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Choosing Torture Instead of Submission

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Cinema, Pain and Pleasure
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Abstract

As has been demonstrated in the preceding chapters, the late twentieth century witnessed a consolidated engagement by mainstream cinema with pain guided by a masochistic impulse. Sadism was hardly eclipsed, with torment rather than ecstatic submission remaining the dominant formulation, but films such as Crash, Fight Club and even 8mm and Se7en began considering the possibility, and in some cases the compunction, to experience pain as a form of exquisite pleasure. The case studies therefore highlighted a progressive shift towards acknowledging the potential delights, benefits even, of releasing control and accepting the pleasures of pain.

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© 2013 Steven Allen

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Allen, S. (2013). Choosing Torture Instead of Submission. In: Cinema, Pain and Pleasure. Palgrave Macmillan, London. https://doi.org/10.1057/9781137306692_7

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