Iconoclasm in European Cinema

Exploring anti-mimesis and image destruction in Western European films, Iconoclasm in European Cinema: The Ethics and Aesthetics of Image Destruction offers the first comprehensive study of philosophical iconoclasm in cinema. Drawing on continental philosophy of the image, medieval theology and recent developments in film ethics, it investigates the aesthetic and ethical significance of destroying certain film images, both literally and metaphorically. Analysing the work of filmmakers such as Ingmar Bergman, Derek Jarman, Marguerite Duras and Guy Debord, Quaranta considers iconoclastic gestures against the film image's ability to mimetically represent contents on the verge of the unrepresentable and the unsayable. This book demonstrates that the overlooked issue of iconoclasm in film is essential for understanding contemporary attitudes towards images and argues that cinematic iconoclasm can encourage an ethics of (in)visibility by questioning the limits of our right to see and show something on a screen. Chiara Quaranta is Teaching Fellow in Film Studies at the University of Edinburgh