Embodied Visual Meaning: Image Schemas in Film

Abstract

This article examines embodied visual meaning in film, the ways that film makes use of recurring dynamic patterns of our shared bodily interactions with the world (image schemas) to communicate abstract meaning to the viewer. Following the lead of recent discoveries in the field of neuroscience, the article argues that this metaphorical transference of abstract thought by means of image schemas is possible via the activation of embodied mirroring mechanisms in the observer. This empathetic and physical encounter of the viewer with the representational content and form of the work is crucial to the understanding of abstract conceptual thought in film.

Horror Movies and the Cognitive Ecology of Primary Metaphors

“…Ortiz, 2011;Coëgnarts & Kravanja, 2012). In The Gate, vertical camera angles are used repeatedly throughout the movie.…”

With the Pastin Front ofthe Character: Evidence for Spatial-Temporal Metaphors in Cinema

“…Although recent work in cognitive studies clearly puts more emphasis on forms of communication that are not (exclusively) verbal (Coëgnarts & Kravanja, 2012a, 2012bFahlenbrach, 2008;Forceville, 2002Forceville, , 2009Forceville, , 2011Forceville & Jeulink, 2011, Kappelhoff & Müller, 2011Ortiz, 2011Ortiz, , 2014Winter, 2014), there still has been little evidence gathered with regard to the nonverbal manifestations of time metaphors. Finding comparative evidence other than linguistic, however, is essential because it helps to overcome one of the most important criticisms of cognitive linguistic studies on metaphor, namely, the danger of circular-reasoning (Forceville, 2009;Forceville & Jeulink, 2011;Gibbs & Perlman, 2006;Pecher & Van Dantzig, 2011).…”

Cinema and the embodied mind: metaphor and simulation in understanding meaning in films

“…Our previous work (Coëgnarts and Kravanja, 2012, 2014b, 2015b, 2016aCoëgnarts et al, 2016) can be seen as a series of attempts to explore and illustrate this line of reasoning with respect to various target domains of character subjectivity. Two such case-studies (character perception and character emotions) will be presented in the second application part below of this article.…”