Book review: Affect and Embodied Meaning in Animation

The book Affect and Embodied Meaning in Animation by Sylvie Bissonnette offers a studied exploration of the cognitive, sensory and emotional engagements of viewers with animated media. Through the lenses of embodied cognition, empathy and posthumanism, Bissonnette delves into the profound influence of animated media on human perception and cognition. This work situates animation as visual entertainment and a powerful medium that extends and transforms sensory and cognitive boundaries. By integrating cognitive science, psychology and media studies methodologies, Bissonnette offers a novel interdisciplinary approach highlighting how animations engage with and influence viewers on multiple levels. The book examines how animation extends beyond visual stimulation, influencing our perceptual boundaries and challenging our notions of the human condition through a ‘becoming animated’ process.

Bissonnette begins by situating the analysis of embodied cognition and the involved relationship between animated media and human perception, emphasizing how animation leverages the theories of embodied cognition. She investigates how our bodily experiences shape our interactions with animated worlds, highlighting the unique ability of animation to invoke empathetic and neural responses similar to real-life experiences through its capacity to distort and exaggerate reality. This engagement with animated media stimulates our sensory perceptions. It influences our cognitive and physiological responses, thus expanding our understanding of how we perceive and interact with animated characters and environments.

The central concept of ‘becoming animated’ involves using animation to alter how we perceive our sensory limits and human capabilities. This concept transcends passive viewership, advocating for an active reconfiguration of our sensorimotor and cognitive faculties. This process engenders a more immersive interaction with the animated content, where the boundaries between the viewer and the animated world become fluid and permeable. Engaging with animation allows for a symbiotic relationship between the viewer and the animated figures, where the conventional limits of human experience are expanded and reimagined. This dynamic interaction facilitates a deeper connection with the animated content, encouraging viewers to explore new dimensions of perception and empathy, thus enriching the viewing experience.

Bissonnette discusses how animation leverages embodied image schemas and innate cognitive structures shaped by physical interactions with the environment to convey multifaceted narratives and emotions. These schemas, such as the notions of CONTAINER and PATH, ¹ serve as visual metaphors, enabling viewers to comprehend abstract ideas and complex emotional landscapes through animation, intuitively. By employing these schemas, animation transcends storytelling, fostering a visceral and intuitive connection between the audience and the content. This approach enriches the narrative experience by grounding it in universal bodily experiences. It enhances the emotional resonance of the animated content, making abstract concepts palpable and relatable through the power of visual metaphor.

The consideration of empathy in animation highlights the medium’s ability to cultivate deep emotional connections between viewers and characters. This connection stems from a dynamic coupling between the spectator’s body and the animated figure, rooted in the associative bonding or linking of self and other based on bodily similarity. This similarity is not superficial but operates at a profound level, engaging gesture, posture and movement at the level of the unconscious body schema. Through bodily metamorphoses, animation elicits affective and sensorimotor couplings or empathic resonances between self and animated others, making the experience of watching animation deeply immersive and personal.

For instance, the sensation of elongation experienced by viewers watching Elastigirl in The Incredibles (Brad Bird, 2004) as she stretches her limbs beyond human possibilities or the contagious laughter triggered by characters laughing on screen exemplifies how animated characters can evoke palpable physical and emotional responses in viewers. These empathetic resonances and emotional contagions, though initially altering our sensory breadth at an unconscious level, significantly enhance our engagement with animated characters, making the viewing experience much more than a visual or auditory encounter. It becomes an embodied interaction where the animated narrative and character design bridge the gap between the screen and the viewer, fostering a sense of shared experience and understanding that deeply resonates physically and emotionally.

The ‘animation machine’ concept introduced by Bissonnette refers to her theoretical framework. It encompasses how animated content and the media work together to enhance cognitive and interpretive abilities. This concept integrates various elements, including the technologies used in animation, the animator’s artistic style and the cultural and historical contexts within which the animation is produced, aiming to create a unique and immersive viewing experience.

This interaction serves as passive consumption and engages the spectator in a ‘functional ensemble’ that interlinks their perceptions and sensations with the animation, effectively bridging the gap between human cognition and animated narratives. This ensemble is rooted in the intertwined and productive relationships between humans and machines, echoing the philosophies of Gilbert Simondon and Felix Guattari on technical ensembles and machinic heterogenesis. Thus, the spectator becomes an integral component of this animation machine, actively participating in creating meaning and navigating through complex environments and narratives presented by the animation, extending their cognitive realms and enhancing comprehension and interaction with complex environments.

The book concludes with a forward-looking perspective on the transformative role of animation in shaping posthuman perception and understanding. It emphasizes how animation, particularly within the cyberpunk genre, blurs the conventional boundaries between human and non-human entities, challenging traditional notions of identity and agency. Through point-of-view editing, the overlay of text and bar charts, and the intentional degradation of image quality, animation invites viewers to identify with posthuman characters and perspectives, fostering a more profound emotional engagement with the content.

This engagement is not just about narrative immersion but also involves critically examining the limits between human and posthuman identities facilitated by animation’s defamiliarizing interfaces. These interfaces, novel spatiotemporal experiences and augmented perceptions highlight the complexities and challenges associated with non-normative forms of embodiment. The narrative suggests that fictive machines and cyberpunk animations can tap into and rewire the viewer’s mind, extending their cognitive understanding.

By engaging with robotized bodies and hybridized forms of subjectivity, viewers are encouraged to explore the discursive and material practices that construct the boundaries between ‘human’ and ‘non-human’. This exploration is underpinned by a posthuman approach to spectatorship, which views animation technology as an integral extension of the embodied viewer. This perspective enriches our interaction with animated media. It opens new avenues for examining the intersections of technology, identity and experience, heralding a future where the delineation between human and machine becomes increasingly fluid and dynamic.

In the landscape of animation scholarship, Sylvie Bissonnette’s work emerges as a unique synthesis of cognitive science, psychology and neuroaesthetics, offering a holistic view of the viewer’s interaction with animated media. This perspective stands in contrast to other notable works in the field, such as Meike Uhrig’s Emotion in Animated Films (2021), which predominantly explores the emotional dimensions within animation, or George Larkin’s Post-Production and the Invisible Revolution of Filmmaking (2021), focusing on the evolution of technology within the broader elements in the screen industry. Bissonnette’s work deepens our understanding of the sensory and cognitive engagements with animation and creates a bridge between animation studies and cognitive sciences, highlighting the embodied nature of viewer engagement. This interdisciplinary approach complements the spatial exploration of cinema found in New Approaches to Cinematic Space by Filipa Rosario and Ivan Villarmea Alvarez (2021), enriching the dialogue within animation studies by underscoring the cognitive processes underpinning our interaction with animated worlds. This interdisciplinary approach not only aligns with but also extends beyond the scope of traditional animation studies, offering new insights into the interplay between animated content and viewer perception.

In conclusion, Affect and Embodied Meaning in Animation by Sylvie Bissonnette is an exploration of how animated media extends and reshapes human perception and cognition by integrating embodied cognition, empathy and posthumanism. This book offers a detailed analysis of how animated content influences our sensory and cognitive boundaries, urging readers to rethink the potential limits of their perceptions and cognitive capacities. By delving into various aspects of how animation interacts with viewers, Bissonnette provides a view of animation’s unique ability to transform and enhance the human experience of media. This work not only adds to the academic discourse in film and media studies but also serves as a resource for understanding the impacts of animation in shaping our engagement with digital environments.