How to consume Holocaust testimonies with aesthetic pleasure: a critical evaluation of the Survivors of the Shoah Foundation
DOI:
https://doi.org/10.30962/ec.495Keywords:
Testemunho, Cultura de Consumo, Holocausto, Survivors of the Shoah, Steven SpielbergAbstract
This article is a reflection on the status of Holocaust testimonies within the context of a culture of consumption, focusing on an analysis Steven Spielberg’s original Survivors of the Shoah, Visual History Foundation project, currently based at the University of South California, and duly renamed the USC Shoah Foundation Institute for Visual History and Education. The argument presented here is that even the memory of and testimonies about the Holocaust can be aestheticized and absorbed by the cultural goods market in a sanitized and consoling format fit for consumption by a potentially massive audience. Despite his good intentions – if they are, indeed, good – Steven Spielberg emerges as a debatable media “authority” on the Holocaust, shaping the western imaginary about the memory of that genocide through his Foundation and the prior success of the film Schindler’s List (1993).Downloads
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