[ecrea] New Book on Film, Neuroscience, and Prehistoric Cave Art

/Beast-People Onscreen and in Your Brain: The Evolution of Animal-Humans
from Prehistoric Cave Art to Modern Movies/, by Mark Pizzato (Praeger, 2016)

http://www.abc-clio.com/ABC-CLIOCorporate/product.aspx?pc=A5079C

    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
    favorites—perhaps 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 the theater in our
    heads. 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
    in various cultural contexts.

    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, plus the "hall of
    mirrors," ape-egos, and body-swapping identifications between human
    beings. Finally, the book shows how ironic twists
    onscreen—especially of contradictory emotions—might 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 brains—in cinema, in theatre, and in daily life.


          Features

      * Creates a new model exploring the "inner theater" of human
        reality perceptions, fantasies, memories, and dreams in relation
        to art, ritual, everyday actions, and cultural events
      * Employs neuroscience research, evolutionary theory, and various
        performance paradigms, drawing on what is known about the animal
        ancestry and neural circuitry of the human brain to probe the
        framework of our bio-cultural evolution
      * Explains how the "emotion pictures" found in prehistoric caves
        represent turning points in human awareness
      * Examines a wide range of beast-people films ranging from the
        1931 /Dracula/ to the /Twilight/ series (2008–2012) and the 2014
        /Dawn of the Planet of the Apes/, showing how viewers connect to
        the films and the potential positive and negative impacts they have


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Mark Pizzato, MFA, PhD
Professor of Theatre and Film, UNC-Charlotte

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