Embodied visions : evolution, emotion, culture, and film / Torben Grodal.

Format:

Book

Author/Creator:

Grodal, Torben Kragh.

Language:

English

Subjects (All):

Motion pictures--Psychological aspects.

Motion pictures.

Physical Description:

viii, 324 pages : illustrations ; 24 cm

Place of Publication:

Oxford ; New York : Oxford University Press, 2009.

Summary:

Embodied Visions presents a groundbreaking analysis of film through the lens of bioculturalism, revealing how human biology as well as human culture determine how films are made and experienced. Throughout his study, Torben Grodal uses the breakthroughs of modern brain science to explain central features of film aesthetics and to construct a general model of aesthetic experience-what he terms the PECMA flow model-that demonstrates the movement of information and emotions in the brain when viewing film. Examining a wide array of genres-animation, romance, pornography, fantasy, horror-from evolutionary and psychological perspectives, Grodal also reflects on social issues at the intersection of film theory and neuropsychology. These include moral problems in film viewing, how we experience realism and character identification, and the value of the subjective forms that cinema uniquely elaborates.

Contents:

I Introduction: Evolution, Biology, Culture, and Film 3

Part I Film, Culture, and Evolution

2 Universalism, Cultural Variation, and Children's Film 25

3 Love and Desire in the Cinema 56

4 Screaming Lambs and Lusty Wolves: Moral Attitudes and Evolution 79

5 Undead Ghosts and Living Prey: Fantasy and Horror 97

6 Sadness, Melodrama, and Rituals of Loss and Death 122

Part II Narrative, Visual Aesthetics, Brain, and the PECMA Flow

Introduction to Part II: The PECMA Flow 145

7 Stories for Eyes, Ears, and Muscles: The Evolution of Embodied Simulations 158

8 Character Simulation and Emotion 181

9 Art Film, the Transient Body, and the Permanent Soul 205

10 Subjective Aesthetics in Film 229

11 The Experience of Audiovisual Realism 250

12 Conclusion: The Gene-Culture Stream and Bioculturalism 271.

Notes:

Includes bibliographical references (pages 301-314) and index.

ISBN:

9780195371314

0195371313

9780195371321

0195371321

OCLC:

229467520