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'cognitively identifying himself with the agents of fictions', which also involves a simulation
of the emotions generated by such identification. He asserts that 'cognition is intimately
linked to emotions' and that 'the superior connection between cognition and emotion is that
of motivation' based on the recognition of the basic human preferences underpinning the
screen actant's situation, in spheres such as 'food, security, erotic gratification, and social
acceptance' (Grodal, 1997: 87). hi the light of this theory, Grodal explains why- in watching
a film about Gandhi - a European 'can easily make a cognitive identification with him' by
recognizing general patterns based on, for example, 'the opposition between social
humiliation and social acceptance" (Grodal, 1997: 92).
According to Grodal, viewing screen fiction initiates a mental flow that he terms the
downstream, beginning with the perception of images and sounds on screen which induce
affective reactions within viewers, possibly based on personal memories and associations,
and these then 'activate representations of possible actions, and perhaps induce muscle
tension' (Grodal, 1999: 132). The way viewers experience the downstream can be
categorized in three modes: 'telic (Ideological), paratelic, and autonomic' (Grodal, 1999:
133-34). The telic mode relates to 'voluntary goal-directed actions and thoughts', Grodal
exemplifying this with Raiders of the Lost Ark (1981) and individual scenes featuring the
protagonist pursuing and taking possession of the ark. The paratelic mode relates to actions
that 'take place without an explicit goal, in relation to the protagonist's moment-to-moment
experiences', typified by the first shots of E.T. (1982), a perception-based sequence where no
telic framework' or narrative goal is provided (Grodal, 1999: 134). Other examples of the
paratelic mode of viewer experience can be traced in many sequences of Fellini's Amarcord
(1973) in which the evocation of bizarre characters and situations is again bereft of any telos,
or goal-orientation. Finally the third mode, the autonomic, 'is activated when characters
become victims of exterior forces, such as history, nature or fate and are unable to affect
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