Spectacles of Blood

This book places itself at the nexus of current issues of violence, masculinity and power in the postcolonial context and its representation in its films in challenging, normalising, or contesting these major concerns of our times. The essays address the interplay of critical and theoretical insights both from literature and social studies in analysing the films based on societal violence in postcolonial cultures: be it in the context of sophisticated terrorism, suicide bombings, the underworld, any organised crime, mob violence etc. The writers look at the the dynamics of the representation of these issues as cinematic plots and techniques. They draw attention to the affective value of the films in generating and foregrounding the questions of feelings invoked by the onscreen violence, and the impact of this emotive state on the issues of national and cosmopolitan identity formation. Together, the essays enrich both literary studies and social studies with a nuanced borrowing and intermixing of their primary texts and modes of interpretation. This new collection of essays, thus, brings together, in one volume, the interplay of critical and theoretical insights from Literature, Sociology and Media Studies.