Introduction
Psychological thrillers are stylistically designed to create emotional responses such as suspense and unsettlement, using their portrayals of distorted mental perceptions and a dissolving sense of reality. This formula attracts interpretations under cognitive theory; an analytical toolset that concerns itself with the mental reactions that carry out during spectatorship, and Phenomenology: an assessment of how film creates sensations during the viewing experience. Satoshi Kon replicated the psychological thriller’s credentials in his 1997 animation Perfect Blue, a cult classic that follows the story of a pop idol who finds her sense of reality slipping as she is stalked by a possible murderer. Perfect Blue corresponds with both the psychological thriller and both phenomenology and cognitive film theory as a result of the thematic values lacing its story and visuals. Kon’s narrative consists of perception, identity, the distortion between reality and illusion, and finally psychological distress as its thematic values. These story elements being explored generate cognitive and emotional activity in spectators, ranging from character alignment to responses of fear and confusion.
An evaluation of Perfect Blue can be carried out using Plantinga’s interpretations of the mental film experience with regard to film style- the written narrative and visual elements- as a way of identifying exactly how the film creates the sensation it does in audiences. Plantinga’s statement of how “narrative guides intended elicitation of effect” (2009) appeals to this, as he would argue Perfect Blue’s overall story is where spectators’ mental activity is subjected to. Perfect Blue can be analysed with regard to aspects of identification and emotional responses, using a breakdown of the stylistic choices in specific scenes that make up the overall narrative. In addition to this, Sobchack’s writings on film phenomenology as an exploration of cinema as a “sensuous experience” in which “processes of identification” should mostly derive from “the primary engagement” of senses rather than “secondary character identification” (2004) is useful in describing how Perfect Blue taps into our sensuous bodies.
Perfect Blue’s Cognitivism: Narrative and Visual Style
Kon explores identity and self-perception as central thematic values in his film, through the use of story exposition and visual aspects, to trigger specific mental activity in his audience that correlates with that of the psychological thriller. As a result of this, Kon as a director is aligning with Plantinga’s claim that when answering questions surrounding the “unity of affect” in the “viewing experience” they must be “approached from the perspective of not only broad narrative scenarios but elements of style and subject matter that are seen as fitting in the creation of a coherent response” (2009). Kon employs a series of frequent techniques as motifs to explore his themes, one of which takes place in the film’s opening and thus, immediately cements the theme. When we are introduced to protagonist Mima, we later see a display of crosscut editing between her lifestyle as a pop idol and that of her ordinary tasks, which emphasises how Mima’s identity can be perceived between these two presentations. As a result, this causes spectators to align the two lifestyles with each necessary role Mima embodies, demonstrating how Koni directs the visual style of editing choice as a device to convey his theme of identity as well as engage cognitively with his audience. The themes of identity and perception are further emphasised within these two established roles. After the film’s opening, it is revealed Mima is leaving her pop group and singing career to pursue acting full time as she is unable to commit to both simultaneously. This stage of the narrative completes the establishment of Mima’s two identities along with time; there is “Pop Idol Mima” from the past and “Actress Mima” in the present. Kon ensures this is conveyed to the audience through his visual motifs; Mima’s reflection as a pop idol. Pop Idol Mima appears in mirrors Actress Mima is standing in front of to interfere with her current actress persona which causes conflict, taunting Actress Mima by telling her Pop Idol Mima is the “real one” and that she isn’t an actress, which Actress Mima objects to passionately. This creates mental activity in spectators in the form of cognitively aligning both personas with their goals in lifestyles. Spectators can classify the presence of Pop Idol Mima from the past in the form of a reflection as a symbol of Mima being haunted by an old perception of herself that she seems unable to let go of. In Plantinga’s offering of “protagonist structures” as a means of understanding the characters presented to us, one could interpret the two Mimas as “opposed protagonists” as Kon’s narrative focuses on both to communicate their goals which are polar to one another. As this is a visual aspect of the film, it proposes a minor negotiation to Plantinga’s argument that “intended spectator response is guided…by the film’s narrative” (2009) because Kon is constructing stimuli using his visual symbolism of reflections. However, one can reinforce Plantinga’s highlighting of narrative using this example by communicating how this symbolism derives from the thematic structures of the overall story.
Furthermore, identity and perception are explored cognitively through the story element of Mima acting in her first TV performance in a psychological crime show; the genre echoing the tone of the film. Mima’s character in the show experiences a traumatic rape and as a coping mechanism, changes her identity by creating a new persona free from the trauma. This stylistically echoes what is happening to the real Actress Mima in real-life as she too is experiencing issues with establishing a set and true perception of her own identity. Mima’s character’s first line “Excuse me who are you?”, can serve as a demonstration of this because audiences can interpret this as her not only asking the other TV character but also herself as her two personas clash. As a result, this illustrates Kon’s psychological presentation of both identity and perception in Perfect Blue’s narrative; not only is the real Mima experiencing her identity conflicts but the character is she portraying in the aftermath of this identity split is as well, in turn elevating the theme and unsettling the audience. Kon combines identity and perception as cognitive elements with conventions of the psychological thriller in the narrative reveal of someone imitating Mima’s identity online. Mima is shocked to discover an imposter has taken her identity and is writing what they want Mima to write and doing what they want Mima to do, further creating a severance in her identity and perception as people take the imposter’s writing as veracity to who she is. This mysterious imposter is later revealed to be Mima’s psychologically disturbed stalker, this addition to the story signals its classification as a psychological thriller due to its unsettling nature. This creates an emotional response of fear for Mima’s safety as well as a disturbance in spectators, and as it is done as a straight narrative element rather than the use of visuals it provides support for Plantinga’s claim that “narrative scenarios are the most important structuring mechanisms in the movies” (2009).
These elements of Perfect Blue’s story progress intensely and thus, result in Mima’s loss of identity and understanding of who she is. This is shown using the visual style of editing, such as a fast-paced montage during the shooting of the TV show’s assault scene which displays Actress Mima slipping into Pop Idol Mima as a way of escaping the illusion of rape. This is further elevated with the later reveal that Mima did not want to act out the scene, despite telling the director and her agent she wanted to, as she felt this is what Actress Mima should be doing. Pop Idol Mima then appears in a reflection to once again taunt Mima for not knowing who she is and what she wants, further claiming Pop Idol Mima is the true Mima. This confuses the audience as they can no longer identify what Mima truly wants and what persona is the dominant one; current Actress Mima or past Pop Idol Mima. To elaborate, the severance of these two perceptions of Mima severs the audiences’ understanding and alignment of her within the narrative, as she poses to be confident in Actress Mima’s responsibilities yet reverts to Pop Idol Mima’s life when committing to them. Using this portrayal of Mima and Plantinga’s classification of “protagonist types”, spectators would come to align her as a “conflicted or confused protagonist” because she “has conflicting goals and is troubled by ambiguity or conflict, sometimes having to make a difficult choice” (2009), thus, spectators’ understanding of Mima at this point of the narrative is not one stemmed from a grounded and confident character. Therefore, Kon’s presentation of identity and perception as thematic values interferes with a cohesive cognitive understanding on the spectator’s part because the protagonist herself struggles to have a cognitive and complete understanding of herself and her motives.
Perfect Blue’s classification as a psychological thriller is further emphasised in the murders of people around Mima. The identity of the killer remains unknown for the majority of the film, creating a sense of mystery, however, an answer is suggested in that of Mima who we see murder a photographer for exploiting her body This leads to an implication that Mima is the one committing all the murders, as “the skilled filmmaker may provide intentionally ambiguous or contradicting affect cues, typically for specific effects such as the elicitation of suspense or curiosity” (Plantinga, 2009), meaning that spectators have been invited to pin the murders to Mima even though they only have the confirmation she has committed this one. During the brutal killing, Mima is juxtaposed against the pop idol version of herself who is projected behind her. This is effective as it demonstrates the two identities existing at the same time as a suggestion of what created such an inner turmoil and disturbance that caused her to allegedly commit these murders. This element of the visual style being used to solidify the themes can steer audiences to align these personas with the violent act as an understanding of who Mima is, even though this contrasts a great deal with how Mima was portrayed in the beginning. Mima begins to question herself as innocent of the other murders, further emphasising her inability to recognise who she is and her actions, in turn, leading spectators to struggle to rely on Mima to assist in them aligning herself and her actions.
The climactic end of Perfect Blue’s mysterious and complicated narrative serves as a reveal of who the murderer is and what has been happening to cause conflict in Mima’s identity. It is revealed that Mima’s manager Rumi is the killer and is also delusional in believing that she is the real Mima, further conveying the psychological theme of identity. This is elevated to audiences through the visuals of Rumi’s form being Mima’s reflection as she reveals she has been imitating Mima to commit murders, conveying the motifs of reflections to portray ideas of perception. Audiences engage in the mental activity of finally making some sense of what has been going on, as well as reflecting on the narrative in a search for clues to this dramatic plot twist. The climax also features Actress Mima running away from Rumi, who is now portrayed in the form of Pop Idol Mima, echoing the taunting reflection and demonstrating Rumi’s belief that she is Pop Idol Mima who is the true Mima. Audiences observe Pop Idol Mima and Actress Mima fight and call one another an imposter, which solidifies the severance and tension between the two identities. In this stylistic choice of having Rumi attack Mimi in the form of the past Pop Idol Mima, audiences can finally cognitively align the two as distinct people who are opposite and have different extreme goals. Again using Plantinga’s protagonist list, spectators now come to align Pop Idol Mima or Rumi as a “warped protagonist” because her “warped goals” of getting rid of the real Mima to maintain her pop idol status is “unredeemable” (2009), illustrating how cognitive activity in spectators is fluid upon narrative progression as an affective trajectory that changes over time.
Kon combines his thematic values of identity and perception with that of the distortion between reality and illusion, as Mima’s loss of identity elevates the loss of reality and immersion into the illusion. As previously mentioned, Perfect Blue’s narrative involves a TV show, called Double Bind, being shot within the film with Mima having a minor role. This creates a sense of reality and illusion being blurred because spectators have to focus and cognitively align what is Perfect Blue’s story and what is Double Bind’s, something that poses as challenging as scenes that appear to take place in Perfect Blue’s story are later revealed to be the shooting of scenes from Double Bind, with no sharp and separating editing from real life to the film being shot. The story world of Double Bind shares themes with Perfect Blue which steers this confusion in alignment, one notable scene that exemplifies this is the one in which a private investigator claims that one fixed persona is an illusion and that illusions cannot come to reality, fitting with what Mima is struggling within her loss of identity and so audiences can interpret this as reality, however, it is immediately revealed to be a scene from the film and so illusion. This narrative element, as conveyed through the visual style confuses the audience who can struggle to align Mima’s reality with the illusion of the fictional world she is acting in.
As mentioned, Mima comes to find herself struggling to decipher reality and illusion as a result of developing psychosis and the conflict caused by struggling with her identity. This is exemplified in a distressing scene that shows her purposely injuring herself to the point of bleeding, asking if the blood is even real. This shows spectators how detrimental and extreme her lack of a grasped reality is, generating the mental activity of understanding her psyche’s condition and the emotional response of feeling disturbed and unsettled, aligning with the objective of the psychological thriller.
Overall, a cognitive inspection of Kon’s Perfect Blue as supported by Plantinga’s interpretations and criticisms pioneers a landscape of thematic evaluation, genre, narrative and visual style as a means to identify and understand how spectators are mentally engaged to create alignment. Plantinga’s emphasis on a film’s narrative is the key source of cognitive activity applied to Perfect Blue as a result of its thematic values deriving its meaning, despite being communicated stylistically through its visuals for audiences to use.
Perfect Blue’s Phenomenology: Narrative and Visual Style
Kon’s Perfect Blue can be interpreted not only using cognitivism and its mental activity but also phenomenology’s emphasis on sensory qualities during viewership. Sobchack expresses how “contemporary film theory” has been neglectful of “cinema’s sensual address and the viewer’s corporeal material being” (2004), severing the mind and body in the process. Whilst Plantinga would observe Perfect Blue using associations of mental engagement as proposed by the narrative and visual style, Sobchack would describe the sensations of both the film and its effect on audiences as a “phenomenon”, meaning it is an experience. When phenomenology is applied to film, it concerns itself with the worldliness of a film and how spectators are steered to perceive this world the director has created, as when spectators watch a film they engage with the film world as if it were their primary environment. Perfect Blue’s world is kept in the spaces of the TV studio, the subway, Mima’s room and occasionally the pop stage; spectators become immersed in Mima’s situation as carried through the spaces she occupies and is consistently reacting to what is going on. Kon has assigned these areas as the key spaces the audiences’ perceptional field is held to, thus, their understanding of the film world is constructed by the frequent presence of these significant spaces. The order of presentation of Perfect Blue’s film world is dependent upon its narrative and this as an overall and cohesive playing out of events is what engages spectators with a bodily experience. This is supported by phenomenology’s key claim that we perceive experiences as wholes as opposed to parts, therefore, when spectators are perceiving and experiencing a film they do so through a consistent story made up of a cause and effect chain of events. Sobchack speaks to this in her writing, outlining how “the sensuous is located in the events of the narrative” (2004) and signalling phenomenology’s emphasis on a compilation of parts to create an overall experience. In this, Sobchack echoes Plantinga’s interpretation of narrative serving as the key provider of perception and understanding for spectators, however, her interpretation relies upon an engagement with a primary engagement of feeling in experiencing film using senses whereas Plantinga advocates for narrative as endorsed by secondary cognition.
Phenomenology as a lens for watching Perfect Blue would invite spectators to shift focus on which senses are being engaged as the driving force of the film experience, this shift being sight to touch and more bodily sensory reactions. Sobchack comments on this engagement of these two senses in the film viewing experience, “our vision and hearing are informed and given meaning” (2004), illustrating how the perception and understanding of a film are tied to sight and sound as vital tools. This would be exemplified in Kon’s use of visuals, most notably the symbolism of Pop Idol Mima’s reflection creating contrast against Actress Mima which, as previously analysed, is important in spectator understanding of the film. This use of visuals taps into spectators’ senses of viewing to make sense of Perfect Blue’s narrative, this is also paired with hearing as a sense when spectators listen to the dialogue of “I’m the real Mima”. Essentially, spectators are invited to use their bodily senses of sight and hearing as tools for perceiving Mima and what she is experiencing; steered by Kon’s objectives in storytelling. One could propose that Kon’s visuals are phenomenological descriptions used to create meaning, ones that his spectators are trusted to perceive and interpret using their own sensuous understanding as a way to experience his story in an ideal manner. Cognitivism is the methodology that would highlight the significance of Perfect Blue’s visual symbolism, as it generates stimulation for alignment and identification, however, Sobchack encourages perception and engagement that transcends this, as “we do not see any movie only through our eyes”, but rather “feel films with our whole bodily being” (2004). Phenomenology calls for an emphasis on the body and the sensations carried through it, thus, when one is watching Perfect Blue as a phenomenon they would do so without reliance on sight alone.
Kon steers his spectators to engage with their sensuous being to rather extreme levels, notably due to Perfect Blue’s status as a psychological thriller which serves as the core for its choice of meaning, therefore spectators will have their senses combined with some rather unsettling experiences. A significant example of this is the scene where a psychologically distressed Mima cuts her hands using glass to make them bleed; an image that is effective due to its connection to the senses. This is due to how the visuals of sharp glass penetrating Mima’s skin and drawing blood call to the spectators’ senses to live the painful experience themselves, an objective shot of cut skin and bloody hands causes spectators to understand the feeling of this sensation on their own skin. Sobchack speaks to this by stating “our lived bodies sensually relate to things that matter onscreen”, demonstrating explanations for how the film experience of watching Mima’s skin as it is cut open has a visceral effect on the spectator’s body. She progresses with this proposal by arguing how “we see and comprehend and feel films with our entire bodily being, informed by the full history and knowledge of our sensorium” (2004), meaning spectators perceive and respond to films with a sensuous landscape that transcends just sight as exemplified by responses to this unsettling scene.
Kon further displays an assurance of bodily reactions in his spectators through the narrative addition of the rape filming scene in Double Binds. Despite being a work of fiction in the story world, the visual scenario taking place onscreen can generate a visceral reaction due to the intensity of its presentation, as supported by Kon’s use of visuals and editing. This is evident in the prominent merging of senses during the act; the sight of Mima being violated, the sounds of the screams and jeers and the touch of Mima’s body. The crossing of these distinct senses compiles into one intense landscape to elevate the feeling of violation to spectators and the experience as a whole. Sobchack alludes to this in her proposal that “if we are to think yet again about processes of “identification” in the film experience, we might more deeply think them in relation to our engagement with and recognition of neither characters nor “subject positions,” but rather of the sense and sensibility of materiality itself”, which illustrates the significance of a viewer’s primary engagement with their own senses when watching a film. Spectators can align cognitively with Mima in a process of identification or position her objectives, however, these secondary engagements are not the only presentation of film experience. To Sobchack, it is the association of the sensory experience onscreen being translated to a viewer’s own body that speaks to the ultimate viewership, as illustrated in this scene likewise to the hand cutting one.
Perfect Blue progresses with this transcending of sensory experience from the screen to spectators in its climactic chase scene. As the dramatic climax of the film, this scene is tasked with creating the highest sensory reaction in viewers, this is when Mima’s fear is at its highest as well as her vulnerability as a murderous Rumi pursues and attempts to murder her. Spectators perceive Mima’s fear as displayed using camera shots and editing against Rumi and her weapon as the threat and feel it as well due to the intense and threatening environment. The growing intensity of the chase sequence immerses the spectator as it is the boiling point after an ambiguous and vigorous plot progression, thus, it serves as the payoff where spectatorial engagement is at its highest. Audiences perceiving this scene are taken beyond a place of just straightforwardly watching it as they are subjected to the danger and intensity of the situation, something that can cause the bodily reactions of increased heart rate and perspiration. As Sobchack states ”experiencing a movie, not ever merely “seeing” it, my lived body enacts this reversibility in perception and subverts the very notion of on-screen and off-screen as mutually exclusive sites or “subject positions.” This means spectators’ sensory states are not severed from and contrasting to the sensory experience taking place onscreen. The events onscreen can create a feeling of being on edge and thus, spectators are experiencing the film as opposed to just watching it, as Perfect Blue’s spectators undergo the same sensations and interior states Mima does in this scene.
To conclude, Phenomenology provides an understanding of spectators’ bodies and senses during the experience of watching Perfect Blue. One can use this methodology to interact with the sensory realm of film spectatorship, free from claims of a mind and body separation and instead can combine the two. Perfect Blue, likewise to cognition, relies on its narrative and visuals to engage with spectators’ senses. Mima’s experience as communicated through the story and its visuals are where bodily reactions derive from and is supported by its genre of a psychological thriller which influences how it is perceived by consisting of intense and complex subject matter.
Bibliography
Plantinga, Carl R. Moving Viewers: American Film and the Spectator’s Experience. E-book, Berkeley: University of California Press, 2009
Sobchack, Vivian Carol.. Carnal thoughts: embodiment and moving image culture. Berkeley : University of California Press, c2004.