Cognitive Film Theory : An Insider's Appraisal

This article appraises the contributions of what has been called cognitivism or the cognitive approach to film studies, and suggests the means by which the cog- nitive approach can become more central to film stud- ies than it has been so far. The author first shows that much of what has been called "cognitivist" film studies is only cognitivist in a broad sense, and could just as well be called "analytic." He then argues that the cogni- tive approach would be most useful when it is thus broadly applied, becoming then more a commitment to the rationality of discourse and human thought than a narrow project within psychology. The article then goes on to appraise the utility of the cognitive approach in our understanding of the psychological power of film and film aesthetics.