ABSTRACT
This introduction presents an overview of the key concepts discussed in the subsequent chapters of this book. The book offers a sophisticated and provocative weaving of psychoanalytic and philosophic ideas, applying them to a very 21st-century film critique. It provides work from within queer studies that examines the lonelinesses in the fabric of our sexual identity as it is perceived, challenged, celebrated or negated by society. The book argues as paradoxical as it may sound, an individual might ultimately find that trauma or grief can gradually allow him or her to find greater meaning in life and with respect to his or her loss. Loneliness in the 21st century, as Laing reminds us, is both intensely personal and unavoidably political. The World Health Organisation expects depressive disorders to rank second amongst the global disease burden by 2020, and the correlation between mental distress and loneliness has long been demonstrated.
