Blood on the Lens: Trauma and Anxiety in American Found Footage Horror Cinema

Blood on the Lens: Trauma and Anxiety in American Found Footage Horror Cinema explores the connection between the found footage horror subgenre and significant traumatic events and societal anxieties in American history and contemporary America. It demonstrates how the subgenre engages with cultural trauma, offers new thematic and aesthetic ways of confronting and working through trauma and anxiety, and analyzes a range of key films and movements. The book argues that found footage horror cinema is uniquely able to confront a pervasive contemporary culture of anxiety and trauma and proposes key observations on the subgenre's engagement with national trauma, themes, and aesthetics.

Format: Hardback
Length: 256 pages
Publication date: 31 December 2022
Publisher: Edinburgh University Press

Trauma and anxiety are pervasive in contemporary American society, and the found footage horror subgenre has emerged as a powerful tool for exploring these issues. This genre connects the found footage horror subgenre to significant traumatic events and societal anxieties in American history and contemporary America. It explores how the most visually recognisable post-millennial subgenre engages with cultural trauma, demonstrating how it continues to offer new thematic and aesthetic ways of confronting and working through trauma and anxiety.

The book analyses a range of key films, both mainstream and lesser known titles, and key movements in the subgenre, such as the movement from documentary conventions to social media aesthetics. It identifies how significant cultural events have impacted on and been integrated within found footage horror, examining the subgenre in a post-cinematic age, where cinema is no longer the dominant cultural spectacle it once was.

Through an identification of key case studies, both mainstream and lesser known, Blood on the Lens: Trauma and Anxiety in American Found Footage Horror Cinema argues that found footage horror cinema is uniquely able to confront a pervasive contemporary culture of anxiety and trauma. It traces how and why the subgenre has continued to endure, even as we enter a post-cinematic landscape.

The book is divided into three distinct sections. The first section explores how found footage horror engages with national trauma, questioning how these films address historical events such as 9/11, the Civil Rights Movement, and other traumatic incidents. The second section examines the common themes of found footage horror, such as the fear of the unknown, the power of technology, and the breakdown of social structures. The third section investigates the effect various cultural movements have had on the aesthetics of found footage horror, how these films position their spectator and encourage an active viewing mode, and how the line between fiction and fact is blurred both paratextually and within the films themselves.

Overall, Blood on the Lens: Trauma and Anxiety in American Found Footage Horror Cinema is a valuable contribution to the study of horror cinema and trauma studies. It offers a comprehensive analysis of the subgenre, providing insights into its historical and cultural significance and its potential for addressing contemporary social concerns.

Weight: 540g
Dimension: 161 x 241 x 20 (mm)
ISBN-13: 9781474482080