The Ndalianis reading is perhaps one of the most unsettling readings I have ever read. The way in which the mutilation of a character’s eye is described is quite possibly more graphic than watching the film itself. Naturally when stakes are high enough in a film and protagonists and clear and well crafted, the audience become almost surrogate protagonists and start to feel the sensual experiences of the character. I think this is what Ndalianis is suggesting that film has the power if not the intended purpose of sucking its audience in (which I think is why the zombie analogy is quite poignant).
Disgust, she argues, “reminds the living of what they will become—the dead.” This, I think is really profound because of its implications. Certainly I think disgust is transcendent, there is something alienating about horror because every audience member knows consciously that their lives are not actually in danger. But the feeling that horror generates when the brain’s checking system is bypassed (like in a jump scare) is certainly terrifying. For a moment, your fight or flight response is activated.
I think however, that this could be applied to any emotional responses that are brought on by cinema. All of them are transcendent experiences. Just feeling something on behalf of another character is transcendent. If I’m really sucked into a story, I genuinely find it difficult to move after the credits roll. The process of coming back to reality is almost a chore. I think immersion transcends the audience member and if successful the artist can transfer the the audiences consciousness into the characters on-screen.
This of course doesn’t just apply to senses it can also apply to thoughts that the characters have. When a story is genuinely immersive and well constructed the audience and the characters on screen should think the same things at the same times and skilful screenwriters frequently write the audience’s thoughts uncannily. This is why genuinely well constructed, relatable characters are so important, you can’t be immersed in the life of a character that you don’t care about.