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A Vision of Masochism in the Affective Pain of Crash

This article investigates the image of masochism presented by David Cronenberg’s film Crash (1996) and the public controversy that it provoked. The analysis of the film and the media debates and outrage presented in this article follows recent theoretical accounts of masochistic sexuality that emphasize lived experience and corporeality. In the narrative’s unusual couplings and unconventional sexual experiences, there is an intensification of the characters’ inner affective world in a way that is as horrific as it is sensual. It is argued here that the experience of masochism as it is presented in the film cannot be separated from the simultaneous discomfort and zeal the film has generated. Through the film’s uncomfortable eroticization of the imagery of bodily pain and injury, representation moves beyond the frame to provide the basis for a masochistic viewing experience. Masochism encroaches upon everyday life through this film in a way that has had a deep and lasting cultural affect.