Skip to main content
SpringerLink
Log in
Palgrave Macmillan
Book cover

Death in Classic and Contemporary Film

Fade to Black

  • Book
  • © 2013

Overview

Editors:
  1. Daniel Sullivan
    View editor publications

    You can also search for this editor in PubMed   Google Scholar

  2. Jeff Greenberg
    View editor publications

    You can also search for this editor in PubMed   Google Scholar

This is a preview of subscription content, log in via an institution to check access.

Access this book

Log in via an institution
eBook USD 39.99
Price excludes VAT (USA)
  • Available as EPUB and PDF
  • Read on any device
  • Instant download
  • Own it forever
Softcover Book USD 54.99
Price excludes VAT (USA)
  • Compact, lightweight edition
  • Dispatched in 3 to 5 business days
  • Free shipping worldwide - see info
Hardcover Book USD 54.99
Price excludes VAT (USA)
  • Durable hardcover edition
  • Dispatched in 3 to 5 business days
  • Free shipping worldwide - see info

Tax calculation will be finalised at checkout

Other ways to access

Licence this eBook for your library

Institutional subscriptions

Table of contents (15 chapters)

  1. Front Matter

    Pages i-ix
    Download chapter PDF

  2. Introduction: When the Lights Go Down

    1. Introduction: When the Lights Go Down

      • Daniel Sullivan, Jeff Greenberg
      Pages 1-15

  3. Terror Management Theory and Film

    1. Front Matter

      Pages 17-17
      Download chapter PDF

    2. A Terror Management Analysis of Films from Four Genres: The Matrix, Life is Beautiful, Iron Man 2, and Ikiru

      • Jeff Greenberg, Alisabeth Ayars
      Pages 19-36

    3. The End is Near: Mortality Salience in Apocalyptic Films

      • Joel D. Lieberman, Mark Fergus
      Pages 37-52

  4. Aspects of Death Denial in Individual Films and Genres

    1. Front Matter

      Pages 53-53
      Download chapter PDF

    2. Little Murders: Cultural Animals in an Existential Age

      • Sheldon Solomon, Mark J. Landau
      Pages 55-71

    3. Icons of Stone and Steel: Death, Cinema, and the Future of Emotion

      • Jennifer L. McMahon
      Pages 73-90

    4. Consumed in the Act: Grizzly Man and Frankenstein

      • Kirby Farrell
      Pages 91-103

    5. Black Swan/White Swan: On Female Objectification, Creatureliness, and Death Denial

      • Jamie L. Goldenberg
      Pages 105-117

    6. Death, Wealth, and Guilt: An Analysis of There Will be Blood

      • Daniel Sullivan
      Pages 119-134

    7. The Birth and Death of the Superhero Film

      • Sander L. Koole, Daniel Fockenberg, Mattie Tops, Iris K. Schneider
      Pages 135-150

  5. Directors Engaging with Death

    1. Front Matter

      Pages 151-151
      Download chapter PDF

    2. Bergman and the Switching Off of Lights

      • Peter Cowie
      Pages 153-165

    3. Kubrick and Death

      • Susan White
      Pages 167-183

    4. Haneke’s Amour and the Ethics of Dying

      • Asbjørn Grønstad
      Pages 185-196

  6. The Prospect of Transcendence

    1. Front Matter

      Pages 197-197
      Download chapter PDF

    2. Visions of Death: Native American Cinema and the Transformative Power of Death

      • Jennifer L. McMahon
      Pages 199-216

    3. From Despair and Fanaticism to Awe: A Posttraumatic Growth Perspective on Cinematic Horror

      • Kirk J. Schneider
      Pages 217-229

    4. Conclusion: Cinematic Death Benefits

      • Daniel Sullivan, Jeff Greenberg
      Pages 231-245
Back to top

Keywords

About this book

Mortality is a recurrent theme in films across genres, periods, nations, and directors. This book brings together an accomplished set of authors with backgrounds in film analysis, psychology, and philosophy to examine how the knowledge of death, the fear of our mortality, and the ways people cope with mortality are represented in cinema.

Reviews

“Daniel Sullivan and Jeff Greenberg, professors of psychology at the University of Arizona, have compiled a fantastic selection of essays from several authors presenting various approaches to death in the cinema. This collection explores the issue of human mortality as portrayed in film, analyzing our fear of death and our desire to overcome it. … The book, overall, is gripping and a must-read … .” (Afra Siddiqui, Film Matters, Vol. 6 (3), 2015)

About the authors

Alisabeth Ayars, University of Arizona, USA Peter Cowie, University of California Santa Barbara, USA Kirby Farrell, University of Massachusetts Amherst, USA Mark Fergus, film writer and director Daniel Fockenberg, University of Freiburg, Germany Jamie L. Goldenberg, University of South Florida, USA Asbjørn Grønstad, University of Bergen, Norway Sander L. Koole, Free University, The Netherlands Mark J. Landau, University of Kansas, USA Joel D. Lieberman, University of Nevada, Las Vegas, USA Jennifer L. McMahon, East Central University, USA Iris K. Schneider, Free University, The Netherlands Kirk J. Schneider, Existential-Humanistic Institute, USA Sheldon Solomon, Skidmore College, USA Mattie Tops, Free University, The Netherlands Susan White, University of Arizona, USA

Bibliographic Information

Publish with us

Policies and ethics

Back to top

Search

Navigation