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Deeply Moved by Movies: Film viewing as a transitional space for utopian self-reflection
Dalarna University, School of Humanities and Media Studies, Religious Studies.ORCID iD: 0000-0002-7883-3251
2011 (English)In: Nordmedia 2011: Doing the right thing?, Akureyri, Iceland, 2011Conference paper, Published paper (Refereed)
Abstract [en]

This article analyzes how people in late modern society characterized by de¬traditionalization and individualization use moving images as a cultural resource for the construction of meaningful subjective world views. With a critical focus on ‘the self’ as a core aspect in contemporary media society, Eric W. Rothenbuhler labels the individual self as one of ‘the sacred objects of modern culture’ (Rothenbuhler 2006: 31). The article makes use of empirical data to illustrate and theoretically develop perspectives on how the audience uses fiction film in everyday life to elicit self-reflection and how film engagement is interconnected to spectator´s creation of self images (Giddens 1991, Axelson 2008b, Vaage 2008), but also how cinematic experiences could be a resource for the spectators’ construction of more profound and long-lasting ideas of being part of a moral community (Brereton 2005, Jerslev 2006, Klinger 2008, Barker 2009, Vaage 2009). Some empirical findings support a conclusion that moving images create a transitional space for the human mind, with the capacity of transporting the spectator from real life to fiction and back to real life again, helping the individual with an ongoing process of transforming the self, dealing with who you actually are, and who you want to become (Axelson 2008a, Vaage 2009). Other case studies show how the audience experience meaning in watching films, providing insights about meaning in life and general lessons of life value (Oliver and Hartmann 2010).

Place, publisher, year, edition, pages
Akureyri, Iceland, 2011.
Keywords [en]
Film, religion, values, world view, belief system, self reflexivity, extended self, utopian self
Research subject
Research Profiles 2009-2020, Intercultural Studies
Identifiers
URN: urn:nbn:se:du-5668OAI: oai:dalea.du.se:5668DiVA, id: diva2:522318
Conference
Nordmedia 2011: Doing the right thing? , Akureyri, Iceland, 11 - 13 augusti, 2011
Available from: 2011-08-13 Created: 2011-08-13 Last updated: 2021-11-12Bibliographically approved

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Axelson, Tomas

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CiteExportLink to record
Permanent link

Direct link
Cite
Citation style
  • apa
  • ieee
  • modern-language-association-8th-edition
  • vancouver
  • chicago-author-date
  • chicago-note-bibliography
  • Other style
More styles
Language
  • de-DE
  • en-GB
  • en-US
  • fi-FI
  • nn-NO
  • nn-NB
  • sv-SE
  • Other locale
More languages
Output format
  • html
  • text
  • asciidoc
  • rtf