Experience and Remembering

Abstract

This chapter shows that forms of experience and memory are not mere effects but constitutive processes of histospheres. Accordingly, the first section explores the complex interrelationship between film, body, and memory. It argues that embodied memories make it possible to experience a film’s historical world as a physical reality, and add a bodily experiential dimension to the mise-en-histoire. Building on these considerations, the second section combines them with theories of media-generated memories: Histospheres draw not just on existing embodied memories and conceptions of history, but are actively involved in producing personal experiences with identity-forging potential. The third section examines the workings of reminiscence triggers, whereby filmic figurations link the film’s historical world to the spectator’s embodied memories and produce a kind of déjà vu effect.