
Time, Memory, Consciousness and the Cinema Experience
Revisiting Ideas on Matter and Spirit
Martha Blassnigg(Author)
Rodopi (Publisher)
Published on 1. January 2009
Book
Paperback/Softback
254 pages
978-90-420-2640-7 (ISBN)
Description
In this book cinema spectators are presented as 'observing participants', that is, agents who take part in their own perceptual processes. It takes experience into the centre of its investigation to propose the spectators' active participation. It applies this to understanding cinema, from its outset, as a philosophical dispositif. To this end, the book explores crucial interconnections between the various constituencies that shaped moving image technologies and their reception at the nexus of science, art and popular culture at the end of the 19th century and some of the prevailing concerns about time, movement, memory and consciousness. It discusses in particular the interrelations between the works by the philosopher Henri Bergson, the physiologist Etienne-Jules Marey and the art-historian Aby Warburg's intervention with the Mnemosyne Atlas. Bergson's main themes germane to these concerns are discussed in detail in order to show how, during the perceptual processes, the seemingly contradictory tendencies of the mind - intellect and intuition - can help us understand the so-called 'spiritual' dimension of the emerging cinema from the perspective of the spectators' cognitive engagement. This perspective invites us to include the experiential qualities of mental processes, such as the interaction between affect, thought and action and the interrelation between memory, perception and consciousness in the study of audio-visual media and elsewhere.
Reviews / Votes
"A significant contribution to media philosophy." - Anthony Enns, Dalhousie UniversityMore details
Series
Language
English
Place of publication
Leiden
Netherlands
Publishing group
Brill
Target group
Professional and scholarly
Product notice
Paperback (trade)
Unsewn / adhesive bound
Dimensions
Height: 229 mm
Width: 152 mm
Thickness: 15 mm
Weight
381 gr
ISBN-13
978-90-420-2640-7 (9789042026407)
Copyright in bibliographic data and cover images is held by Nielsen Book Services Limited or by the publishers or by their respective licensors: all rights reserved.
Schweitzer Classification
Content
Introduction
Prologue: Wings of Time: An Associative Prelude
Chapter 1: Henri Bergson's Philosophy as an Interdisciplinary Nexus with Catalytic Impact: Time, Memory, Consciousness and the Relation between 'Spirit' (l'Esprit) and 'Matter' (Matiere)
Chapter 2: The Analysis and Synthesis of Movement in Relation to Time: Revisiting Etienne-Jules Marey's Work in a Virtual Dialogue with the Philosophy of Henri Bergson
Chapter 3: The Subordination of Time to Movement: From the Eye-Brain Model to the Mind-Consciousness Correlate
Chapter 4: The 'Image in Motion' Beyond the 'Cinematographical Tendency' of the Intellect: Dynamism, Intuition and Consciousness in Warburg, Marey and Bergson
Chapter 5: Time, Memory, Consciousness: Resituating the 'Spiritual' Dimension in the Perceptual Processes of the Spectators
Bibliography
Index
Prologue: Wings of Time: An Associative Prelude
Chapter 1: Henri Bergson's Philosophy as an Interdisciplinary Nexus with Catalytic Impact: Time, Memory, Consciousness and the Relation between 'Spirit' (l'Esprit) and 'Matter' (Matiere)
Chapter 2: The Analysis and Synthesis of Movement in Relation to Time: Revisiting Etienne-Jules Marey's Work in a Virtual Dialogue with the Philosophy of Henri Bergson
Chapter 3: The Subordination of Time to Movement: From the Eye-Brain Model to the Mind-Consciousness Correlate
Chapter 4: The 'Image in Motion' Beyond the 'Cinematographical Tendency' of the Intellect: Dynamism, Intuition and Consciousness in Warburg, Marey and Bergson
Chapter 5: Time, Memory, Consciousness: Resituating the 'Spiritual' Dimension in the Perceptual Processes of the Spectators
Bibliography
Index