Passionate Views: Film, Cognition, and Emotion

In this study, editors Carl Plantinga and Greg M. Smith bring together 13 scholars from the disciplines of film studies, philosophy and psychology to explore the emotional appeal of the cinema. Employing a cognitive perspective, it is divided into three sections: first, investigating the relationship between genre and emotion; second, studying how film narrative, music and cinematic techniques such as close-up are used to elicit emotion; and third, examining the spectator's identification with and response to film characters. The range of films and topics discussed include: the success of "Stella Dallas" and "An Affair to Remember" as tearjerkers; the power of "Night of the Living Dead" to inspire fear and disgust; evoking the sublime in "The Passion of Joan of Arc", "Aguirre, the Wrath of God" and "The Children of Paradise"; the emotional basis of film comedy as seen in "When Harry Met Sally"; the use of cinematic cues in "Raiders of the Lost Ark" and "Local Hero" to arouse emotions; the relationship between narrative flow and emotion in "Once Upon a Time in the West" and "E.T." ; the emotive use of music in "The Elephant Man" and "A Clockwork Orange"; and eliciting empathy through close-ups of actors' faces in "Yankee Doodle Dandy" and "Blade Runner".

Table of Contents:
Introduction Part I: Kinds of Films, Kinds of Emotions Chapter 1. Film, Emotion, and Genre Chapter 2. Sentiment in Film Viewing Chapter 3. The Sublime in Cinema Chapter 4. The Emotional Basis of Film Comedy Part II: Film Technique, Film Narrative, And Emotion Chapter 5. Local Emotions, Global Moods, and Film Structure Chapter 6. Emotions, Cognitions, and Narrative Patterns in Film Chapter 7. Movie Music as Moving Music: Emotion, Cognition, and the Film Score Chapter 8. Time and Timing Part III: Desire, Identification, And Empathy Chapter 9. Narrative Desire Chapter 10. Identification and Emotion in Narrative Film Chapter 11. Gangsters, Cannibals, Aesthetes, or Apparently Perverse Allegiances Chapter 12. The Scene of Empathy and the Human Face on Film Notes Select Bibliography Contributors Index

About the Author :
Carl Plantinga is an associate professor of film and director of the Screenwriting and Film Studies Program at Hollins College. Greg M. Smith is an assistant professor of communication studies at Carlow College.

Review :
"A valuable collection of essays on the subject of film and emotion from a cognitive perspective. The contributors to this volume are top scholars whose work is known internationally. Their scholarship is sound, their arguments are well supported, and their essays are clearly written. 'Passionate Views' is a substantial contribution to the fields of film theory and aesthetics."--Joseph D. Anderson, Georgia State University