Machine generated contents note: Contents<BR /><BR /> Introduction: Envisioning the Unwatchable<BR /><BR /> Part I: Violence and Testimony<BR /><BR /> Theorizing the Unwatchable<BR /> 1. W. J. T. Mitchell, Unwatchable<BR /> 2. Boris Groys, The Gaze from Within<BR /> 3. Fred Moten and Stefano Harney, The Unwatchable and the Unwatchable<BR /> 4. Alenka Zupančič, Melting Into Visibility<BR /> 5. Meghan Sutherland, Pro Forma<BR /><BR /> Spectacles of Destruction<BR /> 6. Jonathan Crary, Terminal Radiance<BR /> 7. Poulomi Saha, Unwatched/Unmanned: Drone Strikes and the Aesthetics of the Unseen<BR /> 8. Alex Bush, Breakaway<BR /> 9. Meir Wigoder, The Watchability of the Unwatchable: Television Disaster Coverage<BR /><BR /> Bearing Witness<BR /> 10. Peter Geimer, The Incommensurable<BR /> 11. Leshu Torchin, Not Seeing is Believing: The Unwatchable in Advocacy<BR /> 12. Frances Guerin, Even If She Had Been a Criminal: A Past Unwatched<BR /> 13. Federico Windhausen, Deframing Evidence: A Transmission from Los ingravidos<BR /> 14. Emily Wills, Alan Kurdi's Body on the Shore<BR /><BR /> Visual Regimes of Racial Violence<BR /> 15. Stanley Wolukau-Wanambwa, Held Helpless in the Breach: On American History X<BR /> 16. Jared Sexton, The Flash of History: On the Unwatchable in Get Out<BR /> 17. Alexandra Juhasz, Nothing is Unwatchable for All<BR /> 18. Michael Boyce Gillespie, Empathy. Complicity.<BR /><BR /> Spectacularization and Resistance<BR /> 19. Alok Vaid-Menon, Entertainment Value<BR /> 20. Alec Butler, Holocausts, Headdresses, Hallowe'en<BR /> 21. Danielle Peers, Unwitnessable: Outrageous Ableist Impersonations and Unwitnessed Everyday Violence<BR /><BR /> Part II: Histories and Genres<BR /><BR /> The Tradition of Provocateurs<BR /> 22. Asbjørn Grønstad, The Two Unwatchables<BR /> 23. Akira Lippit, Real Horrorshow<BR /> 24. Mauro Resmini, Asymmetries of Desire: Salò or the 120 Days of Sodom<BR /> 25. Mattias Frey, Unstomachable: Irreversible and the Extreme Cinema Tradition<BR /><BR /> Enduring the Avant-Garde<BR /> 26. Christophe Wall-Romana, Unwatchability by Choice: Isou's Venom and Eternity<BR /> 27. KennethBerger, The Refusal of Spectacle: Debord's Howls for Sade<BR /> 28. J. Hoberman, Warhol's Empire: Unwatched and Unwatchable<BR /> 29. Noël Carroll, Warhol's Empire<BR /> 30. Erika Balsom, Watching Paint Dry<BR /><BR /> Visceral Responses to Horror<BR /> 31. Vivian Sobchack, "Peek-a-boo": Thoughts on (Maybe Not) Seeing Two Horror Films<BR /> 32. B. Ruby Rich, Why I Cannot Watch Horror Movies<BR /> 33. Genevieve Yue, Apotropes<BR /><BR /> Pornography and the Question of Pleasure<BR /> 34. Susie Bright, I Am Curious (Butterball)<BR /> 35. Bill Nichols, At the Threshold to the Void<BR /><BR /> Archives and the Disintegrating Image<BR /> 36. Elif Rongen-Kaynakçi, Restoring Blood Money<BR /> 37. Jan Olsson, Negotiating Garbo<BR /> 38. Philipp Stiasny and Bennet Togler, Twilight of the Dead<BR /><BR /> Part III: Spectators and Objects<BR /><BR /> Passionate Aversions<BR /> 39. Jonathan Rosenbaum, "Sad!": Why I Won't Watch Antichrist<BR /> 40. Julian Hanich, Oh, Inventiveness! Oh, Imaginativeness! Precious Cinema and Its Discontents: A Rant<BR /> 41. Nathan Lee, Transforming Nihilism<BR /> 42. Jeffrey Sconce, The Biopic is an Affront to the Cinema<BR /><BR /> Tedious Whiteness<BR /> 43. Jack Halberstam, White Men Behaving Sadly<BR /> 44. Mel Y. Chen, Two Tables and a Ladder: WCGW?<BR /> 45. Brandy Monk-Payton, "You is Kind, You is Smart, You is Important" or, Why I Can't Watch The Help<BR /><BR /> Reality Trumpism<BR /> 46. Lynne Joyrich, TV Trumps<BR /> 47. Abigail De Kosnik, The Once and Future Hillary: Why I Won't Watch Any Fictionalizations of the 2016 Election<BR /><BR /> Pedagogy and Campus Politics<BR /> 48. Raúl Perez, Why We Can't Take a Joke<BR /> 49. Jennifer Malkowski, The Bridge and Unteachable Films<BR /> 50. Katariina Kyrola, Squirming in the Classroom: Fat Girl and the Ethical Value of Extreme Discomfort<BR /><BR /> The Triggered Spectator<BR /> 51. E. Ann Kaplan, What is an "Unwatchable" Film? (With Reference to Amour and Still Alice)<BR /> 52. Barbara Hammer, Unwatchable Advertising<BR /> 53. Samuel England, Sects, Fries, and Videotape<BR /> 54. Rebecca Schneider, Off Watch<BR /><BR /> Acknowledgments<BR /> Filmography<BR /> Bibliography<BR /> Notes on Contributors<BR /> Index.

"We all have images that we find unwatchable, whether for ethical, political, or sensory-affective reasons. From news coverage of terror attacks to viral videos of police brutality, and from graphic horror films to incendiary artworks that provoke mass boycotts, many of the images in our media culture strike as beyond the pale of consumption. Yet what does it mean to proclaim a media object "unwatchable": disturbing, revolting, poor, tedious, or literally inaccessible? Appealing to a broad academic and general readership, Unwatchable offers multidisciplinary approaches to the vast array of troubling images that circulate in our global visual culture, from cinema, television, and video games through museums and classrooms to laptops, smart phones, and social media platforms. This anthology assembles 60 original essays by scholars, theorists, critics, archivists, curators, artists, and filmmakers who offer their own responses to the broadly suggestive question: What do you find unwatchable? The diverse answers include iconoclastic artworks that have been hidden from view, dystopian images from the political sphere, horror movies, TV advertisements, classic films, and recent award-winners"--