Haneke, Moral Violence and Morbid Curiosity

Abstract

This paper contrasts two forms of violence depicted in film: entertainment violence and moral violence. To a first approximation, moral violence is a form of interpersonal aggression aimed at causing moral injury. We claim that what distinguishes entertainment violence from moral violence is that entertainment violence is a satisfying or fitting object of morbid curiosity. Moral violence typically isn’t such a thing. We explore how moral violence works in two films of Michael Haneke: Funny Games (1997, 2007) and The White Ribbon (2009).