Coates presents the face in film as a place where transformations begin, reflecting both the experience of modernity and such influential myths as that of Medusa. This is exemplified by a wide range of European and American films, including Ingmar Bergman's Persona .

Coates presents the face in film as a place where transformations begin, reflecting both the experience of modernity and such influential myths as that of Medusa. This is exemplified by a wide range of European and American films, including Ingmar Bergman's Persona .

There was a time in screen culture when the facial close-up was a spectacular and mysterious image... The constant bombardment of the super-enlarged, computer-enhanced faces of advertising, the endless 'talking heads' of television and the ever-changing array of film stars' faces have reduced the face to a banal image, while the dream of early film theorists that the 'giant severed heads' of the screen could reveal 'the soul of man' to the masses is long since dead. And yet the end of this dream opens up the possibility for a different view of the face on the screen. The aim of the book is to seize this opportunity to rethink the facial close-up in terms other than subjectivity and identity by shifting the focus to questions of death and recognition. In doing so, the book proposes a dialectical reversal or about-face. It suggests that we focus our attention on the places in contemporary media where the face becomes unrecognisable, for it is here that the facial close-up expresses the powers of death. Using Walter Benjamin's theory of the dialectical image as a critical tool, the book provides detailed studies of a wide range of media spectacles of faces becoming unrecognisable. It shows how the mode of recognition enabled by these faces is a shock experience that can open our eyes to the underside of the mask of self - the unrecognisable mortal face of self we spend our lives trying not to see. Turning on itself, so to speak, the face exposes the fragile relationship between social recognition and facial recognizability in the images-cultures of contemporary media.

Examines the face on screen from a variety of critical and historical perspectives

What if your phone truly helped you connect with people more than disconnect with those around you? You CAN dare to be relationally different in a screen-to-screen culture. But. . .honestly, I like my phone. So what should I do? You probably enjoy screens but don’t want them hurting your relationships with the people who matter most, right? What if you could improve your face-to-face relationships, develop deeper connections, resolve conflict, and confidently communicate with friends, parents, teachers, roommates, coworkers, potential employers…even the barista at your local coffee shop? What if you paused to think before you posted, avoiding some of the hurt and consequences that almost always lead to regret after? What if you became a master of your own screen-time instead of letting it master you? What if you became more screen-wise? 40 real-life realizations including. . . * Your phone doesn’t have an UNSEND button. *Texting is a dumb way to manage conflict. * We all need a digital detox every once in a while. * Sometimes less is more. * Phones are a great tool for connecting with people outside of the room when they don’t interfere with the people inside the room * Sometimes the people we love the most are the people we ignored all day. Author and youth culture expert, Jonathan McKee, and his daughter Alyssa McKee, uncover forty random realizations they’ve discovered over the last five years. Screens provide fun platforms to connect with faraway friends; and sometimes the people we love the most are the people we ignore all day. Jonathan and Alyssa help young adults navigate face-to-face communication in a screen-to-screen world too! Maybe they’ll help you navigate face-to-face communication in a screen-to-screen world too!