[...]917)

(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

<lrg clss="large lg2" stl="font-size:110%"> <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)

lrg>
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>

<lrg clss="large lg18" stl="font-size:100%"> 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


(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


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>


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



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>
(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


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)

lrg>

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.)

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)

<lrg clss="large lg1" stl="font-size:131%"> 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)
lrg>

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>

(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

(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


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 beliefs)
lsts>
inchoate suspicion (of the fearful, the resentful, the spiteful) <lgc clss='lgc'><lgc clss='lgc'>--lgc>>lgc> reporting <lgc clss='lgc'><lgc clss='lgc'>--lgc>>lgc> inquisitors (lss="trms">positioned as experts) <lgc clss='lgc'><lgc clss='lgc'>--lgc>>lgc> take this suspicion forward administratively <lgc clss='lgc'><lgc clss='lgc'>--lgc>>lgc> ls clss='strcls'>*ls>impersonal lss="trms">sociological sensels clss='strcls'>*ls> (<lgc clss='lgc'><<lgc clss='lgc'>--lgc>lgc> an lss='thdf'>example of Weberian rationalization)

to suspect someone of maleficium was not new <lgc clss='lgc'>--lgc>lss='not'>✕<lgc clss='lgc'><lgc clss='lgc'>--lgc>>lgc> (in witch accusations) lss="trms">authorities were now eager to act on suspicions in dependently


unresolved sexual desires <lgc clss='lgc'>+lgc> such passion would be redirected in pathological, lss="trms">perverse manner <lgc clss='lgc'>==lgc>lss="nms">Häxan<lgc clss='lgc'><lgc clss='lgc'>==lgc>>lgc> witch accusations

the film emphasizes the crucial role sex played in discerning what constituted witchlss="trms">craft and its status as a knowable lss="trms">category of (malefic) human practice
lrg>

a great deal of demonological thinking was devoted to justifying the fact that civil and Church officials, despite their fears, by and large were not bewitched


following satan's idiom...

lss="nms">Häxan's tortured lss="trms">relation to “the truth”
the lss="trms">question of lss="trms">lss="trms">empirical certainty and reenactment haunts the status of the film as evidence

ls clss='strcls'>*ls>acting the ideal type breathes life into the emptied, cliched figurels clss='strcls'>*ls> <lgc clss='lgc'>:lgc>
<lsts clss="lsts lst1">•Christensenrelying on the fact that the truth of the witch will take its most visible form by acting her out lss="trms">mimetically (<lgc clss='lgc'><lgc clss='lgc'>ld>~ld>lgc>=lgc> Christensen chooses to “play” satan using his idiom to breathe life into his witch)
lsts> <lsts clss="lsts lst1">•Flaherty knew that the lss="trms">visceral force of Nanook of the North depended on the felicity of his Inuit lss="trms">interlocutors reenacting themselves
lsts>



Christensen seems to be offering a cure for the ls clss='strcls'>*ls>secularized christian blindnessls clss='strcls'>*ls> at the heart of ls clss='strcls'>*ls>lss="trms">positivist human lss="trms">sciencels clss='strcls'>*ls> <lgc clss='lgc'><lgc clss='lgc'>--lgc>>lgc> his audience is pulled in “through a lens of lss="trms">science <lgc clss='lgc'>=/=lgc> as misguided inquisitors”


working with ls clss='strcls'>*ls>lss="trms">figurative givens of witches and demonsls clss='strcls'>*ls> <lgc clss='lgc'>--lgc>lss="trms">formulate<lgc clss='lgc'><lgc clss='lgc'>--lgc>>lgc> visual thesis (about uncanny, mobile power)

etchings into a lss="trms">material
carving outlines into the image of figures that have been hiding in plain sight


beautifully lss="trms">composed tableau of the torture chamber
static plane of the tableau <lgc clss='lgc'>=/=lgc> sense depth signify an open or free space

totality of (depicted) violence <lgc clss='lgc'><<lgc clss='lgc'><lgc clss='lgc'>--lgc>>lgc>lgc> lss="trms">composed alterity of the slss="trms">cene's stylss="trms"nttrm="listen,alist,ilist,llist,olist,ylist,ulist">listic corlss="trms">respondence between accused and inquisitor

(Christensen's lss="trms">method of) oscillating rhythm between tableau and face
lss="prgrph">-suppressing perspective and depth of field in favor of a continuous lss="trms">affective movement as expressed in the face
<lgc clss='lgc'>--lgc>l clss="ppl">Baxstroml><lgc clss='lgc'><lgc clss='lgc'>--lgc>>lgc> lss="nms">Häxan is not grounded in a setting here; it is grounded in the forms of life lss="trms">present in the shot

sense of corporeal alienation from herself <lgc clss='lgc'><lgc clss='lgc'>--lgc>>lgc> inhabit a script not her own <lgc clss='lgc'><lgc clss='lgc'>--lgc>>lgc> critical to the “success” of witchlss="trms">craft confessions

witch stereotype<lgc clss='lgc'>:lgc>
<lsts clss="lsts lst1">•lss="trms">Wild Ride
lsts> <lsts clss="lsts lst1">•pact with the Devil solemnized through sexual lss="trms">intercourse-
lsts> <lsts clss="lsts lst1">•cannibalism
lsts> <lsts clss="lsts lst1">•دیگ cauldron as the locus of the rite
lsts> <lsts clss="lsts lst1">•ls clss='strcls'>*ls>massed, coordinated, female lss="trms">nature of witchlss="trms">craftls clss='strcls'>*ls>
lsts>

judicial machinery of a witch trial required evidence of criminal acts that (by delss="trms">finition) could not be witnessed

lrg>
in lss="nms">Häxan
lss="prgrph">-the power of cinema to witness exceeds that of the witch hunter
lss="prgrph">-what it does is “worse” than lss="trms"nttrm="righ,rigo,riga,rigi,trig,rign">rigging the truth <lgc clss='lgc'><lgc clss='lgc'>--lgc>>lgc> it aligns itself (not with a concept of truth or the real but) with the power of the witch


(lss="nms">Häxan and many criminal lss="trms">story films) works through lss="trms">instruments of knowing rooted in the ls clss='strcls'>*ls>dynamics of the confessionls clss='strcls'>*ls>
lss='at'>#lss="nms">ajayeb lss="trms">storytelling

...lss="trms"nttrm="cluster,club">clumsily rendered, the wlss="trms"nttrm="righ,rigo,riga,rigi,trig,rign">riggling demons reflect an lss="trms">interesting set of variations to the witch stereotype, both lss="trms">ontologically and visually
(Maria giving birth to demon lss="trms">children)


Thomas Aquinas's theorization of the ls clss='strcls'>*ls>virtual bodiesls clss='strcls'>*ls> (of angels)
lss="prgrph">-angels do not need bodies for their sake but for ours <lgc clss='lgc'><lgc clss='lgc'>--lgc>>lgc> unlss="trms">natural couplings could produce lss="trms">children, but that the bodily essence of devils would rule out the possibility that these lss="trms">children would themselves be demons


16th century lss="trms">author primarily concern with Satan's ability to manipulate and lss="trms">pervert lss="trms">language (inlss="trms"nttrm="cluster,club">cluding lss="trms">erotic lss="trms">language)


lss="trms">wild flowing hair of the women <lgc clss='lgc'><lgc clss='lgc'>--lgc>>lgc> a common visual lss="trms">lss="trms"nttrm="metaph,metamorph,metabol,metal">metaphor for sexual promiscuity and disorder


images of cannibalss="trms"nttrm="listen,alist,ilist,llist,olist,ylist,ulist">listic night witches were explicitly a demonological variation on long-standing popular conceptions

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xxxxxx



persistence of witchlss="trms">craft
how witchlss="trms">craft might still exist as more than just one of many choices available on a personal empowerment “menu”
lss="prgrph">-how rituals pertaining to magic came to be understood as a problem of knowllss="trms"nttrm="knowledge,Knowledge">edge

ls clss='strcls'>*ls>magic binds forces that would otherwise overflow lifels clss='strcls'>*ls>
a great subterranean need to “bind” forces that would otherwise exert themselves with impunity and without any greater explanation or meaning
<lgc clss='lgc'><lgc clss='lgc'>--lgc>>lgc> enacting a delss="trms">historification of a form of life that would otherwise be overwhelmed by the brutal timeliness of lss="trms">historical being
l clss="ppl">Baxstroml> > de l clss="ppl">Martinl>o, Janet

making the precarity of our lss="trms">presence an object of knowllss="trms"nttrm="knowledge,Knowledge">edge

(firm unlss="trms">questioning belief <lgc clss='lgc'>=/=lgc>) local doubt <lgc clss='lgc'>--lgc>sustins<lgc clss='lgc'><lgc clss='lgc'>--lgc>>lgc> witchlss="trms">craft (in Buli -Bubandt)
...face off with a persistent, seemingly eternal, spectral threat

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Rolley

an anatomical (not geographical knowllss="trms"nttrm="knowledge,Knowledge">edge, diabolical atlas) demonological understanding

Renessancian lss="trms">world encounters <lgc clss='lgc'><lgc clss='lgc'>==lgc>>lgc> geo
<lgc clss='lgc'>[lgc>ls clss='strcls'>*ls><lgc clss='lgc'>]lgc>Renaissance<lgc clss='lgc'>:lgc> the age of demonology, the age of lss="trms">cosmographic revolution (<lgc clss='lgc'><lgc clss='lgc'>--lgc>>lgc> lss="trms">nature of lss="trms">causality)
lss="prgrph">-lss="trms">presence of the devil in geographical space
lss="prgrph">-comlss="trms">posite and cross-disciplinary lss="trms">network of nonhuman lss="trms">causality and transmedia lss="trms">writing <lgc clss='lgc'>[lgc>demonologists <lgc clss='lgc'>+lgc> lss="trms">cosmographers <lgc clss='lgc'>+lgc> lss="trms">travellers<lgc clss='lgc'>]lgc>
<lsts clss="lsts lst1">•demonology<lgc clss='lgc'>:lgc> identifiable shared discursive field <lgc clss='lgc'>-<lgc clss='lgc'><lgc clss='lgc'>--lgc>>lgc>lgc> lss='gtrw'>go to l clss="ppl">Baxstroml>
lsts> <lsts clss="lsts lst1">•demon <lgc clss='lgc'><lgc clss='lgc'>--lgc>>lgc> gunpowder (lss="trms">according to Rabelais and others) is the diabolical element amongst the classic tricolon<lgc clss='lgc'>:lgc> gunpowder, the nautical compass, and the printing press
lsts>
emergence of a lss="frds scrmbld"nttrm="Christianson">Christian lss="trms">science of the devil (in the medieval West) <lgc clss='lgc'><lgc clss='lgc'>--lgc>>lgc> liberation of demons (from supralunar to sublunar <lgc clss='lgc'><lgc clss='lgc'>--lgc>>lgc> into earthly realms)

Sabbat<lgc clss='lgc'>:lgc> an outpost of hell very much belonging to this lss="trms">world

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ls clss='strcls'>*ls>finding ghost is what we are all here forls clss='strcls'>*ls>

...nagging mischief they cause can turn deadly
violently jerks the body of the medium around
occasionally threatening or attacking onlookers

“keep filming” one of the old women whispers behind me <lgc clss='lgc'><lgc clss='lgc'>--lgc>>lgc> i do what i am told<lgc clss='lgc'> = lgc>i do exactly what i want to do

<lrg clss="large lg10" stl="font-size:118%"> lss="trms">anthropologist<lgc clss='lgc'> = lgc>i cannot directly “see” the demon or the spirit <lgc clss='lgc'>[lgc><lgc clss='lgc'>~lgc> what i am told to see, lss='at'>@lss="nms">apass lss='at'>#feedback<lgc clss='lgc'>]lgc>, but i am convinced that they are there


<lrg clss="large lg3" stl="font-size:111%"> (lss="nms">ajayeb <lgc clss='lgc'>--lgc>lss='qstn'>?<lgc clss='lgc'><lgc clss='lgc'>--lgc>>lgc>) older practices of defining lss="trms">social facts and the discovery, lss="trms">interpretation, and delss="trms">finition of the lss="trms"nttrm="already,spread">read <lgc clss='lgc'><lgc clss='lgc'>==lgc>>lgc> (roots of the predislss="trms">position of research<lgc clss='lgc'>:lgc>) to sense, lss="trms">interpret, and eventually master forces that appear to be nonsensical and yet are held to be essential to the reality of everyday lss="trms">social life
lrg>
<lgc clss='lgc'>[lgc>mad:<lgc clss='lgc'>]lgc> lss='thdf'>the notion of ls clss='strcls'>*ls>irrationalls clss='strcls'>*ls> as a privileged space in medical discourses (in France in the 19th century) <lgc clss='lgc'><lgc clss='lgc'>==lgc>>lgc> a mysterious and extra-lss="trms">social lss="trms">language that the rising medical profession could adapt to its own purposes
lrg>
“nonsense” of the “native”

(l clss="ppl">Baxstroml>'s work on witch craze <lgc clss='lgc'>[lgc>in 16th century<lgc clss='lgc'>]lgc> <lgc clss='lgc'>--lgc>arguing<lgc clss='lgc'><lgc clss='lgc'>--lgc>>lgc>) the problem of establishing proof in reference to the invisible forces has durably shaped our modes of investigating human lss="trms">social and cultural life

<lgc clss='lgc'>[lgc>lss="nms">lss="nms">ajayebnameh <lgc clss='lgc'>=/=lgc><lgc clss='lgc'>]lgc>
lss="trms">social or cultural lss="trms">anthropology in the 21st century<lgc clss='lgc'> = lgc>(human lss="trms">sciences’ contemporary equivalent of the) ls clss='strcls'>*ls>old efforts to master the invisiblels clss='strcls'>*ls> <lgc clss='lgc'><lgc clss='lgc'>--lgc>>lgc><lgc clss='lgc'>{lgc>test <lgc clss='lgc'><lgc clss='lgc'>==lgc>>lgc> felicitous information as to the “true” lss="trms">nature of obscure forces and their operations within lss="trms">lss="trms">empirical real-lss="trms">world contexts<lgc clss='lgc'>}lgc>

<lrg clss="large lg4" stl="font-size:111%"> <lgc clss='lgc'>[lgc>lss="nms">ajayeb<lgc clss='lgc'>:lgc> (part of the lss="trms">histories of)<lgc clss='lgc'>]lgc> lss="trms">systematic, lss="trms">lss="trms">empirical investigation of strange events, singularities, miracles, and other types of staple lss="trms">phenomena <lgc clss='lgc'><lgc clss='lgc'>~lgc><lgc clss='lgc'>~lgc><lgc clss='lgc'><lgc clss='lgc'>--lgc>>lgc>lgc> lss="trms">scientific lss="trms">method and the forms of knowllss="trms"nttrm="knowledge,Knowledge">edge that emerged as the foundation of an ensemble of ls clss='strcls'>*ls>lss="trms">sciences proper to humansls clss='strcls'>*ls> <lgc clss='lgc'><lgc clss='lgc'>--lgc>>lgc> yet has been unable to expel (the unprovable forces) considering the olss="trms"nttrm="righ,rigo,riga,rigi,trig,rign">rigins and forms of human diversity
lrg>
<lgc clss='lgc'>[lgc>ls clss='strcls'>*ls><lgc clss='lgc'>]lgc>lss="trms">anthropology<lgc clss='lgc'>:lgc> the desire to credibly master nonsense

<lgc clss='lgc'>[lgc>with lss="nms">ajayeb studies i am learing to be<lgc clss='lgc'>]lgc> able to argue for a lss="trms">world below the threshold of perception (of medicine, biology, physics <lgc clss='lgc'><lgc clss='lgc'>--lgc>>lgc> defined their lss="trms">relation to the nonsensic[...]