Joker: uma encenação da dimensão poético-cognitiva da vida humana

Abstract

ABSTRACT: Based on central tenets of Cognitive Poetics, this paper provides some reflections on basic cognitive operations, such as memory and imagination, involved in the meaning making processes triggered by the film “Joker” (2019). The article aims to describe the cognitive processes involved in the construction of the Self of the protagonist character, by showing such aspects as (inter)subjectivity and empathy, in terms of a mental state that presupposes the Other in cognitive-discourse experience. The analysis is guided by theoretical and methodological principles of Conceptual Integration Theory (blending), more precisely those related to the cognitive construction of the “idea of the Self and the Other”. Some of the results presented with the study allow for reflecting on the thesis that narratives have a specific cognitive function, which is to provide readers/viewers with models of human action and sensitive, creative and imaginative perception of the world.

KEYWORDS: Cognitive Poetics. Aesthetic Experience. Construction of the Self. Empathy. The “Joker” film.