Cold: Dissociation in Film, Television, Art, and War
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Cold: Dissociation in Film, Television, Art, and War

Abstract

I argue for the need to understand dissociation as a twenty-first century public (un)feeling in my dissertation, Cold: Dissociation in Film, Television, Art, and War. I examine how certain politico-aesthetic forms—film, television, sound art, and sonic weapons—make sensible the numbing, out-of-body experiences that have become necessary survival tools for navigating life in the contemporary U.S., particularly for those populations targeted by white supremacy and toxic masculinity. Using the tools of psychoanalysis, affect theory, science and technology studies, media theory, cultural studies, and critical race studies, I argue that activists need to examine how dissociation is both a weapon of and salve against state and corporate violence in the contemporary U.S. I introduce the concept of white narcissism as a framework for thinking about this dual function of dissociation. On the one hand, white supremacy creates atmospheres and environments of dread for marginalized populations in the U.S. Such atmospheres distribute dissociation across populations to ensure resistance remains near-impossible. Because dissociation produces such profound perceptual upsets—creating out-of-body experiences, a sense that reality is a film or cartoon, a feeling that one is alien and alienated, and sensations of (emotional) numbness and inertia—dissociation creates an ontological cavern from which sufferers are unable to escape. On the other hand, the white narcissism inherent within white supremacy causes dissociation for those that benefit from and enact its diffuse violence. For those passively benefiting from white supremacy, feelings of empathy, warmth, terror, confusion, grief, guilt, and shame are split off, as is the case for narcissism as described in psychological literature. That narcissism is a defensive structure is often overshadowed by its outward displays of grandiose violence, projection, rage, and an inability to see the other as possessing humanity. For white folks in the U.S. to successfully tackle white supremacy, they must understand how their narcissism has protected them from accessing unbearable affects mentioned above. Without the defensive function of narcissism, however, breakdown becomes a very real threat. Because the U.S. creates environments of dread and dissociation for most of those living in its borders, there do not exist enough institutional, cultural, political, community, emotional, physical, interpersonal, and/or environmental protections to “catch” white folks who may be paralyzed once no longer protected by narcissism. This dissertation sees dissociation as an environmental, cultural, and political phenomenon, in addition to a psychological or interpersonal one. I close read aesthetic forms—film, television, sound art—to show how form brings attention to the numbing, language-stripping, confusing a/effects of dissociation by placing viewers or participants within a dissociated point-of-view. Key terms I introduce include: a dissociated diegesis, a depersonal mise-en-scene, derealized editing techniques, and detemporal shots. These film techniques make sensible the crazy-making and illness inducing a/effects of dissociation and the failures for medical, psychiatric, or legal institutions to grasp the ontological reality of dissociation. Indeed, dissociation is illegible within many of these knowledge regimes. I then critique Long Range Acoustic Devices (LRADs), or “sound canons,” used by the U.S. military and policing organizations. These devices weaponize dissociation against civilians and enemy combatants to discombobulate the spatio-temporal rhythms of groups in protest, creating sensations of dissociation across populations. I end with a discussion of film techniques that enable access to a grounded mis-en-scene using a different kind of dissociation: the kind experienced by those using hallucinogenic substances. The use of extreme long takes, long shots, color saturation, score, and slow zooms create a grounded diegesis that pushes against the logics of white supremacy and fast capitalism. By giving viewers insight into aspects of experience often withheld from those within industrialized societies—a reverence for nature, an emotional vocabulary for discussing trauma—I argue white folks can learn how to combat our own experiences with dissociation through a courageous grounding within dreadful environments.

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