Skip to Main Content

Abject Pleasures in the Cinematic: The Beautiful, Sexual Arousal, and Laughter

Online ISBN:
9781399501125
Print ISBN:
9781399501101
Publisher:
Edinburgh University Press
Book

Abject Pleasures in the Cinematic: The Beautiful, Sexual Arousal, and Laughter

Aaron Kerner
Aaron Kerner
San Francisco State University
Find on
Published online:
18 January 2024
Published in print:
31 March 2023
Online ISBN:
9781399501125
Print ISBN:
9781399501101
Publisher:
Edinburgh University Press

Abstract

Abject Pleasures examines the cinematic strategies that elicit visceral pleasure—tears, goosebumps, sexual arousal, laughter—even in the face of content that is crass, politically problematic, or unethical. While there might be a progressive predisposition within our discipline, affect pledges no allegiance to any particular political inclination. Progressives, or progressive content, does not hold a monopoly on affect. The beautiful has no inherent bond to the good (i.e., morally good, or having cultural merit), rather it is an affective experience, and it might come to us in the most unlikely and unsavory places. Pornography, even with the most regressive content, wields the possibility to be sexually arousing even despite our own ethical objections. While well-intended academics routinely claim that watching people get hurt is not funny, and we might appreciate the gesture to cultivate our better angels, but such assertions do not necessarily align with our lived-experience. Abject Pleasures unapologetically examines the formal qualities of the cinematic that elicit pleasurable feelings.

Contents
Close
This Feature Is Available To Subscribers Only

Sign In or Create an Account

Close

This PDF is available to Subscribers Only

View Article Abstract & Purchase Options

For full access to this pdf, sign in to an existing account, or purchase an annual subscription.

Close