[...]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
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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)
="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
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'>*
(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)
='strcls'>*conflicted status of women='strcls'>*
="lsts lst1">•in ="nms">Häxan ='lgc'>--through='lgc'>='lgc'>--> sternly patrilineal visual motifs (condescension ='lgc'>+ bemusement ='lgc'>='lgc'>--> frail ='lgc'>+ hysterical)
="lsts lst1">•in ="nms">ajayeb ="trms">bestiary ='lgc'>='lgc'>-->
(="nms">Häxan's) witch hunters act in ="trms">accordance with their own procedures for investigating truth and falsehood and not simply out of malice, fear, or stupidity
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the inquisitor priest/friar (within the realm of their own assumptions about the ="trms">world) were dedicated to investigating and verifying the claims ='lgc'>[of the accused witch) ='lgc'>=/= (mainstream depiction of inquisitors as) gullible, fanatical, overtly misogynistic
(during the witch craze) ='strcls'>**desire to believe ='lgc'>=/= simple belief='strcls'>**
despite the unbelievable scope of demonic power, the inquisitors must believe that what the young maiden is reporting is possible
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='strcls'>****important changes in the legal ="trms">systems in europe well into the 14th century='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 ='strcls'>*="trms">matters between the accused and accuser='strcls'>* ='lgc'>='lgc'>==> ='thdf'>the idea that “crime” was a ="trms">matter between ="trms">society and the accused did not exist (='lgc'>='lgc'>--> the ="trms">presentday distinction between criminal and civil ="trms">complaints meaningless)
raising a formal ="trms">complaint required='lgc'>:
="lsts lst1">•the accuser to furnish proof of the allegation
="lsts lst1">•to submit to severe penalties agreed in advance if the judge was unconvinced of the ="trms">complaint's merit
='strcls'>*it was complex, expensive, and very risky to enter into this formal framework in order to address disputes or everyday injustices='strcls'>* ='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'>='lgc'>--> this procedure changed dramatically (with the emergence of the witch in europe)
="lsts lst1">•witch was understood as an ="trms">agent of satan
="lsts lst1">•="trms">responsibility of civil and ="trms">religious ="trms">authorities to protect pious christians (from a power that would overwhelm the faithful regardless of their individual acts, intentions, or beliefs)
inchoate suspicion (of the fearful, the resentful, the spiteful) ='lgc'>='lgc'>--> reporting ='lgc'>='lgc'>--> inquisitors (="trms">positioned as experts) ='lgc'>='lgc'>--> take this suspicion forward administratively ='lgc'>='lgc'>--> ='strcls'>*impersonal ="trms">sociological sense='strcls'>* (='lgc'><='lgc'>-- an ='thdf'>example of Weberian rationalization)
to suspect someone of maleficium was not new ='lgc'>--='not'>✕='lgc'>='lgc'>--> (in witch accusations) ="trms">authorities were now eager to act on suspicions in dependently
unresolved sexual desires ='lgc'>+ such passion would be redirected in pathological, ="trms">perverse manner ='lgc'>==="nms">Häxan='lgc'>='lgc'>==> witch accusations
the film emphasizes the crucial role sex played in discerning what constituted witch="trms">craft and its status as a knowable ="trms">category of (malefic) human practice
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...
="nms">Häxan's tortured ="trms">relation to “the truth”
the ="trms">question of ="trms">="trms">empirical certainty and reenactment haunts the status of the film as evidence
='strcls'>*acting the ideal type breathes life into the emptied, cliched figure='strcls'>* ='lgc'>:
="lsts lst1">•Christensenrelying on the fact that the truth of the witch will take its most visible form by acting her out ="trms">mimetically (='lgc'>='lgc'>~= Christensen chooses to “play” satan using his idiom to breathe life into his witch)
="lsts lst1">•Flaherty knew that the ="trms">visceral force of Nanook of the North depended on the felicity of his Inuit ="trms">interlocutors reenacting themselves
Christensen seems to be offering a cure for the ='strcls'>*secularized christian blindness='strcls'>* at the heart of ='strcls'>*="trms">positivist human ="trms">science='strcls'>* ='lgc'>='lgc'>--> his audience is pulled in “through a lens of ="trms">science ='lgc'>=/= as misguided inquisitors”
working with ='strcls'>*="trms">figurative givens of witches and demons='strcls'>* ='lgc'>--="trms">formulate='lgc'>='lgc'>--> visual thesis (about uncanny, mobile power)
etchings into a ="trms">material
carving outlines into the image of figures that have been hiding in plain sight
beautifully ="trms">composed tableau of the torture chamber
static plane of the tableau ='lgc'>=/= sense depth signify an open or free space
totality of (depicted) violence ='lgc'><='lgc'>='lgc'>--> ="trms">composed alterity of the s="trms">cene's sty="trms"nttrm="listen,alist,ilist,llist,olist,ylist,ulist">listic cor="trms">respondence between accused and inquisitor
(Christensen's ="trms">method of) oscillating rhythm between tableau and face
="prgrph">-suppressing perspective and depth of field in favor of a continuous ="trms">affective movement as expressed in the face
='lgc'>--="ppl">Baxstrom='lgc'>='lgc'>--> ="nms">Häxan is not grounded in a setting here; it is grounded in the forms of life ="trms">present in the shot
sense of corporeal alienation from herself ='lgc'>='lgc'>--> inhabit a script not her own ='lgc'>='lgc'>--> critical to the “success” of witch="trms">craft confessions
witch stereotype='lgc'>:
="lsts lst1">•="trms">Wild Ride
="lsts lst1">•pact with the Devil solemnized through sexual ="trms">intercourse-
="lsts lst1">•cannibalism
="lsts lst1">•دیگ cauldron as the locus of the rite
="lsts lst1">•='strcls'>*massed, coordinated, female ="trms">nature of witch="trms">craft='strcls'>*
judicial machinery of a witch trial required evidence of criminal acts that (by de="trms">finition) could not be witnessed
in ="nms">Häxan
="prgrph">-the power of cinema to witness exceeds that of the witch hunter
="prgrph">-what it does is “worse” than ="trms"nttrm="righ,rigo,riga,rigi,trig,rign">rigging the truth ='lgc'>='lgc'>--> it aligns itself (not with a concept of truth or the real but) with the power of the witch
(="nms">Häxan and many criminal ="trms">story films) works through ="trms">instruments of knowing rooted in the ='strcls'>*dynamics of the confession='strcls'>*
='at'>#="nms">ajayeb ="trms">storytelling
...="trms"nttrm="cluster,club">clumsily rendered, the w="trms"nttrm="righ,rigo,riga,rigi,trig,rign">riggling demons reflect an ="trms">interesting set of variations to the witch stereotype, both ="trms">ontologically and visually
(Maria giving birth to demon ="trms">children)
Thomas Aquinas's theorization of the ='strcls'>*virtual bodies='strcls'>* (of angels)
="prgrph">-angels do not need bodies for their sake but for ours ='lgc'>='lgc'>--> un="trms">natural couplings could produce ="trms">children, but that the bodily essence of devils would rule out the possibility that these ="trms">children would themselves be demons
16th century ="trms">author primarily concern with Satan's ability to manipulate and ="trms">pervert ="trms">language (in="trms"nttrm="cluster,club">cluding ="trms">erotic ="trms">language)
="trms">wild flowing hair of the women ='lgc'>='lgc'>--> a common visual ="trms">="trms"nttrm="metaph,metamorph,metabol,metal">metaphor for sexual promiscuity and disorder
images of canniba="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 witch="trms">craft
how witch="trms">craft might still exist as more than just one of many choices available on a personal empowerment “menu”
="prgrph">-how rituals pertaining to magic came to be understood as a problem of knowl="trms"nttrm="knowledge,Knowledge">edge
='strcls'>*magic binds forces that would otherwise overflow life='strcls'>*
a great subterranean need to “bind” forces that would otherwise exert themselves with impunity and without any greater explanation or meaning
='lgc'>='lgc'>--> enacting a de="trms">historification of a form of life that would otherwise be overwhelmed by the brutal timeliness of ="trms">historical being
="ppl">Baxstrom > de ="ppl">Martino, Janet
making the precarity of our ="trms">presence an object of knowl="trms"nttrm="knowledge,Knowledge">edge
(firm un="trms">questioning belief ='lgc'>=/=) local doubt ='lgc'>--sustins='lgc'>='lgc'>--> witch="trms">craft (in Buli -Bubandt)
...face off with a persistent, seemingly eternal, spectral threat
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Rolley
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an anatomical (not geographical knowl="trms"nttrm="knowledge,Knowledge">edge, diabolical atlas) demonological understanding
Renessancian ="trms">world encounters ='lgc'>='lgc'>==> geo
='lgc'>[='strcls'>*='lgc'>]Renaissance='lgc'>: the age of demonology, the age of ="trms">cosmographic revolution (='lgc'>='lgc'>--> ="trms">nature of ="trms">causality)
="prgrph">-="trms">presence of the devil in geographical space
="prgrph">-com="trms">posite and cross-disciplinary ="trms">network of nonhuman ="trms">causality and transmedia ="trms">writing ='lgc'>[demonologists ='lgc'>+ ="trms">cosmographers ='lgc'>+ ="trms">travellers='lgc'>]
="lsts lst1">•demonology='lgc'>: identifiable shared discursive field ='lgc'>-='lgc'>='lgc'>--> ='gtrw'>go to ="ppl">Baxstrom
="lsts lst1">•demon ='lgc'>='lgc'>--> gunpowder (="trms">according to Rabelais and others) is the diabolical element amongst the classic tricolon='lgc'>: gunpowder, the nautical compass, and the printing press
emergence of a ="frds scrmbld"nttrm="Christianson">Christian ="trms">science of the devil (in the medieval West) ='lgc'>='lgc'>--> liberation of demons (from supralunar to sublunar ='lgc'>='lgc'>--> into earthly realms)
Sabbat='lgc'>: an outpost of hell very much belonging to this ="trms">world
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='strcls'>*finding ghost is what we are all here for='strcls'>*
...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'>='lgc'>--> i do what i am told='lgc'> = i do exactly what i want to do
="trms">anthropologist='lgc'> = i cannot directly “see” the demon or the spirit ='lgc'>[='lgc'>~ what i am told to see, ='at'>@="nms">apass ='at'>#feedback='lgc'>], but i am convinced that they are there
(="nms">ajayeb ='lgc'>--='qstn'>?='lgc'>='lgc'>-->) older practices of defining ="trms">social facts and the discovery, ="trms">interpretation, and de="trms">finition of the ="trms"nttrm="already,spread">read ='lgc'>='lgc'>==> (roots of the predis="trms">position of research='lgc'>:) to sense, ="trms">interpret, and eventually master forces that appear to be nonsensical and yet are held to be essential to the reality of everyday ="trms">social life
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='lgc'>[mad:='lgc'>] ='thdf'>the notion of ='strcls'>*irrational='strcls'>* as a privileged space in medical discourses (in France in the 19th century) ='lgc'>='lgc'>==> a mysterious and extra-="trms">social ="trms">language that the rising medical profession could adapt to its own purposes
“nonsense” of the “native”
(="ppl">Baxstrom's work on witch craze ='lgc'>[in 16th century='lgc'>] ='lgc'>--arguing='lgc'>='lgc'>-->) the problem of establishing proof in reference to the invisible forces has durably shaped our modes of investigating human ="trms">social and cultural life
[...]