Onscreen/Offscreen

Constantine V. Nakassis is an associate professor of anthropology and of social sciences in the College, resource faculty in Cinema and Media Studies, faculty associate in Comparative Human Development, and core faculty on the Committee on International Relations at the University of Chicago.

• AcknowledgmentsNote on Transliteration, Quotation, Names, and Transcripts Introduction: Ontological Politics of the ImageIntroduction From Ontologies to Ontological Politics Toward a Linguistic Anthropology of CinemaA Brief History of Tamil Cinema For a "Tamil" Cinema Realism and the Mass HeroOverview of the ChaptersPart I: Presence/Representation 1. The Hero’s Mass Introduction Presence of the Film Image Gravity of the Hero’s Mass Presence of Mass Image-Act of the Slaps Sociological Realism of the Mass Hero’s ImageAesthetic Realism and the Event of the SlapsAmbivalent Realisms Authorizing the Slaps, or the Principal of AnimationConclusion 2. The Heroine’s Stigma Introduction Item’s InterruptionItem’s Titillation Item’s Spectacle Ontological Politics of Sexual Difference Actness of the Image Politics of Vision Explicitness of Performativity Voyeurism and Exhibitionism in 7/G Rainbow Colony Kinship Chronotopes and Sociological Traces of the Performativity of Presence Marriage and Not-to-be-looked-at-nessAn Alien Presence ConclusionEpilogue Part II: Representation/Presence 3. The Politics of Parody Introduction Anti-Cine-Politics of Thamizh Padam A Politics of (Im/possible) Worlds Chronopolitics For Another Kind of Image For a Less Serious Industry A Politics of Production The Politics for an Image Conclusion4. The Politics of the Real Introduction Questions of Realism Register of Realism Enregistering Realism in Tamil Cinema Kaadhal ("Love") Realism’s Heroism This Is a True Story Representing Taboo Caste and Sexuality in Kaadhal Frustrated Textuality and Sexual Reference Production Format of Realism New Faces and the Director’s Image Realism’s Illiberal Extimacy and the Suspension of Belief ConclusionConclusionsAn End of an EraKilling the Mass HeroPerformativityRepresentation and the MethodTheory of a Linguistic Anthropology of Cinema For a Linguistic Anthropology of …NotesInterviews and Works CitedIndex