The cognitivist approach to film and television studies emerged amid the growing influence of semiological and Lacanian theories, which maintain that motion pictures are factors that reproduce and distribute ideological sign systems. Based on the developing research in the cognitive psychology, this approach has suggested an alternative agenda, which seeks to focus on the unique ways in which specific movies engage certain psychological mechanisms.

 

The course will deal with a variety of research questions in this field: what is a cinematic narrative and how does narrative comprehension is developing during the film viewing? How does the movie generate deep engagement with non-existing characters or fear from these characters? What is unique about the emotional experience in cinema? How does the film create experiences of existential meaningfulness?