ABSTRACT
The distinction between "spectacle" and "sublime" foregrounds one important premise of the contemporary discourse of the sublime. That a distinction ought to be made between a "real sublime" understood as a human value and a "fake sublime" referring merely to the technical aspect of value. This chapter discusses four main forms in which the contemporary cinematic sublime manifests itself. They are: a classical, natural sublime; a rapturous, cosmic sublime; an affectless pop-sublime of aestheticized violence; and a technically virtuosic CGI sublime most prominent in fantasy and science fiction films. The contemporary sublime departs from the classical sublime either by trying to translate that which is beyond the sensible into an intense sensuous experience, or by denying the sensuous through various strategies of privation. The pleasurable immersive experience of Mark Pedersen's "embodied sublime" is a kind of autoerotic aural experience far removed from the awe and terror of the classical sublime.
