Empathy and (Film) Fiction, by Alex Neill

Watching a scary movie tends to heighten our emotions, allowing fear, excitement, and anticipation to course through our veins. Many experience an adrenaline rush, due to their intensified emotions, causing a pull towards watching horror movies. This thrill is an unexplainable sensation, that has the ability to captivate the viewer. Furthermore, the suspense posses us to continue to watch the movie, keeping us at edge of our seats. We become driven to know what will happen next. Moreover, the dramatic irony in horror movies has a tendency to keep the viewer engaged. For example, the viewer knows who the murderer is, however the characters on screen perceive him to be a trusted confidant. Although, many people are scared to face their fears,

On the other hand, some people say the movie displays emotions and the scenes in realistic ways that make each of the characters more believable as it cannot be done on paper. It does make sense in the idea that the characters’ all seem more realistic in what they say due to elements such as body language. However, the film does not pull readers to the story as the play does, and characters become harder to believe as the personal feel is lacking. The play has elements within that makes the reader wonder what is happening and it leads to an involvement as if he/she were there. Therefore, the idea that the film displays emotions make sense, it just does not pull to the reader.

To support this idea, Bordwell illustrates how art cinema motivates its narratives differently, through two principles: realism and authorial expressivity. Firstly he proposes the notion that art films reflect realism in their characters, space, and time. Psychologically complex characters are present in real worlds dealing with true-to-life situations. Art cinema is concerned with the characters ‘reaction’ to these situations, rather than their ‘action’. Thus it bares an element of psychological subjectivity as the characters survey the world they are in, which aids the realisation of the distress of

Readers have to look at characters and their actions in order to reach the true heart of

Through the use of distinct visual images and techniques to intensely place the audience in the personas experiences, to confront the fear and hopelessness, intimacy and emotional understanding of the characters can be enhanced.

shows that authors use multiple techniques to help the reader relate and further empathize with the characters. Empathy helps us better connect to the world and people around us, and often times sparks the need for change within people. The most effective of these tactics is the use of appeals. These examples further prove the argument that authors use appeals such as ethos, logos, and pathos to evoke empathy in their

Tragedy shakes the audience by tapping into their own private fears. An undeniable connection drawn by empathy links every audience member to the plight of the character, because the itch of indignation is universal among all humanity. As long as someone has a sense of self, they have a sense of dignity. The character in a tragedy has been wronged by some “flaw”, and there is a fear of never correcting that wrong. Every audience member experiences that fear, and so is shaken by the tragedy.

         King uses Pathos to successfully persuade his audience if kids and adults to let their emotions free . He successfully convinces to the reader that reading or watching a horror movie can be

Hurst uses the mood of the story to convey the character's’ feelings and tells the audience, indirectly, how to feel emotionally

Although the best reasons for “going to the movies” are to be entertained and eat popcorn, understanding a film is actually quite complex. Movies are not only a reflection of life, they also have the capability of shaping our norms, values, attitudes, and perception of life. Through the media of film, one can find stories of practically anything imaginable and some things unimaginable. Movie-makers use their art to entertain, to promote political agendas, to educate, and to present life as it is, was, or could be. They can present truth, truth as they interpret it, or simply ignore truth altogether. A movie can be a work of fiction, non-fiction, or anything in-between. A film is an artist’s interpretation. What one takes away from a film depends upon how one interprets what has been seen and heard. Understanding film is indeed difficult.

Dr. Alistair Brown’s article discusses humanity’s amazing ability to make violence entertaining. Dr. Brown suspect’s laughter is a defense mechanism activated when a moment is too horrific. He also believes how and why the death of a character occurs will determine the audiences emotional response. What’s most uncomfortable about Titus Andronicus is the really terrifying, brutal, and monstrous deeds done happen in real life. Dr. Brown addresses Lavinia’s rape, Chiron and Demetrius’ violent acts, Aaron’s sly self-loyalty, racism, and clashing beliefs against Taymor’s ancient/modern Rome, and believes this is a metaphor for violence and its lack of respect for time. Our responsibility as the audience is to figure out whether or not the acts

, the characters in the story often show emotions whether it be externally or internally. The

    Film and literature are two media forms that are so closely related, that we often forget there is a distinction between them. We often just view the movie as an extension of the book because most movies are based on novels or short stories. Because we are accustomed to this sequence of production, first the novel, then the motion picture, we often find ourselves making value judgments about a movie, based upon our feelings on the novel. It is this overlapping of the creative processes that prevents us from seeing movies as distinct and separate art forms from the novels they are based on.

By exploring the theory of the “abject”, horror and the role of gender instability within film with regards to The Silence of the Lambs, this essay will attempt to explain the characteristics of the aestheticisation of abjection.

In service of this argument, the essay unfolds in three parts. The first section sketches an appropriate framework for understanding how cinema marshals and moves viewers by engaging them in a fully embodied experience.4 The second section offers a brief overview of the film's plot before turning to an analysis of its triptych narrative and affective development. The third and final section considers the methodological, critical, and theoretical implications suggested by the preceding analysis.