Sensualism – A Theoretical Proposal by Aleksander Kumor and Danuta Palczewska

Rafał Koschany

Abstract

In the article “Sensualism as a Basis for the Study of a Film Work,” Aleksander Kumor and Danuta Palczewska analyse film as an art uniquely affecting the viewer’s senses. The development of film and new possibilities for intensifying sensory perception greatly influence the universalization of film language. The commentary on the article includes a brief reconstruction of the theory proposed in 1963, as well as an attempt to place it in the structural-semiotic paradigm of the time. Above all, however, “Sensualism…” is assessed here as a pioneering exposition significantly foreshadowing changes in film theory that would occur several decades later. A reflection on the development of the sensuous theory, introduced in the 1990s by Vivian Sobchack, allows us to conclude that the early proposal of Polish researchers is fundamentally different from contemporary approaches. For example, today’s language is marked by the individual perspective and experience of the researcher; the viewer’s perception depends on numerous biological, social, and cultural factors; and finally, separate senses, including the sense of touch, have become the subject of specialized, interdisciplinary research. (Non-reviewed material).