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Selbo/Review of Grodal’s Embodied Visions 4/21/09
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EMBODIED VISIONS
Evolution, Emotion, Culture and Film
By Torben Grodal
Oxford University Press (2009) 299 pp.
ISBN 978-0195371321
Review by Jule Selbo
“… to show how inspiration from the natural sciences is
able to fertilize the study of culture and film studies.”
Torben Grodal
Those interested in the analysis of the screenwriting process have an opportunity
in reading Torben Grodal’s Embodied Visions: Evolution, Emotion, Culture and Film
(2009) to examine the craft of screenwriting in an accessible and innovative fashion -
through a science-based examination of the audience’s response to story, genre and
thematic choices.
Grodal’s area is film analysis and although the book is not specifically aimed at
the screenwriter - his target, in fact, seems very wide - filmmakers, creators of video
games, film and video game analysts, as well as cognitive theorists and perhaps even
anthropologists - Grodal’s approach is applicable to those in the screenwriting field as a
support to more traditional examinations of film story. This latest work expands on
Grodal’s Moving Pictures: A New Theory of Film Genres, Feelings, and Cognition
(1997), a book that explores recent developments in neuroscience and cognitive science
in relation to narrative theory and film theory. The breakdown of his PECMA model
(perception, emotion, cognition and motor action experienced in the processing of
information through the phenomena of film) strives to explore the audience’s preferences
in genre and story by keeping in mind accepted theories of evolution – not just physical
but mental (p.5). Grodal’s view is that audience responses may be predicted by
understanding predilections “embedded in our cognitive DNA”. Using research in a
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variety of sciences, Grodal makes his case: Each person is not self-created, there is a
DNA heritage specific to the evolution of physicality as well as to emotions and even a
deeply embedded heritage of thought. This theory, though seemingly out of the normal
purvey of the screenwriter, may serve as fertile territory because of its focus on the
understanding of the audience – which, in most cases, is of supreme importance to the
screenwriter and/or filmmaker (be it the producer deciding whether or not to slate the
screenplay for production or the audience in the movie theatre viewing the produced
film).
Grodal’s references are diverse and include cognitive scientists, philosophers,
zoologists, biologists, filmmakers as well as film academics. In Part I, Grodal presents
the theory that genres and themes, when in line with story elements based on deeply
rooted human conditions, hold a special resonance with the audience and that “emotional
dispositions to which they appeal are (cross-culturally) innate.” (p.27) For example,
Grodal asserts that the popularity of the hunter-versus-hunted scenario in action, crime
and horror genres can be traced to early man’s need to battle beastly predators as well as
human enemies for survival. He supports the theory that the “fight or flight” impulse is
not being learned in the real time of one human lifetime, but it is an impulse embedded in
human nature due to oft-repeated experiences of previous generations. Thus, he points
out, stories utilizing plots in this domain quickly create empathetic understanding with an
audience. (7) Grodal uses research in brain chemistry to examine why film stories
exploring physical and emotional security appeal to children, pointing out that attachment
“is linked to two estrogen derivatives, one that influences the mother/child bonding and
one that influences male parenting behavior.” (p.27)
Chapter Three, “Love and Desire in the Cinema”, examines the evolutionary
reasons for emotions such as love - a dominant or supporting element in many
screenplays and the human need for it, whether it be for survival, for procreation, for
status, or for self-esteem – and how this need for love forces action and conflict. Grodal
pits the female’s desire for bonding - and her use of negotiation to achieve that end -
against the male’s acceptance of anonymous (or at least non-bonding) sexual relations,
thus pointing out the immediate discord that fuels much of the romance genre. Grodal
cites Linda Williams’ work on pornography through an assessment of Kubrick’s Eyes
Wide Shut, focusing on the conflict caused by the male character’s attraction to “non-
closed” relations and the female’s desire for relations offering closure. Grodal also
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considers the make up of the femme fatale, the aberrant female comfortable with the
predominantly male desire of “non-closed” relationships - a woman who “uses sexuality
to achieve non-sexual ends” (p.73). Grodal’s sources, some pointing to research in human
biology and others to anthropological insights have relevance to the screenwriter’s task of
constructing strong and relatable characters.
In subsequent chapters, Grodal touches on other genres such as melodrama,
supernatural/fantasy and horror, citing biological and psychological predispositions of the
audience that contribute to each genres’ popularity with particular film-goers. A
screenwriter may ask for a deeper exploration into each film genre from Grodal, but as
most creative souls crave inspiration rather than instruction, the depth certainly provokes
stimulation and challenge.
In Part II, “Narrative, Visual Aestheticism, Brain and the PECMA Flow” Grodal
provides a chart and explanation of his PECMA model - a flow system which is
“…important for understanding the relation between the innate and the culturally
acquired aspects” of the film experience. (p.152) He makes the distinctions between
audience responses in the experiencing of literature, film and drama as well as video
games. “Video games represent a new form of storytelling that integrates high-order
goals with low-level muscle-and-attention-training stories in a medium that allows for the
mass production of such experiences.” (p.172) Grodal differentiates between realist
fiction (films with a beginning, middle and end that embrace final and emotional
consequences for its characters) and the “playful” cognition of video games, playful
because of their sense of never-ending and often repetitive narratives. Grodal cites a few
experiments of open-ended storytelling in feature films but sees that the “options” remain
the various visions of the filmmaker – not the spectator or – as in video games – the
player.
Chapter Seven, “Stories for Eyes, Ears and Muscles” advises on the basic need for
the writer/filmmaker to identify and focus on the character’s “high-order” goals due to
the audience’s innate desire to navigate through a story in a mostly logical and
understandable way; a desire that holds true in film narrative as well as storytelling in
video games (p.160). Grodal references films such as Paris, Texas (adapted by Sam
Shepard, directed by Wim Wenders) Mulholland Drive (David Lynch), films written by
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Andrei Tarkovsky and others whose screenplays do not follow the logical “high order
goals” template and create a “cognitive dissonance”, thus appealing to a unique (and
smaller) segment of the film-going audience. In Chapter Nine, “Art Film, The Transient
Body and the Permanent Soul”, Grodal examines differences in films aimed at the high
art audience and films aimed at the mass audience: High art films are more comfortable
in transient storytelling while mass audience films, in most cases, feature subjective
storytelling and a permanent conclusion. (p.205) Grodal is not making a value judgment
- he simply makes the distinction (one that seems fairly obvious but may instigate
creative sparks in the screenwriter tackling a story dilemma) between an audience willing
and wired to “connect the dots” and the audience more comfortable in a passive role.
There seems to be a plethora of thoughts, theories and possibilities in Grodal’s
dense work - however, the screenwriter culling through its pages may find inspiration (or
sense of confirmation or even interesting points of argument) within his evolutionary
theory of film story. Those creatives open to the study of the human condition as well as
human conditioning will find much to peruse regarding the appeal of certain genres and
stories to an audience interested in film and related media.
TORBEN GRODAL is Professor of Film and Media at the University of Copenhagen. He is author of
Moving Pictures: A New Theory of Film Genres, Feelings, and Cognition. He has published books and
articles on cultural history, film theory and film analysis, aesthetic theory, and video games combining
humanistic methods with brain science.
Jule Selbo is an Associate Professor, Screenwriting in the Radio-TV-Film Department at California State
University, Fullerton. Her recent books include Screenplay: Idea to Successful Script (2007) and the
companion volume The Rewrite: First Draft to Marketplace (2008). Professional writing credits include
feature films and television series.