Beast-People Onscreen and in Your Brain

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 favoritesperhaps 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 onscreenespecially of contradictory emotionsmight 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 brainsin cinema in theater and in daily life.