[...]pirical studies of the ="trms">natural ="trms">world ="trms">demanded by ="ppl">Bruno's attempts to operate as a magus
='lgc'>}='lgc'>='lgc'>==> (paved the way for) ="trms">science of ="ppl">Newton and Copernicus ='lgc'>='lgc'>--> a new ="trms">="trms"nttrm="metaph,metamorph,metabol,metal">metaphysics to emerge
attacks on Renaissance magic and the Hermetic–Caba="trms"nttrm="listen,alist,ilist,llist,olist,ylist,ulist">list tradition (that ="trms">authorized witch) ='lgc'>='lgc'>==> anti-witch treatises
(case of Giordano ="ppl">Bruno's execution ='lgc'>='lgc'>--> Hermetic magic and Cabalism) how in the 16th century='lgc'>: “superstition='lgc'> = crime”
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(Christensen attributing) ='lgc'>='lgc'>--> Hortus deliciarum, a largely cohesive image of hell to a period when the ="trms">nature of hell's location and “topography” was a subject of fierce theological debate
="prgrph">-he strategically ignores debates and alternate conceptions of damnation that existed in the 15th and 16th centuries in Europe
='lgc'>[that which you choose='lgc'>] works to amplify ="trms">affect more than further analysis (='lgc'>='lgc'>--> such as Christensen's attempt to heighten the fiery terror of the s="trms">cene by billowing smoke ='lgc'>='lgc'>==> عام generic explanation)
...a palpable sexual dimension crepting into Christensen's thesis ='lgc'><='lgc'>-- images of women “sneaking away” to attend Sabbats
="nms">Häxan visually grounds itself in ="trms">citable evidence from the start
="lsts lst1">•cinema='lgc'>: (as an ="trms">instrument for “recording reality”) a vehicle for “telling the truth” about the ="trms">world ='lgc'>[in early 1920s='lgc'>]
when documentary was not yet documentary ='lgc'>-- ="trms">fiction wasn't ="trms">fiction yet either ='lgc'>--Chanan='lgc'>='lgc'>-->='lgc'>{
moving pictures='lgc'> = visual tidbits لقمه چرب ونرم
made no ="trms">demands on ="trms">literacy (='lgc'>='lgc'>==> sp="trms"nttrm="already,spread">read easily)
whe ="trms">world on the screen remained anecdotal (and predominantly iconic)
practically in="trms">articulate (in terms of public discourse)='lgc'>}
(1900) visual meaning-making machines that ="trms">demanded not only attention but belief (by ="trms">staging as real reenactments) ='lgc'>='lgc'>--> mutated the desire to see far-off contemporary events
="lsts lst1">•='lgc'>='lgc'>--> Attack on a China ="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)
(="ppl">Baxstrom ='lgc'>+ ="ppl">Meyers) ="trms">question of ="trms">mimesis
="prgrph">-what is the ="trms">relation between a fragmentary visual artifact drawn “from life” and the truth value of any such fragments='qstn'>?
="prgrph">-what ="trms">sorts of filmmaking practices can felicitously mimic life as such='qstn'>?
='lgc'>[='thdf'>for example in Curtis's In the Land of the War Canoes='lgc'>] status of reenactment ='lgc'>='lgc'>==> prevailing standards of expressing the real
='lgc'>--later ='lgc'>='lgc'>--> crypto-structura="trms"nttrm="listen,alist,ilist,llist,olist,ylist,ulist">list o="trms"nttrm="righ,rigo,riga,rigi,trig,rign">rigin myth that falsely re="trms">presented what “documentary” meant to pre-Griersonian filmmakers ='lgc'>='lgc'>==> “rea="trms"nttrm="listen,alist,ilist,llist,olist,ylist,ulist">list” Lumiere ='lgc'>=/= the “fanciful” Melies
='lgc'>}='lgc'>='lgc'>--> ='strcls'>*gap between witnessing and the real='strcls'>* in Europe (this ="trms">question of evidence occupied inquisitors and theologians long before the invention of cinema)
preparing viewers for the “diegetic absorption”
(telling of a ="trms">story by a ="trms">narrator) diegesis ='lgc'>=/= ="trms">mimesis
the strategy of “re="trms">imaging” is ="trms">methodological and intentional (in the opening minutes of the film ="nms">Häxan) ='lgc'>='lgc'>--> (in European terms, for a very long time='lgc'>:) “knowl="trms"nttrm="knowledge,Knowledge">edge='lgc'> = re="trms">citations of the known”
='lgc'>+ creation of new images ='lgc'>='lgc'>--> constituting its own evidence for what is at stake
(Christensen designating) ='strcls'>**="trms">techniques of ="trms">presentation rather than simple content='strcls'>**
='strcls'>****the “truth” gained by the reproduction of archival images='strcls'>**** ='lgc'><='lgc'>==through='lgc'>== their mobility in the context of their new use
='lgc'>='lgc'>--> (similar to Farocki) Christensen empties out such visual artifacts, expressing through their preestablished frame a meaning that was hidden and resisted
(="ppl">Baxstrom ='lgc'>+ ="ppl">Meyers carefully treating the) ="trms">methodological element of Christensen's image-making practices ='lgc'>--in='lgc'>='lgc'>--> ="nms">Häxan's depiction of the violent moral disorder of the ="trms">Wild Ride of the witches to their Sabbats
(16th century) ="trms">Wild Ride='lgc'>: a standard element of both demonological and popular ="trms">literary accounts of the activities of witches, ="trms">folding='lgc'>:
="lsts lst1">•older legends of ="trms">wild hunters
="lsts lst1">•restless ="trms">travels of the dead at night
="lsts lst1">•tales of the Furious Horde (a super ="trms">natural band that was not o="trms"nttrm="righ,rigo,riga,rigi,trig,rign">riginally as="trms">sociated with witch="trms">craft)
="lsts lst1">•twisted chaos of the deep forest
Canon Episcopi regarding the power of demonic illusion to deceive women into ="trms">imagining that they could ="trms">travel great distances at night, often in the company of the goddess Diana
='lgc'>}='lgc'>='lgc'>--> conjoining of witch image to demonological discourse ='lgc'>[='lgc'><='lgc'>-- an ="trms">="trms">empirically verifiable invention in the late medieval period and the Renaissance='lgc'>]
='strcls'>*the oscillating value of the non-="trms">fictive='strcls'>* (of its discrete artifacts)
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hybrid human–="trms">animal creatures with each “="trms">natural” ="trms">species being traceable within the complete appearance of the demonic creature
(coming into contemporary performance art ='lgc'>='lgc'>-->) figures from antiquity='lgc'>:
="lsts lst1">•Saturn ='at'>@="frds scrmbld"nttrm="Alex,Alert,Aleph,Alessi">Ale
="lsts lst1">•Circe ='at'>@="frds scrmbld">Bryana (changing men into ="trms">beasts, games of chance, gambling, tricks, slight of hand, illusion, hybrid ="trms">animal–human forms of the demons dancing around the “grandmother” with surprisingly young and beautiful appearance ='lgc'>--melancholy='lgc'>='lgc'>--> general sense of sexual and ="trms">societal disorder swirling around a placid, passive female protagonist) ='lgc'>+ ="trms">="trms">empirical strain of the discourse of the witch
="lsts lst1">•Sabbat ='at'>@="frds scrmbld">Jassem
="lsts lst1">•
='lgc'>='lgc'>-->
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pact of the witch
obsessed state of the hysteric
="trms">interplay of face and tableau
(Warburg's assertion that) donning a mask constitutes an active attempt “to wrest something magical from ="trms">nature through the transformation of the person”
='lgc'>[putting on a mask ='lgc'>='lgc'>--> transformation of the person ='lgc'>='lgc'>--> obtaining omething magical from ="trms">nature='lgc'>]
Christensen formally constructing “the witch” through a cinematic iteration of metoposcopic ="trms">naturalism
(metoposcopy='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.)
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(="ppl">Avital) ="trms">scientific imperative (the ="trms">demand in the 19th century for an ="trms">epistemological re="trms">liable inquiry in the ="trms">nature of things) ='lgc'><='lgc'>-- fascination for the freak and the occult ='lgc'><='lgc'>-- on the way to ="trms">technology
(="ppl">Baxstrom ='lgc'>+ ="ppl">Meyers > 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 o="trms"nttrm="righ,rigo,riga,rigi,trig,rign">riginal ="trms">material='lgc'>: ="trms">different types of objects (paintings, reliefs, drawings, architecture, living beings) ='strcls'>*are unified through photography='strcls'>* before being arranged on the panel stretched with black cloth. The panel is in turn ='strcls'>*rephotographed in order to create a unique image='strcls'>*, which will be inserted into a series intended to take the form of a ="trms">book. The atlas, then, does not limit itself to describing the migrations of images through the ="trms">history of re="trms">presentation='lgc'>: it reproduces them. In this sense, it is based on a cinematic mode of thought, one that, by using figures, aims at not ="trms">articulating meaning but at producing effects.”
transgressive approach to the archive='lgc'>:
="lsts lst1">•Gerhard Richter's Atlas, 2006
="lsts lst1">•Jean-Luc ="frds scrmbld"nttrm="Godard">Godard's ="trms">Histoire(s) du cinema, 1988
="lsts lst1">•Christensen's ="nms">Häxan
="lsts lst1">•Warburg’ Mnemosyne (="trms">presentation of a series of visual cliches and stereotypes, fragments which were most likely al="trms"nttrm="already,spread">ready familiar to the viewer ='lgc'>~ ="trms">figurative givens ='lgc'>='lgc'>==> ="trms">="trms">empirical evidence ='lgc'>+ media to conjure with)
="lsts lst1">•="ppl">Bataille's journal ‘Documents’ 1929–30 ='lgc'>='lgc'>--> seizes cliched objects and then ="trms">systematically empties them out in the course of its own expressions. ="ppl">Bataille and his contributors sought to defamiliarize the cliches, disturbing the placidly deceptive surface of the mundane in their fragmentary, juxtaposing ="trms">methods of critique and ="trms">presentation ='lgc'>=/= Warburg ='lgc'>+ Christensen collecting mythological, ="trms">figurative givens seemingly quite distant from the “really” real
='lgc'>}='lgc'>='lgc'>--> unsettling distances between myth and the everyday
="prgrph">-weave together episodic fragments in order to draw parallels (across domains of sense that cut across time) and cor="trms">respondences across ="trms">situations and characters
="prgrph">-="nms">Häxan deploys the ="trms">techniques as="trms">sociated with Warburg's Mnemosyne and ="ppl">Bataille's Documents for purposes of ="trms">affectively emphasizing the dark, chaotic forces that ="trms"nttrm="failure,blur,plur,lurk,tallur,slur">lurk under the smooth surface of the everyday
(="nms">Häxan's episodic structure ='lgc'>='lgc'>==>)
="lsts lst1">•characters seemingly out of a dead ="trms">past to live again
="lsts lst1">•draw the ="trms">phenomenology of the hysteric
="lsts lst1">•draw the work's own contemporary time to the surface
promiscuous='lgc'>: neither wholly artistic nor ="trms">scientific ='lgc'>=/=='qstn'>? hybrid artistic and ="trms">scientific
="trms">traverse steep slope between ="trms">past and future in the form of an event ='lgc'>=/= plot
inability to automatically ="trms">categorize ="nms">Häxan (or any work of art) ='lgc'><='lgc'>== ='strcls'>***formal strategy rooted in an ="trms">epistemic virtue='strcls'>***
='strcls'>***(in later Middle Ages) practices such as persecuting witch="trms">craft to meditating on Christ='lgc'> = ="trms">techniques (of ="trms">sorting operation) to draw distinctions among visual ="trms">phenomena, ="trms">differentiating, say, physical objects from fantasies, dreams, and diabolical or artful deceptions
='lgc'><='lgc'>--artist='lgc'>-- image-makers specialized in manipulating one thing (their ="trms">materials) in order that a viewer should see something else ='lgc'>~ ='strcls'>*to make something invisible visible='strcls'>* ='lgc'>[='lgc'><='lgc'>-- this is always ideological, and is very common in art='lgc'>]
(='at'>#testing) the objective knowl="trms"nttrm="knowledge,Knowledge">edge possessed by the uncanny (in witch's pathological ="trms">language of diabolic proofs) ='lgc'>='lgc'>==> witch must be experienced in her own milieu, a satanic biome, her state in ="trms">nature
="display:block;white-space:nowrap;margin-bottom:-1em;overflow:hidden;">...................................
typical in 17th century='lgc'>: tacit ="trms">mutuality of word ='and'>& image
="prgrph">-artists habitually gave their paintings titles, mottoes, tags and quotations, and their works abound in ="trms">literary allusions
="prgrph">-explicit ="trms">interleaving of the ="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 ="trms">affections
Protestant discourse against the Catholic Church in the 16th century ='lgc'>='lgc'>--> artists of the period extended the ="trms">instrumentalization of slander through the production of proto-pornographic images of bishops, priests, and the pope engaged in myriad obs="trms">cene acts ='lgc'>--depicting='lgc'>='lgc'>--> the emotional states and desires of the clergy
magical salves (considered particularly powerful and troubling by demonologists)
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="nms">Häxan self-="trms">positioning as a ="trms">scientific investigation ='lgc'>+ constantly pull back from the dramatic outcomes of what ="nms">Häxan depicts
="nms">Häxan's de="trms">monstration of the power of the witch ='lgc'>=/= ="trms">paranoid delusions of witch- crazed villagers
="large lg1" stl="font-size:115%">
widely held set of beliefs regarding the “="trms">nature” or “essence” of women
Christina Larner's assertion that witch trials were gender-related (but not by de="trms">finition gender-="trms">specific)
='lgc'>--="ppl">Baxstrom='lgc'>='lgc'>--> ='strcls'>*women often came under suspicion of being witches because they were understood to be particularly susceptible to lust, avarice, and jealousy by their very ="trms">nature ='lgc'>[='lgc'>~ 16th century='lgc'>: ='strcls'>**women “="trms">naturally” susceptible to witch="trms">craft='strcls'>*** ='lgc'>+ women were presumed to possess elements of the ="trms">nature more than men='lgc'>] ='lgc'>=/= Federici's understanding of witch-hunt as straight-forward instance of misogyny='strcls'>*
='lgc'>--Roper='lgc'>='lgc'>--> ='strcls'>*one cannot approach witch="trms">craft or possession from a vantage point in the ="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 such='strcls'>*
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(debates over) politics and evil
satan's malefic ="trms">presence (in Dreyer's Leaves)
='strcls'>*a ="trms">density of parallelisms='strcls'>*
Dreyer figures Satan as a problem of the ="trms">present
“Bolsheviks violently engaged in revolutionary struggle='lgc'> = manifestation of a transcendental demonic power”
="trms">question of theodicy ='lgc'>='lgc'>--> God's seeming absence from the ="trms">world
sleep-walking ='lgc'>='lgc'>--> enticing a nude female ="trms">somnambu="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 ="trms">relations with the devil ='lgc'>='lgc'>==> ="trms">="trms">empirical evidence for satan's existence
(="ppl">Benjamin > Christensen's art sets out) to conquer meaning
...so it is no stretch to sug="trms">gest that...
subject and subtext
dreamtime of the 16h century
dreamtime of the witch
="lsts lst1">•Durer, Baldung, Cranach, artists at the dawn of the Reformation sought to re="trms">present the void as a figure
="lsts lst1">•strategies by which Expressionist painting sought to externalize states of mind
(="ppl">Baxstrom ='lgc'>+ ="ppl">Meyers emphasizing) how ="nms">Häxan ='strcls'>*cor="trms">responds with a variety of traditions='strcls'>* without seeking to assimilate the film fully within one over another
stillness and fixity of tableau-like shot com="trms">position (Dreyer, Murnau, Christensen) ='lgc'>='lgc'>==> (the ="trms">affect of) suffocating organization
="ppl">Deleuze summary of Expressionism='lgc'>: play of light and darkness, with the mixture of the two producing an effect that sug="trms">gests either falling into the black hole or ascending towards the light ='lgc'><='lgc'>-- ='strcls'>*face='strcls'>* makes this ="trms">affective power mobile
="lsts lst1">•(in Murnau) tableau ='lgc'>='lgc'>--> frees the viewer for introspection regarding ="trms">nature in a kind of emotional, spiritual release ='lgc'>=/= close-up (disruptive pathos)
="lsts lst1">•(in ="nms">Häxan) tableau ='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'>=/= introspective)
="nms">Häxan film ='lgc'>='lgc'>--> progressive un="trms">folding of the ="trms">material ="trms">world through the style of a ="trms">lecture
="prgrph">-exploration of the ="trms">wonders and “errors” of the ="trms">past (with near-messianic belief in the perfectibility of man)
magnified form of rea="trms"nttrm="listen,alist,ilist,llist,olist,ylist,ulist">list cinema ='lgc'>+ rooted in a ="trms">natura="trms"nttrm="listen,alist,ilist,llist,olist,ylist,ulist">list impulse ='lgc'>='lgc'>--> Christensen's witch is not only here now, it has always been here='lgc'>: “witch='lgc'> = a figure of ="trms">nature”
="prgrph">-="nms">Häxan begins with woodcuts, drawings, and paintings that o="trms"nttrm="righ,rigo,riga,rigi,trig,rign">riginate from ='strcls'>*an act of touch='strcls'>* ='lgc'>='lgc'>==> haptic vision ='lgc'>='lgc'>==> to ="trms">present ="trms">figurative cliched givens ='lgc'>='lgc'>==> establish the ground
="prgrph">-seizes (the audience) and is seized (by the witch)
="prgrph">-seeing and touching ='strcls'>*virtual beings='strcls'>* (such as devils)
='lgc'>='lgc'>--> ="trms"nttrm="righ,rigo,riga,rigi,trig,rign">rigorously logical structure ='lgc'>+ expressing the tangible singularity of the power of the witch
='strcls'>*(from) tales ='lgc'>--to='lgc'>='lgc'>--> theology ='lgc'>--to='lgc'>='lgc'>--> diagnosis='strcls'>*
“advancement” of ="trms">natural knowl="trms"nttrm="knowledge,Knowledge">edge ='lgc'><='lgc'>='lgc'>--> demonology
witch='lgc'>: a viral character
witch hunters's trial by water ='strcls'>*is not a “trial” but rather an experiment='strcls'>* (to identify evidence of evil's ="trms">presence='lgc'>='lgc'>---in the absence of direct unmotivated proof) ='lgc'>--operating='lgc'>='lgc'>--> though a form of non-knowl="trms"nttrm="knowledge,Knowledge">edge ='lgc'><='lgc'>-- mastery of nonsense
= ='strcls'>***a deep appreciation of (that might seem misguided to us)='lgc'>:
="lsts lst1">•cause-and-effect ="trms">relations
="lsts lst1">•forces at work in the ="trms">natural ="trms">world
(='lgc'>=/= in="trms">difference to the truth, retreat into superstition)
='lgc'>~
='lgc'>[these='lgc'>] cases sug="trms">gestive of and ="trms">="trms">empirically linked to general laws. the case said something about the ="trms">world, and once a case was established, it would sp="trms"nttrm="already,spread">read like a contagion (='lgc'>=/= proof of misogy or genocide as Federici asserts)
Flaherty ='lgc'>='lgc'>==> a certain truth regarding the total ="trms">social environment ='lgc'>: force of Nanook's life not only provides ="trms">="trms">empirical evidence as to his mode of living but also allows for a refl ection on “="trms">nature”, “humanness”, “="trms">modernity” rooted in the haptic qualities of Flaherty's images
maleficium (of the witch ='lgc'>='lgc'>--> palpable='lgc'>: destructive weather magic, assault of farm ="trms">animals, sickness, unexplained death, etc.)
saturn's mythological violence ='lgc'><='lgc'>='lgc'>--> satan
='thdf'>the idea that saturn serves as patron to ="trms">social outliers='lgc'>: the poor, elderly, disabled, criminals, jews, cannibals, magicians, witches
(early ="trms">modern period ='lgc'>='lgc'>-->) ='strcls'>**satan='lgc'> = the principal ="trms">authority of the ="trms">natural ="trms">world='strcls'>**, “master of the knowl="trms"nttrm="knowledge,Knowledge">edge of ="trms">natural properties and the ="trms">techniques of their ="trms">instrumentalization” ='lgc'>=/= ="trms">techniques of the healer ='lgc'>=/= ="trms">="trms">empirical ="trms">instruments
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(="ppl">de Certeau observed that) every exercise of trained judgment is ="trms">authorized through the ='lgc'>[='strcls'>*='lgc'>]dark='lgc'>: ratifying force of theology
='strcls'>**dark forces ='lgc'>--ratify='lgc'>='lgc'>--> all forms of ="trms">natural expertise='strcls'>**
mastery of nonsense ='lgc'>--driving='lgc'>='lgc'>--> confirming the suspicion of witch="trms">craft='lgc'> = a form of non-knowl="trms"nttrm="knowledge,Knowledge">edge ='lgc'>==opens='lgc'>='lgc'>==> a gap in knowing (="trms">specifically, ‘who’)
line of accusation that was quite common in the early ="trms">modern period ='lgc'>='lgc'>--> “the desperate search for the cause of what was other wise an unexplained illness or misfortune was frequently the catalyst for ="trms">specific witch="trms">craft accusations between friends, acquaintances, and often between family ="trms">members themselves”
16th century ='lgc'>='lgc'>--> this violence now bore the sanction of both secular and ="trms">religious institutions (='lgc'><='lgc'>== peasant ="trms">complaints of maleficium زيان ='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'>='lgc'>--> aggressively promoting the cult of the virgin, to the status of the “perfect” woman ='lgc'>{elevating the status of sexual ="trms">neurosis to a virtue='lgc'>} ='lgc'>=/= lustful credulous ="trms">nature of common women (who were often as="trms">sociated with the temptations of Eve)
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='strcls'>*confl[...]