High-Satire in Tragedy and Anti-Catharsis in Death-Satire: Spring 2022: Volume VII, Issue 1

This Spring 2022 issue includes Editor Anna Faktorovich's critical analysis of the distinction between satirical, tragic and grotesque film-violence, with a review of past scholarship and an application of this theory to a morally executed portrayal in the Gomorrah dramatic series and an amoral portrayal in the Peacemaker satiric series. The distinction between these two is in the degree of realistic detail that is offered to characters before they are murdered, and if violent actions are excused as justified or are consistently shown to be unjustifiable wrongs committed by irrational actors. Gomorrah is advertised as a tragic drama but actually achieves high-satirical notes, whereas Peacemaker is advertised as a satire but crashes as tragedy without the required sympathy for the dead. And Susie Gharib reviews a new set of films including: No Time to Die (2021), Nineteen Eighty-Four (1984), The Last Samurai (2003), Season of the Witch (2011), and Ladies and Gentlemen... Mr. Leonard Cohen (1965). The film reviews are illustrated with 52 color stills. And two drawings are included by Phyllis Hartman Green: Chair/Dog under chair (1993) and Three Herons (2022).