Death in Classic and Contemporary Film

Fade to Black

  • Editors
  • Daniel Sullivan
  • Jeff Greenberg
Book

Table of contents

  1. Front Matter
    Pages i-ix
    PDF

  2. Introduction: When the Lights Go Down

    1. Introduction: When the Lights Go Down
      Daniel Sullivan, Jeff Greenberg
      Pages 1-15

  3. Terror Management Theory and Film

    1. Front Matter
      Pages 17-17
      PDF
    2. A Terror Management Analysis of Films from Four Genres: The Matrix, Life is Beautiful, Iron Man 2, and Ikiru
      Jeff Greenberg, Alisabeth Ayars
      Pages 19-36
    3. The End is Near: Mortality Salience in Apocalyptic Films
      Joel D. Lieberman, Mark Fergus
      Pages 37-52

  4. Aspects of Death Denial in Individual Films and Genres

    1. Front Matter
      Pages 53-53
      PDF
    2. Little Murders: Cultural Animals in an Existential Age
      Sheldon Solomon, Mark J. Landau
      Pages 55-71
    3. Icons of Stone and Steel: Death, Cinema, and the Future of Emotion
      Jennifer L. McMahon
      Pages 73-90
    4. Consumed in the Act: Grizzly Man and Frankenstein
      Kirby Farrell
      Pages 91-103
    5. Black Swan/White Swan: On Female Objectification, Creatureliness, and Death Denial
      Jamie L. Goldenberg
      Pages 105-117
    6. Death, Wealth, and Guilt: An Analysis of There Will be Blood
      Daniel Sullivan
      Pages 119-134
    7. The Birth and Death of the Superhero Film
      Sander L. Koole, Daniel Fockenberg, Mattie Tops, Iris K. Schneider
      Pages 135-150

  5. Directors Engaging with Death

    1. Front Matter
      Pages 151-151
      PDF
    2. Bergman and the Switching Off of Lights
      Peter Cowie
      Pages 153-165
    3. Kubrick and Death
      Susan White
      Pages 167-183
    4. Haneke’s Amour and the Ethics of Dying
      Asbjørn Grønstad
      Pages 185-196

  6. The Prospect of Transcendence

    1. Front Matter
      Pages 197-197
      PDF
    2. Visions of Death: Native American Cinema and the Transformative Power of Death
      Jennifer L. McMahon
      Pages 199-216
    3. From Despair and Fanaticism to Awe: A Posttraumatic Growth Perspective on Cinematic Horror
      Kirk J. Schneider
      Pages 217-229
    4. Conclusion: Cinematic Death Benefits
      Daniel Sullivan, Jeff Greenberg
      Pages 231-245

About this book

Introduction

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.

Keywords

cinema emotion ethics film knowledge psychology Stanley Kubrick

Bibliographic information