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Branigan identifies several elements that manipulate the viewer's access to knowledge, notably the position of the camera, (Branigan, 1992: 67) the presence of a narrator whose knowledge of story events conditions the viewer's own acquisition of knowledge, or the presence of an implied narrator, 'such as the implied author', who regulates the disclosure of story information (Branigan, 1992: 75). The film's style can also be important: 'In what ways do the stylistic devices [...] open up or constrain our abilities to acquire knowledge?' (Branigan, 1992: 76). Bertolucci's films consistently place constraints on the viewer's ability to fully reconstruct the stories, and the elements listed above can be traced in most of their styles and structures, with the exception of Little Buddha and Besieged where the linearity and unrestricted quality of the narration is accompanied by the marked presence of the director as an implicit narrator. By drawing on narratological concepts, Branigan also distinguishes between 'non- focalization' when an event's narration is limited to depict the action itself, and 'internal/external focalization' when the narration includes a character's experience or thoughts; internal focalization occurs when a scene unfolds through a character's subjectivity, thought processes, and perceptions (Branigan, 1992: 102). During external focalization, viewers may still see what a character looks at, for example, but from a spatial position away from the character and outside the character's consciousness. Essentially, the character's subjectivity is integrated by another subjectivity; for example, the camera follows the character or waits for him, or the presence of the implied author may be tangible when higher implied levels of narration are in place (Branigan, 1992: 102-104). Branigan analyses Tfie Wrong Man by Alfred Hitchcock to illustrate how images and even music can belong to different levels of narration, (Branigan, 1992: 102-104) and a film such as Bertolucci's Last Tango in Paris, also features a musical score - featuring effects such as discordant string- based 'stingers' that are characteristic of thrillers or horror films - that is often conspicuous 42
to the point of drawing the spectator's attention out of the diegetic film world, and creating a distanced engagement with the film as a constructed art form. This project will consider the ways in which, through visual and aural means, the viewer's engagement with Bertolucci's films shifts from a predominantly intra-diegetic emotional focus, fuelled by elements such as colour schemes and mise-en-scem, to more intellectual forms of engagement caused by moments when the director's presence is almost palpable. Brecht Another theoretical source used in this study to illuminate the cognitive and intellectual thought processes that are prompted during the viewing experience of Bertolucci's films, is Bertolt Brecht. Brecht considered the dramaturgy that derived from the Aristotelian theory of catharsis 'the purging of the emotions through identification with the destiny which rules the hero's life' - (Benjamin, 1973:18) as politically repressive, because the process clouded a viewer's critical faculties. To overcome this phenomenon, he developed a theory of theatre that centred on removing the audience's identification with the characters, changing the relationship between the audience and the stage. He aimed to give theatre a pedagogical function, that of provoking self-reflection, and this would lead to a desire for social improvement by the acquisition of political awareness. Brecht called this 'epic theatre", and its approach was to interrupt the on-stage action by laying bare theatrical techniques and devices, including slogans in the stage decor, and projecting films on to the stage backdrop, for example. These interventions disrupted the illusion of the theatrical spectacle, and obliged the audience to adopt critical attitudes (Benjamin, 1973: 38). Having observed elements of Chinese theatre, Brecht developed a technique which came to be known as the Verfremdungseffekt, that of aiming 'to make the incidents represented appear strange to the public', particularly through modes of stage acting (Willett, 1992: 136-37). The Verfremdungseffekt - a term translated as alienation effect, distancing effect or 43
- Page 1 and 2: Emotion and Cognition in the Films
- Page 3 and 4: Contents Acknowledgements 1 Abstrac
- Page 5 and 6: Acknowledgements I am very grateful
- Page 7 and 8: INTRODUCTION Over the past five dec
- Page 9 and 10: moods punctuated by emotional pheno
- Page 11 and 12: comprehensible why a nation that de
- Page 13 and 14: foreground a reception process in w
- Page 15 and 16: LITERATURE REVIEW While this study
- Page 17 and 18: film for 'jealous cinephiles or, mo
- Page 19 and 20: together' (Ungari, 1982: 51). This
- Page 21 and 22: Canby implicitly agrees with Cineas
- Page 23 and 24: it is Last Tango in Paris, and in t
- Page 25 and 26: e attributed to Paul's abolition of
- Page 27 and 28: Petri, who - in 1972 - talking abou
- Page 29 and 30: twofold aim of offering viewers sop
- Page 31 and 32: Maraini, D. (1973) 'Who were you?',
- Page 33 and 34: In discussing different narrative t
- Page 35 and 36: outcomes. The viewer and character
- Page 37 and 38: information to which the character
- Page 39 and 40: emotional state that the individual
- Page 41 and 42: opera houses in Before the Revoluti
- Page 43 and 44: manipulation, Bordwell analyses the
- Page 45: narrative schema clarifies how we o
- Page 49 and 50: for granted, in a 'slightly hazardo
- Page 51 and 52: passive emotionalism' (Sterritt, 19
- Page 53 and 54: Godard's approach from Bertolucci's
- Page 55 and 56: characters being stimulated into ta
- Page 57 and 58: apolitical art' in La Chinoise (p.
- Page 59 and 60: SECTION 1; Pessimism and Melancholi
- Page 61 and 62: La commare secca/The Grim Reaper: A
- Page 63 and 64: the film. Several of the suspects a
- Page 65 and 66: to reduce realism in favour of an a
- Page 67 and 68: giant publicity poster for the aper
- Page 69 and 70: mark out the sequence as significan
- Page 71 and 72: emphasizes his youth and simple nat
- Page 73 and 74: The camera movement and the frame c
- Page 75 and 76: Smith, G. M. (1999) 'Local Emotions
- Page 77 and 78: of respectability. Inspired by Cesa
- Page 79 and 80: film is/was viewed, the goal orient
- Page 81 and 82: viewers identify complicated intert
- Page 83 and 84: diegetic sound, since, except for t
- Page 85 and 86: audiovisual construction of the ope
- Page 87 and 88: evocative representations of landsc
- Page 89 and 90: Another example of this phenomenon
- Page 91 and 92: La stratesia del raeno/The Spider's
- Page 93 and 94: director launching 'a critique from
- Page 95 and 96: possible to understand 'how the mod
Branigan identifies several elements that manipulate the viewer's access to<br />
knowledge, notably the position <strong>of</strong> the camera, (Branigan, 1992: 67) the presence <strong>of</strong> a<br />
narrator whose knowledge <strong>of</strong> story events conditions the viewer's own acquisition <strong>of</strong><br />
knowledge, or the presence <strong>of</strong> an implied narrator, 'such as the implied author', who<br />
regulates the disclosure <strong>of</strong> story information (Branigan, 1992: 75). The film's style can also<br />
be important: 'In what ways do the stylistic devices [...] open up or constrain our abilities to<br />
acquire knowledge?' (Branigan, 1992: 76). Bertolucci's films consistently place constraints<br />
on the viewer's ability to fully reconstruct the stories, and the elements listed above can be<br />
traced in most <strong>of</strong> their styles and structures, with the exception <strong>of</strong> Little Buddha and Besieged<br />
where the linearity and unrestricted quality <strong>of</strong> the narration is accompanied by the marked<br />
presence <strong>of</strong> the director as an implicit narrator.<br />
By drawing on narratological concepts, Branigan also distinguishes between 'non-<br />
focalization' when an event's narration is limited to depict the action itself, and<br />
'internal/external focalization' when the narration includes a character's experience or<br />
thoughts; internal focalization occurs when a scene unfolds through a character's subjectivity,<br />
thought processes, and perceptions (Branigan, 1992: 102). During external focalization,<br />
viewers may still see what a character looks at, for example, but from a spatial position away<br />
from the character and outside the character's consciousness. Essentially, the character's<br />
subjectivity is integrated by another subjectivity; for example, the camera follows the<br />
character or waits for him, or the presence <strong>of</strong> the implied author may be tangible when higher<br />
implied levels <strong>of</strong> narration are in place (Branigan, 1992: 102-104). Branigan analyses Tfie<br />
Wrong Man by Alfred Hitchcock to illustrate how images and even music can belong to<br />
different levels <strong>of</strong> narration, (Branigan, 1992: 102-104) and a film such as Bertolucci's Last<br />
Tango in Paris, also features a musical score - featuring effects such as discordant string-<br />
based 'stingers' that are characteristic <strong>of</strong> thrillers or horror films - that is <strong>of</strong>ten conspicuous<br />
42
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