Willing Suspension of Disbelief: Poetic Faith in Film

by Anthony J. Ferri

Overview

Willing Suspension of Disbelief: Poetic Faith in Film is a study of the way we watch film. Anthony Ferri explores the way expectations influence what they see, feel, and experience. Using Coleridge's term "willing suspension of disbelief" as a starting point, Ferri sets forth a fascinating study of the psychology of watching film. While film scholars and professionals have alluded to Coleridge's term in a parenthetical or tertiary manner, this volume makes a definitive account for the concept and provides a contemporary analysis of the film viewing process from a variety of critical and empirical perspectives.Willing Suspension of Disbelief is valuable for film scholars and students of film.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9780739117781
Publisher:	Lexington Books
Publication date:	05/10/2007
Pages:	118
Product dimensions:	6.35(w) x 9.35(h) x 0.53(d)

About the Author

Anthony J. Ferri, Ph.D. is an associate professor in the Hank Greenspun School of Journalism & Media Studies at University of Nevada, Las Vegas.

Table of Contents

Chapter 1 The Willing Suspension of Disbelief
Chapter 2 Theoretical Approaches to Film Viewing
Chapter 3 Films In and Out of Transport
Chapter 4 Empirical Approach to Film Viewing
Chapter 5 Enter the Digital World
Chapter 6 Mapping the Audience: A Model of Film Viewing
Chapter 7 Poetic Faith

Editorial Reviews

We in academia tend to put a great deal of energy into putting up walls between one methodology and the next. Tony Ferri exposes the futility of that endeavor in this delightfully eclectic examination of the WILLING SUSPENSION OF DISBELIEF. By closely examining this single concept from a variety of perspectives, he lets his reader experience scholarly analysis at its most liberating and joyful.

Brad Chisholm

Willing Suspension of Disbelief is impeccably reserached, the author excelling at synthesizing relevant literature. .. The book emerges as a useful work that raises intriguing questions and research possibilities about the nature and function of viewer imagination. It will appeal to readers interested in how audiences experience film and how that process gives film its meaning and import.

Journal of Film and Video

Willing Suspension of Disbelief is impeccably reserached, the author excelling at synthesizing relevant literature. .. The book emerges as a useful work that raises intriguing questions and research possibilities about the nature and function of viewer imagination. It will appeal to readers interested in how audiences experience film and how that process gives film its meaning and import.

Winter 2009 Journal of Film and Video

We in academia tend to put a great deal of energy into putting up walls between one methodology and the next. Tony Ferri exposes the futility of that endeavor in this delightfully eclectic examination of the WILLING SUSPENSION OF DISBELIEF. By closely examining this single concept from a variety of perspectives, he lets his reader experience scholarly analysis at its most liberating and joyful.--Brad Chisholm, Professor of Film Studies, St. Cloud State University

Willing Suspension of Disbelief is impeccably reserached, the author excelling at synthesizing relevant literature . . . The book emerges as a useful work that raises intriguing questions and research possibilities about the nature and function of viewer imagination. It will appeal to readers interested in how audiences experience film and how that process gives film its meaning and import.--Journal of Film and Video, Winter 2009

From the Publisher