Like a Film

In this stimulating collection of theoretical writings on film, photography, and art, Timothy Murray examines relations between artistic practice, sexual and racial politics, theory and cultural studies. Like a Film investigates how the cinematic apparatus has invaded the theory of culture, suggesting that the many destabilising traumas of our culture remain accessible to us because they are structured so much like film. The book analyses the impact of cinematic perceptions and productions on awide array of cultural practices: from the Renassance works of Shakespeare and Caravaggio to modern sexual and political fantasy; and the theoretical work of Lyotard, Torok, Barthes, Ropars-Wuilleumier, Zizek, Silverman and Laplanche.Like A Film responds to current multicultural debates over the value of theory and the aim of artistic practice.

Timothy Murray is Professor of English at Cornell University. A former editor of Theatre Journal, he is the author of Theatrical Legitimation: Allegories of Genius in Seventeenth-Century England and France.

Chapter 1 Introduction; Part 1 Pictures of the Living Dead; Chapter 2 Like a Film; Chapter 3 PHOTO-MEDUSA Roland Barthes Incorporated; Part 2 Dirty Stills; Chapter 4 Dirty Stills; Chapter 5 Dirtier Still?; Part 3 Lines of Demand; Chapter 6 What's Happening?; Chapter 7 Allegorizing 'Content'; Chapter 8 On the Line;