Synopsis
A new take on our bio-cultural evolution explores how the "inner theatre" of the brain and its "animal-human stages" are reflected in and shaped by the mirror of cinema. * Creates a new model exploring the "inner theater" of human reality perceptions, fantasies, memories, and dreams in relation to art, ritual, everyday actions, and cultural events * Employs neuroscience research, evolutionary theory, and various performance paradigms, drawing on what is known about the animal ancestry and neural circuitry of the human brain to probe the framework of our bio-cultural evolution * Explains how the "emotion pictures" found in prehistoric caves represent turning points in human awareness * Examines a wide range of beast-people films ranging from the 1931 Dracula to the Twilight series (2008-2012) and the 2014 Dawn of the Planet of the Apes, showing how viewers connect to the films and the potential positive and negative impacts they have
About the Author
Mark Pizzato, MFA, PhD, is Professor of Theatre at the University of North Carolina at Charlotte (USA), where he also teaches interdisciplinary film, arts, architecture, and religion courses. He has authored six previous books: Mapping Global Theatre Histories (2019), Beast-People Onscreen and in Your Brain: The Evolution of Animal-Humans from Prehistoric Cave Art to Modern Movies (2016), Inner Theatres of Good and Evil: The Mind's Staging of Gods, Angels and Devils (2011), Ghosts of Theatre and Cinema in the Brain (2006), Theatres of Human Sacrifice: From Ancient Ritual to Screen Violence (2005), and Edges of Loss: From Modern Drama to Postmodern Theory (1998). He also co-edited, with Lisa K. Perdigao, Death in American Texts and Performances: Corpses, Ghosts, and the Reanimated Dead (2010).
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