Abstract
In this Chapter, “The Body as Weapon: Paradise Now (2005) and the Allure of Enchanted Violence,” Robert Burgoyne argues that nowhere is the allure of enchanted violence more thoroughly demystified than in Paradise Now (2005), a Palestinian film that dramatizes the psychological and political pressures that shape the main character’s decision to become a human bomb. Burgoyne argues that the film explores the charged symbolism of suicide bombing in the occupied territories, as well as the human costs of political self-sacrifice. Burgoyne sensitively argues that by placing us almost in the shoes of the main character, the film renders the martyr as a deeply human figure, situating the act in its historical and environmental context.
This is a preview of subscription content, log in via an institution to check access.
Access this chapter
Tax calculation will be finalised at checkout
Purchases are for personal use only
Similar content being viewed by others
Works Cited
Baudrillard, Jean. “L’Esprit du Terrorism.” The South Atlantic Quarterly 101, 2002.
Chaudhuri, Shohini. Cinema of the Dark Side. Edinburgh: Edinburgh University Press, 2014.
Cole, Sarah. At the Violet Hour. Modernism and Violence in England and Ireland. Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2012.
Cole, Sarah. “Enchantment, Disenchantment, War, Literature.” PMLA 124(5), Special Topic: War (Oct, 2009), 1632–1647.
Fierke, K. M. “Agents of Death: The Structural Logic of Suicide Terrorism and Martyrdom.” International Theory 1(01) (March 2009), 155–184.
Fierke, K. M. Political Self-Sacrifice: Agency, Body and Emotion in International Relations. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 2012.
Gana, Nouri. “Reel Violence: Paradise Now and the Collapse of the Spectacle.” Comparative Studies of South Asia, Africa and the Middle East 28(1) (2008), 20–37.
Gregory, Derek. The Colonial Present: Afghanistan, Palestine, Iraq. London: Wiley, 2004.
Hardt, Michael, and Antonio Negri. Multitude: War and Democracy in the Age of Empire. London and New York: Penguin, 2005.
Khosrokhavar, Fahrad. Suicide Bombers: Allah’s New Martyrs. London and Ann Arbor: Pluto Press, 2005.
McDonald, Kevin. Our Violent World: Terrorism in Society. London: Palgrave Macmillan, 2013.
Merantzas, Christos D. “Martyrdom as a Form of Embodiment in the Byzantine Culture.” Scientific Culture 15(1) (2015).
Morag, Raya. “The Living Body and the Corpse—Israeli Documentary Cinema and the Intifadah.” Journal of Film and Video 60(3–4) (2008).
Schudson, Michael. “How Culture Works: Perspectives From Media Studies.” Theory and Society 18(2) (March, 1989), 153–180.
Strenski, Ivan. “Sacrifice, Gift and the Social Logic of Muslim ‘Human Bombers.’”‘ Terrorism and Political Violence 15(3) (2010).
Films
Paradise Now. Directed by Hany Abu-Hassad. Palestine, France, Germany, 2005.
Author information
Authors and Affiliations
Editor information
Editors and Affiliations
Rights and permissions
Copyright information
© 2021 The Author(s), under exclusive license to Springer Nature Switzerland AG
About this chapter
Cite this chapter
Burgoyne, R. (2021). The Body as Weapon: Paradise Now and the Allure of Enchanted Violence. In: Caoduro, E., Randell, K., Ritzenhoff, K.A. (eds) Mediated Terrorism in the 21st Century. Palgrave Macmillan, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-030-73511-1_2
Download citation
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-030-73511-1_2
Published:
Publisher Name: Palgrave Macmillan, Cham
Print ISBN: 978-3-030-73510-4
Online ISBN: 978-3-030-73511-1
eBook Packages: Literature, Cultural and Media StudiesLiterature, Cultural and Media Studies (R0)