Notice Board

Event: Public Professor Series 2026 - 2027

Speaker: Dr. Aaron Talor

Talk Title: Grasping at shadows: Our relationship with cinematic characters

Date: Octobeer, 29, 2026

Location: The Owl - The Owl is now located at: The Old Firehall #1, 402 2nd Ave South

This event is FREE, everyone is welcome

cash bar will be availble 

Bio

Dr. Aaron Taylor is a professor and Board of Governors Teaching Chair and is the inaugural coordinator of the new Bachelor of Arts in Cinema and Media Studies Program at the University of Lethbridge. Since 2006, his professional work has centred on an array of topics, including screen acting, cognitive film theory, fair dealing and the academic use of media, and the transmedia relations between film and comics. As an internationally renowned performance scholar, he is the editor of two acclaimed anthologies on performance and characterization, and the author of over two dozen articles, book chapters and video essays. He jointly leads a scholarly working group on Canadian Media Access and Copyright and currently conducts research on acting and embodied cognition along with colleagues in the psychology and drama departments.

Talk description

Our capacity to connect with people we only ever meet onscreen is a puzzling matter. For example, what enables our feelings for screen characters, and are these feelings “real?” In what special way are actors equipped to bring them to life so convincingly? What happens when these figures are borrowed from other media — say, comic books? And what rights permit us to repurpose their gripping appearances in our social media conversations about them without fearing legal reprisal? Drawing from two decades of media research on acting, superheroes, cognitive theory and copyright, Dr. Aaron Taylor will survey how and why people matter on the silver screen. Join us for a talk on acting, feeling and remaking, and rediscover your own delight in these “picture personalities.”