Grief, Madness, and Crises of Masculinity in Mind-Game Films

This book analyzes a cycle of early twenty-first century mind-game films and TV series in which male protagonists retreat into fantasies, dreams, or hallucinations as a means of coping with grief and guilt following the death of a loved one. Discussing films like Memento, Inception, and Shutter Island and the TV series Mr. Robot, among others, Rosalind Sibielski highlights the way in which the construction of alternate realities allows the protagonists to work through bereavement and past trauma. The author also argues that, as part of this process, the protagonists not only find themselves questioning their memories and what they believe to be true about their identities, but they are also forced to reevaluate who they are as men and the way that they define their manhood. Finally, this book examines these stories of intersecting crises of reality and crises of masculinity within the context of millennial culture wars in the U.S. over the way that manhood is, can be, or should be enacted.

Table of Contents:
Chapter 1 Mad With Grief: Trauma, Loss, and the Fracturing of Reality in Mind-Game Films Chapter 2 Crisis of Reality as Crisis of the Patriarch: Grief, Guilt, and the Failures of Husbands and Fathers in Memento, Inception, and Shutter Island Chapter 3 The Stuff of (Urban) Legend: Making Sense of Loss and What It Means to Be a Man in Urbania Chapter 4 Lost Mothers, Abusive Fathers, and Damaged Sons: Alternate Realities and Oedipal Crises in Bandersnatch and Mr. Robot Chapter 5 Spectacles of Grief and Madness: The Visual Representation and Fetishization of Mental Health Crises in Mind-Game Media Narratives

About the Author :
Rosalind Sibielski is assistant professor of English and film studies at Rhode Island College

Review :
Sibielski’s volume on mind-games films is destined to be one of the landmark works on this subgenre of film. Positioned at the intersection of gender studies and film narratology, Rosalind Sibielski’s book contributes significantly to both disciplines. Its key argument – that mind-game films and TV series create male protagonists impaired by their perceived failure to live up to the values of patriarchal masculinity – is both provocative and perceptive. Sibielski offers commentary on the psychodramas of guilt and traumatic loss that drive the puzzle plots of Memento, Inception, Mr. Robot, and other compelling examples of mind-game storytelling.