[...]n and the Witch. Federici, in search of the manifestations of misogyny, aggressively frames the slss="trms">cene of a feminist encounter with witch-hunt as a kind of antagonistic trial of lss="trms">social organization of the Middle Ages in lss="trms">transition to early capitalism... a mode of attention that is equally didactic and forensic as the witch inquisitors<lgc clss='lgc'>]lgc>

recognition of the struggle that lay at the heart of raising testimony to the status of the “really real” <lgc clss='lgc'>--lgc>l clss="ppl">Avitall><lgc clss='lgc'><lgc clss='lgc'>--lgc>>lgc> Griaule aggressively frames the slss="trms">cene of ethnographic encounter itself as a kind of antagonistic trial (whereby the ghosts and gods of the natives are forced out of the shadows and made concretely apparent to the senses of the lss="trms">anthropologist)
ls clss='strcls'>*ls>fieldwork <lgc clss='lgc'><lgc clss='lgc'>==lgc>>lgc> knowllss="trms"nttrm="knowledge,Knowledge">edge of hauntings that is itself hauntedls clss='strcls'>*ls>

lss="trms">imaginative result of “I-witnessing”

<lrg clss="large lg2" stl="font-size:111%"> ls clss='strcls'>*ls>paradoxical necessity of an expressive element within an objective test in lss="trms">relation to what would other wise be nonsensels clss='strcls'>*ls> is evident in many of the examples of 16th century visual culture <lgc clss='lgc'><lgc clss='lgc'>--lgc>>lgc> lss="nms">ajayeb lss="trms">bestiary

lrg>
trial by ordeal
(illustrated in Eduard Fuchs)
the case<lgc clss='lgc'>:lgc> if the woman floats she is clearly able to conlss="trms">travene the lss="trms">nature and is therefore a witch or heretic; if she sinks, she has made no such pact with Satan
lss="prgrph">-procedural expertise <lgc clss='lgc'><lgc clss='lgc'>--lgc>>lgc> trial by water here functions as ls clss='strcls'>*ls>experiment as much as a punishmentls clss='strcls'>*ls> designed to reveal an other wise invisible truth

testimony <lgc clss='lgc'>+lgc> experimental results <lgc clss='lgc'>+lgc> expert inquisitorial lss="trms">interpretation <lgc clss='lgc'><lgc clss='lgc'>==lgc>>lgc> early version of the ‘case study’ (synthesized as evidence in service of accounting for variation that exceeded general laws regarding lss="trms">relations and lss="trms">phenomenon in the lss="trms">world)
l clss="ppl">Baxstroml> <lgc clss='lgc'>+lgc> l clss="ppl">Meyersl>

(lss="nms">ajayeb's) individual cases<lgc clss='lgc'>:lgc> an effective strategy in providing analytic (and lss="trms">lss="trms">empirical) purchase for lss="trms">phenomenon that were other wise invisible to even the discerning eye of the expert <lgc clss='lgc'><<lgc clss='lgc'>--lgc>lgc> ls clss='strcls'>**ls>to move away from a reliance on lss="trms">lss="trms"nttrm="metaph,metamorph,metabol,metal">metaphysicsls clss='strcls'>**ls>


ls clss='strcls'>**ls>medicalization of the invisiblels clss='strcls'>**ls>

possession
set the lss="trms">stage for the explicit medicalization of the mobile invisible forces that experts had been struggling to master, explain, and take lss="trms">measures against <lgc clss='lgc'><lgc clss='lgc'>--lgc>>lgc> a new mode that was equally ls clss='strcls'>*ls>didactic and forensicls clss='strcls'>*ls> (as the theological frameworks deployed by inquisitors and the exorcise of demons by Church)

witchlss="trms">craft, faith healing, and demonic possession
Bibliotheque diabolique <lgc clss='lgc'><lgc clss='lgc'>--lgc>>lgc> case studies to delss="trms">monstrate the precariousness of misrelss="trms">presentation and the consequences of ignorance <lgc clss='lgc'><lgc clss='lgc'>ld>~ld>lgc>=lgc> investigations collected by Charcot and his students in their studies of hysteria
<lsts clss="lsts lst1">•clarifying the link between witchlss="trms">craft and hysteria
lsts>
ls clss='strcls'>*ls>witch hunting and the exorcism of spirits in the 16th century (<lgc clss='lgc'><lgc clss='lgc'>--lgc>>lgc> antiquated forms of inquiry) <lgc clss='lgc'><lgc clss='lgc'>ld>~ld>lgc>=lgc>lss='qstn'>?! clinical studies of nervous illness in the 19th century <lgc clss='lgc'><lgc clss='lgc'>--lgc>>lgc> conceptual scaflss="trms">folding of the emergent lss="trms">sciencels clss='strcls'>*ls><lgc clss='lgc'>:lgc>
<lsts clss="lsts lst1">•fascination with the secondary visible effects of primary invisible forces
lsts> <lsts clss="lsts lst1">•long-term labor of lss="trms">social lss="trms">interpretation that required the mutation of old lss="trms">categories and the creation of new ones
lsts>lrg>
<lgc clss='lgc'><lgc clss='lgc'>==lgc>>lgc> “witch<lgc clss='lgc'> = lgc>misdiagnosed”

epilepsy, the sacred disease, erroneously perceived as resulting from hostile magic
<lgc clss='lgc'>=/=lgc> hysteria (hold a special place in the moral lss="trms">imaginary)

the special susceptibility of women to witchlss="trms">craft mirrored the “feminine weakness” aslss="trms">sociated with the hysteric, exacerbated by low lss="trms">social status
lss="prgrph">-in countless accounts of possession, we find descriptions of demons speaking through the mouths of girls
<lgc clss='lgc'>[lgc>l clss="ppl">Baxstroml> <lgc clss='lgc'>+lgc> l clss="ppl">Meyersl> <lgc clss='lgc'>=/=lgc> Federici's flat analysis of witch hunt as the tool of subjugation of the local population or of woman by men<lgc clss='lgc'>]lgc>

tableau vivant <lgc clss='lgc'>--lgc>into<lgc clss='lgc'><lgc clss='lgc'>--lgc>>lgc> tableau clinique <lgc clss='lgc'>--lgc>into<lgc clss='lgc'><lgc clss='lgc'>--lgc>>lgc> tableau critique

hysterical reliving of the olss="trms"nttrm="righ,rigo,riga,rigi,trig,rign">riginal lss="trms">symptom <lgc clss='lgc'><lgc clss='lgc'>--lgc>>lgc> reframed trauma<lgc clss='lgc'>:lgc> an attempt to suspend the two temporalities (real and relss="trms">imagined) in the same image
lss='at'>@lss="frds scrmbld">Hoda

one element of fascination with hysteria was its “look” <lgc clss='lgc'><lgc clss='lgc'>--lgc>>lgc> hysteria's lss="trms">aesthetic link to forms of possession

possession <lgc clss='lgc'><lgc clss='lgc'>--lgc>>lgc> aneasthesias, amnesias, subconscious acts, lss="trms">somnambulisms, fixed ideas

a scaflss="trms">folding<lgc clss='lgc'>:lgc> conceptually arranged chasm between outer and inner states <lgc clss='lgc'><lgc clss='lgc'>==lgc>>lgc>
<lsts clss="lsts lst1">•exorcists building on the lss="trms">techniques of inquisitors and witch hunters <lgc clss='lgc'><lgc clss='lgc'>--lgc>>lgc> possession acts as the bridge across this chasm
lsts> <lsts clss="lsts lst1">•lss="trms">neurologists and psychologists construct the same
lsts> <lgc clss='lgc'>--lgc>lss='not'>✕<lgc clss='lgc'><lgc clss='lgc'>--lgc>>lgc> (Malinowski's) lss="trms">anthropologists<lgc clss='lgc'>:lgc> fieldworkers as truth-tellers returning from the dark corners of the real (the witches are no longer explicitly the target of the inquiry)

lss="nms">Häxan's real object<lgc clss='lgc'>:lgc> the specter of sheer nonsense

hunt (even in objective lss="trms">scientific mastery) <lgc clss='lgc'><lgc clss='lgc'>--lgc>>lgc> fueled by a desire operationalized in a lss="trms">method of being close enough to something to sense it

lrg>lbrkr stl="display:block;white-space:nowrap;margin-bottom:-1em;overflow:hidden;">...................................lbrkr>

(lss='qstn'>?every time we have to) show how ls clss='strcls'>*ls>the word (that we are using) relates to meaningls clss='strcls'>*ls>

Christensen makes every effort to lss="trms">craft a witch that is real to us <lgc clss='lgc'>:lgc> lss="trms">ontological fluidity of a cinematic image <lgc clss='lgc'><lgc clss='lgc'>==lgc>>lgc> “lss="nms">Häxan<lgc clss='lgc'> = lgc>word <lgc clss='lgc'>+lgc> image <lgc clss='lgc'>+lgc> thing”

metoposcopy<lgc clss='lgc'>:lgc> the expression of reasoning was to be found on the face, (dating back to Girolamo Cardano and the Renaissance) the operation of reason as the weaving together of images in the mind <lgc clss='lgc'><lgc clss='lgc'>--lgc>>lgc> a proto-cinematic theory of the lss="trms">relation between image and thought if ever there was one

<lsts clss="lsts lst1">•relss="trms">spectable scholar indexes himself through his sources
lsts> <lsts clss="lsts lst1">•lss="trms">authoritarian first-person tenor <lgc clss='lgc'><lgc clss='lgc'>--lgc>>lgc> lss="trms">instrumentally impersonal tenor
lsts> <lsts clss="lsts lst1">•establishing the X as a chapter within a much longer constellation of practices, discourses, traditions, and institutions
lsts>
Kieckhefer <lgc clss='lgc'><lgc clss='lgc'>--lgc>>lgc> how the long lss="trms">history of practical lss="trms">natural magic was enlss="trms">folded into the lss="trms">specificity of European witchlss="trms">craft in the late Middle Ages

Christ in lss='trgt hghlght 1'href='?q=L'>Limbo <lgc clss='lgc'><lgc clss='lgc'>--lgc>>lgc> Christensen's parallel editing <lgc clss='lgc'><lgc clss='lgc'>==lgc>>lgc> moving relss="trms">presentation of a terra-centered universe <lgc clss='lgc'><<lgc clss='lgc'>~lgc><lgc clss='lgc'>~lgc>lgc> elaborate lss="trms">wonders found in baroque wunderkammer (meticulously assembled by the German elite)


Renaissance Hermeticism<lgc clss='lgc'>:lgc>
lss="trms">writings of Hermes Trimesgistus <lgc clss='lgc'><lgc clss='lgc'><lgc clss='lgc'>ld>~ld>lgc>=lgc>>lgc> foundation for<lgc clss='lgc'>:lgc>
<lsts clss="lsts lst1">•Ficino's relatively mild lss="trms">natural magic
lsts> <lsts clss="lsts lst1">•Pico della Mlss="nms">irandola's lss="frds scrmbld"nttrm="Christianson">Christian Cabalss="trms"nttrm="listen,alist,ilist,llist,olist,ylist,ulist">list
lsts> <lsts clss="lsts lst1">•Agrippa's lss="frds scrmbld"nttrm="Christianson">Christian magus
lsts> <lsts clss="lsts lst1">•Tommaso Campanella's (1568–1639) utopian City of the Sun
lsts> <lsts clss="lsts lst1">•l clss="ppl">Brunol>'s full-blown Hermetic–Cabalss="trms"nttrm="listen,alist,ilist,llist,olist,ylist,ulist">list (through the power of astrology and magic to bypass the Church altogether)
lsts> <lsts clss="lsts lst1">•
lsts>
...rippling effects of the Hermetic–Cabalss="trms"nttrm="listen,alist,ilist,llist,olist,ylist,ulist">list tradition <lgc clss='lgc'><lgc clss='lgc'>--lgc>>lgc>
<lsts clss="lsts lst1">•scrupulously mathematical astrology of Girolamo Cardano
lsts> <lsts clss="lsts lst1">•the lss="trms"nttrm="righ,rigo,riga,rigi,trig,rign">rigorously lss="trms">lss="trms">empirical studies of the lss="trms">natural lss="trms">world lss="trms">demanded by l clss="ppl">Brunol>'s attempts to operate as a magus
lsts> <lgc clss='lgc'>}lgc><lgc clss='lgc'><lgc clss='lgc'>==lgc>>lgc> (paved the way for) lss="trms">science of l clss="ppl">Newtonl> and Copernicus <lgc clss='lgc'><lgc clss='lgc'>--lgc>>lgc> a new lss="trms">lss="trms"nttrm="metaph,metamorph,metabol,metal">metaphysics to emerge

attacks on Renaissance magic and the Hermetic–Cabalss="trms"nttrm="listen,alist,ilist,llist,olist,ylist,ulist">list tradition (that lss="trms">authorized witch) <lgc clss='lgc'><lgc clss='lgc'>==lgc>>lgc> anti-witch treatises

(case of Giordano l clss="ppl">Brunol>'s execution <lgc clss='lgc'><lgc clss='lgc'>--lgc>>lgc> Hermetic magic and Cabalism) how in the 16th century<lgc clss='lgc'>:lgc> “superstition<lgc clss='lgc'> = lgc>crime”


(Christensen attributing) <lgc clss='lgc'><lgc clss='lgc'>--lgc>>lgc> Hortus deliciarum, a largely cohesive image of hell to a period when the lss="trms">nature of hell's location and “topography” was a subject of fierce theological debate
lss="prgrph">-he strategically ignores debates and alternate conceptions of damnation that existed in the 15th and 16th centuries in Europe

<lgc clss='lgc'>[lgc>that which you choose<lgc clss='lgc'>]lgc> works to amplify lss="trms">affect more than further analysis (<lgc clss='lgc'><lgc clss='lgc'>--lgc>>lgc> such as Christensen's attempt to heighten the fiery terror of the slss="trms">cene by billowing smoke <lgc clss='lgc'><lgc clss='lgc'>==lgc>>lgc> عام generic explanation)



...a palpable sexual dimension crepting into Christensen's thesis <lgc clss='lgc'><<lgc clss='lgc'>--lgc>lgc> images of women “sneaking away” to attend Sabbats

lss="nms">Häxan visually grounds itself in lss="trms">citable evidence from the start
<lsts clss="lsts lst1">•cinema<lgc clss='lgc'>:lgc> (as an lss="trms">instrument for “recording reality”) a vehicle for “telling the truth” about the lss="trms">world <lgc clss='lgc'>[lgc>in early 1920s<lgc clss='lgc'>]lgc>
lsts>
<lrg clss="large lg6" stl="font-size:115%"> when documentary was not yet documentary <lgc clss='lgc'>--lgc> lss="trms">fiction wasn't lss="trms">fiction yet either <lgc clss='lgc'>--lgc>Chanan<lgc clss='lgc'><lgc clss='lgc'>--lgc>>lgc><lgc clss='lgc'>{lgc>
moving pictures<lgc clss='lgc'> = lgc>visual tidbits لقمه چرب ونرم
made no lss="trms">demands on lss="trms">literacy (<lgc clss='lgc'><lgc clss='lgc'>==lgc>>lgc> splss="trms"nttrm="already,spread">read easily)
whe lss="trms">world on the screen remained anecdotal (and predominantly iconic)
practically inlss="trms">articulate (in terms of public discourse)<lgc clss='lgc'>}lgc>

(1900) visual meaning-making machines that lss="trms">demanded not only attention but belief (by lss="trms">staging as real reenactments) <lgc clss='lgc'><lgc clss='lgc'>--lgc>>lgc> mutated the desire to see far-off contemporary events
<lsts clss="lsts lst1">•<lgc clss='lgc'><lgc clss='lgc'>--lgc>>lgc> Attack on a China lss="trms">Mission Station (1900), Hunting Big Game in Africa (1907), and With Captain Scott, R.N., the South Pole (1912), The Battle of the Somme (1916) and With Our Heroes at the Somme (Bei unseren Helden an der Somme, 1917)
lsts>
(l clss="ppl">Baxstroml> <lgc clss='lgc'>+lgc> l clss="ppl">Meyersl>) lss="trms">question of lss="trms">mimesis
lss="prgrph">-what is the lss="trms">relation between a fragmentary visual artifact drawn “from life” and the truth value of any such fragmentslss='qstn'>?
lss="prgrph">-what lss="trms">sorts of filmmaking practices can felicitously mimic life as suchlss='qstn'>?

<lgc clss='lgc'>[lgc>lss='thdf'>for example in Curtis's In the lss='trgt hghlght 1'href='?q=L'>Land of the War Canoes<lgc clss='lgc'>]lgc> status of reenactment <lgc clss='lgc'><lgc clss='lgc'>==lgc>>lgc> prevailing standards of expressing the real

<lgc clss='lgc'>--lgc>later <lgc clss='lgc'><lgc clss='lgc'>--lgc>>lgc> crypto-structuralss="trms"nttrm="listen,alist,ilist,llist,olist,ylist,ulist">list olss="trms"nttrm="righ,rigo,riga,rigi,trig,rign">rigin myth that falsely relss="trms">presented what “documentary” meant to pre-Griersonian filmmakers <lgc clss='lgc'><lgc clss='lgc'>==lgc>>lgc> “realss="trms"nttrm="listen,alist,ilist,llist,olist,ylist,ulist">list” lss='trgt hghlght 1'href='?q=L'>Lumiere <lgc clss='lgc'>=/=lgc> the “fanciful” Melies

<lgc clss='lgc'>}lgc><lgc clss='lgc'><lgc clss='lgc'>--lgc>>lgc> ls clss='strcls'>*ls>gap between witnessing and the realls clss='strcls'>*ls> in Europe (this lss="trms">question of evidence occupied inquisitors and theologians long before the invention of cinema)


preparing viewers for the “diegetic absorption”
(telling of a lss="trms">story by a lss="trms">narrator) diegesis <lgc clss='lgc'>=/=lgc> lss="trms">mimesis

the strategy of “relss="trms">imaging” is lss="trms">methodological and intentional (in the opening minutes of the film lss="nms">Häxan) <lgc clss='lgc'><lgc clss='lgc'>--lgc>>lgc> (in European terms, for a very long time<lgc clss='lgc'>:lgc>) “knowllss="trms"nttrm="knowledge,Knowledge">edge<lgc clss='lgc'> = lgc>relss="trms">citations of the known”

<lgc clss='lgc'>+lgc> creation of new images <lgc clss='lgc'><lgc clss='lgc'>--lgc>>lgc> constituting its own evidence for what is at stake
(Christensen designating) ls clss='strcls'>**ls>lss="trms">techniques of lss="trms">presentation rather than simple contentls clss='strcls'>**ls>

ls clss='strcls'>****ls>the “truth” gained by the reproduction of archival imagesls clss='strcls'>****ls> <lgc clss='lgc'><<lgc clss='lgc'>==lgc>lgc>through<lgc clss='lgc'>==lgc> their mobility in the context of their new use
<lgc clss='lgc'><lgc clss='lgc'>--lgc>>lgc> (similar to Farocki) Christensen empties out such visual artifacts, expressing through their preestablished frame a meaning that was hidden and resisted



(l clss="ppl">Baxstroml> <lgc clss='lgc'>+lgc> l clss="ppl">Meyersl> carefully treating the) lss="trms">methodological element of Christensen's image-making practices <lgc clss='lgc'>--lgc>in<lgc clss='lgc'><lgc clss='lgc'>--lgc>>lgc> lss="nms">Häxan's depiction of the violent moral disorder of the lss="trms">Wild Ride of the witches to their Sabbats

(16th century) lss="trms">Wild Ride<lgc clss='lgc'>:lgc> a standard element of both demonological and popular lss="trms">literary accounts of the activities of witches, lss="trms">folding<lgc clss='lgc'>:lgc>
<lsts clss="lsts lst1">•older legends of lss="trms">wild hunters
lsts> <lsts clss="lsts lst1">•restless lss="trms">travels of the dead at night
lsts> <lsts clss="lsts lst1">•tales of the Furious Horde (a super lss="trms">natural band that was not olss="trms"nttrm="righ,rigo,riga,rigi,trig,rign">riginally aslss="trms">sociated with witchlss="trms">craft)
lsts> <lsts clss="lsts lst1">•twisted chaos of the deep forest
lsts> Canon Episcopi regarding the power of demonic illusion to deceive women into lss="trms">imagining that they could lss="trms">travel great distances at night, often in the company of the goddess Diana
<lgc clss='lgc'>}lgc><lgc clss='lgc'><lgc clss='lgc'>--lgc>>lgc> conjoining of witch image to demonological discourse <lgc clss='lgc'>[lgc><lgc clss='lgc'><<lgc clss='lgc'>--lgc>lgc> an lss="trms">lss="trms">empirically verifiable invention in the late medieval period and the Renaissance<lgc clss='lgc'>]lgc>

ls clss='strcls'>*ls>the oscillating value of the non-lss="trms">fictivels clss='strcls'>*ls> (of its discrete artifacts)

hybrid human–lss="trms">animal creatures with each “lss="trms">natural” lss="trms">species being traceable within the complete appearance of the demonic creature
lrg>

(coming into contemporary performance art <lgc clss='lgc'><lgc clss='lgc'>--lgc>>lgc>) figures from antiquity<lgc clss='lgc'>:lgc>
<lsts clss="lsts lst1">•Saturn lss='at'>@lss="frds scrmbld"nttrm="Alex,Alert,Aleph,Alessi">Ale
lsts> <lsts clss="lsts lst1">•Circe lss='at'>@lss="frds scrmbld">Bryana (changing men into lss="trms">beasts, games of chance, gambling, tricks, slight of hand, illusion, hybrid lss="trms">animal–human forms of the demons dancing around the “grandmother” with surprisingly young and beautiful appearance <lgc clss='lgc'>--lgc>melancholy<lgc clss='lgc'><lgc clss='lgc'>--lgc>>lgc> general sense of sexual and lss="trms">societal disorder swirling around a placid, passive female protagonist) <lgc clss='lgc'>+lgc> lss="trms">lss="trms">empirical strain of the discourse of the witch
lsts> <lsts clss="lsts lst1">•Sabbat lss='at'>@lss="frds scrmbld">Jassem
lsts> <lsts clss="lsts lst1">•
lsts> <lgc clss='lgc'><lgc clss='lgc'>--lgc>>lgc>

pact of the witch
obsessed state of the hysteric
lss="trms">interplay of face and tableau

(Warburg's assertion that) donning a mask constitutes an active attempt “to wrest something magical from lss="trms">nature through the transformation of the person”
<lgc clss='lgc'>[lgc>putting on a mask <lgc clss='lgc'><lgc clss='lgc'>--lgc>>lgc> transformation of the person <lgc clss='lgc'><lgc clss='lgc'>--lgc>>lgc> obtaining omething magical from lss="trms">nature<lgc clss='lgc'>]lgc>

Christensen formally constructing “the witch” through a cinematic iteration of metoposcopic lss="trms">naturalism
(metoposcopy<lgc clss='lgc'>:lgc> a form of divination in which the diviner predicts personality, character, and destiny, based on the pattern of lines on the subject's forehead.)

(l clss="ppl">Avitall>) lss="trms">scientific imperative (the lss="trms">demand in the 19th century for an lss="trms">epistemological relss="trms">liable inquiry in the lss="trms">nature of things) <lgc clss='lgc'><<lgc clss='lgc'>--lgc>lgc> fascination for the freak and the occult <lgc clss='lgc'><<lgc clss='lgc'>--lgc>lgc> on the way to lss="trms">technology


(l clss="ppl">Baxstroml> <lgc clss='lgc'>+lgc> l clss="ppl">Meyersl> > Philippe Alain-Michaud on Warburg) “in Mnemosyne, photographic reproduction is not merely illustrative but a general plastic medium to which all figures are reduced before being arranged in the space of a panel. In this way, the viewer participates in two successive transformations of the olss="trms"nttrm="righ,rigo,riga,rigi,trig,rign">riginal lss="trms">material<lgc clss='lgc'>:lgc> lss="trms">different types of objects (paintings, reliefs, drawings, architecture, living beings) ls clss='strcls'>*ls>are unified through photographyls clss='strcls'>*ls> before being arranged on the panel stretched with black cloth. The panel is in turn ls clss='strcls'>*ls>rephotographed in order to create a unique imagels clss='strcls'>*ls>, which will be inserted into a series intended to take the form of a lss="trms">book. The atlas, then, does not limit itself to describing the migrations of images through the lss="trms">history of relss="trms">presentation<lgc clss='lgc'>:lgc> it reproduces them. In this sense, it is based on a cinematic mode of thought, one that, by using figures, aims at not lss="trms">articulating meaning but at producing effects.”


transgressive approach to the archive<lgc clss='lgc'>:lgc>
<lsts clss="lsts lst1">•Gerhard Richter's Atlas, 2006
lsts> <lsts clss="lsts lst1">•Jean-lss='trgt hghlght 1'href='?q=L'>Luc lss="frds scrmbld"nttrm="Godard">Godard's lss="trms">Histoire(s) du cinema, 1988
lsts> <lsts clss="lsts lst1">•Christensen's lss="nms">Häxan
lsts> <lsts clss="lsts lst1">•Warburg’ Mnemosyne (lss="trms">presentation of a series of visual cliches and stereotypes, fragments which were most likely allss="trms"nttrm="already,spread">ready familiar to the viewer <lgc clss='lgc'>~lgc> lss="trms">figurative givens <lgc clss='lgc'><lgc clss='lgc'>==lgc>>lgc> lss="trms">lss="trms">empirical evidence <lgc clss='lgc'>+lgc> media to conjure with)
lsts> <lsts clss="lsts lst1">•l clss="ppl">Bataillel>'s journal ‘Documents’ 1929–30 <lgc clss='lgc'><lgc clss='lgc'>--lgc>>lgc> seizes cliched objects and then lss="trms">systematically empties them out in the course of its own expressions. l clss="ppl">Bataillel> and his contributors sought to defamiliarize the cliches, disturbing the placidly deceptive surface of the mundane in their fragmentary, juxtaposing lss="trms">methods of critique and lss="trms">presentation <lgc clss='lgc'>=/=lgc> Warburg <lgc clss='lgc'>+lgc> Christensen collecting mythological, lss="trms">figurative givens seemingly quite distant from the “really” real
lsts> <lgc clss='lgc'>}lgc><lgc clss='lgc'><lgc clss='lgc'>--lgc>>lgc> unsettling distances between myth and the everyday
lss="prgrph">-weave together episodic fragments in order to draw parallels (across domains of sense that cut across time) and corlss="trms">respondences across lss="trms">situations and characters
lss="prgrph">-lss="nms">Häxan deploys the lss="trms">techniques aslss="trms">sociated with Warburg's Mnemosyne and l clss="ppl">Bataillel>'s Documents for purposes of lss="trms">affectively emphasizing the dark, chaotic forces that lss="trms"nttrm="failure,blur,plur,lurk,tallur,slur">lurk under the smooth surface of the everyday
(lss="nms">Häxan's episodic structure <lgc clss='lgc'><lgc clss='lgc'>==lgc>>lgc>)
<lsts clss="lsts lst1">•characters seemingly out of a dead lss="trms">past to live again
lsts> <lsts clss="lsts lst1">•draw the lss="trms">phenomenology of the hysteric
lsts> <lsts clss="lsts lst1">•draw the work's own contemporary time to the surface
lsts>

promiscuous<lgc clss='lgc'>:lgc> neither wholly artistic nor lss="trms">scientific <lgc clss='lgc'>=/=lgc>lss='qstn'>? hybrid artistic and lss="trms">scientific

lss="trms">traverse steep slope between lss="trms">past and future in the form of an event <lgc clss='lgc'>=/=lgc> plot


<lrg clss="large lg10" stl="font-size:107%"> inability to automatically lss="trms">categorize lss="nms">Häxan (or any work of art) <lgc clss='lgc'><<lgc clss='lgc'>==lgc>lgc> ls clss='strcls'>***ls>formal strategy rooted in an lss="trms">epistemic virtuels clss='strcls'>***ls>

lrg>
ls clss='strcls'>***ls>(in later Middle Ages) practices such as persecuting witchlss="trms">craft to meditating on Christ<lgc clss='lgc'> = lgc>lss="trms">techniques (of lss="trms">sorting operation) to draw distinctions among visual lss="trms">phenomena, lss="trms">differentiating, say, physical objects from fantasies, dreams, and diabolical or artful deceptions
<lgc clss='lgc'><<lgc clss='lgc'>--lgc>lgc>artist<lgc clss='lgc'>--lgc> image-makers specialized in manipulating one thing (their lss="trms">materials) in order that a viewer should see something else <lgc clss='lgc'>~lgc> ls clss='strcls'>*ls>to make something invisible visiblels clss='strcls'>*ls> <lgc clss='lgc'>[lgc><lgc clss='lgc'><<lgc clss='lgc'>--lgc>lgc> this is always ideological, and is very common in art<lgc clss='lgc'>]lgc>
(lss='at'>#testing) the objective knowllss="trms"nttrm="knowledge,Knowledge">edge possessed by the uncanny (in witch's pathological lss="trms">language of diabolic proofs) <lgc clss='lgc'><lgc clss='lgc'>==lgc>>lgc> witch must be experienced in her own milieu, a satanic biome, her state in lss="trms">nature

lrg>lbrkr stl="display:block;white-space:nowrap;margin-bottom:-1em;overflow:hidden;">...................................lbrkr>

typical in 17th century<lgc clss='lgc'>:lgc> tacit lss="trms">mutuality of word lss='and'>& image
lss="prgrph">-artists habitually gave their paintings titles, mottoes, tags and quotations, and their works abound in lss="trms">literary allusions
lss="prgrph">-explicit lss="trms">interleaving of the lss="trms">verbal and visual


cat feces and dove hearts boiled in the moonlight

stereotype of a debased and corrupted priest
object of the customer's lss="trms">affections


Protestant discourse against the Catholic Church in the 16th century <lgc clss='lgc'><lgc clss='lgc'>--lgc>>lgc> artists of the period extended the lss="trms">instrumentalization of slander through the production of proto-pornographic images of bishops, priests, and the pope engaged in myriad obslss="trms">cene acts <lgc clss='lgc'>--lgc>depicting<lgc clss='lgc'><lgc clss='lgc'>--lgc>>lgc> the emotional states and desires of the clergy

magical salves (considered particularly powerful and troubling by demonologists)

lss="nms">Häxan self-lss="trms">positioning as a lss="trms">scientific investigation <lgc clss='lgc'>+lgc> constantly pull back from the dramatic outcomes of what lss="nms">Häxan depicts

lss="nms">Häxan's delss="trms">monstration of the power of the witch <lgc clss='lgc'>=/=lgc> lss="trms">paranoid delusions of witch- crazed villagers


widely held set of beliefs regarding the “lss="trms">nature” or “essence” of women
Christina lss='trgt hghlght 1'href='?q=L'>Larner's assertion that witch trials were gender-related (but not by delss="trms">finition gender-lss="trms">specific)
<lgc clss='lgc'>--lgc>l clss="ppl">Baxstroml><lgc clss='lgc'><lgc clss='lgc'>--lgc>>lgc> ls clss='strcls'>*ls>women often came under suspicion of being witches because they were understood to be particularly susceptible to lust, avarice, and jealousy by their very lss="trms">nature <lgc clss='lgc'>[lgc><lgc clss='lgc'>~lgc> 16th century<lgc clss='lgc'>:lgc> ls clss='strcls'>**ls>women “lss="trms">naturally” susceptible to witchlss="trms">craftls clss='strcls'>***ls> <lgc clss='lgc'>+lgc> women were presumed to possess elements of the lss="trms">nature more than men<lgc clss='lgc'>]lgc> <lgc clss='lgc'>=/=lgc> Federici's understanding of witch-hunt as straight-forward instance of misogynyls clss='strcls'>*ls>
<lgc clss='lgc'>--lgc>Roper<lgc clss='lgc'><lgc clss='lgc'>--lgc>>lgc> ls clss='strcls'>*ls>one cannot approach witchlss="trms">craft or possession from a vantage point in the lss="trms">present without granting some legitimate status to the ways in which the Devil and witches were not only asserted to be real but were experienced as suchls clss='strcls'>*ls>


(debates over) politics and evil
satan's malefic lss="trms">presence (in Dreyer's lss='trgt hghlght 1'href='?q=L'>Leaves)
ls clss='strcls'>*ls>a lss="trms">density of parallelismsls clss='strcls'>*ls>
Dreyer figures Satan as a problem of the lss="trms">present
“Bolsheviks violently engaged in revolutionary struggle<lgc clss='lgc'> = lgc>manifestation of a transcendental demonic power”

lss="trms">question of theodicy <lgc clss='lgc'><lgc clss='lgc'>--lgc>>lgc> God's seeming absence from the lss="trms">world

sleep-walking <lgc clss='lgc'><lgc clss='lgc'>--lgc>>lgc> enticing a nude female lss="trms">somnambulss="trms"nttrm="listen,alist,ilist,llist,olist,ylist,ulist">list out of her home into the forest, where she eventually kneels before a demon who embraces her

proving sexual lss="trms">relations with the devil <lgc clss='lgc'><lgc clss='lgc'>==lgc>>lgc> lss="trms">lss="trms">empirical evidence for satan's existence

(l clss="ppl">Benjaminl> > Christensen's art sets out) to conquer meaning


...so it is no stretch to suglss="trms">gest that...

subject and subtext
lrg>


dreamtime of the 16h century
dreamtime of the witch


<lsts clss="lsts lst1">•Durer, Baldung, Cranach, artists at the dawn of the Reformation sought to relss="trms">present the void as a figure
lsts> <lsts clss="lsts lst1">•strategies by which Expressionist painting sought to externalize states of mind
lsts>
<lrg clss="large lg6" stl="font-size:115%"> (l clss="ppl">Baxstroml> <lgc clss='lgc'>+lgc> l clss="ppl">Meyersl> emphasizing) how lss="nms">Häxan ls clss='strcls'>*ls>corlss="trms">responds with a variety of traditionsls clss='strcls'>*ls> without seeking to assimilate the film fully within one over another



stillness and fixity of tableau-like shot comlss="trms">position (Dreyer, Murnau, Christensen) <lgc clss='lgc'><lgc clss='lgc'>==lgc>>lgc> (the lss="trms">affect of) suffocating organization

l clss="ppl">Deleuzl>e summary of Expressionism<lgc clss='lgc'>:lgc> play of light and darkness, with the mixture of the two producing an effect that suglss="trms">gests either falling into the black hole or ascending towards the light <lgc clss='lgc'><<lgc clss='lgc'>--lgc>lgc> ls clss='strcls'>*ls>facels clss='strcls'>*ls> makes this lss="trms">affective power mobile

<lsts clss="lsts lst1">•(in Murnau) tableau <lgc clss='lgc'><lgc clss='lgc'>--lgc>>lgc> frees the viewer for introspection regarding lss="trms">nature in a kind of emotional, spiritual release <lgc clss='lgc'>=/=lgc> close-up (disruptive pathos)
lsts> <lsts clss="lsts lst1">•(in lss="nms">Häxan) tableau <lgc clss='lgc'><lgc clss='lgc'>--lgc>>lgc> grounds the uncontrollable forces at work on the faces of those confronted by the power of the witch (constituting a shot that is intensive <lgc clss='lgc'>=/=lgc> introspective)
lsts>

lss="nms">Häxan film <lgc clss='lgc'><lgc clss='lgc'>--lgc>>lgc> progressive unlss="trms">folding of the lss="trms">material lss="trms">world through the style of a lss="trms">lecture
lss="prgrph">-exploration of the lss="trms">wonders and “errors” of the lss="trms">past (with near-messianic belief in the perfectibility of man)
magnified form of realss="trms"nttrm="listen,alist,ilist,llist,olist,ylist,ulist">list cinema <lgc clss='lgc'>+lgc> rooted in a lss="trms">naturalss="trms"nttrm="listen,alist,ilist,llist,olist,ylist,ulist">list impulse <lgc clss='lgc'><lgc clss='lgc'>--lgc>>lgc> Christensen's witch is not only here now, it has always been here<lgc clss='lgc'>:lgc> “witch<lgc clss='lgc'> = lgc>a figure of lss="trms">nature”
lss="prgrph">-lss="nms">Häxan begins with woodcuts, drawings, and paintings that olss="trms"nttrm="righ,rigo,riga,rigi,trig,rign">riginate from ls clss='strcls'>*ls>an act of touchls clss='strcls'>*ls> <lgc clss='lgc'><lgc clss='lgc'>==lgc>>lgc> haptic vision <lgc clss='lgc'><lgc clss='lgc'>==lgc>>lgc> to lss="trms">present lss="trms">figurative cliched givens <lgc clss='lgc'><lgc clss='lgc'>==lgc>>lgc> establish the ground
lss="prgrph">-seizes (the audience) and is seized (by the witch)
lss="prgrph">-seeing and touching ls clss='strcls'>*ls>virtual beingsls clss='strcls'>*ls> (such as devils)
<lgc clss='lgc'><lgc clss='lgc'>--lgc>>lgc> lss="trms"nttrm="righ,rigo,riga,rigi,trig,rign">rigorously logical structure <lgc clss='lgc'>+lgc> expressing the tangible singularity of the power of the witch

ls clss='strcls'>*ls>(from) tales <lgc clss='lgc'>--lgc>to<lgc clss='lgc'><lgc clss='lgc'>--lgc>>lgc> theology <lgc clss='lgc'>--lgc>to<lgc clss='lgc'><lgc clss='lgc'>--lgc>>lgc> diagnosisls clss='strcls'>*ls>


“advancement” of lss="trms">natural knowllss="trms"nttrm="knowledge,Knowledge">edge <lgc clss='lgc'><<lgc clss='lgc'><lgc clss='lgc'>--lgc>>lgc>lgc> demonology
lrg>

witch<lgc clss='lgc'>:lgc> a viral character


witch hunters's trial by water ls clss='strcls'>*ls>is not a “trial” but rather an experimentls clss='strcls'>*ls> (to identify evidence of evil's lss="trms">presence<lgc clss='lgc'><lgc clss='lgc'>--lgc>-lgc>in the absence of direct unmotivated proof) <lgc clss='lgc'>--lgc>operating<lgc clss='lgc'><lgc clss='lgc'>--lgc>>lgc> though a form of non-knowllss="trms"nttrm="knowledge,Knowledge">edge <lgc clss='lgc'><<lgc clss='lgc'>--lgc>lgc> mastery of nonsense
= ls clss='strcls'>***ls>a deep appreciation of (that might seem misguided to us)<lgc clss='lgc'>:lgc>
<lsts clss="lsts lst1">•cause-and-effect lss="trms">relations
lsts> <lsts clss="lsts lst1">•forces at work in the lss="trms">natural lss="trms">world
lsts> (<lgc clss='lgc'>=/=lgc> inlss="trms">difference to the truth, retreat into superstition)
<lgc clss='lgc'>~lgc>
<lgc clss='lgc'>[lgc>these<lgc clss='lgc'>]lgc> cases suglss="trms">gestive of and lss="trms">lss="trms">empirically linked to general laws. the case said something about the lss="trms">world, and once a case was established, it would splss="trms"nttrm="already,spread">read like a contagion (<lgc clss='lgc'>=/=lgc> proof of misogy or genocide as Federici asserts)



Flaherty <lgc clss='lgc'><lgc clss='lgc'>==lgc>>lgc> a certain truth regarding the total lss="trms">social environment <lgc clss='lgc'>:lgc> force of Nanook's life not only provides lss="trms">lss="trms">empirical evidence as to his mode of living but also allows for a refl ection on “lss="trms">nature”, “humanness”, “lss="trms">modernity” rooted in the haptic qualities of Flaherty's images

maleficium (of the witch <lgc clss='lgc'><lgc clss='lgc'>--lgc>>lgc> palpable<lgc clss='lgc'>:lgc> destructive weather magic, assault of farm lss="trms">animals, sickness, unexplained death, etc.)

<lrg clss="large lg18" stl="font-size:122%"> saturn's mythological violence <lgc clss='lgc'><<lgc clss='lgc'><lgc clss='lgc'>--lgc>>lgc>lgc> satan
lss='thdf'>the idea that saturn serves as patron to lss="trms">social outliers<lgc clss='lgc'>:lgc> the poor, elderly, disabled, criminals, jews, cannibals, magicians, witches

(early lss="trms">modern period <lgc clss='lgc'><lgc clss='lgc'>--lgc>>lgc>) ls clss='strcls'>**ls>satan<lgc clss='lgc'> = lgc>the principal lss="trms">authority of the lss="trms">natural lss="trms">worldls clss='strcls'>**ls>, “master of the knowllss="trms"nttrm="knowledge,Knowledge">edge of lss="trms">natural properties and the lss="trms">techniques of their lss="trms">instrumentalization” <lgc clss='lgc'>=/=lgc> lss="trms">techniques of the healer <lgc clss='lgc'>=/=lgc> lss="trms">lss="trms">empirical lss="trms">instruments

(l clss="ppl">de Certeaul> observed that) every exercise of trained judgment is lss="trms">authorized through the <lgc clss='lgc'>[lgc>ls clss='strcls'>*ls><lgc clss='lgc'>]lgc>dark<lgc clss='lgc'>:lgc> ratifying force of theology
ls clss='strcls'>**ls>dark forces <lgc clss='lgc'>--lgc>ratify<lgc clss='lgc'><lgc clss='lgc'>--lgc>>lgc> all forms of lss="trms">natural expertisels clss='strcls'>**ls>

mastery of nonsense <lgc clss='lgc'>--lgc>driving<lgc clss='lgc'><lgc clss='lgc'>--lgc>>lgc> confirming the suspicion of witchlss="trms">craft<lgc clss='lgc'> = lgc>a form of non-knowllss="trms"nttrm="knowledge,Knowledge">edge <lgc clss='lgc'>==lgc>opens<lgc clss='lgc'><lgc clss='lgc'>==lgc>>lgc> a gap in knowing (lss="trms">specifically, ‘who’)


line of accusation that was quite common in the early lss="trms">modern period <lgc clss='lgc'><lgc clss='lgc'>--lgc>>lgc> “the desperate search for the cause of what was other wise an unexplained illness or misfortune was frequently the catalyst for lss="trms">specific witchlss="trms">craft accusations between friends, acquaintances, and often between family lss="trms">members themselves”
16th century <lgc clss='lgc'><lgc clss='lgc'>--lgc>>lgc> this violence now bore the sanction of both secular and lss="trms">religious institutions (<lgc clss='lgc'><<lgc clss='lgc'>==lgc>lgc> peasant lss="trms">complaints of maleficium زيان <lgc clss='lgc'><<lgc clss='lgc'>==lgc>lgc> human beings have been suffering misfortune, illness, and death long before the power of the witch was felt during this time)

Dominican order <lgc clss='lgc'><lgc clss='lgc'>--lgc>>lgc> aggressively promoting the cult of the virgin, to the status of the “perfect” woman <lgc clss='lgc'>{lgc>elevating the status of sexual lss="trms">neurosis to a virtue<lgc clss='lgc'>}lgc> <lgc clss='lgc'>=/=lgc> lustful credulous lss="trms">nature of common women (who were often aslss="trms">sociated with the temptations of Eve)


ls clss='strcls'>*ls>conflicted status of womenls clss='strcls'>*ls>
<lsts clss="lsts lst1">•in lss="nms">Häxan <lgc clss='lgc'>--lgc>through<lgc clss='lgc'><lgc clss='lgc'>--lgc>>lgc> sternly patrilineal visual motifs (condescension <lgc clss='lgc'>+lgc> bemusement <lgc clss='lgc'><lgc clss='lgc'>--lgc>>lgc> frail <lgc clss='lgc'>+lgc> hysterical)
lsts> <lsts clss="lsts lst1">•in lss="nms">ajayeb lss="trms">bestiary <lgc clss='lgc'><lgc clss='lgc'>--lgc>>lgc>
lsts>
lrg>
(lss="nms">Häxan's) witch hunters act in lss="trms">accordance with their own procedures for investigating truth and falsehood and not simply out of malice, fear, or stupidity

the inquisitor priest/friar (within the realm of their own assumptions about the lss="trms">world) were dedicated to investigating and verifying the claims <lgc clss='lgc'>[lgc>of the accused witch) <lgc clss='lgc'>=/=lgc> (mainstream depiction of inquisitors as) gullible, fanatical, overtly misogynistic

<lrg clss="large lg6" stl="font-size:110%"> (during the witch craze) ls clss='strcls'>**ls>desire to believe <lgc clss='lgc'>=/=lgc> simple beliefls clss='strcls'>**ls>
despite the unbelievable scope of demonic power, the inquisitors must believe that what the young maiden is reporting is possible

<lrg clss="large lg3" stl="font-size:112%"> lrg>
ls clss='strcls'>****ls>important changes in the legal lss="trms">systems in europe well into the 14th century<lgc clss='lgc'>:lgc> proffering a formal indictment against another individual required the plaintiff to submit to an accusatory form of criminal procedure. (derived from Roman law) this procedure presumed such offenses as ls clss='strcls'>*ls>lss="trms">matters between the accused and accuserls clss='strcls'>*ls> <lgc clss='lgc'><lgc clss='lgc'>==lgc>>lgc> lss='thdf'>the idea that “crime” was a lss="trms">matter between lss="trms">society and the accused did not exist (<lgc clss='lgc'><lgc clss='lgc'>--lgc>>lgc> the lss="trms">presentday distinction between criminal and civil lss="trms">complaints meaningless)
raising a formal lss="trms">complaint required<lgc clss='lgc'>:lgc>
<lsts clss="lsts lst1">•the accuser to furnish proof of the allegation
lsts> <lsts clss="lsts lst1">•to submit to severe penalties agreed in advance if the judge was unconvinced of the lss="trms">complaint's merit
lsts> ls clss='strcls'>*ls>it was complex, expensive, and very risky to enter into this formal framework in order to address disputes or everyday injusticesls clss='strcls'>*ls> <lgc clss='lgc'><lgc clss='lgc'>==lgc>>lgc> most ordinary people did not do so, choosing instead to pursue local and less formal modes of redress

15th and 16th century <lgc clss='lgc'><lgc clss='lgc'>--lgc>>lgc> this procedure changed dramatically (with the emergence of the witch in europe)
<lsts clss="lsts lst1">•witch was understood as an lss="trms">agent of satan
lsts> <lsts clss="lsts lst1">•lss="trms">responsibility of civil and lss="trms">religious lss="trms">authorities to protect pious christians (from a power that would overwhelm the faithful regardless of their individual acts, intentions, or lsts>[...]