LEADER 04462nam 22005295 450 001 9910255091803321 005 20200705085948.0 010 $a3-319-59894-5 024 7 $a10.1007/978-3-319-59894-9 035 $a(CKB)4100000001041557 035 $a(DE-He213)978-3-319-59894-9 035 $a(MiAaPQ)EBC5149918 035 $a(EXLCZ)994100000001041557 100 $a20171116d2017 u| 0 101 0 $aeng 135 $aurnn|008mamaa 181 $ctxt$2rdacontent 182 $cc$2rdamedia 183 $acr$2rdacarrier 200 10$aComedies of Nihilism$b[electronic resource] $eThe Representation of Tragedy Onscreen /$fby Amir Khan 205 $a1st ed. 2017. 210 1$aCham :$cSpringer International Publishing :$cImprint: Palgrave Macmillan,$d2017. 215 $a1 online resource (XI, 183 p. 4 illus. in color.) 311 $a3-319-59893-7 320 $aIncludes bibliographical references at the end of each chapters and index. 327 $a1. Introduction -- 2. Farming out Resentment: Up in the Air -- 3. All War and No Agency: Tropic Thunder -- 4. Tragic Cinema: The Death of Subjectivities in JCVD -- 5. Hiding from Significance: Winnebago Man -- 6. A Claim to Community: The Trotsky -- 7. A Plea for Time in a State of Nature: Be Kind Rewind -- 8. Losing the Name of Action: Hamlet 2 -- 9. Conclusion. 330 $aAmir Khan's eloquent voice and discerning mind take his reader on an exhilarating and provocative journey through seven post-9/11 films. Following the sage guidance of Stanley Cavell, Khan invites us to engage in clear-eyed and instructive discussions about film and moral reasoning, which thoughtful moviegoers will gratefully enjoy. Khan's book will generously reward contemporary American efforts to accurately descry the True North, and it will provide fresh insight into American self-understanding as Canada's imperial movie-making neighbor to the south.? - Lawrence F. Rhu, Professor Emeritus of English Language and Literature at the University of South Carolina, USA This book presents close-readings of seven post-millennial comedic films: Up in the Air, Tropic Thunder, JCVD, Winnebago Man, The Trotsky, Be Kind Rewind, and Hamlet 2. It is a sequel to Stanley Cavell?s 1981 landmark study of the comedic genre, Pursuits of Happiness, where he examines seven comedies of Hollywood?s ?Golden Age.? Khan puts forward the idea that comedies, once centred on the conventional ?happy ending,? are no longer interested in detailing the steps to any ending we might call happy. Instead, the agenda of most culturally serious comedies today is to ?spoof,? to make all that is fair foul. The seven films presented here risk a type of cultural nihilism?spoofing for the sake of spoofing and nothing else, indicative not of film?s promise but its failure. By equating the failure of film with the failed national politics of Canada (or the failed politics of nationalism and community more generally), this study shows that comedy has less to do with happiness, and more to do with the grotesque. The films analysed represent hyper-realized forms of comic irony and move towards what theatre knows as tragedy, or a tragic vision. Amir Khan is Assistant Professor of English at Liaoning Normal University-Missouri State University?s College of International Business in Dalian, China. He is managing editor of Conversations: The Journal of Cavellian Studies and author of Shakespeare in Hindsight (2016). 606 $aMotion pictures 606 $aFilm genres 606 $aMotion pictures?United States 606 $aFilm Theory$3https://scigraph.springernature.com/ontologies/product-market-codes/413090 606 $aGenre$3https://scigraph.springernature.com/ontologies/product-market-codes/413110 606 $aClose Reading$3https://scigraph.springernature.com/ontologies/product-market-codes/413250 606 $aAmerican Cinema and TV$3https://scigraph.springernature.com/ontologies/product-market-codes/413010 615 0$aMotion pictures. 615 0$aFilm genres. 615 0$aMotion pictures?United States. 615 14$aFilm Theory. 615 24$aGenre. 615 24$aClose Reading. 615 24$aAmerican Cinema and TV. 676 $a791.4301 700 $aKhan$b Amir$4aut$4http://id.loc.gov/vocabulary/relators/aut$0937876 906 $aBOOK 912 $a9910255091803321 996 $aComedies of Nihilism$92112818 997 $aUNINA