Kent L. Brintnall
Images of suffering male bodies permeate Western culture, from Francis Baconâ€™s paintings and Robert Mapplethorpeâ€™s photographs to the battered heroes of action movies. Drawing on perspectives from a range of disciplinesâ€”including religious studies, gender and queer studies, psychoanalysis, art history, and film theoryâ€”,Ecce Homo, explores the complex, ambiguous meanings of the enduring figure of the male-body-in-pain.,Acknowledging that representations of men confronting violence and pain can reinforce ideas of manly tenacity, Kent L. Brintnall also argues that they reveal the vulnerability of menâ€™s bodies and open them up to eroticization. Locating the roots of our cultural fascination with male pain in the crucifixion, he analyzes the way narratives of Christâ€™s death and resurrection both support and subvert cultural fantasies of masculine power and privilege. Through stimulating readings of works by Georges Bataille, Kaja Silverman, and more, Brintnall delineates the redemptive power of representations of male suffering and violence.
Ecce Homo: The Male-Body-in-Pain as Redemptive Figure