Unwatchable

With this compendium of more than 50 brief essays, editors Baer (humanities, Univ. of Chicago), Maggie Hennefeld (cultural studies & comparative literature, Univ. of Minnesota, Twin Cities), Laura Horak (film studies, Carleton Univ.), and Gunnar Iversen (film studies, Carleton Univ.) approach the concept of "unwatchability" from a variety of angles. Part 1 takes a political perspective, examining subjects such as the destructive but abstracted power of unmanned aerial drone footage and sensationalistic television coverage of weather disasters. Part 2 tackles unwatchability in cinema, exemplified by avant-garde auteurs including Andy Warhol and Lars Von Trier, whose works "place viewers in uncomfortable positions" (to say the least). Finally, Part 3 asks why we love to hate certain cultural phenomena, such as the "Transformers" franchise, the "precious cinema" of Wes Anderson and Michel Gondry, and Hollywood biopics in general. Whether the volume is sampled or read cover to cover, its short chapters, diversity of authors and styles, and fairly broad topic work in its favor. Readers' mileage will depend on their capacity for dense academic inquiry and difficult, sometimes obscure adults-only content.