{"id":18343,"date":"2012-05-30T15:33:11","date_gmt":"2012-05-30T20:33:11","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.davidbordwell.net\/blog\/?p=18343"},"modified":"2020-07-26T16:57:53","modified_gmt":"2020-07-26T21:57:53","slug":"in-cognito-we-trust","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.davidbordwell.net\/blog\/2012\/05\/30\/in-cognito-we-trust\/","title":{"rendered":"In cognito (we trust)"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"\"<\/a><\/p>\n

From Calvin & Hobbes<\/strong>, 10 April 1994.<\/em><\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

DB here:<\/p>\n

Every year at about this time, I trumpet the upcoming convening of the Society for Cognitive Studies of the Moving Image<\/a><\/strong>. This year\u2019s powwow<\/a> is held at picturesque Sarah Lawrence College, under the auspices of Professor Malcolm Turvey, no stranger<\/a> to this blog. The final day of it will take place at NYU\u2019s Cinema Studies Department<\/a>. I had to miss last year\u2019s conference for health reasons, but I\u2019ll be there this year with a paper on 1940s Hollywood narrative.<\/p>\n

Some earlier blog entries sketch out my take on what\u2019s interesting about the group\u2019s work. You can find treatment of the 2008 Madison gathering\u00a0here<\/a>\u00a0and here<\/a>;\u00a0the 2009 Copenhagen event here<\/a> and here<\/a>\u00a0with\u00a0an epilogue<\/a> about Lars von Trier and Asta Nielsen; and afterthoughts on\u00a0the 2010 Roanoke meeting here<\/a>.\u00a0Last year, because I couldn\u2019t go, I offered a web essay, here<\/a>. This discusses my current thinking about the cognitive research framework.<\/p>\n

This year, although I\u2019m going, I\u2019m again offering a new web essay<\/a>. It\u2019s about how models of mind (Gestalt, psychoanalytic, cognitive, etc.) have shown up in film theory and criticism. The piece is organized chronologically, and it tries to tie ideas about the psychology of cinema to a history of filmmaking: the theories I discuss emerge as responses to changes in form, style, and theme. The essay will eventually be reprinted in Art Shimamura\u2019s anthology, Psychocinematics: Exploring Cognition at the Movies<\/em>, forthcoming from Oxford University Press. Art\u2019s collection gathers many cutting-edge essays from SCSMI members.<\/p>\n

A sideways note: I learned recently that my old book, Narration in the Fiction Film<\/em> (1985), sold 470-some copies last year. That\u2019s a lot for an old academic study, especially one with many used copies in circulation. I infer from this (good cognitivists make inferences) that some instructors are using it in courses. I\u2019m grateful, naturally, but I want to signal that I\u2019ve altered some of the views I expressed in that book. If a professor is using my book to exemplify the cognitive perspective on narrative, I\u2019d urge him or her to consider as well the web essay I already mentioned, \u201cCommon Sense + Film Theory = Common-Sense Film Theory?\u201d<\/a> In addition, my most recent answers to questions about filmic storytelling, in which narration is treated as one aspect of a larger process, can be found in \u201cThree Dimensions of Film Narrative,\u201d in the collection Poetics of Cinema<\/em>. In other words: I hope I\u2019ve learned something since 1985.<\/p>\n

The week following the SCSMI gathering, UCLA is hosting Visual Narrative: An Interdisciplinary Workshop<\/a><\/strong> on 20-22 June. This very promising event hosts presentations and commentaries from linguists, philosophers, and a couple of SCSMI star psychologists. Dan Levin<\/a>\u00a0has already made appearances in this blog (notably here<\/a>), and Tim Smith, Continuity Boy<\/a>, has contributed our perennially popular guest entry, \u201cWatching You Watch THERE WILL BE BLOOD.\u201d<\/a> The distinguished philosopher of art\u00a0George Wilson<\/a>, author of Narration in Light<\/em><\/a>, will also be there. Thanks to Rory Kelly<\/a>, one of the Workshop\u2019s organizers, for tipping me off.<\/p>\n

After SCSMI (from which, or about which, I hope to blog),\u00a0we\u2019re off to Bologna, so expect more of our usual reportage from Cinema Ritrovato<\/a>, that frenzy of movies and movie lovers. Coming up next, though, there\u2019s Bette Davis<\/strong> to reckon with.<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a><\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a><\/p>\n

Cognition is important, but so is perception, as every front-row sitter<\/a> knows. From The Film Fan<\/strong> (1939, Warner Bros., Bob Clampett).<\/em><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

From Calvin & Hobbes, 10 April 1994.   DB here: Every year at about this time, I trumpet the upcoming convening of the Society for Cognitive Studies of the Moving Image. This year\u2019s powwow is held at picturesque Sarah Lawrence College, under the auspices of Professor Malcolm Turvey, no stranger to this blog. The final […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[79,54,34,290],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-18343","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-film-theory-cognitivism","category-narrative-strategies","category-people-we-like","category-society-for-cognitive-studies-of-the-moving-image"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.davidbordwell.net\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/18343","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.davidbordwell.net\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.davidbordwell.net\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.davidbordwell.net\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.davidbordwell.net\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=18343"}],"version-history":[{"count":25,"href":"https:\/\/www.davidbordwell.net\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/18343\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":45153,"href":"https:\/\/www.davidbordwell.net\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/18343\/revisions\/45153"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.davidbordwell.net\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=18343"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.davidbordwell.net\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=18343"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.davidbordwell.net\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=18343"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}