Sensing Justice through Contemporary Spanish Cinema

Aesthetics, Politics, Law

Mónica López Lerma

• Publisher: Edinburgh University Press
• Year: 2020
• eBook ISBN: 9781474442060
• Edition: 0
• Topic: Media & Performing Arts
• Subtopic: Film & Video

Explores the aesthetic frames that mediate the sense(s) and experiences of justice Close analysis of films such as Pan's Labyrinth, High Heels, Common Wealth, The Method, No Rest for the Wicked, Unit 7Engages with legal theory, film studies, aesthetics, and politicsApproaches law and film as multisensory, embodied practicesDraws on European case studies in a field largely dominated by Anglo-American discourseSensing Justice examines the aesthetic frames that mediate the sensory perception and signification of law and justice in the context of 21st century Spain. What senses do these frames privilege or downgrade? What kind of subjects do they show, construct, and address? What kind of affective and ethical responses do they invite? What kind of judgments do they invite? The book addresses these questions by moving away from the focus on narrative and through a close analysis of selected contemporary Spanish films—such as Pan's Labyrinth, High Heels, Common Wealth, The Method, No Rest for the Wicked, Unit 7. By creating new frames of perception and signification, the films analyzed challenge the senses of law and justice traditionally taken for granted and reconfigure them anew. Engaging with legal theory, film studies, aesthetics, and politics, Sensing Justice provides a compelling illustration of how law and justice are multisensory and embodied experiences.

Table of contents

• Sensing Justice through Contemporary Spanish Cinema
• Copyright
• Contents
• Acknowledgments
• Introduction: Sensing Justice
• 1 Framing Aesthetics: Witnessing Francoism in Pan’s Labyrinth
• 2 Campy Performances: Queering Law in High Heels
• 3 Dissensus in the Community: Disrupting Neoliberal Affects in La Comunidad
• 4 The Sound of Protest: Acousmatic Resistance in El Método
• 5 Surveilling Terror: Post-Western Topographies in No Rest for the Wicked
• 6 Policing the City: Haptic Visuality in Grupo 7
• Conclusion
• Bibliography
• Index