Violent content in film has been extensively debated from a myriad of different perspectives, and both within and across a number of different disciplines. Oftentimes, the more violent the content that a film contains, the more likely such content is considered to negatively detract from the value of the work in question. However, this dissertation provides an argument to the contrary with respect to a specific set of cinematic examples and a particular way in which violent content is represented within them. In what follows, I argue that there are grounds to believe in the philosophical value of engaging with works that “morally shock” their audiences through the representation of violent content. First, by analyzing a combination of works ranging from the more conservative American classic Deliverance (1972) to the more controversial French avant-garde Irréversible (2002), I provide a case for reclassifying violent films into different genres, only one of which contains films which elicit a particular kind of response that I single out for further examination. In considering the implications of our responses to these “morally shocking” films, I provide a foundation against which such films can be considered to have a distinct kind of philosophical value by exploring their significance with respect to: (1) issues of interpretation and value in the philosophy of film, (2) recent developments in research on moral judgment, and (3) arguments both for and against the idea that film can be thought of as a kind of philosophy. Ultimately, I argue that our response of moral shock to the content of these films has the subversive effect of destabilizing our moral orientation and consequently motivating philosophical reflection in innovative ways. / Philosophy

Denna kandidatuppsats fokuserar på reception av hemlig dokumentation på djurfabriker. Genom kvalitativa fokusgruppsintervjuer samt med hjälp av visuell elicitering lägger studien fokus vid hur visuella texter kodas av en avsändare och avkodas av en mottagare. Studien gräver in i betydelsen av aktivistisk kommunikation ur ett receptionsperspektiv genom att undersöka hur mottagaren tolkar djurrättsaktivistisk visuell kommunikation på sociala medier. Resultatet av fokusgruppstudien är att en mottagare avkodar djurrättsaktivistiska inlägg med visuellt dokumentärt material och text publicerade på Facebook-sidan Svensk djurindustri – baksidan, på ett förhandlat sätt när man tar hänsyn till hela innehållet i inläggen som består av visuellt material och text. Den upplevda subjektiviteten hos avsändaren gällande det visuella materialet i avsändarens kommunikation är en aspekt som spelar roll i mottagarens avkodning. Oavsett om receptionen visar sig att vara förhandlad, visas motstånd lättare hos intervjupersonerna om skulden läggs på mottagaren men om moraliserandet sker indirekt, verkar budskapet att tas emot av intervjupersonerna med större acceptans. Huvudsakligen upplever mottagarna att avsändaren har som motiv att försöka påverka mottagarens åsikt om djurindustrin genom information, moralisering, skuldbeläggning och genom att använda sig av chockerande visuellt material. / This bachelor's thesis focuses on the reception of secretly acquired documentation from factory farms. Through qualitative focus group interviews and with the help of visual elicitation, the study focuses on how visual texts are coded by a sender and decoded by a recipient. The study delves into the significance of activist communication from a reception perspective by examining how the recipient interprets visual communication published by animal rights activist on social media. The main results of the focus group study is that a recipient decodes animal rights activist posts which consists of visual texts published on Svensk djurindustri baksidan – Facebook page, in a negotiated way when the entire content of the posts consisting of visual material and text is taken into account. The perceived subjectivity of the sender regarding the visual material in the sender's communication is an aspect that plays a role in the recipient's decoding. Regardless of whether the reception turns out to be negotiated, resistance is more easily shown by the interviewees if the blame is placed on the recipient in the communication that takes place, but if moralizing takes place indirectly, the message seems to be received by the interviewees in a more accepting way. The recipients mainly feel that the sender has a motive to try to influence the recipient's opinion about the animal industry through informing, moralizing, blaming and by using shocking visual material and moral shock tactics.