Looking Beyond Neoliberalism

Reviews / Votes

Looking Beyond Neoliberalism offers an invaluable map of cinema's affective economy, identifying its sad passions and traps, while at the same time never forgetting the quintessential power residing in the ambiguous and unresolved status of moving images: that by 'moving' us, they make us tend towards each other. -- Francesco Sticchi * Studies in European Cinema * Looking Beyond Neoliberalism offers an invaluable map of cinema's affective economy, identifying its sad passions and traps, while at the same time never forgetting the quintessential power residing in the ambiguous and unresolved status of moving images: that by 'moving' us, they make us tend towards each other. -- Francesco Sticchi * Studies in European Cinema * Looking beyond Neoliberalism offers a thought-provoking examination of a vitally important issue by one of the leading voices in the field. It is a welcome addition to studies of contemporary French and francophone cinema. -- Ginette Vincendeau * French Studies * O'Shaughnessy argues convincingly that one of the properties of cinema is to render systemic violence visible. In his opinion, if the films do not resolve the crises or offer solutions to the containment and 'machinic enslavement', they nevertheless engage the audience's imagination for possibilities-balanced against social constraints. This is probably the most promising encouragement that can be given to political film-makers to pursue their vital work of resistance within the diversity of French and Francophone Belgian cinema. -- Isabelle Vanderschelden * Modern Language Review * Looking Beyond Neoliberalism provides a thorough and incisive description of the stakes involved in political cinema today. O'Shaughnessy conveys complex critical theory clearly and concisely, making its relevance immediately apparent. He argues, convincingly, that if neoliberalism structures human life through debt, precarity, solitude, and other forms of violence, the cinema, by reassembling the lives of its characters, and even moving beyond character, can provide a look elsewhere. Going forward, Looking Beyond Neoliberalism will be an essential resource to those of us thinking about the politics of cinema. -- Joseph Mai * SubStance * Martin O'Shaughnessy deploys film studies and insights drawn from social theory to produce a compelling political analysis of Francophone cinema's responses to the complexity of the current crisis in neoliberalism. Interrogating instances of popular and arthouse cinema, he envisages films as both sources of critique and spaces for imagining alternative ways of being beyond neoliberal logics. -- Thomas Austin, University of Sussex Looking Beyond Neoliberalism brings together a dazzling variety of theories and films into a profound and unique study of the human capacity to confront the system-and sometimes even to manipulate it, abandon it, and overcome it. -- Gemma King, The Australian National University * H-France *