This essay is a phenomenological study that explores how the visualisation of hands affects the viewer’s perception of the world in the movie Avatar. The essay analyses three scenes from Avatar, consisting of hands that interact with objects that are unknown to both the movie character and the viewer. The analysis applies theories within phenomenology, perception, cognition, and science fiction as a narrative form, as it aims to explore how viewers perceive the interaction of hands in the context of watching a movie.
The results suggest that the visualisation of hands can have several outcomes, regarding how the viewer reacts while watching the scenes that were involved in this study. The interactions serve a narrative function, as they convey information about the construction of the fictional film world. This in turn, engages the viewer’s interest and creates anticipation. Theories within phenomenology support that viewers can experience sensory perceptions, such as tactile sensations, while watching the scenes. The analysis also concludes that viewers may wish to interact with the film world by using their own hands, as cognition theories support that the presence of hands in our field of vision, prompts us to interpret our surroundings as being interactive.
The findings in this study also conclude that experiences are difficult to measure and interpret, since our perceptions are shaped by our previous experiences and interests. The essay closes with a critical reflection on the results and elaborates on how the findings can be applied to different research fields, such as film narration, medicine, interaction design, UX design, and visual communication, followed by how the analysis in this essay could be expanded into a larger study.