What Film Is Good For

Julian Hanich is Associate Professor of Film Studies at the University of Groningen. He is author of The Audience Effect: On the Collective Cinema Experience and Cinematic Emotion in Horror Films and Thrillers: The Aesthetic Paradox of Pleasurable Fear.Martin P. Rossouw is Senior Lecturer in the Department of Art History and Image Studies at the University of the Free State, South Africa. He is author of Transformational Ethics of Film: Thinking the Cinemakeover in the Film-Philosophy Debate.

• ContentsAcknowledgments Foreword by Mike Figgis Introduction: Film Ethics as Delivering the Goods Martin P. Rossouw and Julian HanichPART ONE. ADAPTIVE GOODS1. . . . A Portal to Another World: On Cinema, Climate Change, and a Good Apocalypse Jennifer Fay2. . . . Scaling Down: On the Unsustainable Pleasure of Large-File Streaming Laura U. Marks3. . . . It’s Invaluable: On Film Spectatorship in the Era of Covid-19 Sarah Cooper4. . . . Stabilities and Mobilities: On the Generic Values of Emplacements, Displacements, and Outplacements Timothy CorriganPART TWO. EMPATHETIC GOODS 5. . . . Lies, Loops, or Liberation: On the Dis/Obedience of Feeling More Michele Aaron6. . . . Public Engagement: On Postcolonial African Cinema’s Critical Value Litheko Modisane7. . . . Shedding Light on Abject Lives: On Global Cinema as Ethical Art Seung-hoon Jeong8. . . . Empathy: On Its Limitations and Liabilities Malcolm Turvey9. . . . Political Impact: On the Societal Vibrancy of Film Jens EderPART THREE. SENSTITIVE GOODS 10. . . . Moral Reflection: On the Reflective Afterlife of Screen Stories Carl Plantinga and Garrett Strpko11. . . . Challenge and Discomfort: On Situated Elitist Pleasures in Art and Indie Film Geoff King12. . . . Heterocosmic Connections: On the Many Worlds and World Values of Cinema Daniel Yacavone13. . . . Depth of Experience: On Early Phenomenology and the Value of Boredom in the Cinema Christian Ferencz-Flatz14. . . . Striking Beauty: On Recuperating the Beautiful in Cinema Julian HanichPART FOUR. REVIVING GOODS 15. . . . Wondering Offscreen: On Cinema’s Transformations of Our Relation to the Unseen Jaimie Baron16. . . . Coming to Wonder: On Cinema’s Renewal of Vision Catherine Wheatley17. . . . Moral Improvement: On How Watching Films Might Make Us Better People Thomas E. Wartenberg18. . . . Cinematic Ethics: On Film as Transformative Experience Robert Sinnerbrink19. . . . Spiritual Exercises Before a Screen: On “Film as Philosophy” and Its Transformational Ethics Martin P. RossouwPART FIVE. COMMUNAL GOODS 20. . . . Remembrance and Reflection: On Social Justice Cinema in the #BlackLivesMatter Era Maryann Erigha Lawer21. . . . Making Movie Generations: On the Cultural Work of Hollywood Remaking Kathleen Loock22. . . . Reaching Unlettered Audiences: On Global Blockbuster Cinema and Its Oral Affinities Sheila J. Nayar23. . . . Love of Community and Reality: On André Bazin and the Good of Cinema Dudley AndrewPART SIX. MEDIAL GOODS 24. . . . Projection and Protection: On Cinemagoing as Playing Hide-and-Seek with Reality Francesco Casetti25. . . . An Animated and Animating Medium: On Hegel,Adorno, and the Good of Film Nicholas Baer26. . . . The Bigger Picture: On Watching Films on a Cinema Screen Martine Beugnet27. . . . Quality Time: On Resisting What’s Next, or Staying with the Credits Tiago de LucaPART SEVEN. UNSETTLED GOODS 28. . . . Wanton Destruction: On Cinema’s Antisocial Thrills Adrian Martin29. . . . Alienating Interventions: On What the “Bad” in David Lynch’s Films Is “Good” For Annie van den Oever and Dominique Chateau30. . . . Dangerous Situations: On Whether Cinema Is Poisonous Michel Chion31. . . . Good for Nothing? On How Films Help Us through the Night Tom Gunning32. . . . Medium-Sized Matters: On Whether Cinema Has Made Any Difference Mark CousinsAfterword by Radu Jude List of Contributors Index

"Readers will find What Film is Good For an expansive toolkit to make use of going forward."