Narrative Humanism : Kindness and Complexity in Fiction and Film /
Moss-Wellington, Wyatt
Narrative Humanism : Kindness and Complexity in Fiction and Film / Wyatt Moss-Wellington. - 1 online resource (256 p.) : 20 B/W illustrations
Frontmatter -- Contents -- Acknowledgements -- Introduction -- Part I Humanist Hermeneutics -- 1. Reading the Human Drama in Film and Fiction -- Part II Social Narratology -- 2. Foundational Functions of Fiction -- 3. Affective Functions of Fiction -- 4. Connectedness and Character -- 5. Mental Work and Memory -- 6. Ethics and Conclusions -- Part III Genre Case Study: The Suburban Ensemble Dramedy -- 7. An Introduction to the Millennial Suburban Ensemble Film -- 8. Discussions: Affect, Sociopolitics and the Ensemble Narrative -- Part IV Close Reading Case Study: Parenthood -- 9. Parenthood: A Humanistic Close Reading -- Afterword -- Bibliography -- Index
restricted access http://purl.org/coar/access_right/c_16ec
Outlines an approach for reading fictive texts focussed upon the politics of human kindnessRead the blog post An interview with Wyatt Moss-Wellington, author of ‘Narrative Humanism’ and co-editor of ‘ReFocus: The Films of Spike Jonze’Provides scholarly resources for evaluating the ethics, politics and psychology of our attempts to capture the complexity of other lives in narrativeOffers a critique of post-Foucaultian literary and film theory, demonstrating how it is possible to make the conditions of human altruism (rather than its converse, power relations and exploitation) central to our analytical workBroadens the scope of cognitive media theory, reintegrating some of cognitive science’s formative disciplinesDetails both a "humanist hermeneutics", a practical guide to performing humanist readings of narrative texts and "social narratology", a taxonomy of the social functions of fictionDemonstrates the use of narrative humanism in two case studies at the level of genre theory (the suburban ensemble film), and close reading (Ron Howard’s 1989 film Parenthood)Distinguishes a narrative-based humanism from related philosophies, including Renaissance humanism and contemporary secular humanismThis book attempts to clarify the narrative conditions of humanism, asking how we can use stories to complicate our understanding of others, and questioning the ethics and efficacy of attempts to represent human social complexity in fiction.With case studies of films like Parenthood (1989), American Beauty (1999), Little Miss Sunshine (2006) and The Kids Are All Right (2010), this original study synthesises leading discourses on media and cognition, evolutionary anthropology, literature and film analysis into a new theory of the storytelling instinct."
Mode of access: Internet via World Wide Web.
In English.
9781474454315 9781474454339
10.1515/9781474454339 doi
2019457649
Fiction--History and criticism.
Humanism in literature.
Humanism in motion pictures.
Motion pictures--History.
Motion pictures--Plots, themes, etc.
Narration (Rhetoric)--Philosophy.
Film, Media & Cultural Studies.
PERFORMING ARTS / Film & Video / General.
PN3347 / .M67 2019
791.43684
Narrative Humanism : Kindness and Complexity in Fiction and Film / Wyatt Moss-Wellington. - 1 online resource (256 p.) : 20 B/W illustrations
Frontmatter -- Contents -- Acknowledgements -- Introduction -- Part I Humanist Hermeneutics -- 1. Reading the Human Drama in Film and Fiction -- Part II Social Narratology -- 2. Foundational Functions of Fiction -- 3. Affective Functions of Fiction -- 4. Connectedness and Character -- 5. Mental Work and Memory -- 6. Ethics and Conclusions -- Part III Genre Case Study: The Suburban Ensemble Dramedy -- 7. An Introduction to the Millennial Suburban Ensemble Film -- 8. Discussions: Affect, Sociopolitics and the Ensemble Narrative -- Part IV Close Reading Case Study: Parenthood -- 9. Parenthood: A Humanistic Close Reading -- Afterword -- Bibliography -- Index
restricted access http://purl.org/coar/access_right/c_16ec
Outlines an approach for reading fictive texts focussed upon the politics of human kindnessRead the blog post An interview with Wyatt Moss-Wellington, author of ‘Narrative Humanism’ and co-editor of ‘ReFocus: The Films of Spike Jonze’Provides scholarly resources for evaluating the ethics, politics and psychology of our attempts to capture the complexity of other lives in narrativeOffers a critique of post-Foucaultian literary and film theory, demonstrating how it is possible to make the conditions of human altruism (rather than its converse, power relations and exploitation) central to our analytical workBroadens the scope of cognitive media theory, reintegrating some of cognitive science’s formative disciplinesDetails both a "humanist hermeneutics", a practical guide to performing humanist readings of narrative texts and "social narratology", a taxonomy of the social functions of fictionDemonstrates the use of narrative humanism in two case studies at the level of genre theory (the suburban ensemble film), and close reading (Ron Howard’s 1989 film Parenthood)Distinguishes a narrative-based humanism from related philosophies, including Renaissance humanism and contemporary secular humanismThis book attempts to clarify the narrative conditions of humanism, asking how we can use stories to complicate our understanding of others, and questioning the ethics and efficacy of attempts to represent human social complexity in fiction.With case studies of films like Parenthood (1989), American Beauty (1999), Little Miss Sunshine (2006) and The Kids Are All Right (2010), this original study synthesises leading discourses on media and cognition, evolutionary anthropology, literature and film analysis into a new theory of the storytelling instinct."
Mode of access: Internet via World Wide Web.
In English.
9781474454315 9781474454339
10.1515/9781474454339 doi
2019457649
Fiction--History and criticism.
Humanism in literature.
Humanism in motion pictures.
Motion pictures--History.
Motion pictures--Plots, themes, etc.
Narration (Rhetoric)--Philosophy.
Film, Media & Cultural Studies.
PERFORMING ARTS / Film & Video / General.
PN3347 / .M67 2019
791.43684