Reprehensible Characters and Emotional Engagement in NBC’s Hannibal | Video Essay

Summary

The video script delves into the complexities of audience emotional engagement with morally ambiguous characters, using NBC's 'Hannibal' as a case study. It explores cognitive film theory to understand our attraction to characters like Hannibal Lecter, despite his heinous acts. The analysis examines narrative and aesthetic strategies that create a conflicting response, suggesting that our emotional reactions are a blend of moral evaluation, familiarity, and meta-emotions, influenced by the show's long-form narrative and visual style.

Takeaways

• 🎬 Emotional Engagement: The script discusses the deep emotional connections audiences form with fictional characters on screen, which is central to the appeal of film and television narratives.
• 🧠 Cognitive Film Theory: It introduces cognitive film theory as an interdisciplinary approach combining neuroscience, film studies, and philosophy to understand the complex nature of the audience's emotional response to characters.
• 🤔 Moral Complexity: The analysis delves into the audience's ability to emotionally engage with morally reprehensible characters, questioning how viewers can empathize with characters that go against their own beliefs and values.
• 📺 Hannibal Case Study: The script uses NBC's series 'Hannibal' as a case study to explore the audience's complex emotional engagement with a character that is both charming and horrifically evil.
• 🎨 Aesthetic and Narrative Techniques: It highlights how the showrunners of 'Hannibal' use aesthetic and narrative features to create a conflicting response in viewers, drawing them into a sense of collusion with the character.
• 👁️ Perspective of Will Graham: The script emphasizes the importance of Will Graham's point of view in shaping the audience's perception of Hannibal, creating a tension between attraction and repulsion.
• 🎭 Intertextual Knowledge: It discusses how viewers' prior knowledge of Hannibal Lector from other media influences their engagement with the character in the TV series.
• 🖼️ Visual Style: The series' unique visual style, which combines elements of horror with beauty, is identified as a key factor in eliciting meta-emotions and a dual response of repulsion and fascination.
• 📚 Moral Evaluation and Allegiance: The script touches on cognitive film theorist Mari Smith's concept of moral evaluation and allegiance, suggesting that viewers may form partial or perverse allegiances with characters based on their actions and traits.
• 💭 Meta-Emotions: It introduces the concept of meta-emotions, where viewers have emotions about their emotions, allowing for a more complex understanding of their response to characters.
• 🔍 Reflection and Evaluation: The analysis encourages reflection on the nature of emotional engagement with characters, suggesting that viewers weigh the art and morality presented in the narrative.

Q & A

What is the central theme of the analysis on emotional engagement with characters in film and TV narratives?

The central theme is exploring the complex emotional engagement with morally reprehensible characters, particularly focusing on the character of Hannibal Lecter from NBC's 2013 series 'Hannibal'.

How does cognitive film theory contribute to understanding the emotional connection between audiences and characters?

Cognitive film theory is an interdisciplinary approach that draws on neuroscience, film studies, and art philosophy to grapple with the nature of the connection between audiences and characters, revealing that our emotional responses are more complex than initially realized.

What is the significance of the character Hannibal Lecter in the context of the analysis?

Hannibal Lecter is a provocative case for examining audience-character engagement due to his morally reprehensible actions, yet the series 'Hannibal' depicts him as charismatic and seductive, inviting viewers to grapple with conflicting feelings.

How does the long-form narrative structure of a TV series like 'Hannibal' impact the audience's emotional engagement?

The long-form narrative structure allows for a slow luring of the audience into a sense of collusion with Hannibal, drawing them deeper into his world and creating a high degree of familiarity and partiality.

What role does the character Will Graham play in the series 'Hannibal' in terms of audience engagement?

Will Graham's point of view is used to express the competing aversion and attraction to Hannibal, mirroring the audience's own struggle with their fascination and repulsion towards the character.

How does the series 'Hannibal' use aesthetics and narrative features to create tension in the audience's emotional response?

The series uses striking visuals that are both poetic and grotesque, and narrative features that juxtapose Hannibal's charming and civilized persona with his evil nature, creating a tension between awe and horror.

What is the concept of 'allegiance' in the context of cognitive film theory as discussed in the script?

Allegiance in cognitive film theory refers to the process of assessing a character's attitudes, traits, and actions, resulting in a more or less sympathetic or antipathetic response towards the character.

How does the concept of 'perverse allegiance' differ from typical allegiance in cognitive film theory?

Perverse allegiance is a form of allegiance where viewers align themselves with an immoral character not in spite of, but because of their odious traits, often driven by fascination and curiosity.

What is the role of 'meta emotions' in understanding the audience's response to transgressive characters like Hannibal?

Meta emotions, or emotions about emotions, help explain the conflicting response to certain characters. They involve a higher level of cognitive complexity, allowing viewers to evaluate their primary emotions in response to the character's actions.

How does the series 'Hannibal' manipulate the audience's emotional engagement through its visual style and narrative pacing?

The series expertly balances the nature and intensity of the audience's engagement by staging discussions about the toll of looking at death and darkness, and by using the visual style to provoke a higher level evaluation of the horrors presented.

Outlines

00:00

🎭 Emotional Engagement with Fictional Characters

This paragraph discusses the natural human tendency to form emotional connections with fictional characters on screen. It introduces cognitive film theory as an interdisciplinary approach to understanding these connections, which are more complex than initially thought. The analysis focuses on the audience's engagement with morally reprehensible characters, using NBC's 'Hannibal' and its titular character as a case study. The character of Dr. Hannibal Lecter is examined for his ability to draw viewers despite his abhorrent actions, suggesting a conflict within the audience's emotional response.

05:01

🔍 The Complexity of Viewer Engagement with 'Hannibal'

The second paragraph delves into the narrative techniques used in 'Hannibal' to create a sense of collusion with the audience. It discusses the use of aesthetic and narrative features to engage viewers emotionally, despite the main character's monstrous actions. The series is distinguished by its long-form narrative structure, which allows for a slow build-up of engagement with Hannibal. The character is portrayed as charming and charismatic, contrasting with the audience's intertextual knowledge of his true nature. The use of Will Graham's perspective further complicates the viewer's emotional response, as it invites both attraction and aversion towards Hannibal.

10:02

🤔 Affective Processes and Emotional Response to 'Hannibal'

This paragraph explores the affective processes that shape the viewer's emotional response to 'Hannibal'. It introduces the concepts of moral evaluation and allegiance, where viewers may form partial or perverse allegiances with characters based on their actions and attitudes. The series challenges traditional notions of allegiance due to the absence of moral traits in Hannibal. Additionally, it discusses meta-emotions, or emotions about emotions, which can help explain the conflicting feelings viewers have towards the character. The long-form narrative structure and the use of Will's perspective are highlighted as key factors influencing the viewer's emotional engagement.

15:03

🎨 Aesthetic and Narrative Features Influencing Emotional Engagement

The final paragraph examines how the aesthetic and narrative features of 'Hannibal' influence the viewer's emotional engagement. It discusses the role of familiarity and partiality in reducing moral evaluations and the series' ability to provoke meta-emotions. The long-form narrative structure and the use of Will's perspective are shown to elicit partiality and interest, rather than moral approval or disapproval. The series' striking visuals and the juxtaposition of horror and beauty serve to both repulse and fascinate viewers, reflecting the complex nature of emotional engagement with morally ambiguous characters.

Keywords

💡Emotional Engagement

Emotional engagement refers to the deep connection and response that audiences develop with fictional characters in film and television. In the video, it is central to understanding how viewers can become invested in characters, even those with morally reprehensible traits. The script discusses how cognitive film theory explores this engagement, highlighting the complexity of our emotional responses to characters like Hannibal Lecter.

💡Cognitive Film Theory

Cognitive film theory is an interdisciplinary approach that combines elements of neuroscience, film studies, and art philosophy to understand the nature of the connection between audiences and characters. The video uses this theory to dissect how viewers emotionally engage with characters, particularly those who are morally complex, like Hannibal Lecter, and how this engagement can be influenced by narrative and aesthetic features.

💡Narrative Structure

Narrative structure refers to the arrangement of events and the way they unfold in a story. The script mentions that the long-form narrative structure of the TV series 'Hannibal' allows for a slow build-up of the audience's relationship with the character, drawing them into a sense of collusion with Hannibal. This structure is crucial in understanding how viewers can become emotionally engaged over an extended period.

💡Aesthetic Features

Aesthetic features encompass the visual and auditory elements of a film or TV show that contribute to its artistic appeal. In the context of the video, the aesthetic features of 'Hannibal' are used to create a sense of allure and fascination, even in the face of horrific acts, thus complicating the audience's emotional response to the character and his actions.

💡Character Engagement

Character engagement is the process by which viewers form emotional connections with characters in a narrative. The video discusses how this engagement is manipulated in 'Hannibal' through the use of other characters' perspectives, particularly Will Graham's, to create a complex emotional response that oscillates between attraction and repulsion.

💡Moral Evaluation

Moral evaluation is the process of assessing a character's actions and attitudes based on moral standards. The script explores how viewers might form partial allegiances with immoral characters, such as Hannibal, despite their actions. This concept is key to understanding the conflicted emotional engagement viewers might have with characters who are both charming and monstrous.

💡Allegiance

Allegiance, in the context of the video, refers to the emotional bond or loyalty that viewers form with characters. The script discusses how this allegiance can be partial, based on certain traits or actions, or perverse, where viewers are drawn to characters because of their immoral traits. This concept is used to explain the complex emotional responses to characters like Hannibal.

💡Meta-Emotions

Meta-emotions are emotions about emotions, a higher level of cognitive processing where viewers reflect on and evaluate their emotional responses. The video uses this concept to explain how viewers might experience conflicting feelings towards characters, such as feeling repulsed by Hannibal's actions while also being fascinated by the narrative and aesthetic presentation.

💡Intertextual Knowledge

Intertextual knowledge refers to the understanding viewers bring from other texts or media, such as previous films or books about a character. The script mentions how this knowledge can influence viewers' perceptions of characters like Hannibal, creating a sense of complicity and tension between the character's presented persona and their known monstrous nature.

💡Partiality

Partiality in the video refers to the favoritism or bias that viewers might develop towards characters, often influenced by the narrative structure and aesthetic features of a show. The script discusses how this partiality can override moral evaluations, allowing viewers to become emotionally engaged with characters despite their immoral actions.

💡Transgressive Characters

Transgressive characters are those who violate societal norms or moral codes. The video focuses on how viewers can emotionally engage with such characters, like Hannibal Lecter, despite their transgressive actions. This engagement is explored through the lens of cognitive film theory, examining the complex interplay of emotions and evaluations.

Highlights

Film and TV narratives evoke emotional connections with fictional characters, which is an intuitive response.

Cognitive film theory emerges as an interdisciplinary approach to understand the audience's emotional engagement with characters.

Emotional responses to characters are more complex than initially thought, involving cognitive processes and ideological beliefs.

The analysis explores how audiences can emotionally engage with morally reprehensible characters, such as Hannibal Lecter.

Hannibal, a 2013 NBC series, presents a provocative case for examining audience engagement with a morally complex character.

The series depicts Hannibal as both charismatic and malevolent, inviting a conflicting audience response.

Cognitive film theory is used to explore the conflicting emotional response to Hannibal's character.

Aesthetic and narrative features of the show contribute to the audience's complex emotional engagement.

The long-form narrative structure of the TV series allows for a slow build-up of audience engagement with Hannibal.

Hannibal's character is portrayed through the perspectives of other characters, showcasing his charm and humanity.

Viewers' intertextual knowledge and narrative omniscience create tension between Hannibal's monster and man personas.

The use of Will Graham's point of view positions the audience to experience the competing aversion and attraction to Hannibal.

The series' visual style evokes both revulsion and fascination, reflecting the audience's conflicting feelings towards Hannibal.

Affective processes, including moral evaluation and self-reflective emotional evaluation, shape the audience's response to characters.

Moral evaluation and allegiance to characters are influenced by their moral traits and actions.

The concept of 'perverse allegiance' is introduced, where viewers align with immoral characters due to their negative traits.

Meta-emotions, or emotions about emotions, help to understand the audience's conflicting response to transgressive characters.

Familiarity and partiality towards characters can increase over time due to the long-form narrative structure of TV series.

The series uses aesthetic and narrative features to provoke and manage meta-emotions, influencing the audience's engagement.

The analysis illustrates the complex, multi-layered nature of emotional engagement with screen characters.

The need for further discussion on the merits of different affective processes in relation to emotional engagement is highlighted.

Transcripts

film and TV narratives invite us to make

emotional connections with fictional

onscreen characters we are so

predisposed to this that it is almost an

intuitive response to say we identify

with characters we find them relatable

we see ourselves reflected in them their

Joy their

sadness Their

Fear emotional response to characters is

at the heart of film and television and

contributes to much of what we find so

appealing about screen narratives recent

approaches to film and TV Studies have

taken to exploring this emotional

engagement more deeply in particular

cognitive film theory has emerged as an

interdisciplinary approach drawing on

branches of Neuroscience film studies

and art philosophy to Grapple with the

nature of this connection between

audiences and

characters in doing so it is apparent

that our emotional responses are

considerably more complex than than we

perhaps first

realized moving beyond the more

colloquial phenomena of identifying

liking and relating to characters we

come to deeper questions about emotional

cognition and the relationship between

character engagement and our beliefs

values and

ideologies these complexities are

especially revealed when the creators of

screen narratives invite us to engage

with characters that operate on a set of

beliefs vastly different to our own for

instance can we say that we identify

with fictional serial killers drug

dealers and s can we hold positive

attitudes toward them even when at the

same time we know we would LOE them in

real life in short how can we understand

our emotional engagement with morally

reprehensible characters this analysis

aims to explore this question with a

focus on one of the most morally

reprehensible characters in narrative

fiction and the title character in NBC's

2013 series

Hannibal

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played by Danish actor mads mikkelson

the character of Dr Hannibal leca

provides a particularly provocative case

for examining audience character

engagement hbal doesn't just manipulate

and murder people he eats them an act so

prohibited and abominable that it well

and truly violates what we consider

acceptable behavior and yet NBC's

Hannibal depicts a monster as Suave as

he is dangerous as charismatic as he is

malevolent the series invites us to be

seduced by Hannibal while at the same

time confronting us with his

irredeemably evil nature using a

cognitive film Theory approach we can

explore the way in which the showrunners

C us to have this conflicting response

and how we accommodate these opposing

feelings within our own psyche the

central argument of this analysis is

that we can understand our emotional

engagement to Hannibal as a complex

intertwining of affective processes that

can shift in nature and intensity in

response to aesthetic and narrative

features there's a lot here to unpack

and so this analysis will be served as a

three course meal all these elements

combined will help us to gain insight

into how we account for our feelings

towards characters we find morally

reprehensible firstly we need to examine

how the showrunners invite us to respond

to Hannibal's character in other words

what aesthetic and narrative features

they employ to engage us emotionally an

interesting place to

start Hannibal Lector is a legend of

narrative fiction after first appearing

in Thomas Harris's original novels he

was later cemented as a cultural icon

with Anthony Hopkins portrayal in the

film adaptation of Silence of the lamps

audiences are well acquainted with

Hannibal the cannibal however NBC's

series is distinct in a number of ways

being a screen adaptation there is the

obvious audio visual element that the

literary version does not have and while

the film adaptations share the audio

visual features afforded by screen

mediums the TV series is again

distinguished by its long form narrative

structure

three seasons of Hannibal have aired

with a total of 39 episodes that's a lot

of time in which the audience is

engaging with the character the TV

format also fits well with a Creative

Vision of the series writer and

executive producer Brian Fuller

commented that every moment of the

series consciously plays with a ja

opposition of gorgeousness and visceral

Terror with the effect at times of

slowly luring the audience into a sense

of being in collusion with Hannibal the

long form narrative structure afforded

by television lends itself well to this

slow luring as with each episode we are

drawn deeper and deeper into Hannibal's

World furthermore our view of Hannibal

is frequently filtered through the

perspectives of the other characters

around him their interactions showcase

Hannibal as an honorable and even gentle

person who displays an old world

European charm in the very first episode

of the series we encounter an almost

compassionate display from Hannibal as

he holds the hand of Abigail Hobbs a

young girl who has been hospitalized

after her father attempted to Slit her

throat we see his association with high

society and even a dry sense of humor

before we begin you must all be

warned nothing here is

vegetarian

what he is continually calm polite and

restrained of course it was Hannibal

that provoked the attack on Abigail

that's not rast lamb and underneath the

calm exterior Hannibal is a cold blooded

killer

our intertextual knowledge and

omniscience in the narrative give us

more information than the other

characters and is a key part of how we

engage with henni's character firstly it

exemplifies this idea of collusion that

Fuller referred to by sharing in hen

secret we enter into a sort of sinister

fellowship with him one where we are

complicit in his crimes secondly it

creates tension between our impression

of Hannibal as a monster and as a man

who manifests qualities that invite

approval The Narrative feeds us these

moments of Hannibal's Humanity only to

leave us in unpleasant aftertaste as we

are reminded of his true nature the

showrunners most effectively create this

tension by positioning us to see things

from the perspective of Will Graham a

criminal profiler recruited by the FBI

to help with their investigations the

use of Will's point of view is a

technique that is clearly established

right from the very beginning of the

series in the opening scene will surveys

a bloody crime scene and the audiovisual

cues then take us inside Will's mind we

hear his heartbeat the color get

brighter and the room comes into greater

Clarity we see him peeling back the

layers of the crime Scene It is a

representation of his psychological

processes as he assumes the mind of the

Killer and reenacts the murder that has

just taken place from this moment on our

view of Hannibal's world is linked

inextricably to Will's view it is

through his perspective that we

experience the blood and gore and his

struggle to face these Horrors mirrors

our own Shake It

Off keep on looking

good it is also through will that we

most strongly Fear The Lure of Hannibal

as will is the primary target of

Hannibal seduction through Hannibal and

Will's relationship the series explores

the idea of being drawn to something

that could kill you even knowing the

extent of Hannibal's immorality both

will and the audience remain captivated

by his character this idea is further

reinforced by the Striking visuals

poetic and grotesque horrific yet

elegant the series has developed a

unique style that simultaneously evokes

revulsion and Fascination though we

rarely see the murders being committed

we follow will as he confronts the

aftermath the bodies of the victims

turned into disturbingly Artful forms

and of course

meals Fuller has explained his

purposeful visual approach quote if

we're going to show horrible things they

have to be beautiful I think that horror

is so easy to make ugly because that is

what it is intrinsically we wanted to

challenge the audience from Will's point

of view as a guy who will look at things

and will want to look away but can't

because they draw him to them this

tension between awe and horror

stimulated by the visuals corresponds to

our conflicting feelings towards

Hannibal there is a desire to distance

ourselves but at the same time we're

compelled to

linger so we have a combination of

aesthetic and narrative features the

long form narrative structure which

allows for us to be slowly lured into

collusion with Hannibal the Charming and

charismatic version of Hannibal

conflicting with our intertextual

knowledge and narrative omniscience and

the use of Will's point of view to

express the competing aversion and

attraction to both Hannibal and the maab

a theme that is further reinforced by

the visual style through these features

the series invites us to engage with the

character of Hannibal but as has been

shown this invitation is loaded with

tension and just opposing ideas

therefore our emotional response is

likewise going to be grappling with

these conflicting

messages our attention now turns to the

the affective processes that make up our

emotional response to Hannibal's

character while a distinction is often

drawn between cognitive and affective

processes for the sake of Simplicity

this analysis will use these

interchangeably the term affected

processes is used here to broadly refer

to the dynamic psychological phenomena

that shape how we connect and respond to

the

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world affective processes includes a

whole range of phenomena and though

there is much to explore with each of

these in the interest of time the

following will provide a brief overview

of two key processes that are pertinent

to transgressive characters a process of

moral evaluation that constitutes

allegiance to characters and a process

of self-reflective emotional evaluation

whereby we appraise our own emotional

response Mari Smith a formative

cognitive film theorist argues that we

engage in a process of assessing a

character's attitudes traits and actions

in other words we evaluate the morality

the result of this is a more or less

sympathetic or antipathetic response

towards a character if a character earns

moral approval and we sustain a positive

attitude towards them this is what Smith

labels

Allegiance in discussing allegiance to

immoral characters Smith proposed two

further distinctions firstly we can form

a partial Allegiance wherein we Ally

ourselves with some of the characters

actions and attitudes and not others

that is we find them sympathetic despite

their I

traits however Hannibal poses a tricky

case firstly he's not a typical

anti-hero the series doesn't explore his

backstory so there's no tragic Fall From

Grace There's No Redemption Arc in which

he displays remorse for his actions he

doesn't even show vulnerability except

perhaps in his obsession for will there

is an absence of moral traits for us to

Ally ourselves with in the first

place we can certainly see some aoral

traits that might elicit a positive

emotional response his Dr humor his

intelligence even his taste for fine

clothing music and art however in

Smith's view moral assessment of

characters constitutes a kind of center

of gravity that these amoral factors may

inflect but not displace moral

evaluation lies at the core of

Allegiance it's hard to think of cases

in which a film elicits strong sympathy

towards a character largely on the basis

of aoral attributes characters who

appeal through wit or charm for example

command our sympathetic Allegiance

because these aoral traits coexist in

the character with at least some morally

positive traits the problem with NBC's

Hannibal is that there are no morally

positive traits for these positive aoral

traits to coexist with perhaps then we

can turn to Smith's second distinction

what he calls perverse Allegiance

whereby we Ally ourselves with an

immoral character not in spite of but

rather because of their odious traits

for this however other factors need to

come into play such as Fascination and

curiosity a second key affect process

pertinent to transgressive characters is

the interplay between what an bch refers

to as primary and secondary emotions or

meta emotions Bart draws on the idea

that we can have emotions about our

emotions much like we can have thoughts

about our thoughts different disciplines

give varying theories on the processes

that give rise to this phenomenon though

bch argues that they all involve three

levels of cognitive

complexity the experience of meta

emotions comprises all three of these

levels and can help us understand our

conflicting response to certain

characters for example we may laugh at

Hannibal's humor though our meta

emotions will tell us that this laughter

is inappropriate in this process the

quick and automatic reaction of laughter

seems to become overlaid by the slower

stimulus processing activity of higher

levels conversely we may feel disgust

and revulsion and yet we find Value and

even Delight in that we're presented

with such an effectively stimulating

experience even if a Primary Emotion has

a negative Valance this can be be

modified by the reflective and

evaluative capacity of meta

emotions it's rare that effective

processes occur in isolation instead

they build upon each other and are in

constant interaction furthermore these

processes cannot be separated from their

aesthetic and narrative features as it

is these features that largely make up

the object of our evaluation we now draw

these together to gain insight into how

effective processes can shift in nature

and intensity in response to aesthetic

and narrative

features

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as already mentioned one of the features

of NBC's Hannibal is the long form

narrative structure we spend a lot of

time with the character of Hannibal leca

and see him in a variety of situations

and interacting with other characters

while our moral evaluation may not grant

that we form a true Allegiance with him

the long form narrative does give us a

high degree of familiarity and

partiality Arthur Rainey argues that

because we engage with fiction for

entertainment our desire to enjoy

ourselves takes priority

consequently viewers can trade moral

scrutiny for partiality and favoritism

and give characters greater moral

license to ensure that enjoyment is

experienced building on this Margarita

Brun vage contends that television

narratives are particularly effective at

eliciting partiality the long form

narrative structure has the capacity to

reduce the intensity of our moral

evaluations furthermore a TV serious has

greater opportunity to draw attention

away from a character's immoral

behaviors or traits this is evident with

Hannibal particularly in the earlier

episodes where we can spend 30 minutes

with the Charming and civilized version

of his character with only a few

cleverly timed reminders of his evil

nature additionally though we may not

form allegiance to Hannibal we are

invited to form an allegiance to will

his character is much more likely to

elicit moral approval due to our being

aligned with his point of view and a

recognizable similarity between his

response to the horror and our own as

will as seduced by Hannibal our

allegiance to him can help us to imagine

that we are also being seduced and

though we may not share in Will's

attraction to Hannibal through our

Allegiance we can gain an appreciation

for it the use of Will's point of view

then supplemented with our partiality

towards Hannibal can lead to an

emotional engagement based on appeal and

interest rather than a moral approval or

disapproval furthermore Hannibal's

aesthetic and narrative features are

particularly effective at provoking the

elicitation of meta emotions while our

primary emotions may be reeling in

disgust and squeamishness at the horrors

of Hannibal world the series will stage

a searching discussion about the toll

that looking at death and darkness takes

on the human psyche appealing to us to

engage in a higher level evaluation of

what we are seeing is it me or is it

becoming easier for you to look I tell

myself it's purely an intellectual

exercise consider too in relation to

Hannibal's character our repulsion at

seeing Hannibal cook and prepare his

victims while the classical music and

fine dining setting can be appraised as

being entirely civilized by playing to

our capacity to evaluate our emotions on

different levels the series expertly

dances with the nature and intensity of

our

engagement the purpose of this analysis

is not to provide conclusions about what

our emotional response toenable is but

rather to illustrate that we can

understand our emotional engagement as a

complex intertwining of affective

processes that are influenced by

aesthetic and narrative features as the

series of Hannibal unfolds we are

presented with conflict Laden stimuli

which in turn initiates psychological

attempts to dissolve emotional tensions

to control undesirable emotions to

disambiguate themes and to weigh art

against

morality perhaps what this analysis has

demonstrated most of all is how

difficult it is to fully capture the

complex multi-layered and even downright

messy nature of our emotional

engagement as a final note while in

trying to Encompass the complexity of

emotional engagement there is also a d

danger of being impractically

pluralistic there is much need for

further discussion about the merits of

different affective processes in

relation to emotional engagement and the

extent to which specific filmic features

can inflict upon these while ever screen

characters continue to Captivate Us

particularly morally reprehensible

characters this question will remain a

significant area for further

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consideration

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