Case Study 2: The Poignant Tensions of Crystal Pite’s Dark Matters (2009): Embodiment, Enaction, and Emotion

Through the analysis of this case study the book illustrates how even in works which are more directed by narrative or thematic aspects, the emotional import can still be correlated with the perceptual properties of the work. A link is proposed between the idea of tension, the physical sense of tension, the shared rhythm of all the perceptual properties analysed, and the powerful poignancy that emerges through the work. The chapter discusses notions of embodied cognition, enactive perception, the social construction of perception, and embodied concepts, and presents a summarised view of embodiment, enaction, and emotion.