Engaging animals in wildlife documentaries: From anthropomorphism to trans-species empathy

Abstract

This chapter introduces a cognitive ecocritical approach that draws on research in affective neuroscience and cognitive ethology to explore the role of anthropomorphism and trans-species empathy in viewers’ engagement with nonhuman characters in wildlife documentaries. It argues that recent ethological research casts a new light on neurologist Vittorio Gallese’s concept of liberated “embodied simulation” in film viewing, and that a closer look at the embodied expression of animal emotions allows for a better understanding of our affective responses to the animals we see in nonfiction film. Drawing on the work of Dirk Eitzen, it further suggests that viewers’ belief in the authenticity and consequentiality of the events seen on screen is of central importance to their emotional responses to wildlife documentaries.