The Power of Movies: How Screen and Mind Interact

Amazon.com Product Description (ISBN 0375423176, Hardcover)

With enthusiasm and probing intelligence, Colin McGinn (“an ingenious philosopher who thinks like a laser and writes like a dream”–Steven Pinker) embarks on a fascinating philosophical consideration of the allure of movies–what it is we experience when we watch them and what makes them such a universally compelling form of entertainment.

McGinn examines how movies work on our minds: how looking “into” the movie screen allows us to imagine the characters portrayed and know their thoughts and feelings . . . how what we see on the screen can seem to recapitulate the workings of consciousness itself . . . how the screen image is ideally suited to capturing both physical and emotional movements, depicting human feeling in all its variations . . . how heightened reality characterizes both film narrative and dreams . . . how our connection to and perception of movies enables us to better understand aspects of our own nature.

A fresh, invigorating look into the art of film and the minds of filmmakers and filmgoers, The Power of Movies is certain to change the way you watch movies.