Italy at the Center Inaugural Lecture - Millicent Marcus

Millicent Marcus, Yale Professor of Italian

“From the Mirror of Narcissus to Mirror Neurons: What Cognitive Science Can Teach Us About Films (Especially Italian Ones)

Within the new field of neuro-aethetics-the study of the impact of the arts on the human nervous system-Italians have been at the forefront of research related to film. Their findings have been of special relevance to me in analyzing the heightened realism of Matteo Garrone’s Gomorra and the profound appeal to viewer empathy of Gabriele Salvatore’s Io non ho paura.

Sponsored by The Edward J. and Dorothy Clarke Kemp Fund at Yale University