ABSTRACT

This book investigates a group of exceptional films that single-mindedly consider one particular emotion – be it pity, lust, grief, or anxiety – to examine cinematic emotion in depth.

Drawing on philosophical and psychological approaches, Fischer’s unique analysis offers unparalleled case studies for comprehending emotion in the movies. The book provides the reader with an opportunity to contemplate what notion of a particular emotion is advanced onscreen; to describe how the unique tools and aesthetics of cinema are utilized to do so; to place such representations in dialogue with film theory as well as philosophical and psychological commentary; and to illustrate the important dichotomy between filmic portrayals and audience response.

Beyond film and media scholars and students, this book will have resonance for academics and practitioners in several fields of psychology, including social work, psychiatry, and therapy.

chapter |28 pages

Introduction

Film “The Emotion Machine”

chapter 1|14 pages

Animated Emotions

Emblems of Feeling in Inside Out and The Emoji Movie

chapter 2|12 pages

Grief

The Unbearable Heaviness of Being in Pieces of a Woman

chapter 3|16 pages

Trauma

Black Boyhood and Moonlight

chapter 4|16 pages

Anxiety

High Anxiety in Adaptation

chapter 5|16 pages

Guilt

Blame and Culpability in 21 Grams

chapter 6|14 pages

Jealousy

The “Green-Eyed Monster”1 in Fado

chapter 7|20 pages

Vengeance

Vengeance is Mine: Red Road

chapter 8|12 pages

Pity

The Refusal of Pathos in Pity

chapter 9|14 pages

Lust

Sex, Greed, and Murder in The Square

chapter 10|16 pages

Happiness

Capturing Joy in Happy go Lucky and Hector and the Search for Happiness1

chapter |4 pages

Afterthoughts/Afterimages