Theatres of Human Sacrifice

Mark Pizzato is Associate Professor of Theatre at the University of North Carolina at Charlotte and the author of Edges of Loss: From Modern Drama to Postmodern Theory.

• ACKNOWLEDGMENTS PROLOGOS Tragedy in MelodramaTheatre's Material Ghosts and GodsEthical EdgesA Sacrificial Imperative PART ONE: CATHARSIS BETWEEN SACRIFICIAL CULTURES 1. Blood Sacrifice in Ancient Greece and Aztec America Theatre within RitualTranscendental SavageryAltar-Egos and Body PartsFrom Solar to Proscenium MirrorsThe Bottom of the FrameAnimistic Psychology, Puppetry, and Dancing HeartsCathartic Encounters with the Real 2. Roman, Aztec, and NFL "Gladiators" Sacrificial ShadesThe Metaphysics of Script and ScoreIm-mortal Dances, Costumes, and PropsStar PowersAudience Participation and AlienationMelodramatic or Tragic Catharsis PART TWO: SCREENING REAL MONSTERS 3. Choral Edges in Frankenstein and Natural Born Killers A Monstrous Gaze Slices of Space and Time Edges of Communion in FrankensteinViolence in the HouseCruel Affect and A-Effect as Cathartic CuresChoral Born KillersMale and Female Monsters 4. Brechtian and Aztec Violence in Zoot Suit Patriarchal SacrificesBrechtian Ixiptla OnscreenAudience Effects of the Perverse Superego 5. Martyrs and Scapegoats in the Films of Scorsese and Coppola Body and Blood OfferingsBetween Animal and DivineLucifer WithinSacrifices That Cannot Be RefusedThe Sympathetic Inheritance of EvilPostmodern Flower War EXODOS NOTES BIBLIOGRAPHY INDEX

"In addressing the problematic effects of dramatic violence, the author treats the subject not only historically as violence has unfolded in external performancesin ritual sacrifice, gladiatorial sports, as well as theatre but also as it unfolds within the mind." — Joseph Natoli, author of Memory's Orbit: Film and Culture 1999–2000"This is a pathbreaking and definitive investigation of the cultural work that spectacles of violent sacrifice have performed in a multitude of historical contexts. Through this investigation, Mark Pizzato provides a new framework for understanding the spectacle of violent sacrifice as the location where cultural and political debate plays itself out." — Todd McGowan, author of The End of Dissatisfaction? Jacques Lacan and the Emerging Society of Enjoyment