The Symbolic, the Sublime, and Slavoj Zizek's Theory of Film

by Matthew Flisfeder

Returning to questions about ideology and subjectivity, Flisfeder argues that Slavoj Žižek's theory of film aims to re-politicize film studies and film theory, bringing cinema into the fold of twenty-first century politics.

Genres: Philosophy

210 pages, Kindle Edition

First published October 30, 2012

About the author

Matthew Flisfeder is an Assistant Professor in the Department of Rhetoric, Writing, and Communications at the University of Winnipeg. He is the author of The Symbolic, The Sublime, and Slavoj Žižek's Theory of Film (2012) and co-editor of Žižek and Media Studies: A Reader (2014).

Reviews

[Cindy Zeiher · Rating 5 out of 5]

This is a superb book for film theorists and scholars of Zizek alike. Perceptively written, lucidly argued and extremely well researched.

[Boul · Rating 4 out of 5]

Honestly speaking, nice book. It summarizes many important opinions and comments of Zizek on film, accompanied with sufficient background knowledge.

However, I have to say that this book is loosely connected between chapters and examples. Though I don't blame the author considering that Zizek's writing was indeed baffling and too often digressing, it do disappoint me, since I was expecting this book to make some accurate and succinct conclusions (Like what Andrian Johnston did).

Aside from this, Figure 3.5 on page 77 is clearly wrong.

I still recommend this book. If you are interested in film study instead of Lacan or Zizek himself, this book can be very informative and save you plenty of time.