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Irony and the satirical impulse in cinema have gradually lost favor, mockery increasingly more selective in its choice of targets. As Linda Hutcheon notes, irony is becoming a problematic mode of expression in the twenty-first century.
The book examines the work of eight film auteurs: Luis Bunuel, R.W. Fassbinder, Stanley Kubrick, Robert Altman, Paul Verhoeven, Aki Kaurismaki, Aleksei Balabanov and David Lynch, much of whose work is not always regarded thus and the films examined are often more ironic than satirical. From apparent melodrama and eroticism to fantasy and horror, these eight directors redefine satire’s limits, providing evidence that irony in cinema often goes unrecognised.
The introduction examines the various categories of satire, and the chapters then study the filmmakers individually through selected works, offering interpretations of films and identifying a consistent approach. Since the work is often ambiguous the book speculates on each film’s purport, engaging in textual interpretation of individual works to understand concerns underneath the most obvious. The afterword tries to find common targets and strategies on the filmmakers’ part.
'A cogent exploration of this paradoxical domain in which irony and satire are impulses often used creatively to circumvent even the conventions of the industry itself, ostensibly an entertainment system, within which some directors somehow manage to achieve a popular acclaim and critical success that are themselves frequently at odds with the challenging source material they choose to film... This is a very fine study indeed of the subconscious mind of contemporary cinema, via an excursion through eight of its most notable artists.'
— Donald Brackett, Critics At Large
MK Raghavendra is an Indian film and literary scholar and academic with eight books from international publishers. He is an award winning writer and his writing has been translated into French, Polish, Spanish and Russian.
Acknowledgments
Introduction: Irony, Satire, and Empathy
1. Luis Buñuel: Unaffiliated Radicalism
2. Stanley Kubrick: The Failure of Human Systems
3. RW Fassbinder: The Original Sin
4. Robert Altman: History, Ideology, and Generic Revision
5. Paul Verhoeven: Satirical Impulse Goes Clandestine
6. Aki Kaurismäki: Irony and Hopelessness
7. Aleksei Balabanov: Collapsed Utopia
8. David Lynch: Public Mythologies and Personal Fantasies
Afterword: Targets and Strategies
Bibliography
Index