Cinematic Terrorism

Abstract

In “Cinematic Terrorism,” Hatem N. Akil seeks to find ways to theorize the appropriation of cinematic values in the media productions of the Islamic State in Iraq and Syria (ISIS). Akil’s reading draws upon approaches proposed by Gilles Deleuze to understand whether the Hollywood-style artifice of the ISIS videos reveals a widespread state of global delirium that normalizes conditions of visual and physical violence. Akil observes a final and inevitable evolution of the image, where the image of the Muslim gets completely taken over by evil means of reproduction. ISIS masterfully returns to the West the flipside of its own imagery. By doing so, Cinematic Terrorism obfuscates any meaning for either representation or perception since no one is able to evade this constant state of delirium.