Films that feature highly active bodies are often discussed in various areas of scholarship as having the ability to evoke kinaesthetic empathy in their audience. Kinesthesia is often informed by senses including vision, hearing, muscle tension and body position, it refers to sensations experienced in relation to movement and position (Dee and Reason, 18). Thus, kinesthetic empathy refers to a participation in this from an audience, empathy being the process of projecting the self on to the object in question. The following essay will compare the dance film ‘Footloose’ (Ross, 1984), specifically the ‘Angry dance’ scene and the boxing film ‘Rocky I’ (Avildsen, 1976), specifically the ‘training montage’ to analyse how they produce this form of
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When a primate, (or human) observes a particular action, for example a jump in ‘Footloose’ or a punch in ‘Rocky I’, the brain cells activated are the same as those that would be activated had the audience member engaged in the motion themselves (Landay, 131). This system is more accurate and active depending on the viewer’s level of understanding of the movement performed. Someone who is not a professional boxer or who has not undergone significant training may not experience the empathy of mirror-neurons when watching the montage scene in ‘Rocky I’. Similarly, aside from recognising the natural movement of the flashback scenes and the act of drinking from a bottle, in the angry dance scene in ‘Footloose’, the dance movement is not guaranteed to activate the mirror neurons of the audience unless they have experienced the similar motions, themselves in the past. An audience member’s initial response to action can motivate their positive embodied response, or negative disembodied response just as the mirror-neuron system is more active depending on the viewer's level of understanding. Landay uses the example of a male ballet dancer’s weaker response to observing a female dancer. These neurons function in empathy to reflect an experience based on automatic understanding, an interdependence between self and other which becomes meaning that connects spectator and performance (Landay,
When a primate, (or human) observes a particular action, for example a jump in ‘Footloose’ or a punch in ‘Rocky I’, the brain cells activated are the same as those that would be activated had the audience member engaged in the motion themselves (Landay, 131). This system is more accurate and active depending on the viewer’s level of understanding of the movement performed. Someone who is not a professional boxer or who has not undergone significant training may not experience the empathy of mirror-neurons when watching the montage scene in ‘Rocky I’. Similarly, aside from recognising the natural movement of the flashback scenes and the act of drinking from a bottle, in the angry dance scene in ‘Footloose’, the dance movement is not guaranteed to activate the mirror neurons of the audience unless they have experienced the similar motions, themselves in the past. An audience member’s initial response to action can motivate their positive embodied response, or negative disembodied response just as the mirror-neuron system is more active depending on the viewer's level of understanding. Landay uses the example of a male ballet dancer’s weaker response to observing a female dancer. These neurons function in empathy to reflect an experience based on automatic understanding, an interdependence between self and other which becomes meaning that connects spectator and performance (Landay,