Squid Cinema from Hell: The Emergence of Chthulumedia

A philosophical study of cephalopods in cinema and contemporary media Offers up a 'posthuman' understanding of film and media, charting the historical relationships between cephalopods and cinema, especially in the digital age Draws on work by authors such as Vilem Flusser, Donna J. Haraway, Graham Harman and Eugene Thacker Engages with contemporary discourses of speculative realism, object-oriented ontology, animal studies and the weird in order to chart the relationship between cinema and cephalopods Takes in examples from Europe, North America, South America and Asia, across a range of media, including cinema, literature, music videos, 4DX, advertising, websites, YouTube videos, artificial intelligence, VR and more Here be Kraken! The Squid Cinema From Hell draws upon writers like Vilem Flusser, Donna J. Haraway, Graham Harman and Eugene Thacker to offer up a critical analysis of cephalopods and other tentacular creatures in contemporary media, while also speculating that digital media might themselves constitute a weird, intelligent alien. If this were not enough to shiver ye timbers, the book engages with contemporary discourses of posthumanism, speculative realism, object-oriented ontology and animal studies to suggest that humans are the products of media rather than media being the products of humans. Including case studies of films by Denis Villeneuve, Park Chan-wook and Celine Sciamma, The Squid Cinema From Hell also provides a daring engagement with various media beyond cinema, including literature, music videos, 4DX, advertising, websites, YouTube, Artificial Intelligence and more. Zounds! This unique and Lovecraftian book will change the way you think about, and with, our contemporary, media-saturated world. For as we contemplate the abyss, the abyss looks back at us - and chthulumedia, or media at the end of human times, begin to emerge.