Frontmatter -- Contents -- Introduction: Envisioning the Unwatchable / Baer, Nicholas / Hennefeld, Maggie / Horak, Laura / Iversen, Gunnar -- Part I. Violence and Testimony -- 1. Theorizing the Unwatchable -- Unwatchable / Mitchell, W. J. T. -- The Gaze from Within / Groys, Boris -- The Unwatchable and the Unwatchable / Harney, Stefano / Moten, Fred -- Melting into Visibility / Zupančič, Alenka -- Pro Forma / Sutherland, Meghan -- 2. Spectacles of Destruction -- Terminal Radiance / Crary, Jonathan -- Unwatched/Unmanned: Drone Strikes and the Aesthetics of the Unseen / Saha, Poulomi -- Breakaway / Bush, Alex -- The Watchability of the Unwatchable: Television Disaster Coverage / Wigoder, Meir -- 3. Bearing Witness -- The Incommensurable / Geimer, Peter -- Not Seeing Is Believing: The Unwatchable in Advocacy / Torchin, Leshu -- Even If She Had Been a Criminal: A Past Unwatched / Guerin, Frances -- Deframing Evidence: A Transmission from Los ingrávidos / Windhausen, Federico -- Alan Kurdi{u2019}s Body on the Shore / Regan Wills, Emily -- 4. Visual Regimes of Racial Violence -- Held Helpless in the Breach: On American History X / Wolukau-Wanambwa, Stanley -- The Flash of History: On the Unwatchable in Get Out / Sexton, Jared -- Nothing Is Unwatchable for All / Juhasz, Alexandra -- Empathy .Complicity / Boyce Gillespie, Michael -- 5. Spectacularization and Resistance -- Entertainment Value / Vaid-Menon, Alok -- Holocausts, Hallowe{u2019}en, and Headdresses / Butler, Alec -- Unwitnessable: Outrageous Ableist Impersonations and Unwitnessed Everyday Violence / Peers, Danielle -- Part II. Histories and Genres -- 6. The Tradition of Provocateurs -- The Two Unwatchables / Grønstad, Asbjørn -- Real Horrorshow / Mizuta Lippit, Akira -- Asymmetries of Desire: Salò, or the 120 Days of Sodom / Resmini, Mauro -- Unstomachable: Irréversible and the Extreme Cinema Tradition / Frey, Mattias -- 7. Enduring the Avant-Garde -- Unwatchability by Choice: Isou{u2019}s Venom and Eternity / Wall-Romana, Christophe -- The Refusal of Spectacle: Debord{u2019}s Howls for Sade / Berger, Kenneth -- Warhol{u2019}s Empire: Unwatched and Unwatchable / Hoberman, J. -- Warhol{u2019}s Empire / Carroll, Noël -- Watching Paint Dry / Balsom, Erika -- 8. Visceral Responses to Horror -- 2Peekaboo3: Thoughts on (Maybe Not) Seeing Two Horror Films / Sobchack, Vivian -- Why I Cannot Watch / Rich, B. Ruby -- Apotropes / Yue, Genevieve -- 9. Pornography and the Question of Pleasure -- I Am Curious (Butterball) / Bright, Susie -- At the Threshold to the Void / Nichols, Bill -- 10. Archives and the Disintegrating Image -- Restoring Blood Money / Rongen-Kaynakçi, Elif -- Turning Garbo Watchable: From Swedish Bread Bun to Hollywood Goddess / Olsson, Jan -- Twilight of the Dead / Stiasny, Philipp / Togler, Bennet -- Part III. Spectators and Objects -- 11. Passionate Aversions -- 2Sad!3: Why I Won{u2019}t Watch Antichrist / Rosenbaum, Jonathan -- Transforming Nihilism / Lee, Nathan -- Oh, Inventiveness! Oh, Imaginativeness! Precious Cinema and Its Discontents: A Rant / Hanich, Julian -- The Biopic Is an Affront to the Cinema / Sconce, Jeffrey -- 12. Tedious Whiteness -- White Men Behaving Sadly / Halberstam, Jack -- 2You Is Kind, You Is Smart, You Is Important3; or, Why I Can{u2019}t Watch The Help / Monk-Payton, Brandy -- Two Tables and a Ladder: WCGW? / Y. Chen, Mel -- 13. Reality Trumpism -- TV Trumps / Joyrich, Lynne -- The Once and Future Hillary: Why I Won{u2019}t Watch a TV Miniseries about the 2016 U.S. Presidential Election / De Kosnik, Abigail -- 14. Pedagogy and Campus Politics -- Why We Can{u2019}t Take a Joke / Pérez, Raúl -- The Bridge and Unteachable Films / Malkowski, Jennifer -- Squirming in the Classroom: Fat Girl and the Ethical Value of Extreme Discomfort / Kyrölä, Katariina -- 15. The Triggered Spectator -- What Is an 2Unwatchable3 Film? (With Reference to Amour and Still Alice) / Kaplan, E. Ann -- Watch at Your Own Peril / Hammer, Barbara -- Sects, Fries, and Videotape / England, Samuel -- Off Watch / Schneider, Rebecca -- Acknowledgments -- Filmography -- Bibliography -- Notes on Contributors -- Index