Impossible Puzzle Films : A Cognitive Approach to Contemporary Complex Cinema

Steven Willemsen

ISBN 10: 1474406726 / ISBN 13: 9781474406727

Published by Edinburgh University Press Dez 2016, 2016

About this Item

Neuware - Narrative complexity is a trend in contemporary cinema. Since the late 1990s there has been a palpable increase in complex storytelling in movies. But how and why do complex movies create perplexity and confusion How do we engage with these challenges And what makes complex stories so attractive By blending film studies, narrative theory and cognitive sciences, Kiss and Wilemsen look into the relation between complex storytelling and the mind. Analysing the effects that different complex narratives have on viewers, the book addresses how films like Donnie Darko, Mulholland Drive and Primer strategically create complexity and confusion, using the specific category of the impossible puzzle film to examine movies that use baffling paradoxes, impossible loops, and unresolved ambiguities in their stories and storytelling. By looking at how these films play on our mind's blind spots, this innovative book explains their viewing effects in terms of the mental state of cognitive dissonance that they evoke.

Seller Inventory # 9781474406727

Bibliographic Details

• Title: Impossible Puzzle Films : A Cognitive Approach to Contemporary Complex Cinema
• Publisher: Edinburgh University Press Dez 2016
• Publication Date: 2016
• Language: English
• ISBN 10: 1474406726
• ISBN 13: 9781474406727
• Binding: Buch
• Condition: Neu
• Dimensions: 239W x 157H x 23D millimeters 239 millimeters width by 157 millimeters height by 23 millimeters depth
• Weight: 576 grams

About this title

Synopsis

Narrative complexity is a trend in contemporary cinema. Since the late 1990s there has been a palpable increase in complex storytelling in movies. But how and why do complex movies create perplexity and confusion? How do we engage with these challenges? And what makes complex stories so attractive? By blending film studies, narrative theory and cognitive sciences, Kiss and Wilemsen look into the relation between complex storytelling and the mind. Analysing the effects that different complex narratives have on viewers, the book addresses how films like Donnie Darko, Mulholland Drive and Primer strategically create complexity and confusion, using the specific category of the impossible puzzle film to examine movies that use baffling paradoxes, impossible loops, and unresolved ambiguities in their stories and storytelling. By looking at how these films play on our mind’s blind spots, this innovative book explains their viewing effects in terms of the mental state of cognitive dissonance that they evoke.

About the Authors

Dr Miklós Kiss is an Associate Professor of Audiovisual Arts and Cognition at the University of Groningen, The Netherlands. He is co-author of the books Film Studies in Motion: From Audiovisual Essay to Academic Research Video (with Thomas van den Berg, Scalar multimedia e-publication, 2016) and Impossible Puzzle Films: A Cognitive Approach to Contemporary Complex Cinema (with Steven Willemsen, Edinburgh UP, 2017) and co-editor of the volume Puzzling Stories: The Aesthetic Appeal of Cognitive Challenge in Film, Television and Literature (with Steven Willemsen, Berghahn, 2022).

Steven Willemsen is a PhD-candidate and Junior Lecturer in Film Studies at the University of Groningen, the Netherlands. His research addresses the topic of story complexity from embodied-cognitive and narratological perspectives.