The Possibility of Empty Fictions: Wildman

The Journal of Aesthetics and Art Criticism, Volume 77, Issue 1, February 2019, Pages 35–42, https://doi.org/10.1111/jaac.12620

Autor: Nathan Wildman

Keyowrds: Empty Fictions, fictions, method for producing fictions. 

Abstract: An empty fiction is a fiction with no content—that is, a fiction in which no propositions are (fictionally) true. The central question of this article is, are such fictions possible?Here, I argue that they are. More specifically, after first examining and rejecting five potential arguments for the possibility of empty fictions, I goon to develop a more successful argument. Along theway, Iintroduce a new method for producing fictions via complementation functions. 

Idioma: Inglés 

Publicación:  12 February 2019 

Enlace Permanente

African cyborgs: females and feminists in African science fiction film.

Interventions: The International Journal of Postcolonial Studies, 22 (5), pp. 606623. (doi: 10.1080/1369801X.2019.1659155) 

Autor: Bisschoff, L.

Keywords: Cyborg, African science, fiction film, Donna Haraway, African feminism, Wanuri Kahiu, Frances Bodomo . 

Abstract: African feminist writers argue that black female bodies should be understood as interactions between materiality and the symbolic constructions of the body embedded within a given culture. They caution that an overemphasis on corporeality and embodiment denies subjectivity to black women. Responding to such concerns, contemporary African cultural and creative practitioners offer alternatives to continuing objectification and bodily stereotyping. In this article, I am particularly interested in the alternative visions of black female bodies presented in African speculative and science fiction film, visions which, I argue, engage colonial histories and local traditions in order to imagine a future inclusive of empowered female protagonists. I explore how the fictional configurations and cyborg imaginations of African sci-fi deconstruct and subvert the fixity, corporeality, fragility and captivity of the black female body. Drawing on African feminism and feminist science fiction in particular, I attempt to construct a theoretical framework through which to approach the representation of female bodies in sci-fi film from Africa. In the work of filmmakers such as Cameroonian Jean-Pierre Bekolo (Les Saignantes, 2005 and Naked Reality, 2016), Ghanaian filmmaker Frances Bodomo (Afronauts, 2014), Kenyan director Wanuri Kahiu (Pumzi, 2009) and South African filmmakers Michael Matthew (Sweetheart, 2010) and Amy van Houten (Elf, 2015), we find femalecentred fantastical narratives that recast African women as futuristic cyborgs. Reminiscent of Donna Haraway’s cyborg feminism of the late 20th century, these filmmakers adapt the genres of fantasy and sci-fi to speculate about alternative African pasts and futures. 

Idioma: English 

Publicación: 2020 

Enlace permanente

Exploding stories and the limits of fiction

Philosophical Studies; Vol 180, issue 10/11 (2023)

Autor: Michel-AntoineXhignesse

Keywords: Auctorial say-so, Contradiction Interpretation, Story-telling, Says-is gap, Truth in fiction, Universal fictions. 

Abstract: It is widely agreed that fiction is necessarily incomplete, but some recent work postulates the existence of universal fictions—stories according to which every thing is true. Building such a storyis supposedly straight forward: author scan either assert that every thing is true in their story, define a complement function that does the assertoric work for them, or, most compellingly, write a story combining a contradiction with the principle of explosion. The case for universal fictions thus turns on the intuitive priority we as sign to the law of non-contradiction. My goal in this paper is to show that our critical and reflective literary practices set constraints on story-telling which preclude universal fictions. I will raise fours tumbling blocks for universal fictionalists: (1) the gap between say in gand making true, (2) our actual interpretive reactions to story level contradictions,(3) the criteria we accept for what counts as a story in our literary practices, and (4) the undesirability of the universal fictionalist’s closure principles.

Language: English 

Publication: 20 abril 2020 

Enlace permanente

Art films foster theory of mind

Humanities and Social Sciences Communications Vol. 8, N° 119 (2021)

Author: Emanuele Castano

Keywords: Literary theory, film theory, Theory of Mind, fiction, social cognition. 

Abstract: Research shows that reading literary but not popular fiction enhances the Theory of Mind (ToM). This article builds on the symmetry between literary theory and film theory and investigates whether exposure to art films, but not Hollywood films, enhances ToM. Participants (N = 232) were randomly assigned to view either art or Hollywood films and then answered questions about the film and its characters before completing two separate measures of ToM (the Read the Mind in the Eyes Test and the Moral Judgement Task). Results showed that art film viewers scored higher on both ToM measures and that the effect was sequentially mediated by perception of complexity and predictability of the characters. The findings are discussed in the context of the emerging literature on the impact of fiction on social cognition.

Language: English 

Publication: 25 May 2021 

Enlace permanente

Australasian Journal of Philosophy; Vol 97, N°1 (2019) 

Author: Christopher Badura; Francesco Berto. 

Keywords: truth in fiction, impossible worlds, inconsistent fiction, Sylvan's box, belief revision. 

Abstract: We present a theory of truth in fiction that improves on Lewis's [1978] ‘Analysis 2’ in two ways. First, we expand Lewis's possible worlds apparatus by adding non-normal or impossible worlds. Second, we model truth in fiction as (make-believed) belief revision via ideas from dynamic epistemic logic. We explain the major objections raised against Lewis's original view and show that our theory overcomes them.

Language: English. 

Publication: 27 Feb, 2018 

Enlace permanente

Some like it bad: testing a model on perceiving and experiencing fictional characters

Media Psychology; Vol 7, issue 2 (2005) 

Author: Konijn, E.A.; Hoorn, J.F.

Keywords: Readers of fiction, spectators of motion pictures, affective relationships, fictional characters, media exposure.  

Abstract: We developed an encompassing theory that explains how readers of fiction and spectators of motion pictures establish affective relationships with fictional characters (FCs). The perceiving and experiencing fictional characters (PEFiC) theory is anchored in art perception, psychological aesthetics, and social and emotion psychology and addresses both the complexity and intrinsic affectivity involved in media exposure. In a between-subject design (N = 312), engagement and appreciation were measured as a function of the ethics (good vs. bad), aesthetics (beautiful vs. ugly), and epistemics (realistic vs. unrealistic) of eight protagonists in feature movies. The PEFiC model best fit the data with a unipolarity of factors and outperformed traditional theories (identification, empathy): The trade-off between involvement and distance explained the appreciation of FCs better than either distance or involvement alone. The mediators similarity, relevance, and valence exerted significant (interaction) effects, thus complicating the results. Furthermore, the effects of mediated bad persons differed strongly from ethically good ones.

Language: English 

Publication: 17 Nov. 2019 

Enlace permanente

A feeling for fiction : becoming what we behold

Poetics; Vol 30, issue 4, Agosto 2002, pages 221-241

Author: David S. Miall; Don Kuiken. 

Keywords: Narrative feelings, fiction, literature, aesthetics reaction, reading interact.  

Abstract: Feelings during literary reading can be characterized at four levels. First, feelings such as enjoyment, pleasure, or the satisfaction of reading are reactions to an already interpreted text [Spiel 9 (1990) 277].While providing an incentive to sustain reading, these feelings play no significant role in the distinctively literary aspects of text interpretation. Second, feelings such as empathy or sympathy with an author, narrator, or narrative figure are involved in the interpretive processes by which are presentation of the fictional world is developed and engaged [Poetics 23 (1994) 125]. Although serving an important mimetic role within text comprehension, these feelings ,too ,do not derive from the distinctively literary aspects of reading. Third, feelings of fascination, interest, or intrigue are an initial moment in readers’ response to the formal components of literary texts (narrative, stylistic, or generic). Although serving to capture and hold readers’ attention [Poetics 22 (1994) 389], these aesthetic reactions only anticipate a fourth level of feeling that is the main focus of the present discussion: the modifying powers of feeling. We propose that aesthetic and narrative feelings interact to produce metaphors of personal identification that modify self-understanding. Weal so argue that the concept of catharsis (the conflict of tragic feelings identified by Aristotle) identifies one particular form of a more general pattern in which aesthetic and narrative feelings evoked during reading interact to modify the reader. We illustrate these interactions with examples  from two studies of readers’ responses to a Sean O’Faola in short story. 

Language: English 

Publication: Agosto, 2022 

Enlace permanente

Measuring aesthetic emotions: A review of the literature and a new assessment tool

Título en español: Medición de las emociones estéticas: una revisión de la literatura y una nueva herramienta de evaluación

Autor: Ines Schindler, George Hosoya, Winfried Menninghaus, Ursula Beermann, Valentin Wagne, Michael Eid, Klaus R. Scherer. 

Keywords: Emociones estéticas, percepción estética, aesthemos. 

Abstract: Aesthetic perception and judgement are not merely cognitive processes, but also involve feelings. Therefore, the empirical study of these experiences requires conceptualization and measurement of aesthetic emotions. Despite the long standing interest in such emotions, we still lack an assessment tool to capture the broad range of emotions that occur in response to the perceived aesthetic appeal of stimuli. Elicitors of aesthetic emotions are not limited to the arts in the strict sense, but extend to design, built environments, and nature. In this article, we describe the development of a questionnaire that is applicable across many of these domains: the Aesthetic Emotions Scale (AESTHEMOS). Drawing on theoretical accounts of aesthetic emotions and an extensive review of extant measures of aesthetic emotions within specific domains such as music, literature, film, painting, advertisements, design, and architecture, we propose a frame work for studying aesthetic emotions. The AESTHEMOS, which is based on this framework, contains 21 subscales with two items each, that are designed to assess the emotional signature of responses to stimuli’s perceived aesthetic appeal in a highly differentiated manner. These scales cover prototypical aesthetic emotions (e.g., the feeling of beauty, being moved, fascination, and awe), epistemic emotions(e.g., interest and insight), and emotions indicative of amusement (humor and joy). In addition, the AESTHEMOS subscales capture both the activating (energy and vitality) and the calming (relaxation) effects of aesthetic experiences, as well as negative emotions that may contribute to aesthetic displeasure (e.g., the feeling of ugliness, boredom, and confusion).

Idioma: Inglés 

Publicación: 5 de Junio del 2017 

Enlace permanente

Mostrar por Montaje. Narraciones Benjaminianas desde el archivo y la fotografía de prensa

Prof. Dr. Francisco José García-Ramos, licenciado en Publicidad e Historia del Arte por la Universidad Complutense de Madrid 

Autor: Francisco José García-Ramos

Keywords: Método de montaje, metodología visual, fotografía de prensa, narraciones historiográficas. 

Abstract: From Walter Benjamin's montage method and the Didi Huberman's image dys-position, this article intends to promote a theorical and methodological reflection when working with photo-press archives and newspaper libraries. A cartography articulated through photographic constellations that offers an approach to other ways of making historiographical narratives from the margins of the great stories of history.  

Resumen: Partiendo del método de montaje de Walter Benjamin y la dys-posición de imágenes de Didi-Huberman, este artículo pretende promover una reflexión teórica y metodológica a la hora de trabajar con archivos de fotografía de prensa y hemerotecas. Una cartografía articulada mediante constelaciones fotográficas que ofrece una aproximación a otros modos de hacer narraciones historiográficas desde los márgenes de los grándes relatos de la historia. 

Idioma: Español 

Aceptado: 27 de Abril del 2020  

Enlace permanente

“SOBRE LA GUERRA”: (O) QUÉ ES HACER COLLAGE-MONTAJE EN NUESTRO HOY CONTEMPORÁNEO

Art Research Journal; Vol 9, N°1 (2022)

Autor: Javier Cuberos 

Keywords: Aby Warburg, collage-montaje, archivo, arte contemporáneo.

Resumen: Muchos artistas contemporáneos citamos, estudiamos,  referenciamos  a  Aby  Warburg  y  su innovadora línea de trabajo. En su Atlas, el archivo y montaje se evidenciaba como herramienta para el conocimiento. Aquella técnica ha traspasado los límites modernos, insertándose en nuestra contemporaneidad. ¿Cómo puede el collage-montaje seguir siendo productor de conocimiento? ¿Qué  significa crear a través del montaje en tiempos del reinado de Internet? ¿Cómo retomar el trabajo de  un teórico europeo de principios del siglo XX desde la periferia del mundo occidental en pleno siglo XXI?  Presenté la primera versión de este trabajo en el Simposio Internacional Warburg, organizado por la Biblioteca Nacional Mariano Moreno (BNMM) y el Museo  Nacional de Bellas Artes (MNBA) de la República Argentina, en abril de 2019. Este artículo busca compartir algunos emergentes de mi  investigación y proyecto “Sobre la Guerra”, en relación con el trabajo de algunos artistas contemporáneos y el método de Warburg.

Idioma: Español 

Publicación: 28 de Julio del 2022

Enlace permanente

  

Cine e historia. Archivo, montaje y supervivencias en El siglo del viento de Fernando Birri

Plurentes. Artes y Letras; N°13 (2022)

Autor: María Cecilia Pavón 

Keywords: Aby Warburg, Fernando Birri, archivo, cine, historia.

Abstract: Over the last decades, debates about archives have spread beyond the original field of the historical discipline in order to provide new questions to the way of knowing of anthropology, literary criticism, sociology, cultural studies, and visual studies. Aby Warburg´s work and his Atlas Mnemosyne are found within this line of ideas and work with archives (both textual and visual). Considering Warburg´s method of analysis, this article will analyze the work with archives made by Fernando Birri in the movie El siglo del viento (1999).

Resumen: En las últimas décadas los debates en torno al archivo han excedido el campo original de la disciplina histórica para aportar nuevos interrogantes al modo de conocer de la antropología, la crítica literaria, la sociología, los estudios culturales y los estudios visuales. Siguiendo esta línea de ideas y de trabajo con los archivos (textuales y visuales) se inscribe la labor de Aby Warburg y de su Atlas Mnemosyne. A partir del análisis del método de Warburg analizaremos el trabajo con los archivos que realiza Fernando Birri en la película  El Siglo del viento (1999)

Idioma: Español 

Publicación: 28 de octubre del 2022 

Enlace permanente

El montaje cinematográfico como herramienta para la revisión histórica: el caso de "Black Hawk Down"

 

Historia y Comunicación Social; Tomo 24, N°1.

Autor: Laura Fernández Ramírez

Keywords: Montaje, historia, cine de guerra, ejército norteamericano.

Abstract: This paper describes the editing strategies used in the film Black Hawk Down in order to correct North American viewer’s impression on the Battle of Mogadishu. Its editing style forces the audience to share the rangers experience and principles, and stresses on the ethics and professionalism of US soldiers so as to transform a military debacle into an ethical triumph. This study presents the underlying role of film editing when defining (or redefining) the audience’s impression of a historical event. The methodological approach is based on Eisenstein theories and key concepts. 

Resumen: El artículo muestra qué recursos de montaje se emplean en la película Black Hawk Down para corregir la impresión del público estadounidense sobre la derrota militar en la Batalla de Mogadiscio. Su montaje convierte al espectador en un ranger haciéndole compartir su experiencia bélica y principios, así como enfatiza en la profesionalidad y ética del soldado estadounidense. Convierte una debacle militar en un triunfo ético. Como trasfondo se pone de manifiesto la importancia del montaje cinematográfico para definir (o redefinir) la visión del espectador sobre un hecho histórico. Metodológicamente se emplea un tipo de análisis deducido de las teorías de Eisenstein.

Publicación: 2019

Enlace permanente

Montaje, tramas paralelas e ironía dramática en el relato cinematográfico

 

Revista de Investigación. Vol 13, N°17 (2020) Jul/Dic 

Autor: Diego Alonso Sarmiento Herencia. 

Keywords: Literatura, cine, montaje, tramas paralelas, estructura, ironía.

Abstract: 

 Cinema is young narrative phenomenon. Given that its development has been —and continues to be— vertiginous, it is, sometimes, quite difficult to explain. The different elements that play a part in the development of stories —images, sounds, montage, etc.— are so many and so different that to explain or define them is too grand a chore for a single document. This paper aims at identifying and  describing,  from  the  relations  between  cinema  and  literature,  and  from  an structural point of view, the montage technics, the construction of parallel storylines and dramatic irony, all of which are important components of mo-dern cinema.

Resumen: 

El cine es un fenómeno narrativo aún joven. Y dado que su desarrollo ha sido —y sigue siendo— vertiginoso, es, a veces, muy difícil de explicar. Los distintos elementos que participan en el desarrollo de historias —imágenes, sonidos, montaje, etc.— son tantos y tan variados que pretender explicarlos o definirlos  es  una  tarea  muy  grande  para  un  solo  documento.  Este  artículo  apunta  a  identificar y describir, desde las relaciones entre cine y literatura —y desde un ángulo estructural— las técnicas de montaje, construcción de tramas paralelas y la ironía dramática; todas ellas importantes componentes del cine moderno.

Idioma: Español. 

Publicado: 04 de diciembre del 2020 

Enlace permanente

Imagen, historia y montaje: algunos puntos de intersección entre la obra de Aby Warburg y el cine

Culturas: Debates y perspectivas de un mundo en cambio. N°15; Pág 78-84

Autor: Fabricio Emilce 

Keywords:  Aby Warburg, cine, montaje, imagen, movimiento.

Abstract:

 The works of Aby Warburg present elements for the approaches to cultural history that are still disruptive today. My intention is to explore possible contributions of Warburg’s thought to the analysis of the audiovisual image. To do this I will study from his theoretical-meth-odological matrix with the guidance of two authors who draw on it: on the one hand, Philippe-Alain Michaud, with his original study of movement in Warburg and in the cinema and on the other hand, Georges Didi-Huberman, whose reflections on anachronisms and a thought montage are of my interest.

Resumen:

 La obra de Aby Warburg presenta elementos aún hoy disruptivos para los abordajes de la historia cultural. Mi intención es explorar posibles contribuciones del pensamiento warburguiano al análisis de la imagen audiovisual. Para esto abrevaré en su matriz teórico-metodológica con la guía de dos autores que se nutren de ella: por un lado, Philippe-Alain Michaud, con su original estudio del movimiento en Warburg y en el cine; por otro lado, Georges Didi-Huberman, de quién me interesan sobre todo sus reflexiones en torno a los anacronismos y a un pensamiento por el montaje.

Idioma: Inglés

Enlace permanente

Publicado: 10 de marzo del 2022 

Cine y reverberación: Zama, montaje e historia.

Revista Historia Social y de las Mentalidades; Vol 27 Num 1 (2023) Relaciones entre historia y memoria en el audiovisual latinoamericano.  

Autores: Sergio Villalobos Ruminott

Keywords: Montaje, reverberación, interrupción, desmonumentalización. 

Abstract: 

 Through a critical reading of Lucrecia Martel’s fourth film, Zama (2017), based on  Antonio  di  Benedetto’s  homonymous  novel  (1956),  we  elaborate  a  reflection  on  the relationship between cinema and history, highlighting the strategies used by the Argentine director in the making of her work. We maintain that, beyond a merely instrumental and illustrative use of cinema, Martel allows us to think of cinematographic montage as a way of denarrativizing and demonumentalizing the conventional narrative of history, thereby opening a relationship with the past, freed from the historicist logic that seems to characterize both the documentary genre and political cinema in general. In this sense, the question of history and its reverberations appears in Zama as elements that complicate the conventional relationship between cinema and politics.

Resumen: 

 Mediante  una  lectura  crítica  de  la  cuarta  película  de  Lucrecia  Martel, Zama (2017), basada en la novela homónima de Antonio di Benedetto (1956), elaboramos una reflexión sobre la relación entre cine e historia, destacando las estrategias empleadas por la directora argentina en el montaje de su obra. Sostenemos que, más allá de un uso meramente  instrumental  e  ilustrativo  del  cine,  Martel  permite  pensar  el  montaje  cinematográfico  como  un  modo  de  desnarrativización  y  de  desmonumentalización  del  relato convencional  de  la  historia,  abriendo  con  ello  una  relación  con  el  pasado,  liberado  de las  lógicas  historicistas  convencionales  que  parecen  caracterizar  tanto  al  género  documental como al cine político en general. En este sentido, la cuestión de la historia y sus reverberaciones aparecen en Zama como elementos que permiten complicar la relación convencional de cine y política. 

Idioma: Español

Publicado: 15 de mayo del 2023 

Enlace permanente