Medusa's Gaze: The Politics and Aesthetics of Horror in the Age of Hyperviolence

2019 Fiscal Year Final Research Report

• Project/Area Number: 17K18470
• Research Category: Grant-in-Aid for Challenging Research (Exploratory)
• Allocation Type: Multi-year Fund
• Research Field: Philosophy, Art, and related fields
• Research Institution: Ritsumeikan Asia Pacific University
• Principal Investigator: Mantello Peter 立命館アジア太平洋大学, アジア太平洋学部, 教授 (10454977)
• Project Period (FY): 2017-06-30 – 2020-03-31
• Keywords: Terror / Hashtag / Memes / Horror / Politics / Media / Virtual / Digital

Outline of Final Research Achievements

I investigated the symbiotic relationship between technology, terrorism and the politics of horror. In the 21st century, terrorists are not simply harnessing Facebook, Instagram, Twitter and other social media for logistics, propaganda and recruitment purposes. I examined the process through which new technologies are being used to represent their horrific killings for mass audience consumption, targeting both their own constituencies and their enemies. I mapped out the philosophical, cultural and political terrain of an emerging era where new technologies are not only reshaping the contours of political violence but also contributing to its increasingly sophisticated yet often horrific aestheticization.

Free Research Field

Communication

Academic Significance and Societal Importance of the Research Achievements

This project argues that traditional frameworks for understanding political violence are no longer valid since they address only the state’s and the soldiers’ point of view of battle, when increasingly, the representation of war is being co-opted by non-state combatants.