The Traumatic Screen: The Films of Christopher Nolan - Softcover

Joy, Stuart

Softcover

ISBN 10: 178938219X ISBN 13: 9781789382198

Publisher: Intellect Books, 2020

Synopsis

Christopher Nolan occupies a rare realm within the Hollywood mainstream, creating complex, original films that achieve both critical acclaim and commercial success. In The Traumatic Screen, Stuart Joy builds on contemporary applications of psychoanalytic film theory to consider the function and presentation of trauma across Nolan’s work, arguing that the complexity, thematic consistency and fragmentary nature of his films mimic the structural operation of trauma.

From 1997’s Doodlebug to 2017’s Dunkirk, Nolan’s films highlight cinema’s ability to probe the nature of human consciousness while commenting on the relationship between spectator and screen. Joy examines Nolan’s treatment of trauma – both individual and collective – through the formal construction, mise en scène and repeated themes of his films. The argument presented is based on close textual analysis and a methodological framework that incorporates the works of Sigmund Freud and Jacques Lacan. The first in-depth, overtly psychoanalytic understanding of trauma in the context of the director’s filmography, this book builds on and challenges existing scholarship in a bold new interpretation of the Nolan canon.

About this title

About the Author

Stuart Joy is a senior lecturer in film and television at Solent University in Southampton, UK. His research interests include contemporary film theory and practice, media and cultural theory, film history and gender representation in film and television.

Edition details

• Publisher: Intellect Books
• Publication date: 2020
• Language: English
• ISBN 10: 178938219X
• ISBN 13: 9781789382198
• Binding: Paperback
• Number of pages: 200