Aesthetic emotion is a phenomenon in which idea and emotion, or intellect and passion, collide in one single moment. McKee theorizes that in real life, intellectualization and emotion happen separately. For example, if you come across a dead body in real life, you will have an immediate emotional response and a delayed intellectual response. In film, you will experience both side by side: “[W]hereas life separates meaning from emotion, art unites them” (111). While life will give you emotional experiences that accrue more meaning with reflection, art offers emotional experiences that carry meaning in the very same instant. This seemingly conflicting synergy is aesthetic emotion.

An image system is a coherent pattern of symbols and motifs that give depth, complexity, and a sense of unity to a story. Image systems can be external or internal. An external image system is a collective symbolism based on that which already exists in our cultural consciousness: a flag to symbolize patriotism, a cross to symbolize faith, etc. An internal image system builds its own unique symbolism out of the world of the story. Image systems are most effective if used as a broad category of symbols rather than one particular repeated motif—for example, using water in its many forms rather than rain, which is narrower in focus and more limiting.