The Saw films, often derided by critics as "torture porn" and an excuse to show blood and gore, are the highest-grossing horror series in cinema history. In view of their hold on audiences and their controversial content, they deserve study. This first collection of fresh essays by academic authors from Europe, America and Australia addresses the cultural, religious and philosophical facets of the films, investigating how the franchise reflects a post-9/11 shift in U.S. popular culture towards increasing pessimism and how it may be read as a metaphor for the "war on terror"; dissecting how the series explores such issues as freewill and determinism; assessing the films' representations of the body; and applying a Deleuzian perspective to the franchise.
Author(s): James Aston; John Walliss
Edition: 1
Publisher: McFarland & Company, Inc., Publishers
Year: 2013
Language: English
Commentary: After a long time spent hoping that this book would make it onto LG on its own, I decided I would be better off learning how to strip DRM and upload it myself. This is my first time converting ebooks, so I apologize for the clumsy formatting!
Pages: 294
Tags: horror, saw, torture porn
Introduction
“I’ve never murdered anyone in my life. The decisions are up to them”: Ethical Guidance and the Turn Toward Cultural Pessimism
James Aston and John Walliss
Body Horror
Ben McCann
The Spectacle of Correction: Video Games, Movies and Control
Evangelos Tziallas
From Jigsaw to Phibes: God, Free Will and Foreknowledge in Conflict
Fernando G. Pagnoni Berns and Amy M. Davis
A Voice and Something More: Jigsaw as Acousmêtre and Existential Guru
Brian H. Collins
Twisted Pictures: Morality, Nihilism and Symbolic Suicide
Steve Jones
The Jigsaw Assemblage
Jacob Huntley
Work Is Hell: Life in the Mannequin Factory
Dean Lockwood
Monstrous Bodies and Gendered Abjection
Madeleine Smith
Hearing the Game: Sound Design
Jeffrey Bullins
About the Contributors
List of Names and Terms
