The Eisenstein-Vygotsky-Luria Collaboration

Abstract

This article analyzes the unique historical collaboration between the revolutionary Russian film director Sergei Eisenstein (1898–1948), the cultural psychologist Lev Vygotsky (1896–1934), and the founder of contemporary neuropsychology, Alexander Luria (1902–1977). Vygotsky’s legacy is associated primarily with the idea that cultural mediation plays a crucial role in the emergence and development of personality and cognition. His collaborator, Luria, laid the foundations of contemporary neuropsychology and demonstrated that cultural mediation also changes the functional architecture of the brain. In my analysis, I demonstrate how the Eisenstein-Vygotsky-Luria collaboration exemplifies a strategy of productive triangulation that harnesses three disciplinary perspectives: those of cultural psychology, neuropsychology, and film theory and practice.

Humanism or transhumanism? Scissions of thought and the technological drift of science, a crisis for psychology ( ¿Humanismo o transhumanismo? Las escisiones del pensamiento y la deriva tecnológica de la ciencia, una crisis para la psicología )

“…Everything appears to indicate that when cultures and individuals, whether involuntarily or informally, or through planned developmental programmes, follow different cultural developmental trajectories, they also face an evolutionary disjunctive for their cerebral and hemispheric development. In relation to this same type of processes, it is interesting to recall that the filmmaker Eisenstein proposed (Eisenstein, 2002, 2008; Vassilieva, 2006) to provoke synaesthetic experiences , which could externally reinforce sensory thinking and take the viewer back to earlier evolutionary moments (Vassilieva, 2017, 2019). A proposal probably linked to the joint work Eisenstein was doing with Alexander Luria and Lev Vygotsky on the holistic mind:[…] doomed to enter the reality of sensuous thought, where he will lose the distinction between subjective and objective, where his capacity to perceive the whole through its part will be heightened ( pars pro toto ), where colors will be singing and where sounds will acquire shape (synesthesia), where the word will compel him to react as if the event described by this word did happen in reality (hypnosis) (S. Eisenstein, Papers in the Russian Government Archive of Literature and Art (RGALI), 1923, pp.…”

“…Everything appears to indicate that when cultures and individuals, whether involuntarily or informally, or through planned developmental programmes, follow different cultural developmental trajectories, they also face an evolutionary disjunctive for their cerebral and hemispheric development. In relation to this same type of processes, it is interesting to recall that the filmmaker Eisenstein proposed (Eisenstein, 2002(Eisenstein, , 2008Vassilieva, 2006) to provoke synaesthetic experiences, which could externally reinforce sensory thinking and take the viewer back to earlier evolutionary moments (Vassilieva, 2017(Vassilieva, , 2019. A proposal probably linked to the joint work Eisenstein was doing with Alexander Luria and Lev Vygotsky on the holistic mind:…”

“…Todo apunta a que, cuando las culturas y las personas, ya sea involuntaria o informalmente o ya sea mediante programas planificados de desarrollo, cursan distintas trayectorias culturales de desarrollo, se enfrentan también a una disyuntiva evolutiva para su desarrollo cerebral y hemisférico. En relación con este mismo tipo de procesos tiene interés recordar que el cineasta Eisenstein proponía (Eisenstein, 2002(Eisenstein, , 2008Vassilieva, 2006) provocar experiencias sinestésicas que pudieran reforzar externamente el pensamiento sensorial, y retrotraer al espectador a momentos evolutivos anteriores (Vassilieva, 2017(Vassilieva, , 2019. Propuesta probablemente vinculada al trabajo conjunto que realizaba Eisenstein con Alexander Luria y con Lev Vygotski sobre la mente holística:…”

“…2-247. Citado en Vassilieva, 2019) Las características de las sinestesias y las imágenes eidéticas apuntan a un rasgo del hemisferio derecho señalado por los especialistas: no integra partes para alcanzar la totalidad, sino que él mismo es integral y sintoniza con lo integral. Lo que revela no lo hace pasar antes por el estado de separación: ni separa ni necesita sintetizar, pues se relaciona siempre directamente con resonancias y totalidades.…”

Cinema e religião: teorias de processos recursivos e de transformações.

“…Fora disto não existem verdadeiras obras de arte (EISENSTEIN, 2002, p.135-136) Eisenstein era um intelectual sofisticado e polivalente, que não só estava bem-informado sobre pesquisas na área da psicologia, antropologia etc., e familiarizado com as teorias de autores como Frazer, Levy-Bruhl e Freud, entre muitos outros. Ele também tinha amizade pessoal e colaborava diretamente com pesquisadores como Luria, Vygotsky e Marr (BULGAKOWA, 2014;VASSILIEVA, 2019). Essas leituras e relações lhe permitiam ter um olhar da história da arte a partir de suas estruturas antropológicas elementares.…”