Narration of emotions as an element of the cognitive system of the documentary

The article discusses cognitive aspects of communication, the author-character-audience relevant to journalistic cinema narative. On the basis of the provisions of the psychological aspects of the perception of the film developed by L. Vygotsky, S. Eisenstein, A. Damasio and other researchers, features characteristic for the on-screen documentary and the mechanism of the "narration of emotions" as one of the elements of a comprehensive narration of the film are analyzed. The main object of analysis is the film "Optical Axis" (2013) by Marina Razbezhkina. The study suggests that in the process of recording interviews with homeless people the author herself, provoking the characters to be frank, experienced empathy for the misfortune of another (with the implicit projection of her own "happiness"); and this experience led her to further creative action for the "reconstruction of emotions": she unconsciously hoped to cause a similar psychological effect in the viewer, selecting corresponding narrative statements for the film. The first psychological effect happens unconsciously. D. Herman describes this process with the ancient Greek concept "qualia". The second includes the author's intention and narration management experience: accurately assessing the potential impacts of the microhistory on the empathic perception of the viewer, the author includes it in the right context. This process is suggested to be qualified as "emotional contagion" with a narrative. It takes place directly in the act of communication: author-character-audience, and most effective is relying on basic human emotions the author intuitively selects. In terms of impact on the viewer, the narration of emotions in the film depends on the content of the real story (plot) and how well the author of the film "starts" the mechanism of empathy, using intermedial capabilities of the film text. In the end, the article concludes that the narration of emotions in the documentary is the most important element of the cognitive system of the documentary, which largely determines the process of creation and perception. Due to the effect of "emotional contagion" reinforced with the audio-visual nature of the film communication, the mechanism of the action of "qualia" works and provides mental projection of events of reality ("world of the story") on one's own "self" and the viewer as possessors of experience. Of course, the film contains other knowledge: facts, opinions, hypotheses; however, in the author's opinion, it is narration of emotions as a characteristic feature of publicistic cinema narative that determines the sustained interest of the mass audience to television documentaries focused on the role of the narrator of "real stories" from real life.

Keywords

Authors

References