Tomas Axelson [email protected] – Paper at International Conference on Narrative 2013, Manchester
Metropolitan University, June 26 – 29. Work in progress.
Thick Viewing
Fiction Film and Condensed Moments of Narrative Impact
Tomas Axelson
ThD, Assistant Professor, Religious Studies
School of Humanities and Media
Högskolan Dalarna University, 791 88 Falun, Sweden
Project Spectator engagement in film and utopian self-reflexivity. Moving Images and Moved Minds.
(The Swedish Research Council)
www.du.se/sv/AVM/Personal/Tomas-Axelson
ABSTRACT
Empirical examples of narrative impact in an audience study is presented when
specific fiction film scenes condensate spectators’ emotional lives, identities, and
beliefs. The outcome of conducted in-depth interviews with film viewers in Sweden
2012, discussing favorite films such as Apocalypse Now, Pulp Fiction, Amelie from
Montmartre and Avatar, will support theories about stories as a primary mean by
which we make sense of our experience through time (Nussbaum 1983, Lynch 2007,
Axelson 2011).
It calls for a development of theories which in more detail explores spectator’s
narrative competence when being absorbed by fiction (Johnston 2007, Plantinga 2009,
Oliver & Hartmann 2010). It challenges theories of fiction emotions and proposes a
more complex analysis of the passionate viewer. A conclusion is that narrative
impact is partly related to emotions in fiction but most importantly when spectators
are testing the narrative for a larger significance beyond the media, connecting
diegetical fiction experiences with spectator’s profound aspirations in life and
experienced conflicts of human existence in extra-diegetical world through
‘transformative viewing’ (Johnston 2007) ‘high cognition’ (Avila 2007) or what I label
thick viewing.
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Tomas Axelson [email protected] – Paper at International Conference on Narrative 2013, Manchester
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1. Introduction
“The function of filmic narration is to guide the eye and cue the mind” (Elsaesser &
Buckland 2002: 38).
You can see his consciousness kind of … it’s exactly when he opens the door…he is
about to leave…not going to stay. But he happens to hear…and then you see how they
are zooming in on his face. He is about to leave, but changes his mind. And you kind of
see a wrinkle between his eyes. And then …”No, this ain’t right”… sort of. “How the
fuck should I do, just get the hell out of here?”…you know. “Fuck no, I’m gonna give
them bastards!” You can see how he thinks! And then …”Hell no, I’ll beat the shit out
of them!”(Felicia p 18).1
The quote is from a respondent, Felicia, talking about her absolute favourite scene in one of
her most memorable and most appreciated movies of all time, Pulp Fiction (1994).
1.1. Research questions
Recent statistics show that the consumption of fiction films is increasing in contemporary
Sweden, especially in the age groups above 25 (Mediebarometern 2013: 70). New ways to
measure everyday viewing habits show that almost one fifth of the population in Sweden
watch a movie every day. The ongoing project is designed to develop and assess a theoretical
framework to analyze viewers' response to cinematic narration and to better understand
viewers being deeply moved by movies. The overarching aim is to broaden our
understanding of the use and need for fiction.
My main research questions are the following. How does engagement in fiction films affect
spectators’ meaning-making processes regarding more profound and long-lasting ideas
about themselves and society? What kind of thoughts and feelings are articulated when
talking about their favourite films in groups and individually? How can empirical data be
used to illustrate as well as theoretically develop theories about the reflexive self. What kind
of thoughts and feelings are articulated when talking about favorite films and significant
sequences in these films.
1
Felicia, 32, about her favourite moment in Pulp Fiction, scene 01:38:18 – 01:38:58: ‘Butch’ hesitating at
the doorstep to the shop, ready to leave. Original in Swedish: Man ser hans samvete liksom… det är precis
när han öppnar…han är ju på väg att gå… har inte tänkt att stanna. Men sen råkar han höra… och sen så ser
man ju hur dom zoomar in på hans ansikte. Nu är han på väg att gå, men så ändrar han sig liksom. Och så ser
man hur han rynkar pannan liksom. Och…”Det känns inte rätt det här”, liksom. ”Nej, hur fan ska jag göra. Ska
jag verkligen dra”, så där. ”Nej, jag ska ge dom jävlarna!”. Man ser ju han tänker! Och sen bara ”Nej fy fan, nu
ska dom få!”(Felicia p 18).
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Tomas Axelson [email protected] – Paper at International Conference on Narrative 2013, Manchester
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The findings in the data will contribute to developing a more sophisticated understanding of
the complex interplay between moving images and non-visual meaning-making processes
and how spectators use fiction in every-day life related to self reflexivity as well as the quest
for being part of a moral community, an interplay between their intra-text experience of
narration and extra-text implications for life outside the cinematic narrative.
1.1.1. Hypothesis
My hypothesis is the following. I a society characterized by individualization and
mediatization people are to an increasing degree dependent on fiction narratives as a
primary means by which we make sense of our experience through time and our place in
society. Moving images are more and more in the centre of culture, providing individuals
with stories by which reality is maintained and by which humans construct ordered microuniverses for themselves. Stories contribute with a cognitive and affective understanding of
life, including a critical view on contemporary societal conditions as well as utopian ideas
about how life could be.
I also bring an assumption that some spectators in the audience are more engaged in film
watching and this engagement is related to an experienced movement between fiction and
real life, testing the cinematic narrative for a larger moral significance. This is done in an
intriguing and complex interplay between the fictive world and the viewer’s own reality.
“Recipients bring their idiosyncratic morality to the screen, sanction or condemn witnessed
actions and agents in accord with it, and then experience emotions as a result of their
assessment” (Zillman 2005: 176).
1.2. Method
1.2.1. A questionnaire
In 2011, 309 questionnaires were sampled from students of Nursing, Education, Social Care
and Media Programmes. In open-ended questions these young adults in their twenties gave
examples of contemporary films of personal importance that dealt with life issues. Some
movies, such as Pulp Fiction (1994), Shawshank Redemption (1994), Avatar (2009), Gladiator
(2000) and Amelie de Montmartre (2001), attracted a collective interest.
The questionnaire functions as a tool for data sampling in two ways: first for mapping
film consumption habits in Sweden today, where rapid technological change makes it
easy to develop different film habits than before and it is of interest to empirically get a
picture of how people watch films today. The target group is dominated by young
people in their early twenties. More than 60% of the 309 individuals answering the
questionnaire are between 19 and 25 years old, and almost everyone in the group is
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Metropolitan University, June 26 – 29. Work in progress.
younger than 30. This means that 85% of the respondents were born between 1981 and
1992.
1.2.2. Interviews
Secondly I wished to use the open-ended questions to get answers about favourite films.
Through these answers I set up interviews in five focus groups about the most watched
and loved films among the spectators in this group of young adults. Related to my main
interest in my research question about moments of narrative impact, I finally selected
individuals to interview about their favourite film, asking them about especially
important scenes in the movie, 10 interviews in all. Each respondent outlined their views
on two or three selected scenes that touched and moved them most profoundly in the
movie, talking about how and in what ways.
1.3. Theory
The reported impact of specific movies is analyzed through recent film theory and case
studies. The examples of viewers being moved by movies are analyzed first through film
theories oriented towards cognitive (Grodal 1997, Caroll 1999, Plantinga 2011) where
cognition and emotion are important aspects in the spectators’ relationship with a film
and where narration is dealt with through a combination of affective and cognitive
processes. I am especially interested in theories of meaning-making where viewers’
detailed micro-meaning in specific scenes are embedded in high-level meaning-making
where world view issues and moral frameworks are activated (Andersson & Andersson
2005, Frampton 2006, Avila 2007, Plantinga 2009, Axelson 2011).
I will also discuss my results in relation to a growing body of empirical oriented research
in film studies where an increasing interest is expressed about what actually happens
with and within flesh and blood spectator’s exposed to filmic narratives (Jerslev 2006,
Klinger 2008, Suckfüll 2010, Oliver & Hartmann 2010).
1.3.1. Individualization
These analyses of audience responses and condensed moments of narrative impact are
put in the context of ‘the subjective turn’ in the sociology of religion as well as in the
context of changing conditions for the reflexive self in late modernity characterized by
individualization (Baumann 2001, Lynch 2007). Linked to this process is the
understanding of late modernity, forcing individuals into a heightened level of selfreflexive processes (Giddens 1991) as well as the ways in which film viewing can elicit
self-transformation processes through cinematic narratives (McAdams 1993, Axelson 2011,
Bruun Vaage 2009, Plantinga 2009). Also theoretical aspects of mediatization theory will be
addressed (Hjarvard 2008, 2012, Lundby 2009, Pedersen 2012).
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1.3.2. Sujet and fabula
A theoretical point of departure are the notions used in film studies to distinguish between
‘sujet’ and ‘fabula’. This distinction highlights the hugely important recognition that
spectators actively make meaning. We, as viewers, create the fabula in our minds, fleshing
out the plot to form the full story on the basis of cues in the sujet (Bordwell & Thompson
1997). Bordwell (1985) states that organized clusters of knowledge guide our hypothesis
making in film viewing, based on cues of sound, light, editing, camera angles and so forth in
the sujet. The total fable is constructed through the basis of different cognitive maps where
the film’s sujet and style interact in the course of cueing and channeling the spectator’s
construction of the fabula (Bordwell 1985). The viewer’s everyday life works as a cognitive
background for inferences and the construction of the fabula (Persson 2000). This does not
come out of the blue, but relies on a wide range of basic assumptions and personal
knowledge. “As an active perceiver, the spectator is constantly testing the work for a larger
significance, for what it says or suggests” (Bordwell & Thompson 1997: 73).
There is though an interesting tension in how one understands the fabula concept whether
you approach the fabula concepts from a story-tellers point of view or from a viewers' point
of view. The maker of the plot has to have an idea of a certain fabula – the story to be told,
and then pick a presented line up of bits and pieces to the screen – the sujet. The sujet is in
other words the visible and audible events that occur during the film as seen and heard by
the viewer (Coëgnart & Kravanja 2012: 87). Thus cueing the viewer in certain ways enabling
the viewer to construct an intelligible and interesting story. A skillful storyteller finds the
right balance between showing enough detailed events on the screen and leaving enough
space empty as gaps to be filled by the spectator, relying on the competence of the spectator
to create the wished for story.
1.3.3. The spectator – an unpredictable creature
A huge body of literature within film studies argues about the ideal and hypothetical
‘spectator’ and how he or she (re)constructs the fabula. In later years a growing body of
empirical case studies has emerged entering in to the discussion (Jerslev 2006, Klinger 2008,
Axelson 2008, Suckfüll 2010, Oliver & Hartmann 2010). The theoretical based discussions
about the construction of the fabula (Bordwell & Thompson 1997, Coëgnart & Kravanja 2012)
do not capture the unexpectedly wide range of meaning-making processes that unfolds
when scholars ask flesh-and-blood spectators about how they actually construct their fabula.
What has been underestimated in previous research on narrative impact is what I refer to as
thick viewing adding more profound and personal world-view concepts into the equation, a
concept which creates a broader range of included mental processes, from basic emotions to
high cognition, including normative critical views on culture and society.
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Figure 1. A schematic figure of meaning-making processes while watching films, underlining the
combination of affect and cognition as well as a combination of intra-text and extra-text critique.
Internal Critique:
The narrative – intra text
SUJET=
Input
Film Viewer’s
Meaning
Making
Processes
FABULA =
Construction
of meaning
External Critique:
Reference to reality – extra-text:
Testing for a larger significance –
‘idiosyncrasy’ & ‘thick viewing’
Conflicts and dreams in life
Self-image negotiations
EMOTIONS =
Moral ideas about society and
development in the world
AFFECTS + COGNITIONS
Spiritual reflection
AFFECTIVE COMPONENTS:
COGNITIVE COMPONENTS:
SENSUOUS
AROUSALS
MOODS
EVALUATIONS
INFERENCES
JUDGEMENTS
What I argue for in this article is that human beings as skilled consumers of symbols and
metaphors are surprisingly complex creatures and when we enjoy symbolic artifacts such as
entertainment films, we often do this in highly creative, idiosyncratic and unpredictable
ways. My purpose is to empirically illustrate this theoretical claim. I will do this by
emphasizing an ongoing fusion of affects and cognitions interpreting spectators’ when
deeply moved by a movie scene and when they experience a heightened impact from a
narrative. I label this specific state of mind, emotional condensation.
1.3.4. ‘Suture’ and emotional condensation
Within film theory a concept has developed to capture the process when a filmic narrative
manages to glue the viewer to the screen, “based on the conflation of two looks, that of the
camera and that of the spectator” (Elsaessar & Hagener 2010: 89) and which results in suture.
It has an effect “that ‘stiches’ the viewing subject into the film” where the viewer sticks to the
filmic flow, identifying with its dominant look (Elsaesser & Hagener 2010: 90). It is originally
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Tomas Axelson [email protected] – Paper at International Conference on Narrative 2013, Manchester
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a term to mark the force or strength of classical continuity editing as the cinematic narrative
technique that creates the very glue that makes the viewer absorbed by the filmic flow.
Despite editing and rupture in cinematic storytelling in the creation of the sujet, something in
these processes seems to facilitate strong attachment and not disengagement. “What may
seem like a fragile bridge actually turns out to be an especially tight bond” (Elsaesser &
Hagener 2010: 90). An understanding of narration and its capacity to capture the viewer has
dealt with psychological and psychoanalytical perspectives for a long time in screen theory. I
will not enter into this contested ground between earlier screen theory heavily dependent on
psychoanalysis (Metz, Lacan, Mulvey) and the later developments of cognitivists (Bordwell
1985, Branigan 1992, Plantinga 2009). At this stage I only want to reinforce the argument that
there are benefits in being interested in what is going in the mind of the viewer, and in this
position I do it more in line with Carl Plantingas folk psychological model than with a
psychoanalytical approach.
My aim is to show the continuous fusion of affect and cognition when the viewer
experiences what I label condensed moments of narrative impact where narrative sequences
and clips are processed in the viewer’s interpretations of highly emotionally charged scenes
This is done through a powerful combination of affect and cognition, creating emotions in
Noël Carroll’s understanding when he defines emotions as affect including cognitive elements
(1999: 21). This is a definition I willingly adopt in my research, underlining the aspect that
emotions include some kind of content. Emotions deal with something with an interpretative
cognitive component as part of the process (c.f. Plantinga 2009: 5p). As philosopher Mitch
Avila says: “Without the belief it is just a feeling, not an emotion” (2007: 223).
This is more or less a standard view of emotions developed within the cognitive theory of
emotions. It gives an important place to the function of emotions and the mental activity
which is called intentionality, directed towards the world, involving concepts and cognition,
where things in the world, real or imagined, are emotionally evaluated (Avila 2007: 222).
2. Condensed moments of narrative impact
When profound meaning-making takes place, through condensed moments of scopophilic
enchantments accompanied by intense interpretation, I find this mix of affects and cognitions
at hand, creating emotionally anchored perspectives. The viewer seems to engage in several
different ways while enjoying movies.
A fruitful contribution to describe the different aspects of emotional engagement is proposed
by Danish film scholar Anne Jerslev. She differentiates between various dimensions of
emotional enjoyment that she puts together in a model. The main differentiation is between
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enjoyment of what is going on in the story – the fictional universe – and the handicraft of the
creation – the making of the fictional universe. For the spectator these two emotional
processes A + B are intertwined as Anne Jerslev shows in her study on individuals immersed
in the Lord of the Ring trilogy.
Figure 2. A model differentiating between a viewer’s various emotions while enjoying movies.
’The fictional universe’
A1: narrative
A2: mise-en-scène
empathetic
non-empathetic
A: FICTION EMOTIONS
‘The making of the fictional universe’
mostly non-empathetic
B: ARTEFACT EMOTIONS
Source: Anne Jerslev (2006) “Sacred Viewing: Emotional Responses to The Lord of the Rings. I Mathijs,
Ernest (red.) The Lord of the Rings: popular culture in global context. London: Wallflower
For my purpose the enjoyment in the narrative is in the foreground, as is the specific
engagement which relates to empathy and emotional engagement with characters’ success
and misfortunes. These empathetic emotions in the narrative itself, A1, should not be mixed
with emotions related to the fictional universe more oriented towards mise-en-scène, A2,
which are more non-empathetic and could best be explained through an example where
someone is taken away by the realistic visual and audio representation of the fantasy world
in Avatar as is the case with my respondent ‘Alexander’ below.
What I argue for in this article is to keep an eye on the emotional engagement which relates
to the narrative itself and the specific empathetic emotions within the narrative where
spectator’s evaluate the protagonists moral behavior against the background of the
spectator’s own worldview and deeply fostered ideas of what is important in life, which
could also be described as a seamless movement between intra-text evaluations and extratext evaluation in Figure 1, where emotional engagement with characters intra-text has
consequences for emotional charged and cognitively anchored assessment for real life – extra
text (Seixas 1993: 355).
From empirical examples in my interviews with respondents I argue that this includes ‘high
cognition’ where the viewer relates to the protagonist partly due to a moral judgment and an
ongoing evaluation of virtuous and less virtuous behavior on behalf of main characters.
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2.1. Passionate viewers – two examples
Let’s take a look on two passionate viewers and how they relate to a “special” film, which in
various ways has accompanied them in life, helping them to struggle with their conflicts and
important ideas.
2.1.1. ‘Felicia’ and Pulp Fiction (1994) – “Life is brutal – and fun”.
Felicia was one of many that mentioned Pulp Fiction as a favorite film, and which she has
watched it now and then repeatedly during life. When she watched the film during her mid
twenties she immediately identified with Uma Thurman’s character.
Uma Thurman. Uma is strong, sexy and beautiful. And being out partying. Not that I
was doing drugs but much of the partying and flirting, walking on the wild side. It was
awesome in many ways. And ... her way of dancing (Felicia's 1).2
Felicia was 25 years old and watched this movie that exactly captured her mood at the
moment. Being a young woman, searching for meaning and direction, she was attracted to
the film and Felicia mention the atmosphere of absurdity in the movie which corresponded
to her own experience of life as quite chaotic.
When I was 25 I had this good feeling for the movie because… there are more people
having chaotic lives. ‘Wow, could life be like this?’. It makes you feel less lonely on the
planet to see things that many others seem to have experienced. You share something
(Felicia s 22).3
Felicia believes that real life is hard many times. Life brings losses and misfortunes that can
take you down and you get a dark look on life. But at the same time it is fun. Felicia
appreciates the raw and humoristic violence in Pulp Fiction which says something important
about life as she perceives it. “You have to have this bizarre … you are allowed to laugh at the
misery” (Felicia s 23). 4
At the same time she is also very sensitive to the moral codes brought forth by the characters
in the film Pulp Fiction. Asked about the most significant scene in the whole movie, she
chooses the scene where the protagonist Butch (Bruce Willis) is about to leave the shop
where he and Marcellus Wallace have been kidnapped and are held as captives by a couple
2
Original in Swedish: ”Uma Thurman. Uma är stark, men också sexig och snygg. Att liksom vara ute i svängen.
Inte för att jag höll på med droger men festa mycket och flirta mycket liksom. Och ja, leva så här vilt liksom. Det
var häftigt på nåt vis. Och …hennes sätt att dansa” (Felicia: s 1).
3 Original in Swedish: ”I 25-årsålder fick jag en ganska skön känsla av den för att… det finns fler som har
kaotiska liv. ’Oj, kan livet se ut så här?’. Det kan ju minska ens ensamhet på jorden av att se saker som man
känner att man är fler som har upplevt. Man delar nånting”. (Felicia s 22).
4
Orignial in Swedish: “Man måste ha den här bisarra… att få skratta åt eländet på nåt vis” (Felicia s 23).
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of male rapists. He has the chance to get free but at the doorstep he cannot just go out on the
street and leave the place. He hesitates.
Scene 01:38:18 You can see his consciousness sort of … it’s just when he opens the door…he is about to
leave…not going to stay. But he happens to hear…and then you see how they are
zooming in on his face. He is about to leave, but changes his mind. And you kind of see
a wrinkle between his eyes. And then …”No, this ain’t right”… sort of. “How the fuck
should I do, just get the hell out of here?”…you know. “Fuck no, I’m gonna give them
bastards!” You can see how he thinks! And then …”Hell no, I’ll beat the shit out of
them!”.5 (Felicia p 18).
These seconds are very important for Felicia’s engagement for the character Butch. Because
this decision makes her like him much more. She wants him to help Marcellus. And doing
this Butch shows her that he is more than simply a killer, which he obviously is capable of
being. But in Felicia’s mind he lives in a moral universe after all.
We all live in a universe, we live in different worlds. And you may think this world is
brutal and ruthless world. But if you only see that, you don’t see these small moments
of moral acts… and that there is humility and sensitivity as well. (Felicia p 20).
Felicia thinks that you actually find a moral code in Pulp Fiction. She conducts a moral
assessment of this very violent setting of the film. “In their world it is somewhat okay to fight and
kill. But doing that [the raping in the basement] is their moral line. You don’t do that (Felicia p 17).
These seconds while zooming in on the facial expression of Butch is one example of a
condensed moment of narrative impact which in Felicia’s viewing process is filled with
affects, evaluating emotions and high-order cognitive activities. There is affect on a basic
level, together with Felicia’s moral assessment and her belief system activated by the scene
creating complex interpretation.
There are things that are worse than death, sort of… which he [Butch] does not accept.
These things are not right (Felicia p 19).
5
Original in Swedish: ”Man ser hans samvete liksom… det är precis när han öppnar…han är ju på väg att gå…
har inte tänkt att stanna. Men sen råkar han höra… och sen så ser man ju hur dom zoomar in på hans ansikte.
Nu är han på väg att gå, men så ändrar han sig liksom. Och så ser man hur han rynkar pannan liksom.
Och…”Det känns inte rätt det här”, liksom. ”Nej, hur fan ska jag göra. Ska jag verkligen dra”, så där. ”Nej, jag
ska ge dom jävlarna!”. Man ser ju han tänker! Och sen bara ”Nej fy fan, nu ska dom få!”(Felicia p 18).
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Butch is jeopardizing his own safety at this moment going back trying to save his former
enemy, according to Felicia. The easy way out would be to just walk away from the shop.
“He takes the risk because he has a consciousness. He cannot let it go. It doesn’t feel right (Felicia p
19).
This is part of the fiction emotions within the narrative where the actions of protagonists
create moral engagement and empathetic emotions; A1, in the model above.
Included in the rescuing scene is also a moment in which Felicia expresses an appreciation
on the mise-en-scene with another kind of fictional emotion; A2: mise-en-scène, in the model
above.
Scene 01:40:29. Butch pushes a sword in rapist stomache while music stops
Felicia looks at the scene as if like a dance. She enjoys the way the film is made as a flow with
a combination of music and movement. It is like poetry in her eyes. Here I also find a
glimpse of emotions related to the making of the fiction; B: artifact emotions. I argue that
these expressions from Felicia’s point of view supports the idea that there is a seamless
movement between viewers evaluation of the aesthetics qualities of the narrative – intra text
– combined with fiction emotions related to empathetic engagement in the narrative closely
intertwined with an evaluation of its reference to real life moral issues – extra text.
Summary
The overall message in Pulp Fiction creating resonance in Felicia’s’ personal world view is
that the film helps her cope with life as brutal as well as fun. The film does that through a
strong female character, Mia Wallace (Uma Thurman), much like herself when she was in
her mid twenties, a partying girl in the middle of life’s turmoil, more or less chaotic, a young
woman in search for enjoyment and direction. Pulp Fiction seemed to help Felicia dealing
with a personal conflict in a process of searching for orientation in life during a sensitive
phase when she was 25 years old, which involves idiosyncratic responses on a personal level
as well as high cognition where Felicia’s personal beliefs system and moral world view is
deeply embedded in the enjoyment of the film, especially apparent in the key scene of her
choice above. A moment of emotional condensation and narrative impact where affects,
cognitions and emotional evaluations are blended.
2.1.2. “Alexander” and Avatar (2009) – “Living in spiritual and ecological
harmony”.
Alexander is a man 27 years old and one of many which was awestruck by James Camerons
Avatar when it was released in 2009. Some of the participants in the questionnaire claim they
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have seen the film Avatar 30 times or more. Alexander has a more modest rate of viewing the
film but he saw it at least five times. He went to the cinema and watched it with some friends
when it was released and the film immediately touched him very deeply. In fact he was so
moved by the story that he felt ashamed to admit it to his friends who dismissed the film as a
rather crappy Pocahontas rip-off. It was not so much for him to say really since they judged
it as silly and not creditable of any enthusiasm and he kept quiet about his experience.
But the film was some kind of awakening for Alexander and it sparked him into thinking
about themes in life that he dwelled upon when he was much younger, the wish to live close
to nature, the wish to be close to animals. He was profoundly inspired after the first
screening. He tries to describe for me what it was.
I don’t know. The film puts the finger on something in me I really can’t describe in words.
Only that… the whole world and the aesthetics is… kind of … picked directly out of
mind. In a way (Alexander p 6).6
Alexander explains for me that the film is “a sort of dream about a higher and more dignified life”
(Alexander p 1).7 Alexander also appreciates the expression of a critique of contemporary
society and the ongoing development of the world, where society today according to
Alexander has lost a connection with nature and down-to-earth contact with plain life.
The key scene in the film was not difficult for Alexander to choose. Every time he views this
sequence he shivers. It is the scene where Jake manages to harness the great red dragon and
becomes the dragon rider ‘Toruk Makto’. As the dragon rider he returns to the Na’vi group
with immense respect and prestige.
Scene 01:50:56 - Jake returns as ‘Toruk Makto’
Alexander thinks the scene is both spectacular and intimate, filled with mixed feelings
among the Na’vi which he perceives as an ambivalence between despair and hope when
they see Jake coming as the Rider of the Last Shadow.
When he is about to land and the Na’vis back away and they don’t know if they should
run away or cover or…”What’s happening?”. There is such a beautiful ambivalence
between fragility and enchantment. They are on the brink of break down and annihilation
6
Original in Swedish: ”Jag vet inte, filmen sätter fingret på nånting i mig som jag inte riktigt kan beskriva med
ord. Bara hela …den här världen och estetiken är… liksom… plockad rakt ur huvet på mig. På nåt sätt”
(Alexander p 4).
7
Original in Swedish: ”En slags dröm om ett högre och värdigare liv” (Alexander p 1).
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Tomas Axelson [email protected] – Paper at International Conference on Narrative 2013, Manchester
Metropolitan University, June 26 – 29. Work in progress.
and here he comes and they really don’t know if this is the end or… their salvation. It’s
very powerful for me. (Alexander p 16).8
Alexander identifies explicitly with the protagonist Jake and his journey trying to become a
member of the Na’vi community. And he enjoys Jakes journey coming closer and closer to
the Na’vi, looking to become one of them. “It’s so beautiful to flow with the film while the story
unfolds. I just feel myself into this world. Extremely fascinating. And this great sense of community
and belonging to the tribe” (Alexander p 5).9 This aspect of identification with the journey of
Jake is actually a philosophical issue for Alexander which he ponders upon in our interview.
He believes that everything is connected with everything else. Everything functions together
in cosmos, an almost as it is depicted in Avatar.
And it’s a bloody beautiful idea to meditate upon everything being connected and that
everything is interdependent on everything functioning together. And at the same time,
we as humans have drawn a line between us and everything that is tied together.
(Alexander p 7-8).10
Alexander talks about the existential condition that makes us ‘detached’ from the rest of
nature and his wish in life to transcend this condition, “to overcome this detachment and unite
with the total wholeness, or perhaps accept oneself as a part of everything”11 When Neytiri explains
how the universe works through the cosmic energy called Eywa, Alexander listens
attentively to what she says in the film. “She indicates that there is some kind of consciousness…a
planetary consciousness or what to call it. And that Nature itself is a conscious force, like a… deity”
(Alexander p 10-11). 12
This is a fascinating moment in the interview when Alexander is struggling to find the right
words for his thoughts. He was not brought up within a Christian family nor acquainted
8
Original in Swedish: ”Just när han kommer där från himlen och landar och Na’vi-folket kryper ihop, backar och
vet inte om dom ska springa därifrån eller om dom ska …eller vad som händer. Men det är sån
himla…ambivalens mellan skörhet och förtjusning…på nåt sätt. Dom är på gränsen att bryta ihop och förintas
och så kommer han och dom vet inte om det där är …det sista slaget i kistan, sista spiken i kistan, eller om det
är deras räddning. Det blir väldigt starkt för mig” (Alexander p 16).
9
Original in Swedish: ”Det är skönt med filmen att bara följa med, att flyta med i den här historien. Jag bara
känner mig in i den här världen. Otroligt fascinerande. Och så den här enormt starka gemenskapen som dom
har i den här klanen”(Alexander p 5)
10
Original in Swedish: “Och det är jäkligt vackert att tänka på att allting verkligen sitter ihop och fungerar ihop
och är beroende av att allting fungerar ihop. Samtidigt som vi människor har dragit en linje mellan oss och allt
det här som sitter ihop” (Alexander p 7-8).
11
Original in Swedish: ”Att övervinna den här… ’detachment’ … och bli ett med helheten. Eller kanske acceptera
sig själv som en del av allting” (Alexander p 17).
12
Original in Swedish: ”Hon antyder att det ska finnas något slags medvetande…som är planetariskt
medvetande eller vad man ska kalla det. Och att, ja, naturen är en medveten kraft. Som en … gudomlighet”
(Alexander p 10-11).
13
Tomas Axelson [email protected] – Paper at International Conference on Narrative 2013, Manchester
Metropolitan University, June 26 – 29. Work in progress.
with alternative forms of spirituality among friends. He thought a lot during childhood, he
says, and these ideas are not anything he would share with his family or ordinary friends.
He is eager to find an adequate description what he personally believes in and this becomes
especially poignant talking about the force that pervades the universe according to the Na’vi
woman in the film. Alexander spins around this idea and how he perceives it.
But it is a physical, biological deity … if I believe there is such a deity. Yes. All of
nature itself is something big altogether (Alexander p 11). 13
Scene 01:53:55 - Grace passes through the eye of Eywa.
The scene immediately following the Toruk Makto-landing is also highly significant for
Alexander when the Na’vi queen and priestess Mo’at tries to help Grace pass through the
eye of Eywa. The pulse and the energy displayed in the group are marvelous, according to
him. Grace was too weak though and failed eventually. Instead Jake finally succeeded in
going through the whole process at the end of the movie. “He is about to be reborn and become
the avatar for real, leaving his body, through Eywa, and into his avatar body” (Alexander p 17).14
At the end of the interview he concludes that this idea expressed in Avatar is actually what
he is longing for in real life. “He has reached it and has become one with the whole. Reached exactly
what I wish to reach (Alexander p 17).15
Summary
The overall impact of the narrative for Alexander can be summoned up in a sentence where
he articulates a conclusion filled with philosophical and emotionally charged personal
meaning for him. The films aesthetics combined with a narrative essence are filled with a
beautiful message according to Alexander: “Just the possibility to understand that you are not the
centre of the universe but… a part of everything and…that everyone else…and everything else … is a
part of yourself” (Alexander p 17). 16 The experience of Avatar points in some different
directions. Partly it articulates for Alexander a critique of society and the ongoing
development in the world but most of all it fuels a powerful vision with a great portion of
euphoria and utopian affect for Alexander and which could best be described as a spiritual
dream of a non-detached life in a close relationship with nature.
13
Original in Swedish: ”Fast det är en fysiskt biologisk gudomlighet…om det för mig finns nån slags
gudomlighet så är det en sån gudomlighet….ja, hela naturen tillsammans är …nånting stort” (Alexander p 11).
14
Original in Swedish: ”Han ska födas på nytt och bli avataren på riktigt och går igenom från sin kropp, genom
Eywa och till sin avatarkropp” (Alexander p 17).
15
Original in Swedish: ”Då har han nått fram till det här och blivit ett med helheten. Uppnått precis det här som
jag skulle vilja uppnå” (Alexander p 17).
16
Original in Swedish: ”Bara möjligheten att förstå att man inte är universums centrum utan … en del av allt
och… alla andra… allt annat… är en del av en själv “ (Alexander p 17).
14
Tomas Axelson [email protected] – Paper at International Conference on Narrative 2013, Manchester
Metropolitan University, June 26 – 29. Work in progress.
3. Discussion
3.1. Suture and suspension of critical reflection?
Examples of adopting suture-theory and film experiences can be found among scholars in
psychiatry and behavioral science for a better understanding of the captive nature of film
watching related to an altered state of consciousness on behalf of the viewers. Stam,
Burgoyne and Flitterman-Lewis put forward the idea that the cinematic situation as a whole
facilitates this situation.
The darkened theater, the illuminated large screen, and the placement of the
projector behind the viewer, combined with technical equipment (cameras, lights,
etc.), cinematic devices (creating of the illusion of reality), and the viewer’s
unconscious/conscious projections and processes are all part of the cinematic
apparatus employed to produce a “dream state” in the viewer (In Lisa D. Butler &
Oxana Palesh 2004: 65).
They analyze the cinematic situation with the help of the concept suture but argue that it
brings about a suspension of critical reflection. “When suturing is successful, viewers lose
awareness of their surroundings and perceive the events on the screen as life-like” and the
suspension of critical reflection and judgment are necessary preconditions to pleasurable
film viewing (Butler & Palesh 2004: 65). They discuss similarities between the altered state of
consciousness while watching a riveting film with other everyday life activities such as
daydreaming, imaginative engagement, meditation, and formal hypnosis that involves
absorption.
I want to challenge the claim they make that the viewer has to suspend higher order
reflective cognitive structures in order to experience suture – on the contrary.
3.2. Affects-cognitions-emotions-condensation
What I find in my empirical examples I interpret as the opposite, when affects and cognitions
are intimately tied together in an enchanted and emotional evaluation of the narrative. The
spectator’s response is related to the narration at its highest levels as well as engaging the
spectator’s own highest levels of mental activity, all anchored in the sensual-emotional
apparatus.
In the short term, the function of emotion and affect is to make film viewing
powerful, rather than merely an intellectual exercise. In the long term, such
experiences may burn themselves into the memories of audiences and may
become templates for thinking and behavior (Plantinga 2009: 6).
15
Tomas Axelson [email protected] – Paper at International Conference on Narrative 2013, Manchester
Metropolitan University, June 26 – 29. Work in progress.
I agree with Plantinga and a growing number of empirical case studies support a conclusion
that both thinking and behavior are affected by film watching (Marsh 2007, Axelson 2008,
Barker 2009, Sückfull 2010, Oliver & Hartmann 2010, Lövheim & Bromander 2012, Dahl 2013,
and Axelson forthcoming).
I believe my two respondents respectively articulate and exemplify these processes. In
certain film moments of emotional condensation, as spectators, they are absorbed by the
narrative – intra text. Simultaneously they are deeply engaged in extra-text references,
testing the narrative for a larger significance, in profoundly idiosyncratic and personal ways,
dealing with their own specific conflicts and aspirations in life, also displaying a normative
critical approach to contemporary culture and development in the world. As philosopher
Mitch Avila puts it. “Primary, basic emotional responses are given interpretative content by
higher-order cognitive processes that follow temporally” (Avila 2007: 234). When this kind of
multilayered mix of affects and cognitions takes place, identified as viewer’s expressions of
emotional condensation appreciating key scenes in significant movie experiences, I believe
we could interpret this as some kind of “deepening gaze” (Johnston 2007: 307).
Cinematic narratives, abundantly available in modern media society, embedded in everyday
life provides audiences with stories with a potential for normative criticism as well as
dreams about life and the world as it could be.
3.3. Mediatized meaning making – abandon the ‘banal’ notion
Alongside individualization and globalization the theory of mediatization is one of the metaprocesses shaping modernity (Lundby 2009, Hjarvard & Lövheim 2012). Stig Hjarvard,
professor of Film and Media Studies in Copenhagen, outlined in 2008 a theoretical
framework which has attracted interest from a wide range of scholar in recent years. In his
theoretical framework he looks at the logic of media and popular culture trying to find the
principles which creates conditions for religious change.
As a language the media mould religious imagination in accordance with the
genres of popular culture, and as cultural environments the media have taken
over many of the social functions of the institutionalized religions, providing
moral and spiritual guidance and a sense of community (Hjarvard 2008: 9).
Hjarvard has contributed with a fruitful theory which in crucial ways distinguish between
‘mediation’ and ‘mediatization’. The former relates to the concrete act of communication
through a medium while the latter tries to grasp the long-term process “whereby social and
cultural institutions and modes of interaction are changed as a consequence of the growth of
the media’s influence” (Hjarvard 2012: 26). Media as conduits, languages and environments
change societal institutions in a process which shapes contemporary society both on an
16
Tomas Axelson [email protected] – Paper at International Conference on Narrative 2013, Manchester
Metropolitan University, June 26 – 29. Work in progress.
institutional macro and individual micro level. Hjarvard’s framework is convincing in its
broad perspectives grasping mediatization as a meta-process in society and it has been
recognized for good reasons as useful tool for understanding a media-saturated society
creating new playing rules for different societal institutions such as politics and religion.
The theoretical framework has one important flaw which diminishes its value when
mediatization theory is adopted, trying to analyze meaning making processes among
individuals in society consuming popular culture. “As conduits of communication, the
media have become the primary source of religious ideas, in particular in the form of ‘banal
religion’” (Hjarvard 2008: 9).
My conclusion after being into animated scholarly discussion and conceptual
(mis)understandings on conferences and seminars, I think the theoretical framework
outlined by Hjarvard has in my view one important flaw which diminish its value when
mediatization theory is adopted trying to analyze meaning making processes among
individuals in society consuming popular culture. “As conduits of communication, the
media have become the primary source of religious ideas, in particular in the form of ‘banal
religion’” (Hjarvard 2008: 9).
Hjarvard tries to save the concept from being associated with heavy pejorative connotations.
It is important to stress that banal religion is not a pejorative term suggesting a
lack of religious importance or seriousness compared to for instance
institutionalized forms of religion (Hjarvard 2012: 36).
But I think he fails on this minor but important point. I argue that the ‘banal’ notion should
be abandoned in mediatization theory and be replaced with a notion much less charged with
negative associations.17
3.4. Vernacular meaning making in everyday life
The use of the notion ‘banal’ as an analytical concept also makes empirical research less valid
in my eyes. Instead of sticking to the ‘banal’ notion included in the mediatization theoretical
framework I am convinced that another concept, far less pejorative should give a more
nuanced and adequate description of the complex interplay between cognitions and
emotions among passionate viewers such as Felicia and Alexander in my case study. I argue
that these experiences of meaning-making through narratives in media should be better
analyzed avoiding labeling them as banal, indicating something predictable, trivial, trite or
17
A search for synonyms gives the following: trite, prosaic, dull, boring, predictable, hackneyed, clichéd, trivial,
facile, commonplace, ordinary.
17
Tomas Axelson [email protected] – Paper at International Conference on Narrative 2013, Manchester
Metropolitan University, June 26 – 29. Work in progress.
even dull and boring. Instead I want to call this processes vernacular meaning making
indicating that this kind of meaning making takes place in everyday life, commonplace.
With the help of mediatization theoretical framework it is rewarding trying to grasp the
developments and the meta-processes shaping modernity, especially on a macro-level. But
trying to understand what is taking place when media as environment provides moral
orientation on a micro-level is less productive. With the help of my empirical examples,
Felicia and Alexander, I stress the idiosyncratic character of meaning-making in response to
narratives which generates philosophical and existential world-view orientation. This is done
in a creative and unpredictable ways.
In this article I have tried to understand these processes on a micro level with an altogether
different range of concepts when trying to interpret individual’s construction of meaning.
Our media society with its all encompassing presence of media and media logic provides
audiences with innumerable narratives available through all kind of screening windows.
New ways to measure everyday viewing habits show that almost one fifth of the population
in Sweden watch a movie every day. In the age group of my respondents above even more,
23% of the population between 25 and 44 watch a feature film in an average day
(Mediebarometern 2013: 70).
3.5. Conclusion
My research is oriented to passionate viewing when entertainment consumption results in
intensified emotional states of mind and for which I try to find proper concepts as analytical
tools. Within the literature dealing with film and more profound meaning making there are a
several profitable concepts suggested to embrace the complex interplay between affects,
cognition and emotions, when individuals respond to fictional narratives and experience
what I call condensed moments of narrative impact. Robert K. Johnston talks about
“deepening gaze” (2007: 307) and “transformative viewing” (2007: 305). Philosopher Mitch
Avila uses “high cognition” (2007: 228) and Craig Detweiler “thick description” (2007: 47).
Detweilers’ choice could also be a logic next step for my study in order to develop a concept
for understanding the construction of meaning, inspired by anthropologist Clifford Geertz
and his well spread idea claiming a need for thick description understanding cultures (1973).
As a result of this investigation in a search for an apt concept useful for understanding
examples of profound and intensified emotional interpretation of specific moments in fiction
film, inspired by Geertz and Detweiler, I advocate thick viewing.
18
Tomas Axelson [email protected] – Paper at International Conference on Narrative 2013, Manchester
Metropolitan University, June 26 – 29. Work in progress.
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