The Traumatic Screen (Hardcover)

Stuart Joy

ISBN 10: 1789382025 / ISBN 13: 9781789382020

Published by Intellect, Bristol, 2020

About this Item

Hardcover. Christopher Nolan occupies a rare realm within the Hollywood mainstream, creating complex, original films that achieve both critical acclaim and commercial success. In The Traumatic Screen, Stuart Joy builds on contemporary applications of psychoanalytic film theory to consider the function and presentation of trauma across Nolans work, arguing that the complexity, thematic consistency, and fragmentary nature of his films mimic the structural operation of trauma. From 1997s Doodlebug to 2017s Dunkirk, Nolans films highlight cinemas ability to probe the nature of human consciousness while commenting on the relationship between spectator and screen. Joy examines Nolans treatment of traumaboth individual and collectivethrough the formal construction, mise-en-scene, and repeated themes of his films. The argument presented is based on close textual analysis and a methodological framework that incorporates the works of Sigmund Freud and Jacques Lacan. The first in-depth, overtly psychoanalytic understanding of trauma in the context of the directors filmography, this book builds on and challenges existing scholarship in a bold new interpretation of the Nolan canon. The Traumatic Screen is a psychoanalytic study that considers the function and presentation of trauma in Christopher Nolans films. Using a methodological framework with references to Freud and Lacan, the author argues that Nolans films highlight the ways in which the cinema can provide specific insights into the nature of human consciousness. Shipping may be from multiple locations in the US or from the UK, depending on stock availability.

Seller Inventory # 9781789382020

Bibliographic Details

• Title: The Traumatic Screen (Hardcover)
• Publisher: Intellect, Bristol
• Publication Date: 2020
• Language: English
• ISBN 10: 1789382025
• ISBN 13: 9781789382020
• Binding: Hardcover
• Condition: new

About this title

Synopsis

Christopher Nolan occupies a rare realm within the Hollywood mainstream, creating complex, original films that achieve both critical acclaim and commercial success. In The Traumatic Screen, Stuart Joy builds on contemporary applications of psychoanalytic film theory to consider the function and presentation of trauma across Nolan’s work, arguing that the complexity, thematic consistency, and fragmentary nature of his films mimic the structural operation of trauma.
 
From 1997’s Doodlebug to 2017’s Dunkirk, Nolan’s films highlight cinema’s ability to probe the nature of human consciousness while commenting on the relationship between spectator and screen. Joy examines Nolan’s treatment of trauma—both individual and collective—through the formal construction, mise-en-scène, and repeated themes of his films. The argument presented is based on close textual analysis and a methodological framework that incorporates the works of Sigmund Freud and Jacques Lacan. The first in-depth, overtly psychoanalytic understanding of trauma in the context of the director’s filmography, this book builds on and challenges existing scholarship in a bold new interpretation of the Nolan canon.

About the Author

Stuart Joy is a senior lecturer in film and television at Solent University in Southampton, UK.