Bielefeld: transcript Verlag 2016. 348 pages, numerous black-and-white images, soft cover Series: Disability Studies. Körper – Macht – Differenz [Disability Studies: Body – Power – Difference], Volume 12 ISBN: 978-3-8376-2709-1
Information about the book
Charlie Chaplin, Luis Buñuel, Lars von Trier, Takeshi Kitano: The topic of blindness can be found throughout the history of film. The blind protagonist fulfills a wide variety of functions. On the one hand, they reflect specific ways of perceiving cinema as well as technical innovations (e.g., from silent to film with sound); on the other hand, they raise questions regarding the relationship with the body, culture and disability.
The essays in the collection unite aesthetic questions asked by the medium of film with approaches applied in disability studies and ask questions about iconographies, codings and narrations of blindness since the beginnings of cinema. The discussion is not just about how blindness is represented in film, but also about the power of the views, position of the audience and camera and voyeurism. The focus is on the »blind spots« of cinematic perception.
Reviews
- Jana Herwig in: https://rezenstfm.univie.ac.at/index.php/tfm/article/view/r346