Analysis Of Derek Matravers's 'Clash Of The Titans'

Actors involved in Clash of the Titans (1981) and in the remake of the film in 2010 had to imagine themselves fighting off giant scorpions, a reptilian Medusa, and the dreaded Kraken. Despite the incredible special effects of today’s technology, Clash of the Titans (2010) lacks the creativity and imagination that originally brought the film to life in 1981. The use of CGI causes movies to become more realistic and believable as the technology improves, but at a terrible cost--the audience’s involvement. The audience is unable to form as much of an emotional attachment to the story told in the 1981 version of the film as the 2010 version because the special effects take away the need for the audience to use their imagination. The audience

By using the imagination, we can act out future scenes and use our reasoning to predict how conversations will go, a tactic people use that also greatly benefits our mental health (Polan). In his essay “Why We Should Give Up on Imagination,” Derek Matravers compares and contrasts various theories linking film and the imagination. He states:

When watching a film, we can imagine what it would be like to live in Barton Cottage, to face the kinds of lack of opportunities faced by educated women in Regency England, to be married to Colonel Brandon, to make love to Marianne Dashwood.We can use our imaginations to make connections: to work—for example—through the similarities and differences between Willoughby and Edward Ferrars. Furthermore, the imagination might be used in specific mental activities such as empathizing (if indeed we do empathize with fictional characters and if the mental state characteristic of empathy really is the imagination) (p. 196).

Using the imagination while watching a fictional film can create strong emotional feelings, such as empathy, and create a bond between the film and the audience. By making fictional works seem more and more lifelike, we lose that bond with a shift in our thinking from unconscious to