Junkie love––Romance and addiction on the big screen

Autor: Andrea Rinke
Jazyk: angličtina
Rok vydání: 2016
Předmět:
Zdroj: Cogent Arts & Humanities, Vol 3, Iss 1 (2016)
Druh dokumentu: article
ISSN: 2331-1983
23311983
DOI: 10.1080/23311983.2016.1184382
Popis: This article investigates the filmic construction of two disparate but intertwining cultural practices: those engaging in the life-affirming rituals of romantic love and those performing the potentially self-destructive rituals of hard drug consumption. Discussing a number of key feature films from the (mini) genre “junkie love”, it aims to show what happens when elements of mainstream romantic drama merge with the horror conventions of the heroin addiction film. Drawing amongst others on Murray Smith’s theory of “levels of [spectator] engagement” and Greg Smith’s concept of the “emotion system”, the article concludes that junkie love films, using tropes of the romantic tragedy in the tradition of Romeo and Juliet, present a more complex and nuanced approach to drug addicts than the predominantly condemnatory media coverage—one that arguably invites the spectator’s understanding and compassion.
Databáze: Directory of Open Access Journals