Embodied Cues in Cinematic Narration? Revisiting a Bordwellian Concept in Film Aesthetics

David Bordwell's work has been widely received as primarily focusing on cognitive aspects in film aesthetics and its experience by spectators. Indeed, he specifically emphasized cognitive inferences in narrative films, even explicitly excluding affective aspects from his approach. But at the same time, he put forward a multi-level understanding of film aesthetics and spectatorship and followed a holistic understanding to filmic spectatorship that could not be reduced to "higher cognition." The article will revisit Bordwell's concept of narrative cues to reflect on its implications and potentials for embodied and affective approaches to film aesthetics. It will be discussed whether and how stylistic devices can channel "explicit meanings" on an embodied and affective level, also beyond culturally and cognitively grounded meanings.