Automatic/deliberate processing of screen performances and the norms that guide spectators' appraisal

Drawing on a novel account from psychology, I will argue that we can view changing norms and, by extension, stylistic issues in general as a reflection of cognitively rich appraisals. When hypothesizing that automaticity is a matter of degree, we can explain some of the core issues of changing norms, for example, expressive norms on how the performer ought to express emotions in the part. Screen performances require that the spectator processes the performance both in terms of mimetic norms and performance norms; I will argue that we can best understand the context-sensitive nature of such appraisals by viewing the distinction between automatic and deliberate processing as a matter of degree.