Hollywood’s (m)Other Aperture

This study explores how mainstream movies lend themselves to the portrayal of imagery that reflects the earliest stages of human development. Filmmakers take full advantage of this rich, body-centered source of human experience. Avatar, Minority Report, and Annihilation, among the other movies explored in this book, incorporate patterns of images that (re)present pre-Oedipal (m)Others, FEMININITY, and the originary maternal authority. The book explores how mainstream movies increasingly expose mass audiences to signs and resonances from our prelingual intrauterine and extrauterine psychological experiences. In addition, it compares and contrasts how the prelingual experience as depicted in these movies relates to themes of inclusivity that encompass diverse film inquiry, including queer theory, as well as human/nonhuman animal kinship and hybridity.

In sum, the text analyses how Hollywood movies depict and integrate the prelingual experience into the commercial cinematic apparatus and how this inspires new understanding of plurality, FEMININITY and originary maternal authority in culture and society.