Mediated Positive Emotions

Narrative Discourses and Audience Imaginations

Researcher(s) (CIMS)

Jono Van Belle

Supervisors (CIMS)

Stijn Joye

Co-Supervisors (other)

Maaret Koskinen, Stockholm University

Presentation

Love is equally taken for granted as it is an abstract concept that changes over people, place, and time. Mediated Positive Emotions: Narrative Discourses and Audience Imaginations will investigate the representation and reception of love, how it is shaped by media and society, and through this, how it shapes certain 'affective communities' (Ahmed, 2010). The central aim is to trace constructions of love in the films of Ingmar Bergman, and, more importantly, their corresponding experiences by the audience. Starting from a Grounded Theory methodology, in-depth interviews will expose the importance of certain films over others in terms of love. Contexts of viewing and the perception of Ingmar Bergman himself is indispensable herein. On a more abstract level this study aims to investigate which mediated definitions of love the audience has. In a later stage these definitions of love in the audience can be connected to their articulations in films in a more formal way.