Bare Life’s Bare Essentials: When All You’ve Got is Hope – The State of Exception in The Road, District 9 and Blindness
Author(s)
Bourke, Greg
Griffith University Author(s)
Year published
2014
Metadata
Show full item recordAbstract
This article operationalizes the work of Giorgio Agamben, through the prism of popular culture and filmic studies. Drawing extensively upon the cinematic experiences of The Road, District 9 and Blindness, a critique is formulated of this pre-eminent scholar's theory. Beginning with an analysis of the state of exception, Agamben's chilling assertions are examined. The remainder of the article then discusses the three films, as they provide the perfect vehicle for challenging Agamben's obsessions and contradictions. Although tied together by the common thread of the camp, the hidden matrix of modernity, each film occupies a ...
View more >This article operationalizes the work of Giorgio Agamben, through the prism of popular culture and filmic studies. Drawing extensively upon the cinematic experiences of The Road, District 9 and Blindness, a critique is formulated of this pre-eminent scholar's theory. Beginning with an analysis of the state of exception, Agamben's chilling assertions are examined. The remainder of the article then discusses the three films, as they provide the perfect vehicle for challenging Agamben's obsessions and contradictions. Although tied together by the common thread of the camp, the hidden matrix of modernity, each film occupies a distinct position along a spectrum of governmentality. Ultimately, what is exposed goes to the heart of the sensational, diabolical and disturbing world Agamben incarnates.
View less >
View more >This article operationalizes the work of Giorgio Agamben, through the prism of popular culture and filmic studies. Drawing extensively upon the cinematic experiences of The Road, District 9 and Blindness, a critique is formulated of this pre-eminent scholar's theory. Beginning with an analysis of the state of exception, Agamben's chilling assertions are examined. The remainder of the article then discusses the three films, as they provide the perfect vehicle for challenging Agamben's obsessions and contradictions. Although tied together by the common thread of the camp, the hidden matrix of modernity, each film occupies a distinct position along a spectrum of governmentality. Ultimately, what is exposed goes to the heart of the sensational, diabolical and disturbing world Agamben incarnates.
View less >
Journal Title
Law, Culture and the Humanities
Volume
10
Issue
3
Subject
Law not elsewhere classified
Law