Reading internalizes character while film externalizes it into optical signals
Evidence
Reading as an act of perception and apperception probably carries with it a certain kind of internalization; the act of reading a novel is fairly close to a monologue interieur. Visualization in modern mass media makes for externalization. The idea of inwardness, still maintained in older portrait painting through the expressiveness of the face, gives way to unmistakable optical signals that can be grasped at a glance. Even if a character in a movie or television show is not what he appears to be, his appearance is treated in such a way as to leave no doubt about his true nature. — Theodor W. Adorno, The Culture Industry, 338
Categorization
- SEED: Could anchor an essay on how different media distribute the work of interiority between audience and text — reading as monologue interieur versus film’s readable faces.