Exotic Cinema - by Daniela Berghahn (Paperback)

About the Book

A critical reassessment of the aesthetic strategies and cultural value of exoticism in contemporary transnational cinemas.

Book Synopsis

Exotic Cinema is the first systematic analysis of decentred exoticism in contemporary transnational and world cinema. By critically examining regimes of visuality such as the imperial, the ethnographic and the exotic gaze, which have colonised our minds and ways of looking, Daniela Berghahn makes an important contribution to the urgent agenda of decolonising film studies.
Berghahn demonstrates that decentred exoticism's aesthetic versatility and alluring alterity are uniquely relevant for understanding the transnational appeal of world cinema. She addresses prevalent controversies surrounding exoticism and illustrates that, in contemporary world cinema, it is utilised to draw attention to new ethical and socio-political goals. Global in scope and transnational in perspective, Exotic Cinema invites students and researchers to reassess this prominent mode of cultural representation.

Review Quotes

Exoticism is not 'bad' by default, nor is it necessarily 'colonialist'. Daniela Berghahn's wide-ranging study of contemporary world cinema goes provocatively against the grain, arguing in favour of a 'decentred' exoticism that challenges ethnic essentialism, and that is attuned to the ethical complexities of a globalised world.--Graham Huggan, University of Leeds

How does one write about the exotic when the notion has been tainted by the legacy of colonialism? As Daniela Berghahn demonstrates in this fascinating book, by unpacking the notion's discursive baggage and unveiling its contemporary manifestations. An original and refreshing take on the study of world cinema.--Song Hwee Lim, author of Taiwan Cinema as Soft Power