This book explores the political significance of aesthetic analysis in the context of cultural and film studies, and asks how political responsibility can be reconciled with the concept of the university as a democratic institution. Through detailed reference to Neil Jordan's film The Crying Game, Patrick McGee shows how film can be both a product of the culture industry and a critique of it. He analyzes the function of the university in producing interpretations of such highly political art forms and in determing the limits of critical discussion. McGee links Adorno with Derrida to provide a new route through cultural studies and the claims of political criticism.