Provides insight into the ritual lures and effects of mass media spectatorship, especially regarding the pleasures, risks, and purposes of violent display.
Contemporary debates about mass media violence tend to ignore the long history of staged violence in the theatres and rituals of many cultures. In Theatres of Human Sacrifice, Mark Pizzato relates the appeal and possible effects of screen violence todayin sports, movies, and television newsto specific sacrificial rites and performance conventions in ancient Greek, Aztec, and Roman culture. Using the psychoanalytic theories of Lacan, Kristeva, and Z-izûek, as well as the theatrical theories of Artaud and Brecht, the book offers insights into the ritual lures and effects of current mass media spectatorship, especially regarding the pleasures, purposes, and risks of violent display. Updating Aristotle's notion of catharsis, Pizzato identifies a sacrificial imperative within the human mind, structured by various patriarchal cultures and manifested in distinctive rites and dramas, with both positive and negative potential effects on their audiences.
| ISBN: | 9780791462591 |
| Publication date: | 18th November 2004 |
| Author: | Mark Pizzato |
| Publisher: | SUNY Press an imprint of State University of New York Press |
| Format: | Hardback |
| Pagination: | 265 pages |
| Series: | SUNY Series in Psychoanalysis and Culture |
| Genres: |
Popular culture Film history, theory or criticism |
Provides insight into the ritual lures and effects of mass media spectatorship, especially regarding the pleasures, risks, and purposes of violent display.
Contemporary debates about mass media violence tend to ignore the long history of staged violence in the theatres and rituals of many cultures. In Theatres of Human Sacrifice, Mark Pizzato relates the appeal and possible effects of screen violence todayin sports, movies, and television newsto specific sacrificial rites and performance conventions in ancient Greek, Aztec, and Roman culture. Using the psychoanalytic theories of Lacan, Kristeva, and Z-izûek, as well as the theatrical theories of Artaud and Brecht, the book offers insights into the ritual lures and effects of current mass media spectatorship, especially regarding the pleasures, purposes, and risks of violent display. Updating Aristotle's notion of catharsis, Pizzato identifies a sacrificial imperative within the human mind, structured by various patriarchal cultures and manifested in distinctive rites and dramas, with both positive and negative potential effects on their audiences.
Theatres of Human Sacrifice features in the following genres: Popular culture, Film history, theory or criticism
Theatres of Human Sacrifice is available in Hardback, Paperback
Theatres of Human Sacrifice was written by Mark Pizzato and published by SUNY Press an imprint of State University of New York Press
Theatres of Human Sacrifice has 265 pages
Yes it is part of SUNY Series in Psychoanalysis and Culture series