Theater Of Cruelty: Does Depicting The Horrific In Art Help Us Overcome It In Life?

“How should we react to such blatant examples of art whose purpose, or so it would seem, is to force viewers face-to-face with the human capacity for viciousness? … What new thoughts does it make possible to think? What new emotions does it make possible to feel? What new sensations or perceptions does it open in the body?”