About Me
I'm a scholar of film and media studies, focusing on the philosophical, cognitive, and emotional dimensions of the moving image, and especially moving image narratives. As an early pioneer of cognitive film theory, I've worked to integrate cognitive psychology with analytic philosophy to deepen our understanding of film. I was a contributor to Post Theory: Reconstructing Film Studies and have explored documentary film theory, film emotions, and ethics through my books, including Rhetoric and Representation in Nonfiction Film (1997), Moving Viewers: American Film and the Spectator’s Experience (2009), and Screen Stories: Emotion and the Ethics of Engagement (2018). My current research, funded by the Templeton Religion Trust, examines how film narratives and character engagement promote moral understanding. My book in progress, Screen Narrative and the Moral Imagination, develops a model of narrative engagement and shows how various genre and techniques stimulate the moral imagination.
Education
I hold a B.A. in Philosophy from Calvin College and an M.A. in Communication (Film) from the University of Iowa. I earned my Ph.D. from the University of Wisconsin-Madison, where I studied under David Bordwell and Noël Carroll.
Background
Before becoming a Senior Research Fellow, I was the Arthur H. De Kruyter Chair of Communication at Calvin University. Before Calvin, I taught at Hollins University from 1988 to 2000.
Leadership
I served as President of the Society for Cognitive Studies of the Moving Image (2010–2013) and have been on the Editorial Board of Projections: The Journal for Movies and Mind since 2017.
