---

Mortality is a recurrent theme in films across genres, periods, nations, and directors. This book brings together an accomplished set of authors with backgrounds in film analysis, psychology, and philosophy to examine how the knowledge of death, the fear of our mortality, and the ways people cope with mortality are represented in cinema.

---

1. Introduction: When the Lights Go Down; Daniel Sullivan and Jeff Greenberg PART I: TERROR MANAGEMENT THEORY AND FILM 2. A Terror Management Analysis of Films from Four Genres: The Matrix, Life is Beautiful, Iron Man 2, and Ikiru; Jeff Greenberg and Alisabeth Ayars 3. Mortality Salience in Apocalyptic Films; Joel Lieberman and Mark Fergus PART II: ASPECTS OF DEATH DENIAL IN INDIVIDUAL FILMS AND GENRES 4. Little Murders: Cultural Animals in an Existential Age; Sheldon Solomon and Mark J. Landau 5. Icons of Stone and Steel: Death, Cinema, and the Future of Emotion; Jennifer L. McMahon 6. Consumed in the Act: Grizzly Man and Frankenstein; Kirby Farrell 7. Black Swan/White Swan: On Female Objectification, Creatureliness, and Death Denial; Jamie L. Goldenberg 8. Death, Wealth, and Guilt: An Analysis of There Will be Blood; Daniel Sullivan 9. The Birth and Death of the Superhero Film; Sander L. Koole, Daniel Fockenberg, Mattie Tops, and Iris K. Schneider PART III: DIRECTORS ENGAGING WITH DEATH 10. Bergman and the Switching off of Lights; Peter Cowie 11. Death in the Films of Stanley Kubrick; Susan White 12. Haneke´s Amour and the Ethics of Dying; Asbj›rn Gr›nstad PART IV: THE PROSPECT OF TRANSCENDENCE 13. Visions of Death: Native American Cinema and the Transformative Power of Death; Jennifer L. McMahon 14. From Despair and Fanaticism to Awe: A Post-traumatic Growth Perspective on Cinematic HorrorL; Kirk J. Schneider 15. Conclusion: Cinematic Death Benefits; Daniel Sullivan and Jeff Greenberg

---

"Daniel Sullivan and Jeff Greenberg, professors of psychology at the University of Arizona, have compiled a fantastic selection of essays from several authors presenting various approaches to death in the cinema. This collection explores the issue of human mortality as portrayed in film, analyzing our fear of death and our desire to overcome it. ... The book, overall, is gripping and a must-read ... ." (Afra Siddiqui, Film Matters, Vol. 6 (3), 2015)

---

Alisabeth Ayars, University of Arizona, USA Peter Cowie, University of California Santa Barbara, USA Kirby Farrell, University of Massachusetts Amherst, USA Mark Fergus, film writer and director Daniel Fockenberg, University of Freiburg, Germany Jamie L. Goldenberg, University of South Florida, USA Asbj›rn Gr›nstad, University of Bergen, Norway Sander L. Koole, Free University, The Netherlands Mark J. Landau, University of Kansas, USA Joel D. Lieberman, University of Nevada, Las Vegas, USA Jennifer L. McMahon, East Central University, USA Iris K. Schneider, Free University, The Netherlands Kirk J. Schneider, Existential-Humanistic Institute, USA Sheldon Solomon, Skidmore College, USA Mattie Tops, Free University, The Netherlands Susan White, University of Arizona, USA

---