Beast-People Onscreen and in Your Brain: The Evolution of Animal-Humans
from Prehistoric Cave Art to Modern Movies, by Mark Pizzato (Praeger,
2016)
http://www.abc-clio.com/ABC-
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 the theater in our heads. 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 in various cultural contexts.
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, plus 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 theatre, and in daily life.
Features
- 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
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