Hi everybody!
In _Engaging Characters_ Murray Smith points to the fact that the "startle
effect" in movies is typically used in such a way that the emotional
response of the viewer and the emotional reaction of the character we see
on screen run parallel (p. 102). E.g. at the end of _Alien_ (1979) we are
startled by the sudden reappearance of the Alien and so is Ripley.
While I think that the startle effect is indeed used in this "synchronous"
fashion most of the time, I'm wondering whether it's possible to come up
with some examples where only the viewer is startled, but the character on
screen is shown to remain unaffected or affected in a clearly different way
than the viewer.
What I'm not looking for are scenes where the apparent threat simply turns
out to be a harmless object (e.g. Ripleys cat and not the Alien). That is,
after the fact that both we and the character on screen have been startled.
There are obviously "thousands" of these.
Also of interest (and probably much easier to find) would be scenes in
which the character is shown to be startled while the viewer clearly
remains unaffected. Of course in this case the unaffectedness should not
come from the fact that the startle effect was simply executed so poorly
that it fails to deliver what the filmmakers obviously intended.
The point by the way is not to challenge Smith's view, but rather to be
able to highlight his assessment that the startle response per se is
structured differently than what he calls "emphatic" and "sympathic"
engagements with the character.
Thanks for your help.
Robert Blanchet
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