Introduction: The film phenomenon and how risk pervades it

The language of risk is common coin these days, informing virtually all areas of our lives. Parent/teacher discussions, whether in Asia or the West, make reference to learner profiles, and these often include the idea of being a risk taker. Thus, for example, a child may be encouraged proudly to report that the recent class excursion with Outward Bound allowed her to meet one of her learning targets, to become more of a risk taker. Discourses related to health, whether journalistic or medical, draw attention to long-term risks accompanying lifestyle choices. Phenomena such as Severe Acute Respiratory Syndrome (SARS), climate change, and the most recent financial meltdown all offer opportunities to reflect on the extent to which life in the twenty-first century is shaped by global risks, by the threat of different kinds of harm, some of them with remote originating causes. The ease with which many of us speak the language of risk is itself an indication of the extent to which highly sophisticated studies of risk, by economists, sociologists, and medical professionals, among many others, have been absorbed into the language of everyday life. © 2012 by Wayne State University Press