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emotional state that the individual is in. Carroll uses a real-life example to illustrate this:
'Alerted by fear to the potential that there is someone or something prowling around our
campsite, we scope out the scene in search of further signs of threat which, if found, reinforce
both the state we are in and its related feedback processes. In this way the emotions manage
attention over time' (Carroll, 1999: 28). Whether occurring in real-life or on screen, our
emotions enable us to identify the significant details we see and organize them into a
plausible whole; subsequently, the presiding emotion prompts us 'to form expectations about
the kinds of things that we should watch for as the situation evolves' (Carroll, 1999: 28). In
the case of Bertolucci's films, one of this study's lines of enquiry focuses on how the
emotional moods of key sequences are sustained by cognitive prompts and by film technique
and mise-en-scene , rather than by close alignment and allegiance to characters.
Carroll stresses, however, that with respect to fiction films, the events 'have been
emotionally pre-digested for us by filmmakers' through elements of the mise-en-scene and
narrative structure (Carroll, 1999: 29). He observes that this process does not guarantee a set
emotional response, in that the film structure also needs to generate in viewers a concern or
'pro-attitude' towards what is happening in the story; while this process can be
straightforward in films such as CarrolFs example of Battleship Potemkin (1925) which
'enlists a pro-attitude in the audience toward the crew of the battle cruiser", (Carroll, 1999:
31-32) the critic also acknowledges that the emotional address in certain films 'may be
designedly ambiguous' (Carroll, 1999: 34). While he does not offer textual examples to
illustrate this premise, this volume will posit that several of Bertolucci's films, such as La
luna, exemplify this phenomenon, and may even unwittingly induce the inverse of the 'pro-
attitudes" envisaged by the film-maker. Carroll's examination of film genres in the context of
their dominant emotion focuses results in a taxonomy that also helps to shed light on the
ways in which Bertolucci's manipulations of cinematic codes condition the viewer s
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