Our Faith in Evil: Melodrama and the Effects of Entertainment Violence

by Gregory Desilet

Overview

Is violence in American cinema a reflection of life? Or does life imitate the violence people see in cinema? One of the pressing questions in today's society is whether fictional portrayals of violence have social or psychological consequences. Studies have concluded with both "yes" and "no" verdicts. Is America a culture of violence? Why does violence, horror and melodrama appeal to people? This book explores these issues with primary focus on entertainment, especially film, through lenses of the media, the consumer, and the cultural backdrop.

The film A Clockwork Orange allegedly spawned so much violence in the United Kingdom that director Stanley Kubrick was rumored to have fled with his family to avoid a death threat. From that classic case, the author takes readers through a study of media and violence that examines the structure of horror, the origin and nature of evil, the Greek mythic tradition, melodrama and catharsis, fairy tales, comic books, video games and real horror. In part two the author offers case studies in several genres: westerns, multi-melodrama (The Silence of the Lambs), slasher films, psycho drama, serials such as Star Wars and Harry Potter, apocalyptic melodrama, modern and postmodern noir, creature features and religious melodrama. In-text citations are included, and two notes expand on a couple of issues in the text--the perspectives of Plato and Aristotle on the effects of tragic drama, and discussion of differences of opinion relating to methodological approach.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9780786423484
Publisher:	McFarland & Company, Incorporated Publishers
Publication date:	12/02/2005
Edition description:	New Edition
Pages:	356
Product dimensions:	6.00(w) x 9.00(h) x 0.71(d)
Age Range:	18 Years

About the Author

Gregory Desilet has spent more than four decades researching and writing on communication and rhetorical theory, language philosophy, and various media and cultural phenomena as these relate to conflict, violence, and community formation. He lives in Santa Fe, New Mexico.

Table of Contents

Table of Contents

Acknowledgments      
Preface     
Introduction: Ultraviolence and Beyond     

PART I : ARGUING THE CASE
1. Fictional Horror     
2. The Troubling, Doubling Self     
3. Inside the Doppelgänger     
4. The Origin of Evil     
5. The Nature of Evil     
6. Tragic Myth and the Origin of Evil     
7. Alternative Applications of Greek Mythic Tradition     
8. Metaphysical Horror     
9. Violence and Melodrama     
10. Catharsis and Melodrama     
11. Catharsis Reconsidered     
12. Melodrama and Fairy Tales     
13. Comic Books and Video Games     
14. Real Horror     
15. The Melodramatization of American Culture     
16. Whence and Whither: Conclusions and Recommendations     

PART II : ILLUSTRATING THE CASE
17. The Western as the American Myth     
18. Multi-Melodrama: The Silence of the Lambs     
19. The Slasher Horror Genre Since Psycho     
20. Psycho(melo)drama: Raging Bull and Taxi Driver     
21. Epic/Serial Melodrama: Star Wars, Harry Potter, and Lord of the Rings     
22. Apocalyptic Melodrama: The Terminator and The Matrix     
23. Modern “Noir” Melodrama: Bonnie and Clyde     
24. Postmodern “Noir” Melodrama: Pulp Fiction     
25. The Creature Feature: Jaws versus Moby Dick     
26. Religious Melodrama: The Passion of the Christ     

Appendix 1: Effects of Tragic Drama: Plato versus Aristotle     
Appendix 2: Methodology     
Bibliography     
Index