Textures of Imagination

Abstract

Rejecting any binary thinking that would have reading novels as an act of imagination while films are received through perception, this chapter examines how adaptations are experienced through the embodied imagination. This chapter builds upon approaches to imagination in cognitive aesthetics to argue that imagination is grounded in perception. This chapter draws on two case studies, Wonder (Stephen Chbosky, 2017) and Mood Indigo (Michel Gondry, 2013), both criticized for making tangible their literary sources in a manner than nullifies imaginative engagement. Rather, I argue that spectators feel their way into the worlds and existential feelings of their characters through the embodied imagination. This chapter suggests that perception can lead to a greater imaginative understanding of a work, the world, and others, and how such an imaginative connection might shift our point of view. That is, screen adaptations are equipped to enact a leap from sight to insight.