Sounds of Cinema host Nathan Wardinski has authored a book: Dissecting Cannibal Holocaust. The book will be published in summer 2024 by Lexington Books in hardcover and digital versions.
Dissecting Cannibal Holocaust is an examination of the 1980 motion picture which has been discussed on this program from time to time. Cannibal Holocaust was part of a fad of cannibal pictures released in the 1970s and 80s. The film was extremely controversial and it is frequently named one of the most disturbing films ever released. It has been censored and banned throughout the world. The version of Cannibal Holocaust authorized for distribution in the United Kingdom in 2011 was cut by the British censors and Cannibal Holocaust was banned from public exhibition in South Africa in 2001.
As upsetting as it is, Cannibal Holocaust is also fascinating in a variety of ways. Dissecting Cannibal Holocaust pulls apart the layers of this film to reveal its relevance to cinematic and literary history, anthropology, nature studies, ethics and censorship, media and journalism, documentary filmmaking, representations of cannibalism and post-colonialism, and genre cinema. The book begins with a summary of the movie so if you’ve never seen it and not sure you ever want to, the first chapter will give readers enough context to make sense of the rest of the book. It’s an academic work but Dissecting Cannibal Holocaust has been written it in a way that ought to appeal to academics and laypeople alike. And for academics, the book is organized in a way that could make it useful for class work. Individual chapters address topics including the representation of native people in motion pictures, the ethics of killing animals and depicting sexual assault, histories of journalism and media, and depictions of nature. Scholars and instructors of various disciplines could use the book as a whole or select chapters and build discussions and course units around them.
Dissecting Cannibal Holocaust is now available for pre-order. It’s produced by Lexington Books which is an academic publisher and so the book is a bit pricey. If it’s out of your price range but you want to read it, contact your local library and ask them to order a copy. If you live in a community that is part of a library system, ask them to purchase of a couple of copies.
Pre-Order Links: