial and gender domination, and the end of the world. Uncovering how von Trier's cinema circumscribes fantasy, the creation of meanings for life, and a loss of meaningfulness, this anthology signals a role for art and performance in crafting those investments and commitments." -Monique Roelofs, Professor of Philosophy at Hampshire College and Karl Loewenstein Fellow and Visiting Professor of Political Science at Amherst College, is the author of The Cultural Promise of the Aesthetic (2014) and Arts of Address: Being Alive to Language and the World (2020). The films of Lars von Trier offer unique opportunities for thinking deeply about how Philosophy and Cinema speak to one another. The book addresses von Trier's films in order of their release. The earlier chapters discuss his Golden Heart trilogy and USA: Land of Opportunities series by addressing issues of potential misogyny, ethical critique, and racial justice. The later chapters focus on his Depression Trilogy and address the undermining of gender binaries, the psychoanalytic meaning of the sacrifice of children and depression, and philosophical questions provoked by the depiction of the end of the world. Taken together, the volume explores the topics of Philosophical Psychology, Social Theory, Political Theory, Theories of the Self, Philosophy of Race, and Feminist Thought, and opens a conversation about von Trier's important work Acknowledgments 5 Contents 6 Notes on Contributors 8 Chapter 1: Introduction: Provocation to Philosophy 10 Chapter 2: The Ass I Kick Today May Be the Ass I’ll Have to Kiss Tomorrow: What’s Up with the Sacrifice of Women in the Films of Lars von Trier? 16 References 26 Chapter 3: Film as Phantasm: Dogville’s Cinematic Re-evaluation of Values 27 The Destruction of Moral Belief in Dogville 29 Dogville’s Moral Aporia and the Re-evaluation of Compassion 32 The Optics of Belief 36 Cinematic Phantasms 41 References 42 Chapter 4: Manderlay and the Universe of American Whiteness 44 References 53 Chapter 5: Art and Myth: Beyond Binaries 54 Introduction 54 Binaries 57 The Obvious and the Not So Obvious 59 The Familiar Binaries 60 She Is Lilith 61 Beyond Binaries 65 References 68 Chapter 6: The Need of the Antichrist to Tame the Wild Tongue of Nosotras 69 Antichrist Awakes My Wild Tongue 71 Crossing over, Entering into the Serpent 76 Wild Tongues Can’t Be Tamed, They Can Only Be Cut (Anzaldúa 1999) 80 References 82 Chapter 7: Lars von Trier: Traversing the Fantasy of the Child 84 References 95 Chapter 8: Melancholia’s End 96 References 106 Chapter 9: Would It Be Bad If the Human Race Ceased to Exist? Melancholia and the Import of Human Existence 107 Synopsis and Interpretation of the Film 108 Responding to the Argument for Pessimism in Melancholia 111 Implications for the Meaning of an Individual Life 115 References 119 Chapter 10: It Is There in the Beginning: Melancholia, Time, and Death 121 Of Cosmic Origins: Melancholia and the Planetary 123 Exploring the Semiotic: Entry into Psychic Life and Preconditions for Melancholia 126 To the Thing Itself: Melancholia, Time, and Death 129 References 135 Index 137 Front Matter ....Pages i-x Introduction: Provocation to Philosophy (William H. Koch)....Pages 1-6 The Ass I Kick Today May Be the Ass I’ll Have to Kiss Tomorrow: What’s Up with the Sacrifice of Women in the Films of Lars von Trier? (S. West Gurley)....Pages 7-17 Film as Phantasm: Dogville’s Cinematic Re-evaluation of Values (Rebecca A. Longtin)....Pages 19-35 Manderlay and the Universe of American Whiteness (José A. Haro)....Pages 37-46 Art and Myth: Beyond Binaries (Susanne Claxton)....Pages 47-61 The Need of the Antichrist to Tame the Wild Tongue of Nosotras (Rosario Torres-Guevara)....Pages 63-77 Lars von Trier: Traversing the Fantasy of the Child (William H. Koch)....Pages 79-90 Melancholia’s End (Timothy Holland)....Pages 91-101 Would It Be Bad If the Human Race Ceased to Exist? Melancholia and the Import of Human Existence (Hans Pedersen)....Pages 103-116 It Is There in the Beginning: Melancholia, Time, and Death (Jessica S. Elkayam)....Pages 117-132 Back Matter ....Pages 133-141