DEATH IN CLASSIC AND CONTEMPORARY FILM
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DEATH IN CLASSIC AND CONTEMPORARY FILM FADE TO BLACK Edited by Daniel Sullivan and Jeff Greenberg
DEATH IN CLASSIC AND CONTEMPORARY FILM Copyright Daniel Sullivan and Jeff Greenberg, 2013. Softcover reprint of the hardcover 1st edition 2013 978-1-137-27688-9 All rights reserved. Cover illustration from Vampyr (Carl Th. Dreyer, 1932), courtesy of the Danish Film Institute. Please visit the Carl Th. Dreyer website: Carl Th. Dreyer- The man and his work at http://english.carlthdreyer.dk/ First published in 2013 by PALGRAVE MACMILLAN in the United States a division of St. Martin s Press LLC, 175 Fifth Avenue, New York, NY 10010. Where this book is distributed in the UK, Europe and the rest of the world, this is by Palgrave Macmillan, a division of Macmillan Publishers Limited, registered in England, company number 785998, of Houndmills, Basingstoke, Hampshire RG21 6XS. Palgrave Macmillan is the global academic imprint of the above companies and has companies and representatives throughout the world. Palgrave and Macmillan are registered trademarks in the United States, the United Kingdom, Europe and other countries. ISBN 978-1-349-44686-5 ISBN 978-1-137-27689-6 (ebook) DOI 10.1057/9781137276896 Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data Death in classic and contemporary film : fade to black / edited by Daniel Sullivan and Jeff Greenberg. pages cm Includes bibliographical references and index. 1. Death in motion pictures. 2. Mortality in motion pictures. I. Sullivan, Daniel, editor of compilation. II. Greenberg, Jeff, 1954 editor of compilation. PN1995.9.D37D45 2013 791.43 6823 dc23 2013014606 A catalogue record of the book is available from the British Library. Design by Newgen Knowledge Works (P) Ltd., Chennai, India. First edition: October 2013 10 9 8 7 6 5 4 3 2 1
I dedicate my efforts on this book to Leah. And to my family, as well as Kyle, Johannes, and Jeff. Finally, many thanks to all our excellent contributors. Daniel S. To my parents Murray and Edie, whose love and effort got me to Penn, where I developed a love of both Hollywood classics and foreign films. Jeff G.
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CONTENTS List of Illustrations ix 1 Introduction: When the Lights Go Down 1 Daniel Sullivan and Jeff Greenberg Part I Terror Management Theory and Film 2 A Terror Management Analysis of Films from Four Genres: The Matrix, Life is Beautiful, Iron Man 2, and Ikiru 19 Jeff Greenberg and Alisabeth Ayars 3 The End Is Near: Mortality Salience in Apocalyptic Films 37 Joel D. Lieberman and Mark Fergus Part II Aspects of Death Denial in Individual Films and Genres 4 Little Murders: Cultural Animals in an Existential Age 55 Sheldon Solomon and Mark J. Landau 5 Icons of Stone and Steel: Death, Cinema, and the Future of Emotion 73 Jennifer L. McMahon 6 Consumed in the Act: Grizzly Man and Frankenstein 91 Kirby Farrell 7 Black Swan/White Swan: On Female Objectification, Creatureliness, and Death Denial 105 Jamie L. Goldenberg 8 Death, Wealth, and Guilt: An Analysis of There Will Be Blood 119 Daniel Sullivan
viii CON T ENTS 9 The Birth and Death of the Superhero Film 135 Sander L. Koole, Daniel Fockenberg, Mattie Tops, and Iris K. Schneider Part III Directors Engaging with Death 10 Bergman and the Switching off of Lights 153 Peter Cowie 11 Kubrick and Death 167 Susan White 12 Haneke s Amour and the Ethics of Dying 185 Asbj ø rn Gr ø nstad Part IV The Prospect of Transcendence 13 Visions of Death: Native American Cinema and the Transformative Power of Death 199 Jennifer L. McMahon 14 From Despair and Fanaticism to Awe: A Posttraumatic Growth Perspective on Cinematic Horror 217 Kirk J. Schneider 15 Conclusion: Cinematic Death Benefits 231 Daniel Sullivan and Jeff Greenberg Notes on Contributors 247 Film Title Index 251 Subject Index 261
ILLUSTRATIONS 2.1 Watanabe faces his mortality in Kurosawa s Ikiru (1952) 33 3.1 Kee s baby in the postapocalyptic world of Children of Men (2006) 42 7.1 Mirrors permeate Aronofsky s Black Swan (2010) 114 8.1 The passage of time in There Will Be Blood (2007) 128 10.1 Borg s dream in Bergman s Wild Strawberries (1957) 159 14.1 Justine, Claire, and Leo in von Trier s Melancholia (2011) 227 15.1 Rocky Sullivan faces death in Angels with Dirty Faces (1938) 234