Impossible Puzzle Films
A Cognitive Approach to Contemporary Complex Cinema

Frontmatter -- Contents -- Acknowledgements -- Introduction -- I.1 In this book -- Chapter 1 Contemporary Complex Cinema -- 1.1 Complex conditions: the resurgence of narrative complexity -- 1.2 Complex cinema as brain-candy for the empowered viewer -- 1.3 Narrative taxonomies: simple, complex, puzzle plots -- Chapter 2 Cognitive Approach to Contemporary Complex Cinema -- 2.1 Why an (embodied-)cognitive approach? -- 2.2 Various forms of complexity and their effects on sense-making -- 2.3 A cognitive approach to classifying complexity -- Chapter 3 Narrative Complexity and Dissonant Cognitions -- 3.1 The concept of cognitive dissonance -- 3.2 Cognitions in dissonance: from social psychology to narrative engagement -- 3.3 Types of dissonance in narrative comprehension -- 3.4 Cognitive access to impossible storyworlds: immersed and reflected operations -- 3.5 'Impossibilities' and embodied cognition -- Chapter 4 Taming Dissonance: Cognitive Operations and Interpretive Strategies -- 4.1 Cognitive dissonance versus narrative coherence -- 4.2 Reducing dissonance: interpretation and naturalisation -- 4.3 Coping with dissonance: frame-switches and poetic and aesthetic readings -- 4.4 Frame-switching as hermeneutic play in impossible puzzle films -- Chapter 5 Impossible Puzzle Films: Between Art Cinema and (Post-)Classical Narration -- 5.2 Impossible puzzle films and (post-)classical narration -- Chapter 6 Wallowing in Dissonance: The Attractiveness of Impossible Puzzles -- 6.1 Hermeneutic play and interpretive multiplicity -- 6.2 Orientation, navigation, mapping -- 6.3 Game logic and the fascination in failure -- 6.4 Effort justification -- 6.5 Diegetisation of decoupling -- 6.6 Fascination in infinity -- 6.7 Destabilised ontological certainty -- 6.8. Eudaimonic motivations and intrinsic needs -- References -- Filmography -- Index

Using a cognitive film studies framework, this book explores how our minds engage with complex storytellingNarrative complexity is a trend in contemporary cinema. Since the late 1990s there has been a palpable increase in complex storytelling in movies. But how and why do complex movies create perplexity and confusion? How do we engage with these challenges? And what makes complex stories so attractive? By blending film studies, narrative theory and cognitive sciences, Kiss and Willemsen look into the relation between complex storytelling and the mind. Analysing the effects that different complex narratives have on viewers, the book addresses how films like Donnie Darko, Mulholland Drive or Primer strategically create complexity and confusion, and, by using the specific category of the 'impossible puzzle film', it examines movies that use baffling paradoxes, impossible loops, and unresolved ambiguities in their stories and storytelling. By looking at how these films play on our mind's blind spots, this innovative book explains their viewing effects in terms of the mental state of cognitive dissonance that they evoke.Key FeaturesAnalyses the effects of complex narratives on viewers, including the psychological experience of puzzlement and perplexityExplores impossible puzzle films as a specific set of highly complex popular filmsIntroduces cognitive dissonance as a key feature of these filmsBrings together literary theory, cognitive narratology and film studiesRead the introduction and first chapter for free on our website (pdf)"