Cinema in Pain: Decoding “Mad God“

“Physical pain does not simply resist language but actively destroys it.“ How can we express what it feels like to be in pain? How can the experience of physical pain be captured in words? And if words cannot, can a film express pain? Drawing upon the work of Elaine Scarry’s “The Body in Pain,“ this essay seeks to explore the ways that Phil Tippet’s “Mad God“ (2021) shines a light on human experiences that otherwise escape language. Special thanks to Noah Caldwell-Gervais for the additional VO work! @broadcaststsatic As listed 4 times on the Sight & Sound’s Best Video Essays of 2023 list: Works Cited Tippet, Phil. (Director). (2022). Mad God [Film]. Tippet Studios. Scarry, Elaine. (1987). The Body in Pain: The Making and Unmaking of the World (pp. 3-23). Oxford University Press. MacDonald, Helen. (2020). Symptomatic. In MacDonald, Helen, Vesper Flights (pp. 56-64). Grove Press. James, Caryn. (1985, April 28). ‘Blood Meridian,’ by Cormac McCarthy. The New York Times.