Cinesexuality is a concept in film philosophy by

feminist Feminism is a range of socio-political movements and ideology, ideologies that aim to define and establish the political, economic, personal, and social gender equality, equality of the sexes. Feminism holds the position that modern soci ...

film theorist Patricia MacCormack which attempts to explain why people sometimes feel an intense attraction towards film.

Origins

MacCormack coined the term and used it as the title of her 2008 essay to describe her philosophical speculation about film, which is similar in some respects to the

poststructuralist Post-structuralism is a philosophical movement that questions the objectivity or stability of the various interpretive structures that are posited by structuralism and considers them to be constituted by broader systems of Power (social and poli ...

philosophy of desire by contemporary philosophers

Gilles Deleuze Gilles Louis René Deleuze (18 January 1925 – 4 November 1995) was a French philosopher who, from the early 1950s until his death in 1995, wrote on philosophy, literature, film, and fine art. His most popular works were the two volumes o ...

and

Félix Guattari Pierre-Félix Guattari ( ; ; 30 March 1930 – 29 August 1992) was a French psychoanalyst, political philosopher, Semiotics, semiotician, social activist, and screenwriter. He co-founded schizoanalysis with Gilles Deleuze, and created ecosophy ...

Meaning

While the term is somewhat vague, she uses it to describe why there is a "desire which flows through all who want cinema as a lover," Joanna McIntyre, June 25, 2014, Culture and the Media
Cinema Studies: Cinesexuality by Patricia McCormack
, Retrieved Aug. 18, 2014, "...Cinesexuality is the desire which flows through all who want cinema as a lover. It knows no gender, no sexuality, no form, and no function. It describes a position of supplication before an unresponsive element. ... we are all already cinesexual’ " why film can feel

erotic Eroticism () is a quality that causes sexual feelings, as well as a philosophical contemplation concerning the aesthetics of sexual desire, sensuality, and romantic love. That quality may be found in any form of artwork, including painting, sculp ...

, whether such intense feelings may be explained by a psychic model of "tension and release," Journal of Media & Cultural Studies, Volume 26, Issue 4, 2012, DOI:10.1080/10304312.2012.698032, Adrian Martina, pages 519-528
A theory of agitation, or: Getting off in the cinema
Retrieved Aug. 18, 2014, "... this essay proceeds to ask: is there a model of tension and release,... structure of psychic agitation,...." and why there is this "physical pleasure of cinema" which sometimes manifests itself in an "erotic and subversive" way.

Analysis

Catherine Grant suggested that MacCormack has essentially reformulated the term

cinephilia Cinephilia ( ; also cinemaphilia or filmophilia) is the term used to refer to a passionate interest in films, film theory, and film criticism. The term is a portmanteau of the words '' cinema'' and '' philia'', one of the four ancient Greek words ...

, a term in

film criticism Film criticism is the analysis and evaluation of films and the film medium. In general, film criticism can be divided into two categories: Academic criticism by film studies, film scholars, who study the composition of film theory and publish ...

which denotes passionate interest in film. Catherine Grant (book reviewer), (review of: Patricia MacCormack's Cinesexuality, published 23 July 2008), 18 DECEMBER 2008, Times Higher Education
Cinesexuality: Encounters with a big screen lover -- Catherine Grant explores spectators' desire for the cinema and the new universes that it opens up
Retrieved Aug. 18, 2014, "...Cinesexuality, Patricia MacCormack's ambitious and avowedly experimental work on film spectatorship, explores the "inherent queerness" of spectatorship....Cinesexuality is, in part, a reformulation of "cinephilia", the excessive love of or for cinema.... " Two reviewers suggest that MacCormack explores the "inherent queerness of film," in the sense that the relation between spectators and a film is "inherently queer." December 20th, 2013, Hili Perlson, Sleek Magazine
The Iron Lady No More
Retrieved Aug. 18, 2014, "... Patricia McCormack’s idea of “Cinesexuality”, which argues that spectatorship in itself is inherently queer. ..." According to reviewer Jill Crammond Wickham in ''Poets Quarterly'', cinesexuality can explain not only why film audiences feel such a strong desire for what they see on screen, but why "our culture is so obsessed with movie stars." Jill Crammond Wickham, April 2010, Poets Quarterly
An interview with Kate Durbin: Part I
Retrieved Aug. 18, 2014, "...Critic Patricia McCormick, who coined the term cinesexuality, ... cinema has the ability to produce intense pleasure in a viewer... why they have this strong desire eedfor cinema... why our culture is so obsessed with movie stars...."

Examples of cinesexuality

*'' Hellraiser II'' (1988) *'' Alien'' (1979) * The films of

Mario Bava Mario Bava (; 31 July 1914 – 27 April 1980) was an Italian filmmaker who worked variously as a director, cinematographer, special effects artist and screenwriter. His low-budget genre films, known for their distinctive visual flair and stylish ...

*'' Flesh for Frankenstein'' (1974) *''

Suspiria ''Suspiria'' is a 1977 Italian supernatural horror film directed by Dario Argento, who co-wrote the screenplay with Daria Nicolodi, partially based on Thomas De Quincey's 1845 essay '' Suspiria de Profundis''. The film stars Jessica Harper ...

'' (1977) *'' Dimensions of Dialogue'' (1982) *

Bollywood Hindi cinema, popularly known as Bollywood and formerly as Bombay cinema, is primarily produced in Mumbai. The popular term Bollywood is a portmanteau of "Bombay" (former name of Mumbai) and "Cinema of the United States, Hollywood". The in ...

cinema The Item Number: Cinesexuality in Bollywood and Social Life on JSTOR
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References

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Origins

Meaning

Analysis

Examples of cinesexuality

See also

References

Further reading