ABSTRACT
The concept of affective economy emphasizes that a political community negotiates its terms of agreement and its conventions through mediatized processes of affecting and being affected, regarded as forms of exchange and circulation. The term has attracted interest in affect studies over recent years, especially following the writings of Sara Ahmed. Building on Marx’s distinction between exchange-value and use-value, this chapter reconceptualizes the concept in the context of media theory and aesthetics. Taking the example of Philip Scheffner’s film Havarie, we explore how audiovisual images and other works of art intervene in the political economies of affective societies.
