Open Daily: 10am - 10pm | Alley door pickup 10am - 7pm 3038 Hennepin Ave Minneapolis, MN
612-822-4611

  • Open Daily: 10am - 10pm
    Alley-side Pickup: 10am - 7pm

    3038 Hennepin Ave Minneapolis, MN
    612-822-4611

Open Daily: 10am - 10pm | Alley-side Pickup: 10am - 7pm
3038 Hennepin Ave Minneapolis, MN
612-822-4611
Beast-People Onscreen and in Your Brain: The Evolution of Animal-Humans from Prehistoric Cave Art to Modern Movies

Beast-People Onscreen and in Your Brain: The Evolution of Animal-Humans from Prehistoric Cave Art to Modern Movies

Pizzato, Mark

Hardcover

Series: Brain, Behavior, and Evolution

Cognition

ISBN10: 1440844356
ISBN13: 9781440844355
Publisher: Praeger
Published: Feb 22 2016
Pages: 432
Weight: 1.95
Height: 1.20 Width: 6.20 Depth: 9.30
Language: English

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.

Vampire, werewolf, and ape-planet films are perennial favorites--perhaps because they speak to something primal in human nature. This intriguing volume examines such films in light of the latest developments in neuroscience, revealing ways in which animal-human monster movies reflect and affect what we naturally imagine in our minds. Examining specific films as well as early cave images, the book discusses how certain creatures on rock walls and movie screens express animal-to-human evolution and the structures of our brains.

The book presents a new model of the human brain with its theatrical, cinematic, and animal elements. It also develops a theory of rasa-catharsis as the clarifying of emotions within and between spectators of the stage or screen, drawing on Eastern and Western aesthetics as well as current neuroscience. It focuses on the inner movie theater of memories, dreams, and reality representations, involving developmental stages, as well as the hall of mirrors, ape-egos, and body-swapping identifications between human beings. Finally, the book shows how ironic twists onscreen--especially of contradictory emotions--might evoke a reappraisal of feelings, helping spectators to be more attentive to their own impulses. Through this interdisciplinary study, scholars, artists, and general readers will find a fresh way to understand the potential for interactive mindfulness and yet cathartic backfire between human brains--in cinema, in theater, and in daily life.

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