AI for Understanding Subtext in Film and Drama

AI for Understanding Subtext in Film and Drama offers a novel, rigorous, and deeply reflective approach to one of the most elusive problems in aesthetics and interpretation: how meaning emerges when it is not explicitly stated.

AI for Understanding Subtext in Film and Drama offers a novel, rigorous, and deeply reflective approach to one of the most elusive problems in aesthetics and interpretation: how meaning emerges when it is not explicitly stated. Drawing on film and drama case studies – from Pulp Fiction and Bergman to Pinter and Mamet – Prof. Yair Neuman develops a structured methodology for uncovering subtext through a disciplined tri-alogue between the human reader, the text, and artificial intelligence. The book introduces third-mind hermeneutics: a theoretically grounded, pedagogically applicable framework that uses large language models as tools for attentive observation rather than mechanical explanation. The result is a work that enriches aesthetic experience, sharpens interpretive skill, and extends the analysis of subtext beyond art to everyday human interaction. The book will be of strong interest to researchers and advanced students, scholars in human–AI interaction and AI for the humanities, and educators teaching interpretation, subtext, and critical reading. It is suitable for graduate-level courses, advanced undergraduate seminars, and interdisciplinary programs that bridge the humanities, social sciences, and AI studies.