Cinema of Confinement

In this book, Thomas J. Connelly draws on a number of key psychoanalytic concepts from the works of Jacques Lacan, Slavoj Žižek, Joan Copjec, Michel Chion, and Todd McGowan to identify and describe a genre of cinema characterized by spatial confinement. Examining classic films such as Alfred Hitchcock's Rope and Stanley Kubrick's The Shining, as well as current films such as Room, Green Room, and 10 Cloverfield Lane, Connelly shows that the source of enjoyment of confined spaces lies in the viewer's relationship to excess. 

Cinema of Confinement offers rich insights into the appeal of constricted filmic spaces at a time when one can easily traverse spatial boundaries within the virtual reality of cyberspace.

“"In looking at film from a Lacanian angle, Cinema of Confinement makes a strong contribution to the expanding critical literature on Lacan and cinema. The book shows exceptional knowledge of film as a language, inclusive of its unconscious underpinnings. The author moves very confidently among different filmic genres and aesthetic registers, demonstrating remarkable analytical skills. A great book with some interpretive gems." --Fabio Vighi, author of Critical Theory and Film: Rethinking Ideology through Film Noir”

In looking at film from a Lacanian angle, Cinema of Confinement makes a strong contribution to the expanding critical literature on Lacan and cinema. The book shows exceptional knowledge of film as a language, inclusive of its unconscious underpinnings. The author moves very confidently among different filmic genres and aesthetic registers, demonstrating remarkable analytical skills. A great book with some interpretive gems." — Fabio Vighi, author of Critical Theory and Film: Rethinking Ideology through Film Noir

Thomas J. Connelly is a visiting assistant professor in the Media Studies Department at Pomona College.

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