Screen Acting and Moral Understanding

Author:

Taylor Aaron1ORCID

Affiliation:

1. Drama Department, University of Lethbridge, AB, Canada

Abstract

Abstract: How does screen acting contribute to moral understanding? The most influential narratological theories of characters have been predominantly formalist in nature, focusing almost exclusively on attributed personality traits, behavior, dialogue, and/or visual appearance as the primary means of determining screened beings’ expressivity. Consequently, such theories fail to account for the aesthetics of the embodied performer, relegating acting to the subsidiary function of dramatic enaction rather than a necessary component of narration. A more complete account of film or television narration must consider the poetics of performance – the means by which actors’ expressive choices enable viewer comprehension and moral engagement. Indeed, concentrating primarily on character appearance, action, behavior, and dialogue gives us an incomplete picture of a work’s moral significance. Attending to such manifest content of character representation overlooks both its enacted form and certain aspects of its latent content. Therefore it is necessary to codify some of the means by which screen acting’s material elements can lead to moral appraisal. Drawing on certain key tenets of embodied cognition, we can schematize a conceptual vocabulary that enables us to attend to an actor’s expressive body and apprehend how this physicality draws us toward (or away from) the characters they represent. Of particular interest are the moral facets of actors’ appearances, expressions, gestures and postures, movements, and voices. These dimensions fundamentally inform how we might describe an ethically laden experience, evaluate characters as moral agents, and develop an embodied responsiveness to a work’s moral solicitations.

Publisher

Hogrefe Publishing Group

同舟云学术

1.学者识别学者识别

2.学术分析学术分析

3.人才评估人才评估

"同舟云学术"是以全球学者为主线,采集、加工和组织学术论文而形成的新型学术文献查询和分析系统,可以对全球学者进行文献检索和人才价值评估。用户可以通过关注某些学科领域的顶尖人物而持续追踪该领域的学科进展和研究前沿。经过近期的数据扩容,当前同舟云学术共收录了国内外主流学术期刊6万余种,收集的期刊论文及会议论文总量共计约1.5亿篇,并以每天添加12000余篇中外论文的速度递增。我们也可以为用户提供个性化、定制化的学者数据。欢迎来电咨询!咨询电话:010-8811{复制后删除}0370

www.globalauthorid.com

TOP

Copyright © 2019-2024 北京同舟云网络信息技术有限公司
京公网安备11010802033243号  京ICP备18003416号-3