‘Forced empathy’: manipulation, trauma and affect in virtual reality film

Raphael Schlembach; Nicola Clewer

doi:10.1177/13678779211007863

‘Forced empathy’: manipulation, trauma and affect in virtual reality film

Raphael Schlembach, Nicola Clewer

Law, Society and Justice Research Excellence Group

Research output: Contribution to journal › Article › peer-review

Abstract

Exploring two recent examples of virtual reality (VR) short films designed to produce visceral experiences (on solitary confinement and on seeking asylum), we call into question claims that assign normative value and even transformative power to the VR medium – imagined as so-called ‘empathy machines’. Drawing on a growing body of literature that seeks to contest such claims, we point to and problematise both the manipulative intent of such projects and the liberal-humanitarian logic, which underpins them. Based on such a logic, advocacy through immersive technologies supposes that if only individuals can be made to ‘feel’ something they will be changed by it and so will their behaviour. Whatever progressive motivations of the content producers, the emphasis on empathetic identification threatens to by-pass critical engagement and raises wider questions about the potentially de-politicising effects of seeking technological solutions to effect social change.

Original language	English
Pages (from-to)	827-843
Number of pages	17
Journal	International Journal of Cultural Studies
Volume	24
Issue number	5
DOIs	https://doi.org/10.1177/13678779211007863
Publication status	Published - 7 Apr 2021

Bibliographical note

This article is distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial 4.0 License (https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc/4.0/) which permits non-commercial use, reproduction and distribution of the work without further permission provided the original work is attributed as specified on the SAGE and Open Access pages (https://us.sagepub.com/en-us/nam/open-access-at-sage).

Funding Information:
We would like to thank the two anonymous reviewers for their thoughtful and detailed comments on earlier versions of this article. The author(s) received no financial support for the research, authorship, and/or publication of this article.

Publisher Copyright:
© The Author(s) 2021.

Keywords

immersive technology
prosthetic memory
vicarious trauma
virtual reality
visceral experience

Access to Document

10.1177/13678779211007863Licence: CC BY-NC

13678779211007863Final published version, 185 KBLicence: CC BY-NC

Cite this

@article{07f09d5133b442bc88b3fd5740d72893,

title = "{\textquoteleft}Forced empathy{\textquoteright}: manipulation, trauma and affect in virtual reality film",

abstract = "Exploring two recent examples of virtual reality (VR) short films designed to produce visceral experiences (on solitary confinement and on seeking asylum), we call into question claims that assign normative value and even transformative power to the VR medium – imagined as so-called {\textquoteleft}empathy machines{\textquoteright}. Drawing on a growing body of literature that seeks to contest such claims, we point to and problematise both the manipulative intent of such projects and the liberal-humanitarian logic, which underpins them. Based on such a logic, advocacy through immersive technologies supposes that if only individuals can be made to {\textquoteleft}feel{\textquoteright} something they will be changed by it and so will their behaviour. Whatever progressive motivations of the content producers, the emphasis on empathetic identification threatens to by-pass critical engagement and raises wider questions about the potentially de-politicising effects of seeking technological solutions to effect social change.",

keywords = "immersive technology, prosthetic memory, vicarious trauma, virtual reality, visceral experience",

author = "Raphael Schlembach and Nicola Clewer",

note = "This article is distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial 4.0 License (https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc/4.0/) which permits non-commercial use, reproduction and distribution of the work without further permission provided the original work is attributed as specified on the SAGE and Open Access pages (https://us.sagepub.com/en-us/nam/open-access-at-sage). Funding Information: We would like to thank the two anonymous reviewers for their thoughtful and detailed comments on earlier versions of this article. The author(s) received no financial support for the research, authorship, and/or publication of this article. Publisher Copyright: {\textcopyright} The Author(s) 2021.",

year = "2021",

month = apr,

day = "7",

doi = "10.1177/13678779211007863",

language = "English",

volume = "24",

pages = "827--843",

journal = "International Journal of Cultural Studies",

issn = "1367-8779",

number = "5",

}

TY - JOUR

T1 - ‘Forced empathy’

T2 - manipulation, trauma and affect in virtual reality film

AU - Schlembach, Raphael

AU - Clewer, Nicola

N1 - This article is distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial 4.0 License (https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc/4.0/) which permits non-commercial use, reproduction and distribution of the work without further permission provided the original work is attributed as specified on the SAGE and Open Access pages (https://us.sagepub.com/en-us/nam/open-access-at-sage). Funding Information: We would like to thank the two anonymous reviewers for their thoughtful and detailed comments on earlier versions of this article. The author(s) received no financial support for the research, authorship, and/or publication of this article. Publisher Copyright: © The Author(s) 2021.

PY - 2021/4/7

Y1 - 2021/4/7

N2 - Exploring two recent examples of virtual reality (VR) short films designed to produce visceral experiences (on solitary confinement and on seeking asylum), we call into question claims that assign normative value and even transformative power to the VR medium – imagined as so-called ‘empathy machines’. Drawing on a growing body of literature that seeks to contest such claims, we point to and problematise both the manipulative intent of such projects and the liberal-humanitarian logic, which underpins them. Based on such a logic, advocacy through immersive technologies supposes that if only individuals can be made to ‘feel’ something they will be changed by it and so will their behaviour. Whatever progressive motivations of the content producers, the emphasis on empathetic identification threatens to by-pass critical engagement and raises wider questions about the potentially de-politicising effects of seeking technological solutions to effect social change.

AB - Exploring two recent examples of virtual reality (VR) short films designed to produce visceral experiences (on solitary confinement and on seeking asylum), we call into question claims that assign normative value and even transformative power to the VR medium – imagined as so-called ‘empathy machines’. Drawing on a growing body of literature that seeks to contest such claims, we point to and problematise both the manipulative intent of such projects and the liberal-humanitarian logic, which underpins them. Based on such a logic, advocacy through immersive technologies supposes that if only individuals can be made to ‘feel’ something they will be changed by it and so will their behaviour. Whatever progressive motivations of the content producers, the emphasis on empathetic identification threatens to by-pass critical engagement and raises wider questions about the potentially de-politicising effects of seeking technological solutions to effect social change.

KW - immersive technology

KW - prosthetic memory

KW - vicarious trauma

KW - virtual reality

KW - visceral experience

UR - http://www.scopus.com/inward/record.url?scp=85104091166&partnerID=8YFLogxK

U2 - 10.1177/13678779211007863

DO - 10.1177/13678779211007863

M3 - Article

SN - 1367-8779

VL - 24

SP - 827

EP - 843

JO - International Journal of Cultural Studies

JF - International Journal of Cultural Studies

IS - 5

ER -

‘Forced empathy’: manipulation, trauma and affect in virtual reality film

Abstract

Bibliographical note

Keywords

Access to Document

Other files and links

Fingerprint

Cite this