Welcome to Dantean Space!: Empathy and Space in Singin’ in the Rain, Legally Blonde, the Pursuit of Happyness and Aliens

Abstract

While the settings of most films pass by as an un-intrusive backdrop, or erupt into adrenalynic escapades or eye-candy, and therefore have a weak relationship to the protagonist, the settings in such films as Aliens (1986), Amelie (2001), The Third Man (1949) and some television shows are heightened by and entangled with the protagonist’s emotional struggles, sharing a narrative architectural form we will call Dantean space. Examining that rush of feelings of such empathetic settings reveals ten story tactics that trigger our empathetic reactions, tactics we label the Machinery Of Empathy. In fact Dantean Space is one of three distinct forms of narrative architecture that make a kind of ascending ladder of emotional and empathetic involvement between protagonist, setting and viewers. This account helps reveal the intersection of narrative space and empathy as well as the cues, materials and production design techniques commonly used to create these spaces across Media forms.