Israeli Cinema: East/ West and the Politics of Representation

Shohat, Ella

Couverture souple

ISBN 10 : 1845113136 ISBN 13 : 9781845113131

Editeur : I.B. Tauris, 2010

Israeli Cinema Explores the cinema as a productive site of national culture, dating back to the early Zionist films about turn-of-the-century Palestine. This book offers a deconstructionist reading of Zionism, viewing the cinema as itself participating in the 'invention' of the nation. Full description

Présentation de l'éditeur :

When the Hebrew edition of this groundbreaking book came out, it provoked a stormy public debate. This is a new edition of 'Israeli Cinema' with a substantial new postscript that reflects on the book's initial reception and points to exciting new trends in the cinematic representation of Israel and Palestine. Ella Shohat explores the cinema as a productive site of national culture, dating back to the early Zionist films about turn-of-the-century Palestine. She offers a deconstructionist reading of Zionism, viewing the cinema as itself participating in the 'invention' of the nation. Unthinking the Eurocentric imaginary of 'East versus West', Shohat highlights the paradoxes of an anomalous national/colonial project through a number of salient issues, including the Sabra figure as a negation of the 'Diaspora Jew', the iconography of the land of Israel as a denial of Palestine, and the narrative role of 'the good Arab'. The new postscript examines the emergence of a richly multiperspectival cinematic space that transcends earlier dichotomies through a palimpsestic and cross-border approach to Israel / Palestine.

Revue de presse :

'Shohat's Israeli Cinema is a tour-de-force. Not only is it theoretically sophisticated, it is also deeply rooted in the changing politics andperceptions of the Israeli predicament as they bear upon Israeli films. With brillianthumanistic insight, Shohat describes the underlying ideological myths and allegoricalstructures and contributes significantly to a new, enlarged understanding of the dynamicsbetween Ashkenazi and Sephardic communities, and between them and the Palestinians.' --Edward Said