Abject Pleasures in the Cinematic

The Beautiful, Sexual Arousal, and Laughter

By: Aaron Kerner

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Paperback | 11 March 2025

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296 Pages

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23.4 x 15.6

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Abject Pleasures in the Cinematic examines the cinematic strategies that elicit visceral pleasure--tears, goosebumps, sexual arousal, laughter--even in the face of content that is crass, politically problematic, or unethical.
While there might be a progressive predisposition within our discipline, affect pledges no allegiance to any particular political inclination. Progressives, or progressive content, does not hold a monopoly on affect. The beautiful has no inherent bond to the good (i.e., morally good, or having cultural merit), rather it is an affective experience, and it might come to us in the most unlikely and unsavory places. Pornography, even with the most regressive content, wields the possibility to be sexually arousing even despite our own ethical objections. While well-intended academics routinely claim that watching people get hurt is not funny, and we might appreciate the gesture to cultivate our better angels, but such assertions do not necessarily align with our lived-experience.

Industry Reviews

Another of Kerner's incisive explorations of cinematic affect, Abject Pleasures in the Cinematic takes up the topics of the beautiful, sexual arousal, and laughter in a noble attempt to construct a paradigm shift. Kerner studies an extreme cinema that titillates and amuses, privileging the body as the recipient of non-rational allurements, somewhat akin to Noel Coward's observation about how potent cheap music can be. Summing Up: Recommended. Graduate students, researchers, faculty.

--T. Lindvall "CHOICE connect"

We find it hard to talk about why we really enjoy movies. We swoon, shiver, laugh, and get aroused. But it can be embarrassing to confess to such responses, and difficult to describe them in words. Aaron Kerner addresses such dilemmas head-on in this brilliant book.

--Steven Shaviro, Wayne State University

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