Mapping Precarity in Contemporary Cinema and Television: Chronotopes of Anxiety, Depression, Expulsion/Extinction

This book explores how films and TV shows since the global financial crisis represent our age of precarity, using Mikhail Bakhtin's literary theory and the concept of chronotope. It examines how precarious lives are enacted in spatio-temporal compositions that carry conceptual and ethical challenges for viewers, providing an interdisciplinary account of cinematic precarity.

Format: Paperback / softback
Length: 261 pages
Publication date: 12 February 2022
Publisher: Springer Nature Switzerland AG

This comprehensive book delves into a collection of films and TV series released since the global financial crisis, examining them as poignant representations of our era of uncertainty. Through a meticulous analysis of the motifs and characters within these case studies, the book draws upon notions originating from Mikhail Bakhtin's literary theory, particularly the concept of chronotope, to establish a profound connection between form and content in artistic experience. By closely examining the ways in which precarious lives are enacted through spatio-temporal compositions, the book poses conceptual and ethical challenges for its viewers. Positioned within the realm of film-philosophy, this work aims to appeal to an academic audience while offering an interdisciplinary exploration of the concept of cinematic precarity. It fosters a dialogue between embodied viewer analysis and a philosophical and sociological examination of the current dynamics of inequality and exclusion.

This book explores a corpus of films and TV series released since the global financial crisis, examining them as emblematic expressions of our age of precarity.

The analysis of the motifs and characters in these case studies is centered around notions derived from Mikhail Bakhtin's literary theory, with a particular focus on the concept of chronotope. This concept emphasizes the material and dynamic relationship between form and content in artistic experience.

The book observes how precarious lives are enacted through spatio-temporal compositions that present conceptual and ethical challenges for viewers. It falls within the film-philosophy framework and provides an interdisciplinary account of cinematic precarity.

While primarily directed to an academic audience, the book offers insights into the notion of cinematic precarity through a dialogue between embodied viewer analysis and a philosophical and sociological examination of current dynamics of inequality and exclusion.

Weight: 361g
Dimension: 210 x 148 (mm)
ISBN-13: 9783030632632
Edition number: 1st ed. 2021