Film and the New Psychology
“The Film and the New Psychology” views artwork as an “enriched being”, as distinct from a characterization of an external truth. ... It is hard to say that after reading “The Film and the New Psychology” that I will continue to view life and films in the same manner. ... Merleau-Ponty contrasts his views to those of classical psychology. ... The most crucial and intriguing element of the article is that it is able to smoothly transfer Merleau-Ponty’s psychological views of life onto film. He takes his ideas about perception in general and applies them to the perception of a film. ... Many times, the viewer of a film easily overlooks its components; however, Merleau-Ponty does a nice job portraying how important each piece of every component is. The meaning of a film is another important question that intrigues Merleau-Ponty. He states that “the function of the film is not to make facts or ideas known to us” (95).