Abstract

The text puts into focus the changing nature, dramatic actuality and expanded (bio-ethical) meaning of the suicidal phenomenon as a global cultural and media symptom of the first decade of the 21st century. Starting from radical examples of a suicidal protest as a political deathritual (the nature of which is here conceived by victims' struggle for freedom, respect of human rights and emancipation of the oppressed working-class people), the analysis is supported by theoretical backgrounds among which the most remarkable place has been reserved for a study about the history of self-immolation by the British sociologist Michael Biggs. The text attempts to open up new fields of interpretation bordering the phenomenon of the image, on the one hand, and the phenomenon of suicide, on the other, in the context of contemporary everyday life and media culture under the globalization regime. One of the main goals, towards which this re-articulation of suicide as an ultimate cultural symptom of our times has developed, resides in the need to re-examine the complicity between the iconography of death (as a consequence of the radical self-destructive ritual) and the new imaginary of the 'political'.

Full Text
Paper version not known

Talk to us

Join us for a 30 min session where you can share your feedback and ask us any queries you have

Schedule a call

Disclaimer: All third-party content on this website/platform is and will remain the property of their respective owners and is provided on "as is" basis without any warranties, express or implied. Use of third-party content does not indicate any affiliation, sponsorship with or endorsement by them. Any references to third-party content is to identify the corresponding services and shall be considered fair use under The CopyrightLaw.