Film/History/Experience

Abstract

This chapter describes the interactions and intersections between film experience and historical experience. The first section introduces the phenomenological theories underpinning the notion of film experience and applies them to the historical film. Focusing on concepts of embodied film perception, it discusses the spectator’s impression of making direct contact with a film’s historical world. This imaginary contact with history bears similarities to Frank R. Ankersmit’s theory of historical experience, which is examined in the second section. The interconnections between Ankersmit’s concept and Vivian Sobchack’s phenomenological theory of film experience are considered in greater depth in the third section. The aim is to develop a concept of histospheres in which sensuous and cognitive perceptions are fused into a unified cinematic experience of history.

Piloting film-based intervention on santri’s perception towards striving for academic success: findings from Kampung Santri, Kudus Regency

“…We believe that the choice of historical film in this study compares well with Breyer and Creutz 's (in Greiner, 2021) for several reasons. First, historical films "… have the power to convey other people's experiences to us and allow us to imaginatively relive them, such that by using imagination and empathy we are able, from the perspective of the narrator or characters, to relate to their experience as if we ourselves were having it right now".…”

“…The third principle of the theory asserts that a person will not have the tendency to compare himself with people whose opinions or abilities are extremely divergent from his own's. According to Greiner (2021), the introductory description of a similar process highlights the importance of conscious remembering for the historiographic process. The depiction of santri's financial and academic difficulties; moments where love springs in the preadolescent years; and socio-emotional conflicts such as self-doubt or tense emotions with loved ones; are the historical glue that bonds the audience and the historical narrative in the film.…”

“…According to Meunier (2019), phenomenology lets the spectator find reality internally, in the experience of the subject. In line with this view is Greiner (2021) who suggests that film should not merely be seen as an object of study but as a phenomenology. In a study design where a historical film is the study object, this approach would lend itself especially well for its emphasis on embodied perception and reflexivity.…”