Recent research shows that movies synchronize the brains of audience members. One could of course logically extrapolate this to plays. Movies and plays are thus potentially very powerful media precisely because they can move entire groups of people, coordinating that group's thoughts.
This was suggested by Russell Berman in his book Fiction Sets You Free in regards to theater, when he suggested that plays promoted democracy. They move groups as a whole to act together. It turns out he is probably right.
Frederick Turner has also suggested in some of his work that the rhythms of formal verse, such as iambic pentameter, synchronize the rhythms of the brain with the rhythms of the poetry. This would be true of spoken verse as well, including that of verse plays. Verse plays would thus be particularly strong in synchronizing the brains of the audience.
This seems to me that verse plays are potentially a quite powerful art form.
1 comment:
Well, Shakespeare thought so, and he did pretty well.
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