Week 8: Theatre & Literature Flashcards
2 diff way of conveying stories: Narration vs Acting
Narration
- Narrator’s voice
- Generally external to the story
- Characters are described in words
- 3rd person perspective (she/he/they)
- Past tense
- Monologue
LITERATURE
Acting
- Characters’ voices
- Part of the story
- Characters are embodied (by actors)
- 1st person perspective (I)
- Present tense
- Dialogue
THEATRE
Interesting stories have:
Personal consequentiality
Complications –attempt to overcome a problem (successfully or not)
Factual vs Fictional
Conversation [to] Theatre
Storytelling [to] Literature
Conversation and storytelling =factual
Theatre and literature =fictional
MAWA: Fictionality is an art-specific function
Narrative Hierarchy
1) Description (one’s stats –colour, shape, texture, etc.)
2) Event sequence (ex: recipe)
3) Narration (a story –characters)
A story recounts the experientiality of a character
3 major components of language grammar
1) Semantics: meaning of words
- this is about conceptual category, including the properties of objects
2) Syntax: rules by which words are combined to form sequences (“parts of speech”)
3) Phonology: sound properties of spoken language (phonemes, syllables)
Prosody (2)
Phonology applies to the single-word level.
Prosody or intonation applies to the sentence level.
1) Linguistic prosody
a. Stressed words within sentences (e.g., two WHITE shirts vs TWO white shirts) –>First has focus on colour, second focus on count
b. Intonational melodies (e.g., question vs statement) –>Question has rising pitch, statement has falling pitch
2) Affective prosody: expression of emotion using the voice (happy voice –loud and fast vs sad voice –low and slow)
- It often applies to sentence as a whole
Models of Origin of Language
Vocal theories –language began as vocalization (speech)
Gestural theories –language began as gesture (pantomime) and was later replaced by vocalization
Models of Origin of Speech
Prosodic theories –speech evolved from the vocal expression of emotion
Syllabic theories –speech evolved from visual-facial communication (lip smacking in primates)
Both derived from vocal theories in Language
The narrative arc
1) Establisher -flat plane
2) Complication -steep incline on emotional intensity
3) Attempt -incline slight decreases
4) Climax -peak
5) Outcome -steep decline on emotional intensity
1=beginning
2-4=middle
5=ending
Types of central conflicts (3)
1) Nature: person vs nature (hurricanes, pandemics)
- Nature=outside of human control
2) People: person vs person (2 guys competing for same woman), person vs society (racism), person vs self (own personal demons, don’t accept themselves)
3) Technology: person vs tech (science fiction –robots taking over the world)
Plot Classification: Ending vs Beginning
Classify plot based on the valence of the ENDING
- Positive valence: happy ending (ex: comedy)
- Negative valence: sad ending (ex: tragedy)
Classify plot based on the valence of the BEGINNING
- Outcome: motivational emotion (retrospectively/prospectively)
- Positive valence: striving story
- Negative valence: coping story
4 basic plot shapes
Striving beginning & Positive ending: rise/fall/rise
EX: Jack & the Beanstalk
Coping beginning & Positive ending: fall/rise
EX: Cinderella
Striving beginning & Negative ending: rise/fall
EX: Little Red Riding Hood
Coping beginning & Negative ending: fall/rise/fall
EX: Oedipus Rex
Autobiographical narrative vs Narrative thinking
Autobiographical narrative: stories from one’s life
- Storytelling –communicated narrative, past events
- Told story: beginning, middle, end
Narrative thinking: the storied nature of everyday cognition
- Cognition –internal narrative, future events
- Story in the making
Autobiographical =retrospective
Narrative thinking =prospective
Mental Time Travel
Retrospection: episodic memory
Prospection: episodic future thinking
Episodic future thinking (4)
1) Simulation: constructing a mental representation of the future
2) Intention: setting a goal
3) Planning: organizing steps to achieve the goal
4) Prediction: estimating the likelihood of a future outcome
4 conceptions of the self
1) Ecological self: the self as an entity in the environment
2) Interpersonal self: self established in social interactions
3) Extended self: mental time travel, simulation, projection
4) Conceptual self (self-concept): socially defined categories (gender, race, age)
Other-as-self & Mentalizing
Other-as-self: PERCEIVING others egocentrically
Mentalizing:
1) Me perceiving another person (self–>other)
2) is processed as if perceiving myself (other–>self)
Mentalizing is a process of inferring the emotions, beliefs, intentions of another person
- Aka theory of mind, mind reading, intersubjectivity, perspective taking
Mentalizing is adaptive b/c it allows us to predict (simulate) the probable behaviour of another person
Two systems of causal inference
Scientific mode:
- Physical explanations: physical forces
- “How did it happen?”
- Applies to any object type, including humans
FOLK PHYSICS
Narrative mode (MAWA):
- Intentional explanations: emotions, beliefs, intentions
- “Why did s/he do it?”
- Only applies to intentional agents
FOLK PSYCHOLOGY
Self-as-Other & Personal Mimicry
Self-as-other: PRODUCING others egocentrically
Personal mimicry:
1) Me representing another person (self–>other)
2) is done using my own body (other–>self)
Everyday role playing–>[personal mimicry]–>Proto-acting–>[theatrical performance]–>Dramatic acting
Everyday role playing: multiple personas of the self (e.g., student, employee, spouse, customer)
* Self
Proto-acting, Dramatic acting
* Character
Proto-acting: Everyday vs Performance Forms
Everyday forms:
- Quotation in conversation
- Quotation during story reading
Quotative verbs: “to be like”, “to be all”, “to say”
- And she was like, “I hate you!”
Performance forms:
1) Impressionist: multiple characters but only 1 at a time
2) Ventriloquist: only 1 character but in dialogue with self
3) Storyteller: multiple characters in dialogue
EX: Goldilocks and the 3 bears
Mentalizing vs mimicry
Mentalizing =perception: other as self
Mimicry =production: self as other
