Stony Brook University Faculty of Sciences and Humanities

Embodied Intermediality: A Theoretical Investigation with an Analysis of < All the Vermeers in New York >

체현적 상호매체성: 이론적 고찰과 <뉴욕의 모든 베르미어들>(1990) 분석

[Abstract]

This study examines the signification effects of intermediality from the perspective of users’ sensory and cognitive responses. Intermediality integrates heterogeneous media to create unique sensory and semantic effects. However, how users perceive the intention of intermedial artifacts and appreciate their meaning requires extensive discussion. This research identifies that the meaning effects of intermediality occur in users’ abilities to express narratives and utilize cognitive schemata. Firstly, it reviews the concept of intermedial narrativity proposed by media scholar Lars Ellestrom. According to Ellestrom, media users project a narrative interpretation onto given images, even if the object is a static medium like painting, perceiving them as a sequence of events. This ability for narrative expression applies similarly in situations where painting and film coexist. Consequently, users discern comprehensive narrative events in the coexistence of the two media. Secondly, the study determines that users’ ability to distinguish core narratives from multiple narratives that intermedial artifacts can possess is achievable through the utilization of cognitive schemata. Users interpret sensory stimuli from intermedial situations simultaneously to grasp consistent meanings. This process involves users projecting schemata acquired through subjective experiences and learning onto given intermedial stimuli to generate meaning. This research argues that intermediality manifests its ultimate meaning in users’ sensory, cognitive, and interpretative judgments, defining such phenomenon as embodied intermediality. Finally, the study analyzes John Jost’s film < All the Vermeeers in New York >(1990) to examine how various media within the work are attributed to personal meanings within dramatic situations.

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