Violating Time: History, Memory, and Nostalgia in Cinema

Violating Time explores the complexity of nonlinear and disrupted cinematic time - the delayed period between the actual recording of an event and its eventual public viewing; the recreation of an historical event years after it has occurred; a nostalgic return to retro in the postmodern era; and manipulation of the clock in time travel movies to alter the course of events and create new cultural geographies of time, space and experience. This collection investigates the politics of tactical remembering and forgetting - the selective editing of time and narrative - not only as acts of subversion but also of creative potential and empowerment. It argues that representations of the past and projections of the future are not isolated commentaries of a romantic yesterday or grand visions of tomorrow. Rather, they evoke the preoccupations and anxieties of the present, whether it is the skepticism of nostalgic kitsch (The Royal Tenenbaums) or the projected post-millennial fears of disappearing histories and mutating pasts, manufactured memories and loss of identity (Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind and 2046).