Abject Pleasures in the Cinematic 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.
Aaron Kerner is a Professor and the Director of the School of Cinema at San Francisco State University. His publications include a study of the stupid, Theorizing Stupid Media (2019)—exploring cinematic material that does not conform to existing narrative or genre categories. Kerner also published Extreme Cinema (2016). Kerner’s publications often reflect upon the affective potential of the cinematic.
AcknowledgementsPrefaceAbject Pleasures in the Cinematic: A Taxonomy of Cinematic Strategies for Eliciting PleasureOn the BeautifulNeo-Giallo: "It’s beautiful, it’s beautiful, it’s beautiful," the Affective Experience in SuspiriaMusicality: Poetic Ruptures in Spike Lee’s 25th Hour, and Chris Cunningham’s/Björk’s Music Video "All Is Full of Love"On Sexual ArousalPornography: Erotic Disavowal, Regressive Content, and the Chikan (Sub-)genreRomance: The Handmaiden and Its Arousing SpectaclesOn LaughterBody Humor: Dick Pics in Cringe Comedy and the Carnivalesque Grotesque BodyConclusion: The Limitation of Theories of AffectBibliography Index
We find it hard to talk about why we really enjoy movies. We swoon, shiver, laugh, and get aroused. But it can be embarrassing to confess to such responses, and difficult to describe them in words. Aaron Kerner addresses such dilemmas head-on in this brilliant book.
