The biopolitical aesthetic

Toward a Post-Biopolitical Subject

Bibliographic Data

ID5682510
AuthorsGeoffrey Whitehall (0000-0001-7649-7795, Acadia University, corresponding author)
Year2013
Volume1
Issue2
Pages189-203
Publication date2013-08-01
Open AccessNo
TypeARTICLE
VenueCritical Studies on Security (JOURNAL)
Journal identifiersISSN: 2162-4887 • E-ISSN: 2162-4909
PublisherInforma UK Limited (PUBLISHER • GB)
DOI10.1080/21624887.2013.824656
OpenAlexW2049266477
LanguageEN
Citations received1
References cited18

In this article I argue that the biopolitical aesthetic can be explored through various anxious tensions between politicization of life and the necessity of killing. I read five films (Gattaca, Children of Men, Valhalla Rising, Sin Nombre, and Essential Killing) in order to cultivate four exemplary tensions: one, Kill or be Killed; two, Kill to Live More; three, Live More to Kill; and finally, four, Kill and be Killed. I conclude by asking whether a post-biopolitical subject can emerge from within this final biopolitical tension whereby, instead of circulating life as freedom, it is killing that is now primarily circulated as life. I conclude with the post-biopolitical subject of indifference and its implications for approaching security beyond the anxieties of both geopolitical and biopolitical aesthetics

Aesthetics · Biopower · Environmental ethics · Geopolitics · Michel foucault · Political science · Politics · Sociology · Gender Studies · Global Security and Public Health · Latin American Literature Studies · Law · Philosophy · Political Theology and Sovereignty

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