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Vol. 43 · July/ December 2020 · No. 3-4 Editors: Achim Eschbach (†) · Ernest W. B. Hess-Lüttich · Jürgen Trabant Review Editor: Daniel H. Rellstab KODIKAS / CODE is an International Journal of Semiotics and one of the leading European scholarly journals in this field of research. It was founded by Achim Eschbach, Ernest Hess-Lüttich and Jürgen Trabant in order to promote multidisciplinary approaches to the study of sociocultural semiosis in 1979, and has been publishing high quality articles, in-depth reviews, and reports on all aspects of sign processes from historical, theoretical, and empirical perspectives since then. On a regular basis, KODIKAS / CODE also publishes special issues, collections of refereed articles on timely topics, solicited by guest editors. Languages of publication are German, English, and French; all contributions handed in to the editorial board are subject to a peer review process. Please send manuscripts electronically to either of these addresses: Prof. Dr. Dr. Dr. h.c. Ernest W. B. Hess-Luettich (Prof. em. University of Berne, Hon. Prof. Tech. Univ. Berlin, Hon. Prof. Univ. of Cape Town) / Winterfeldtstr. 61 / D-10781 Berlin / luettich@campus.tu-berlin.de / hess-luettich@t-online.de Prof. Dr. Jürgen Trabant / Krampasplatz 4b / 14199 Berlin / Deutschland / trabant@zedat.fu-berlin.de Please send books for review to: Prof. Dr. Dr. Dr. h.c. Ernest W. B. Hess-Luettich / Winterfeldtstr. 61 / D-10781 Berlin Prof. Dr. Daniel Hugo Rellstab / Germanistik und Interkulturalität / PH Schwäbisch Gmünd / University of Education / Oberbettringer Straße 200 / D-73525 Schwäbisch Gmünd / daniel.rellstab@ph-gmuend.de Manuscripts should be written according to the Instructions to Authors (see last pages of this issue). Books will be reviewed as circumstances permit. No publication can be returned. Narr Francke Attempto Verlag GmbH + Co. KG Dischingerweg 5 / 72070 Tübingen / Germany Tel. +49 (0)7071 97 97 0 / info@narr.de / www.narr.de / narr.digital KODIKAS/ CODE An International Journal of Semiotics Volume 43 (2020) · No. 3 - 4 Themenheft / Special Issue: Identity and Vanitas Verfasst von / by Mathias Spohr Preface . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 199 Prologue. Bertrand Russell ’ s On Denoting and History . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 201 Articles Mathias Spohr Identity and Vanitas. Two Contrasting Modes of Perception . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 202 Mathias Spohr From Skinner ’ s Verbal Behavior to Miner ’ s Nacirema: American Identity Between Causal Chains and Rituals . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 302 Mathias Spohr From Renaissance Nominalism to Modern Melodramatics: Jörg Wickram ’ s Novel Der Goldtfaden (1557) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 317 Mathias Spohr The Waltz in Film: Between Identity and Vanitas . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 326 Mathias Spohr Dietegen on Instagram: Social media as a stage for theater . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 356 Autor / Author . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 370 Anschrift des Autors / Address of the Author . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 371 Hinweise zur Gestaltung von Manuskripten / Instructions to Authors . . . . . . . . . . . . 372 Publication Schedule and Subscription Information The journal appears 2 times a year. Annual subscription rate € 138, - (special price for private persons € 104, - ) plus postage. Single copy (double issue) € 85, - plus postage. The subscription will be considered renewed each year for another year unless terminated prior to 15 November. Besides normal volumes, supplement volumes of the journal devoted to the study of a specialized subject will appear at irregular intervals. The articles of this issue are available separately on www.narr.digital © 2025 · Narr Francke Attempto Verlag GmbH + Co. KG Dischingerweg 5, D-72070 Tübingen All rights, including the rights of publication, distribution and sales, as well as the right to translation, are reserved. No part of this work covered by the copyrights hereon may be reproduced or copied in any form or by any means - graphic, electronic or mechanical including photocopying, recording, taping, or information and retrieval systems - without written permission of the publisher. Internet: www.narr.de eMail: info@narr.de Setting by: typoscript GmbH, Walddorfhäslach Druck: Elanders Waiblingen GmbH ISSN 0171-0834 ISBN 978-3-381-12871-6 (Print) ISBN 978-3-381-12872-3 (ePDF) K O D I K A S / C O D E Volume 43 (2020) · No. 3 - 4 Gunter Narr Verlag Tübingen Preface The theme of vanitas has preoccupied me for decades. Since it has received increased attention in recent years, I have decided to juxtapose it with the theme of identity. In the following study, I outline the history of the modern era as a social construction of causality that follows this principle: rules replace rulers. I try to explain why equality, competition or technology have changed in the course of modernity from something frightening to something attractive, and why the exhaustion of this aspiration is becoming increasingly apparent. My semiotic concern is as follows: I suggest substituting the ahistorical models of 20thcentury semiotics with a historical model in which the concept of sign is replaced by the concepts of model and afterimage, depending on perception. The contrast described is, in my view, a principle of perception that is learned in the civilized world like a language. Models are not tangible as such but only exist as embodiments; afterimages are tangible, but refer to something intangible. The skull, for example, is either an embodiment of an abstract anatomical model (in the doctor ’ s office) or an afterimage of a missing human being. The model need not be a specific skull: indeed, after several real skulls broken, it might be replaced by one made of unbreakable plastic. A skull of a saint, on the other hand, is irreplaceable as a relic. Writing, as (automatable) reading or as typographic design, is either the embodiment of a model, or the afterimage of a missing voice. This could also apply to the grooves capturing the sound on a vinyl audio recording. If the signified is absent, then the signifier is an afterimage. If, on the other hand, the signified is embodied and present, then the signifier is a model for it (e. g. a text in a speech or a book): it arises in the observer ’ s perception. These constellations correspond to a semiotic triangle. In this way, distinctions between interpreter, sign and object become obsolete, and distinctions between levels of observation become the focus. The distinction is not between language and metalanguage, or text and context, but between mere functioning and conscious action. The model approach combines the evidential value of the trace with the legibility of the letter. The afterimage approach states that the trace only proves an absence and that the letter is a convention. I would like to thank Ernest Hess-Lüttich for his committed support of my project over many years, Richard Weihe and Isabella Bosoky for innumerable pieces of advice, and last but not least Kate Hopkins and Tash Siddiqui for accurate and expert English editing. Mathias Spohr Semiotic Triangle 200 Preface K O D I K A S / C O D E Volume 43 (2020) · No. 3 - 4 Gunter Narr Verlag Tübingen Prologue Bertrand Russell ’ s On Denoting and History Bertrand Russell ’ s ideas are seen as the beginning of an analytic philosophy. In his famous essay on identity, Russell discussed the following phrase: “ George IV wished to know whether Scott was the author of Waverley. ” (Russell 1905: 485) With a king and a famous author, Russell has chosen two distinctive proper names. Each of them clearly denotes a person, and the author of the novel seems to be one of them. But that is not the end of the story that goes with these names. Waverley, as the first historical novel, is still present behind the concern of Analytic Philosophy to break away from history. An author ’ s name could just as well refer to a company, as was common in opera production. However, the distinctive, undivided author of a work was a guiding ideology of the 19th century. The Scottish author Walter Scott (we assume that he did not rather consist of a workshop of employees) wrote the novel Waverley to reconcile the Scots with the English. The hero Waverley is a fictional British soldier from England who is mesmerized by Scotland. The novel is written in the first person as if told by the author, but was published anonymously. By lending his distinctive voice to the author while reading, King George IV seemed to make him doubly distinctive: a king thus embodied a bourgeois author as the new leading figure of the 19th century. This seemed just as attractive to the king as the conciliatory content of the novel. Naturally, the king wondered who this ‘ I ’ was that he was embodying as he read. When the king later visited Scotland with Walter Scott, he wore a traditional kilt there, similar to the fictional, but distinctive Waverley. This was not seen as a ridiculous disguise, although this king ’ s vanity was notorious, but rather as an appreciation of the Scottish identity he displayed. The king adopted the bourgeois principle of embodiment, which was no longer seen as a preposterous and reprehensible imitation. Bertrand Russell replaced the proper names with mathematical variables and yet claimed that their distinctiveness remains. He called this identity. But the historical burdens of this idea did not disappear that way. Even if Walter Scott and King George IV are replaced by letters, the fact that they are all supposed to embody their identity does not disappear. Russell ’ s denotation of a sign is rather a precondition of that which is meant: the reader, the letter and that which is named must realize it like a shared theater role. A concept of identity, realized by an unmistakable hero of a novel, realized by an unmistakable author, realized by an unmistakable king, realized by the unmistakable contemporary reader, is the firm and circular basis of his thought. Denotation conversely turns out to be a realization of the denoted models. Reference Russell, Bertrand 1905: “ On Denoting ” , in: Mind, 14.56 (October 1905): 479 - 493 K O D I K A S / C O D E Volume 43 (2020) · No. 3 - 4 Gunter Narr Verlag Tübingen Identity and Vanitas Two Contrasting Modes of Perception Mathias Spohr Abstract: A simple example from the everyday world of work: an employee identifies with a rectangle as part of her organization ’ s chart. It is her function. The rectangle only exists on paper and screens, but it is a role model for her. It is a kind of mask that she puts on; not to deceive, but to show her reliability. She is not ashamed of this self-mirroring, but proud of it. The rectangle seems to be her nature. She masters her function and may use this mastery to emancipate herself from clients or superiors who can expect this mastery from her, but not personal obedience. In the vanitas view, the rectangle is a deceptive mask. In the identity view, it is a role model. In reality, there will be a mixture of both perceptions: an employer or a customer will say that it is not always the rules that matter, but loyalty to the person ( ‘ rulers instead of rules ’ ). It may be different with a police officer: if the citizen has mastered the rules, she does not have to be obedient to the police officer. The police officer has nothing to complain about ( ‘ rules instead of rulers ’ ). To put it another way, if we look at uniforms, sexual or racial characteristics: is a sign a letter with a conventional, arbitrary, albeit recognizable meaning (vanitas), or is it a trace that points to reality (identity)? Although this dichotomy is often used against religions, it has nothing to do with any particular religion, but rather with modernization. In Indonesia, I was struck by the thousands of fashionable Muslim headscarves (tudong) on sale in the local markets. In the past, the wearing of a headscarf was not common there. Fashion is not experienced as an expression of obedience but as a shared liberation. It could be seen as a proud sign of recognition (identity) or as a vain disguise (vanitas). Keywords: Identity, vanitas, gender, semiotics, sociology, history of technology, cultural history, philosophy of science. Zusammenfassung: Ein einfaches Beispiel aus dem Arbeitsalltag: Eine Angestellte identifiziert sich mit einem Rechteck als Teil des Organigramms ihrer Organisation. Es ist ihre Funktion. Das Rechteck existiert nur auf dem Papier und auf dem Bildschirm, aber es ist ein Vorbild für sie. Es ist eine Art Maske, die sie sich aufsetzt; nicht um zu täuschen, sondern um ihre Zuverlässigkeit zu zeigen. Sie schämt sich nicht für diese Selbstbespiegelung, sondern ist stolz darauf. Das Rechteck scheint ihre Natur zu sein. Sie beherrscht ihre Funktion und kann sich mit dieser Beherrschung von Kunden oder Vorgesetzten emanzipieren, die von ihr zwar diese Beherrschung, aber keinen persönlichen Gehorsam erwarten können. Aus Sicht der Vanitas ist das Rechteck eine trügerische Maske. Aus Sicht der Identität ist es ein Rollenmodell. In Wirklichkeit sind beide Wahrnehmungen vermischt: Ein Arbeitgeber oder ein Kunde wird sagen, dass es nicht immer auf die Regeln ankomme, sondern auf die Loyalität zur Person ( “ Herrscher statt Regeln ” ). Bei einem Polizisten mag das anders sein: Wenn Bürger die Regeln beherrschen, müssen sie dem Polizisten gegenüber nicht gehorsam sein. Der Polizist hat nichts zu beanstanden ( “ Regeln statt Herrscher ” ). Regeln sind attraktiv, weil sie das Fragenmüssen durch ein Machenkönnen ersetzen. Anders ausgedrückt, wenn wir Uniformen, Geschlechts- oder ‘ Rassen ’ -Merkmale betrachten: Ist ein Zeichen ein Buchstabe mit einer konventionellen, willkürlichen, wenn auch erkennbaren Bedeutung (Vanitas), oder ist es eine Spur, die auf Wirklichkeit verweist (Identität)? Obwohl diese Dichotomie oft gegen Religionen verwendet wird, hat sie nichts mit einer bestimmten Religion zu tun, sondern vielmehr mit Modernisierung. In Indonesien fielen mir Tausende modischer muslimischer Kopftücher (tudong) auf, die auf den lokalen Märkten verkauft werden. In der Vergangenheit war das Tragen von Kopftüchern dort nicht unbedingt üblich. Mode wird nicht als Ausdruck von Gehorsam erlebt, sondern als gemeinsame Befreiung. Sie kann als stolzes Erkennungszeichen (Identität) oder als eitle Verkleidung (Vanitas) gesehen werden. Schlüsselbegriffe: Identität, Vanitas, Gender, Semiotik, Soziologie, Technikgeschichte, Kulturgeschichte, Wissenschaftstheorie. 1 Introduction A famous 1865 portrait of Empress Elisabeth of Austria by Franz Xaver Winterhalter shows her ‘ Eternal Beauty ’ , to borrow the title of a 1998 exhibition in Vienna. For the ageing Elisabeth, this painting was only a memorial to past youth and unattainable beauty, regardless of whether it was once an accurate likeness, or merely a successful fantasy of the painter. Today, even more, we may perceive the painting as an image of an absent world, lost or merely invented. Since 1992, however, a stage musical has existed in which the leading actress embodies this painting. Many musical actresses, from Vienna to Tokyo, have taken Winterhalter ’ s picture as their model. In time, perhaps, their own stage photos will be models for future interpreters of this role. They all embody a departed ruler. This example shows two contrasting ways of perceiving an image: as an afterimage of something unattainable or as a model of something feasible. When did the ‘ model ’ interpretation start to become attractive? Let us look at a second example: at the beginning of the 19th century the actress Henriette Hendel-Schütz examined a sculpture of a Sphinx and re-created it herself as a living picture (see p. 256). Thus, she created a model for drawings and published engravings. These, too, Identity and Vanitas 203 became models for their viewers, who themselves tried their hand at Sphinx representations in their social circles. And even these copies in their turn became models for female audience members who joined the Sphinx fashion. Why can the copy of the copy of the copy still be considered a model? The following text offers an explanation: with each replica the observers seem to confirm a consensus, which thus becomes greater. Every performer says: ‘ I am the Sphinx ’ , and all media and observers say: ‘ This is the Sphinx. ’ None of them say: ‘ Ridiculous. There is no Sphinx at all, no matter where and when. ’ A presumed consensus creates an impression of closeness or presence. It is a common self-realization. To take another example: there may be a consensus that the earth orbits the sun (see p. 236). This does not correspond to our daily experience, because we say that the sun rises and sets. The idea of an immobile sun can be considered either ridiculous or, on the contrary, as a move towards objectivity and thus a well-justified feat of imagination. It takes our consensus for images to become reality. Do we live in a world of afterimages pointing to unattainable worlds, or rather in a single world of feasible models? In this paper I call the first concept ‘ vanitas ’ and the second ‘ identity ’ . 2 What is vanitas? Identity is the orientation towards role models - at least according to the definition of this study. It is not self-evident that images exist to serve or to be imposed as role models. From a Neoplatonic point of view, an image is the appearance of a missing reality. The three monotheistic religions (Judaism, Christianity and Islam) agree that an image is not an authority. However, the emancipation of images is a defining feature of modern times. With the rhetoric of vanitas, which reached its peak in the 17th century, the change from a world of afterimages to a world of models began. This was a rearguard action intended to expose the deceptiveness of those role models that would eventually prevail at the end of the 18th century. The consciousness of vanitas precedes the notion of identity, as its historical foundation and counter-principle. The vanitas perception of images still exists today; indeed, it is gaining in importance again. The purpose of this publication is to show this. How can the rhetoric of vanitas be described precisely? Images are at odds with the fleetingness of what is depicted. In the Middle Ages and early modern times, this contradiction was part of the vanitas motif. Images held nothing fast, but were seen as memorials to transience, and to human vanity and wilfulness. This rueful admission served to legitimize any kind of representation (see p. 235). Among popular medieval/ Renaissance tropes is the mirror image, through which one ’ s own appearance is shaped. The dancer, the Frau Welt (an allegorical figure warning against the unhappy consequences of sensual pleasures, see p. 244) or the fool (see p. 238) who look at themselves in the mirror are symbols of vanitas. Vanitas still lifes from the 16th century onwards show yellowed letters or musical scores placed next to wilting flowers. The artist or poet laments ‘ Ubi sunt? ’ (Where are they? ) aware that he himself will soon cease to exist. A painter or sculptor may capture something of the ephemeral, but at the same time he must affirm that the living essence has escaped him and that only the inanimate has remained in his hands. A businessman may have collected valuable goods, a technician 204 Mathias Spohr constructed something useful, or an artist created something beautiful, but by admitting at the same time the ephemerality of the actions or beings that these valuable, useful and beautiful objects denote, they protect themselves from the reproach of arrogance. Art still understands itself in the most general sense as mere human ability. It is often overlooked that the vanitas motif serves as a justification for representations or publications of all kinds, and thus also for artistic activity itself: it is the vanity of display that is made the subject. Wealth may be exhibited with reference to its ephemerality. A machine may be used and even admired with reference to its lifelessness. Deception may be carried out if it warns of deception. Art may unfold if it admits its inevitable failure to capture or even to imitate life (see p. 243). Liars can only expose lies, as it seemed at the time of vanitas. The only truth that a mirror can show is the falseness of reflections. A depiction warns us of what may dazzle and deceive - even as it may do so itself. Just as a picture can only deceive, so an actor deceives by profession. Neither can escape the taint of their theatricality. The actor, exposed from the outset to reproaches that he is a hypocrite and an impostor, warns his audience against deception when he portrays a fraud on stage. This justification does not remove the charge of deception, but the warning does make the portrayal socially acceptable. Justification by warnings makes it possible to imitate and even enjoy anything regarded critically. This can still be the case today, as with the warnings on cigarette packets (see pp. 273, 290). In terms of tendency, it can be stated: the greater the publicity around a representation, the greater was its need for justification. Vanitas motifs are media-specific: for example, printed works or works presented in public spaces (such as ars moriendi, or dances of death, see p. 239) were under greater pressure to spread a moralizing message than handwritten and personally intended ones. Until the 17th century, the ephemeral work of man was valorized within the framework of courtly representation. The accusation of vanity ceased to apply when pride was expressed in terms of the state and its greatness, and was justified by the use of ancient models now freed from the taint of the pagan. From the 18th century, this revaluation inspired a counter-movement to courtly representation, which both favoured and repressed the lifeless. Ephemeral means of expression such as dance and improvisation, previously held in high esteem and with an immediate social meaning, lost their prestige, and the permanence of a written text or fixed artwork was prioritized. Records no longer appeared (as before) as the epitome of the inanimate, to which the politely mediating gesture was preferred, but gained eloquence through the interpretations of their readers or viewers. They did not appear lifeless anymore because they were constantly interpreted and thus seemingly kept alive. Improvisation was no longer much in demand, but original interpretation of dramatic roles, as well as tableaux vivants (living pictures) imitating historical paintings or antique statues, were now by no means regarded as imitations or forgeries - instead, they were perceived as legitimate and individual orientations towards valid rules and models. The lifeless was no longer a clumsy imitation of the living - but the living was, conversely, the medium of the inanimate. The modern orientation towards role models was (and is) not perceived as a failure. Indeed, it enables embodiments. Identity and Vanitas 205 An older view meets a newer one. In this essay, I term the older mode of perception ‘ vanitas ’ , and the newer one ‘ identity ’ . Vanitas understands an image as a simulacrum of something that does not exist in its representation, while the newer mode of perception - identity - understands images as models for a self-made or self-observed reality. Identity perception makes images or texts appear more present and alive with each observation and interpretation, whereas vanitas perception lets them appear merely as a reflection of the viewer, while the depicted actions or beings are missing. A ‘ model ’ in the very general sense that I use the term is something that remains or is repeated unchanged. Therefore, it can serve as a standard for measurements. Accurate, precisely measured reproduction takes on a special value in the modern age. Whereas in the Middle Ages shadows, mirror images and echoes were regarded as lifeless imitations, in more modern times they acquired value as fascinatingly faithful reproductions - which could be faithfully reproduced in turn, with charcoal pencil or paints and later with cameras and recording devices. They may even exert a greater presence through multiple and equally faithful reproductions. ‘ High fidelity ’ shows and demands great loyalty from any observers. The transition from one outlook to the other took place very gradually between the 17th and 19th centuries, with a turning point occurring during the 18th century. Both views still existed in parallel, but the earlier one continued only in a little-appreciated popular culture. However, from the later 20th century, and in our own times vanitas has come to rival identity again. 3 What is identity? According to the definition of this publication, identity is simply a measured match with models. By models I mean any regulation that applies to several cases: an image is used as a yardstick whose measure is transferred to all beings or actions - not in a figurative sense, but literally. Modern identity is closely linked to the idea of know-how. ‘ Models ’ must be true to their measurements in order to retain their identity. Recognizable and measurable qualities seem to be the innermost essence of people and things. Today ’ s high esteem for models is not self-evident. The late Roman centralized structures of rule made impersonal regulations appear as oppression. Collective punishments were a notorious example. In contrast, the medieval understanding of any authority was that of a personal relationship. A true authority was a person rather than an image or object. The Roman cross as an instrument of execution promises no equal rights, but merely the helpless equality of a shameful death. Christians should say: ‘ this image is an authority, but it is not mine. A lamented victim is my authority. ’ Equally easy to understand is the parodic reverse interpretation of this sign: when Christian missionaries threaten those of other faiths with Christian crosses. In the Middle Ages, decrees could be associated with mercilessness, but a personal judgement of any authority towards a specific subordinate was considered merciful, even if it was a punishment. Charlemagne travelled through his empire instead of merely ruling with edicts. This ensured personal contact. Impersonal regulations only became attractive from the time when subjects promised themselves benefits from them. This required the 206 Mathias Spohr conviction that these regulations, be they writings or images, could be dominated by the subjects - like a yardstick for personal use (see. p. 254). It is a long way from this rejection of merciless rules to the attractive determinism ( ‘ I can determine it myself ’ ) of modern technology. In the course of the early modern era, services were given monetary value, measurements were increasingly standardized, and legal systems took priority over the personal principle of authoritarian grace. The bureaucratization of European society made this sometimes seem like an imposition, but often it was just practical. For example, ‘ You are stamped ’ means oppression - but one might feel entitled by ‘ having a stamp from the office ’ . A good fit realized by measuring or counting took on a fascination in modern times that did not previously exist. It could be easily determined and monitored by all observers and therefore appeared objective. In this situation, the desire for ‘ natural ’ models developed: models that are objectively valid as ‘ laws ’ of nature. Laws of nature apparently cannot fail like the implementation of recipes, building instructions or political programmes. One key example of such a model, in my opinion, is ‘ female nature ’ . Femininity as we understand it today is an identity, and there has been much argument about whether ‘ gender ’ is rehearsed or natural. ‘ The nature of women is closely related to art ’ , stated Goethe - and art in his time was meant to create reality instead of deception. 4 Nature as authorization In the Western theatrical tradition, men customarily played women ’ s roles until the 18th century. This was something for which the audience both admired and despised them. Imitation must necessarily fail, for it cannot conceal the absence of the imitated. Actors had no legitimacy for what they did, however well they did it. Performance did not create reality but merely a disguise. The fact that a performance matched the expectations of its audience was of little value. To take an example of an utterance that seemingly describes something, but in fact creates what it describes (to cite John Langshaw Austin): a chairperson is always able to open a meeting convincingly, but a child who declares ‘ the meeting is open ’ , however good their imitation of the adult, will be laughed at. This means that neither the chairperson nor the child is motivated to perform this speech act to the best of their capacity. One retains their entitlement even if they perform badly, and the other cannot and may never attain such entitlement. In the theatre from the later 17th century on, women were not only allowed on stage, but were also motivated to excel in women ’ s roles (a similar development had taken place in southern Europe a hundred years earlier, but this did not mean the end of cross-dressing). If the actresses had been merely given the entitlement to do so, they might not have had the motivation to perform well. They had a privilege, but they also had to compete with each other to express best what viewers considered to be their feminine essence, and the audience appreciated their professionalism. They did not imitate women and were not merely women without their input, but they embodied women, just as in our time Italian or Asian employees of Italian or Asian restaurants may embody an authentic corporate identity. Men who skilfully played women ’ s roles, on the other hand, continued to be ridiculed, just as all Identity and Vanitas 207 performers before had been ridiculed or despised for their claims. They lacked an authorization that had come to be termed ‘ nature ’ . From the 18th century onwards, the aim of art in general was not to imitate helplessly or insidiously, but to realize successfully. The model that art was allowed and expected to come close to was called nature. Western Europeans no longer understood nature as a ruling authority (as divine natura naturans), but as a fixed, controllable property: a property that was not a lifeless description of a living being or action, but a necessary rule to be expressed in the living. Nature, in this sense, is not an arbitrarily acting entity like a person nor an imitation or description of something that exists, but a pure model, a kind of archetype. What seemed fascinating to civilized observers was the idea of self-realizing models that did not require authorization and could not have sinister ulterior motives, such as actresses showing off their femininity. They were appearances of nature. Manipulation attempts could be ruled out. From the 18th century onwards, the motivation was to get as close as possible to these archetypes by achieving the best performance as an observer or interpreter. There is no need to be faithful to determinism if it simply works. But the paradox that nature is on the one hand observed incorruptibly, and on the other hand realized creatively and personally, was part of this view from the very beginning. Actresses had the destiny to be women and the freedom to be the best. But the apparent destiny was a role they were newly allowed and expected to play. Their fate authorized their freedom. Exact reproduction of models and self-realization form a paradoxical, but credible unity. In this way, determinism and freedom seem compatible: a possible definition of the term ‘ expression ’ . There seemed to be no contradiction between the natural laws of a behaviour and the feasibility of that behaviour. Behind the concept of the ‘ natural and necessary ’ mechanistic cause still lurks a ruler to be faithfully obeyed (see pp. 243, 270, 273, 284). Origin is an authority. The connection or confusion between physical cause (causa efficiens) and ancestry often plays a role in limiting the feasibility of identities (see p. 262). If an effect such as feminine charms does not seem to have a natural cause, it means that it has no legitimate ancestry. Femininity could only be a disguise for a man but could be an embodiment for a woman: a juxtaposition of the vain and the natural. Trademarks sometimes protect original products from imitations. The brand stands for a guaranteed origin, like an ancestor, and the effects of its products have a legitimate cause. There is no label fraud as long as the name has been acquired legally. Loyalty to the brand may appear as a sign of identity (see p. 279), and the products may ‘ faithfully ’ embody that name without imitating an original. A biological or physical interpretation of this lineage would make no sense. The question is about authorization and motivated obedience, not about a natural cause. It is much more a reality of money as opposed to counterfeit money. Molière ’ s scheming comic characters in his plays Le Malade imaginaire (1673), Tartuffe (1664) or Le Bourgeois gentilhomme (1670) still required the actor to justify the fraud of his role-playing by exposing his character ’ s attempts to deceive others: they only pretend to be ill, righteous, or noble, and the actor, for his part, is an imitator, too. The lie in a lie, the deception in a deception, or the disguise in a disguise are a common feature of vanitas rhetoric, which is called mise-en-abyme (literally ‘ placed into abyss ’ ): a performer can be nothing more than a ‘ would-be ’ or impostor, just as an image can only be a lifeless imitation, 208 Mathias Spohr and they must constantly keep this in their audience ’ s minds. However, the offended vanity of the ambitious European commoner, who despite his or her noble behaviour does not become a member of the nobility but remains a comedian (a vain imitator of a real aristocrat), represented a basic social problem in the 18th century. Hence the audience experienced a new bourgeois solidarity with the actor. A century after his creation, Molière ’ s ‘ bourgeois nobleman ’ seemed more sympathetic, and the actor who played this character benefited from this appreciation. He was not a vain performer playing a vain character, but a proud performer playing a proud character. Nobility became feasible by mastering rules and roles. Triumphs included those of socially aspirant figures such as Emma Hamilton (1765 - 1815) who managed to make the transition from prostitute to lady. Her husband Lord Hamilton declared: ‘ In my Country no body stands higher in public Esteem. ’ Through her talents as a performer who enacted classical archetypes (inspired by paintings and sculpture) she acquired privileged status. Her appearance combined nobility and femininity. Her ‘ body ’ fitted into the new concept of nature like water into a measuring cup, and this was greatly appreciated. From the 17th century on, artists and philosophers freed immediate effects from the reproach that they were only appearances by trying to convince the public of their reliability. We can perceive mirror images or shadows as living beings and only later realize that we have been deceived. The effect of a mirror image is deceiving when it is considered an imitation, but it is reliable when it is considered an embodiment of a physical law (see p. 241). What had previously appeared to be a lie as a seductive or deterrent stimulus, now acquired the reputation for revealing the truth as a fascinating trail - which could also distance and protect from a potentially dangerous reality. A trace is not a causer, only a cause of deception, and the reliability of this deception ( ‘ a footprint is not a foot, but an accurate copy ’ ) leads to reality. It no longer deceives but reveals the truth. Like a letter in a book, it seems to have a reliable function for the reader ’ s vivid imagination (see p. 248). The ‘ scientific ’ causality that is regarded neutral today arose historically from the appealing or dissuasive, but deceptive immediacy of the sensual effect: women who have an effect are likely to be mistrusted. Effects can have a wide audience and thus destroy existing relationships. Modern experiment, on the other hand, is based on the reliability of sensory impressions. Secure effects promise power, no longer the certainty of being deceived. Francis Bacon was able to warn against deceptive observer perspectives such as the theatre and at the same time promote the observation of experiments. Before any ‘ laws of nature ’ were found, he spoke of causes and rules (Novum Organum, 1620). Rules should be discovered in order to control them. Empiricism, the movement that gave rise to modern science, could not have developed in Italy or France. It needed the puritanical environment of England in order not to appear indecent from the outset through its concentration on the sensuous experience; indeed, the distinction between sensual and sensuous is a unique peculiarity of modern English. Ideal dimensions of models, not only with regard to humans, but also to ships or weapons, may have an erotic appeal. They inspire the imagination, and imagination is a sense of power, a preoccupation with possibilities. However, this inspiration no longer stood for fleeting desire, but for the eternally valid. The ‘ laws of nature ’ , in the sense of determinism, seemed Identity and Vanitas 209 to authorize a behaviour that had previously been despised. Classical nudes no longer appeared as demonic idols; their ‘ aesthetic ’ impact could delight an audience. It was natural, not vain. 5 Mastery as loyalty The growing focus on rules is particularly evident in theatre history: while Shakespearean drama can still be seen as an offshoot of an ‘ unregulated ’ medieval theatre that was increasingly disregarded in the 17th century, enlightened French theatre - which saved European theatrical culture from disappearing - presented behavioural models and rules of etiquette. Realization of roles was no longer despised as a deceptive masquerade, but considered a sign of good manners. As long as they lived up to the ideals of polite or courteous behaviour (17th century) and later of motherliness, loyalty and helpfulness (18th/ 19th centuries), which were considered to be their nature, actresses and women in general were no longer perceived as masters of uncanny effects as they were in the time of witchhunts, which were eventually abolished in the 17th century (see p. 286). Women as observed by men were a focus of scientific attention from the 18th until the late 19th century (see p. 264). Their potentially treacherous charms were gradually reinterpreted as involuntary effects that seemed to obey the laws of nature. Their demonization had justified their controllability. Emancipation of effects, as accomplished in scientific empiricism, could only occur when these effects were perceived as reliable and controllable. They all seemed to have a cause, and there seemed to be a rule between cause and effect. An important component of this conception of nature is the idea of a law that applies to all and may be interpreted by all. The effects of an embodied model or prescription (such as the ‘ laws of nature ’ ) are measurable and predictable; they are divorced from ulterior motives and freed from suspicion of manipulation. Like the reflections of a mirror, they rely on the power of their observers. The Western world increasingly preferred reproducible effects to uncertain social interaction. Good manners were automated by technical reproduction and thus felt relieving. This kind of fidelity is contradictory because rituals bind relationships, while technologies can free them. While ancient and medieval Western civilizations were sceptical of technology, a paradoxical link between imploring ritual and domineering technology allowed for the emancipation of the latter in modernity. A craft, for example, could be seen as a ritual of loyalty to an employer or, conversely, as a technology that created new employment opportunities independent of a particular master. To resolve this contradiction, subordinates agreed with their masters on the principle ‘ my mastery is my loyalty ’ (see p. 284): the audience or husbands, for example, controlled the actresses or wives, and the women controlled their roles; both seemed to be loyal masters. The shared sense of being in control replaced the anxious awareness of being merely a parallel case. Without abandoning the idea of loyalty, obedience became the mastery of functions, including one ’ s own. It should no longer seem ridiculous or reprehensible when the mastery of a reflection was understood as its fidelity (see p. 251). Mere functioning appeared as agreement, and loyalty became a kind of power: subordinates controlled their function rather than obey, as long as they were still necessary for that function (see p. 274). Self- 210 Mathias Spohr control as liberating mastery was increasingly transferred to machines (see p. 282). A machine combines the freedom of its user with the determinism of its functioning. Only when their loyal mastery makes them superfluous could users realize that something might be wrong. Everyone wants to benefit from an effect, but no one wants to be replaceable as a user or observer. The loyalty of secured functions is an illusion: the parallel case (as the definition of secured effects, see p. 250) is the opposite of personal loyalty, as vanitas symbolism constantly emphasizes. Loyalty to customers and employers, for example, makes a bank clerk trustworthy. A cash machine, on the other hand, is trustworthy because it cannot have an interest. What definitely works is an ideal machine, but a machine is not loyal. Observers preferred the perfected function to its imperfect medium. In the historic transition from bank teller to cash dispenser, accurate counting seemed to be moving from virtue to reality. Loyalty became the mastery of a function, making the equally loyal and dominant observers superfluous (see p. 278). From the late 18th century, civilized observers have agreed on stereotypical ideas as social identifiers. Stereotypes are means for a social construction of causality, not unlike pictograms. Dealing with them is a practical mechanism as long as everyone agrees. The fascination of a code promises technical solutions for understanding; good functioning seemed to indicate consensus and objectivity. Uniforms of all kinds were seen not as a restriction but as a shared liberation, as a clear and immediate sign of one ’ s nature. They seemed to show loyalty and mastery in one. Their mutual recognition should not lead to deception, but to a jointly imagined and jointly controlled reality. Wearing a suit and tie in civic life for example may seem to embody righteousness at first glance rather than feign it, and the mutual belief creates a basis of trust. Worn by women, however, this uniform still may look like an imitation. Embodiment became a counter-principle to disguise; it seemed to be a revelation of true nature: as fidelity to a feasible and spontaneously recognizable appearance. 6 Nature as automation From the later 18th century onwards, folk culture and folk music conveyed a modern enthusiasm for simple rules that were easy to follow. Automated, unconscious and effortless action and recognition became the modern ideal. What was practical seemed objective. Courtly rules, on the other hand, were not easy to follow, because they required a high level of moment-by-movement attention from everyone involved. Letting oneself go was not appreciated. The growing preference for rules in the modern era can be divided in two epochs that correspond to the two principles presented here. A period of arduous courtly and military discipline in the 16th and 17th centuries preceded the seemingly effortless discipline initiated in the middle of the 18th century. Following the rules became a mastery of functions. Laborious interpretation of signs, as with the allegories of that time, seemed to switch to an immediate experience of meanings (see p. 236). Faithfulness as a pompous ‘ baroque ’ effort became effortless as a faithful rendering (see p. 280). Conscious discipline was replaced by trained or rehearsed functioning freed from courtly rules. Love of children, for example, seemed to be the destiny of women and physical strength the destiny of men. Identity and Vanitas 211 Apparently, they didn ’ t have to learn these qualities, they just had to follow their nature. Reading, spread by schooling, could automate recognition at least at the level of sounds. Good manners, like accurate reading, were no longer a matter of effort, but a matter of course. Allegorical figures in the popular theatre turned into ‘ telling names ’ (aptronyms): ‘ Love ’ was personalized not as an enigmatic image to be deciphered, but as a lovable or loving person. An old-fashioned, stilted style of expression gave way to immediacy. Names seemed to be plans of the named things, like a self-realizing function of the named. They mastered their name like a role and were loyal to it. The modern symbol expressed something and thus made it present, like a letter leading to a vocal sound, or today a smiley leading to a smile when reading, while the older allegory helplessly pointed to something missing. If one reads letters instead of traces, causality seems to run in the opposite direction: the trace is not an effect of a lost cause, but a cause for realization (see pp. 258, 292). This does not seem contradictory as long as readers embody their own texts and tracers embody their own traces (see pp. 266, 272). Roles became causes. The waltz, whose automated sequence of steps replaced the complex social game of the minuet, was an important symbol of the new concept of nature. Mere functioning appeared to be a social unity. Sensuality became acceptable; it did not break the rules but proved them valid. Thus, immediate effects seemed to lose their dangerousness. From that time on it could be a liberating experience to surrender to determinism, such as the intoxicating spin of waltz dancing (see p. 252), or the merciless revenge in a stage melodrama, and later in a Western movie. The inevitability of a mechanism and the freedom to use it seemed to be ‘ expressively ’ united; ideas of automation and safety began to coincide. The seemingly necessary, involuntary and effortless actions of nature are still a powerful justification strategy for emancipation efforts: one ’ s nature bursts forth, as an inner principle, and observers seem to have to accept it (see p. 280), even if this happens violently. Revolutions seemed to bring nature to power. A popular term for determinism was and still is ‘ destiny ’ (to quote Amartya Sen). Determinism seems to authorize actions: they do not violate a sovereign will by ‘ doing what comes naturally ’ , but correspond to it. Personal responsibility is transferred to a seemingly uncontrollable, but natural power, that is in fact very much in control (see p. 276). Control of functions can appear as freedom. In an automated medium such as a film or a recorded song, narratives of fate are meant as narratives of fidelity. Fate means authorized reliability and yet is subject to the power of the user who believes that he or she can switch off the practical mechanism before it becomes a real and demonic constraint. Freely chosen love since the 18th century often seems to be fated, without the lovers still being perceived as slaves to their senses, as in vanitas perception (see pp. 252, 255, 280). Understood as nature, sensuality became something neutral and even justified. 7 Nature as a controlled authority What had previously been considered a deception became in the 18th century an involuntary and explicable expression of nature. The humble effort to justify one ’ s own futile and treacherous attempts at representation was replaced with the fascinating 212 Mathias Spohr explanation of ‘ how ’ something came into being. A shared knowledge of this how established a community of fellow-knowers safely distanced from the observed (see p. 260). Thus, what was once reprehensible became acceptable and even worthy of encouragement. Memorials of past vanity were reinterpreted as achievements against which current actions and artistic works had to measure themselves. The once-shameful remains of pagan antiquity became shining examples of civilization (see pp. 242, 291). Relics of a lost world became models of an imagined world. Models and precepts of all kinds were learned by heart or discovered in expressions of nature. They showed up in the living, first as consciously followed instructions and later as instinctively followed laws of nature. The familiar notion of parentage was generalized into the abstract notion of causation (see p. 248). Causation is feasible: reconstruction and simulation were increasingly allowed to lead to reality. Determinism became a means of freedom. The problem of Molière ’ s ‘ bourgeois nobleman ’ seemed solved: the Western world made aristocrats into monuments, like classical statues, and enlivened them as their own models. Commoners embodied aristocratic court-dances and table manners, and the knowhow to do so seemed not a pretence, but a fidelity to the very essence of aristocracy. They brought the aristocratic framework to life rather than recalling the absence of noble origin. The noble effect seemed divorced from its cause and yet present (see p. 246). It became learnable. Nature is an authority that can be dominated, and that is what makes it so attractive. Before the 18th century, nature was considered dangerous: wild animals, mountains and oceans appeared almost impossible to master. Their strenuous taming gradually gave way to a relaxed observation of nature. Threatening beings seemed to embody reliable rules; as nature ’ s faithful media they now seemed to protect their observers from danger. The observers ’ helplessness turned into freedom as soon as they understood and mastered the rules. If there is a safe rule that the days will get longer again after the winter solstice, then there is no reason to be afraid and no need to ask the gods or spirits any more. The once threatening nature became a natural spectacle. Simulations became possible. Even women no longer had to be tamed, but could be observed in a relaxed manner (see pp. 256, 264). Under the rhetoric of identity, images and writings no longer deter because they cannot respond as kind and gracious authorities can; instead, they provide security when interpreted as instructions and laws for available and guaranteed effects. From the 18th century onwards, timetables or schedules increasingly dominated life. They were relegated to the background world of administrative files, but at the same time they were embodied by machines and users who believed to control them. As rules of administration, they were and remain something like computer programmes that proceed unseen behind visible life: a life that does not seem forced, but natural. This new concept of the natural corresponds more to everyday terms such as ‘ simple ’ , ‘ clear ’ , ‘ logical ’ , ‘ effortless ’ or ‘ independent of consensus ’ than to a romantic understanding of nature. The concept of nature served to valorize what had previously been repulsive and indecent. Considered as a machine that can be organized by its users, it appears harmless. Identity and Vanitas 213 8 From dissuasion to motivation The explorable relic and the criminalistic trace were seen as motivating instructions for the ability to draw conclusions. Because they could reveal origins and stimulate the imagination, Enlightenment thinkers separated them from religious relics, which remained evidence of the transience of all being. Explorable relics can be realized like read characters (see p. 248), no longer perceived as sad memorials of an irretrievable past or as threatening ghosts, but as fascinating models of a coming-into-being. Death appeared as a lie and the animation of the lifeless models as revealed truth. Archaeology, for example, was born out of this change of attitude. Skulls went from being a sign of one ’ s own inevitable demise to models for life-saving surgery - useful and often successful imaginative tools. A skull on a pirate flag is supposed to warn, a skull in the doctor ’ s office is intended to inspire confidence (see p. 250). Even the then-modern silhouettes of the 18th century - a vanitas symbol like echoes and reflections - became something worth holding on to. To this day they can still seem to reveal types or characters, fascinating traces to be embodied by the observer ’ s imagination. Guileless deception or ‘ disguised simplicity ’ were popular theatrical themes in the second half of the 18th century. The ‘ deceptive ’ arts were fundamentally revalued. For example, the touching ‘ trick of love ’ , which became a ubiquitous stage motif, was made ethically unassailable by Beethoven in his opera Fidelio (1805/ 14). The main character, Leonore, dresses herself as a man to rescue her wrongfully imprisoned husband. The performer staged an unveiling of feminine nature, her selfless loyalty, instead of an insidious veiling, the frowned-upon cross-dressing. Even the scheming servants on the stages of the 18th century, like the main character of Pergolesi ’ s La serva padrona (1733), a servant who behaves like a mistress and thus becomes a mistress, appeared charming and harmless. The audience no longer laughed at her but shared her humour: there was a consensus about common rules. The sensuality of a theatre role (which until today, without the Enlightenment revaluation, could seem deceptive or insidious) was made into a presentation of reliable nature. Help, care and loyalty turned to be automatic feminine qualities. The modern belief in ‘ natural ’ role models, which today we call identity, had turned the once despised lifelessness of stereotypical ideas into a highly valued security. In the 18th century, the ‘ nothingness ’ of the ruse was upgraded to the ‘ artistic ’ in the modern sense. Cunning as an indication of infidelity became art as an indication of fidelity. However, an ‘ illusionist ’ could also be a fraud, like ‘ Count ’ Cagliostro, who not only performed tricks with the camera obscura, but also used his admirers ’ gullibility to enrich himself. But in his case his audience (apparently) did not want to recognize his fraudulence. They resolved that they would not be threatened by his ruse, but ‘ charmed ’ by it. Similarly, the actresses of the modern female characters depicted on stage seemed to charm professionally, but harmlessly. Technical success was no longer supposed to characterize the thief or fraudster, but should be a social success. Deception no longer threatened, but averted threats by revealing its know-how: victims of a deception thus believed themselves to be controlling observers. The seductive or threatening appearance looked real, but fortunately it was not: nature seemed to be the cause of jointly controlled charms without an arbitrary and potentially dangerous causer. 214 Mathias Spohr In my opinion, the clearest sign of the reversal of the vanitas allegoric in the Western world is the formation of a musical repertoire: music, which fades away immediately it is heard and is thus even more ephemeral than cooking, became from the 18th century onwards a guarantor of the eternal. Denkmäler der Tonkunst (monuments of the art of sound) were created. Musical scores were no longer transcripts of something that had faded away and whose irreplaceability was to be mourned, but instructions for performance that made it possible for the music contained on the page to resound into the distant future. Reading in general was moving from description to simulation (see p. 271). From the 18th century onwards, users began to project their own feelings onto objects such as musical instruments or marionettes. Although it could only react like a mirror, the animated object seemed to come alive, and to beguile listeners and viewers without threatening to them. Magic instruments that sound of their own accord and bring peace to people (rather than offering warlike signals or sinister sounds of seduction) became a popular theme in life and literature from around 1800. Nature seemed to speak up. With musical help, the sensual effects of art were reinterpreted, moving from the shameful to the exemplary, from the divisive to the reconciliatory. 9 Points of view Texts and images were no longer deceiving signs of an inevitable absence, but an invitation to read and, in doing so, to imagine something. The reader ’ s voice transformed from an insufficient substitute for the writer ’ s faded voice into the realization of a text, possible and justified at any time. Texts, images and other objects began to signal presence instead of absence, as if a community were contained in them that was independent of space and time. Reading world literature brought a world to life, as an identity of educated people. They saw lifeless models as living communities and objective realities at a time (see pp. 252, 288). Strictly speaking, all models remain media of a represented model, and thus they are merely its observers: embodiments in general are observations. Further observers appreciate their accurate or creative representation. To take an example, human models exhibit a dress model that is modelled on a prototype, which in turn has realized a pattern. And this pattern is in turn the realization of a designer ’ s idea. People who believe they realize a common idea gather around each of these media. In this way they create a consensus across several levels of observation: designers with computer screens, tailors with patterns, models with prototypes, audiences with the models on the catwalk and customers with the garments. All observers embody embodiments of a model (see p. 238). A model is not tangible as such, but present in its embodiments. In contrast, a depicted being or action is also not tangible, but absent in its imitations. However, we can substitute a model for the missing being or action and thus make it seem present, as in the example of the Austrian Empress as a character in a musical mentioned at the beginning of this paper. Observers believe they can substitute themselves for a missing voice or person because they have the know-how to do so. The desire for immediacy often confuses the unattainable model in identity perception with the unattainable living counterpart in vanitas perception (see p. 251). The model can be realized through know-how, but the living counterpart cannot. Identity and Vanitas 215 Writings, conversations, and even thoughts can embody a text as their implicit model. The ‘ text ’ does not exist without them. A specific speaking or thinking of this text may be absent, but from a modern point of view, the model and its embodiments do not depend on it. Essential to the idea of an embodied model is the idea of an observer perspective. In this case, it consists of possible readings or interpretations of a text, imagined as a relationship or community (see p. 252). Although it may sound a little confusing that the observer ’ s perspective faces the observer, our looking in the mirror makes it an everyday experience. A mirror may not only show a person, but also someone who appears to be looking at that person (see p. 240). I term the mirror ’ s apparent ability to see an ‘ observer ’ s perspective ’ or point of view. In the identity perception, it seems to look back to its viewers like a judging community, whose judgement is created and adopted by the viewers, like the magic mirror in the fairy tale Snow White. The mirror can be seen either as an inanimate mask that imitates the form of its observer without acting itself (vanitas), or as a mask worn by the observer like a camera (identity), a medium that provides a reliable perspective on the living: an ‘ extension of man ’ , as Marshall McLuhan pointed out. In the first case, the observer looks into the mirror, in the second, he or she looks out of the mirror, embodying its perspective. The mirror is an extension of the observer in identity perception, whereas the observer is an extension of the mirror in vanitas perception. Symbols of identity such as a national flag, a work of art, a pop star or a fashion phenomenon seem to look at their viewers like a mirror. They ‘ return the gaze ’ , as Walter Benjamin put it, and may appear as a living partner even if they are simply an object (see p. 291). The problem of pictures not being able to respond and thus make the viewers aware of their loneliness seems to have been solved. A model contains a point of view that represents a community. This community consists of all those who adopt this perspective with conviction and justification. In order to have the impression of a counterpart, the observers can recognize this community in the perspective that is facing them (see p. 271). They are looking into the face of an institution to which they profess to belong. Thus, they replace the missing gaze of an object with their own gaze. For example, a national flag seems to look at its viewers as a nation. National flags painted on the cheek, as seen among sports fans, show an embodiment of the nation even more vividly. When this flag is displayed on a screen, the effect seems to be amplified, because not only the community of a nation, but also a community of screen viewers appear to be looking at the screen user as their common reflection. It looks not like a ghost, as in vanitas perception, but like a partner and a controlled role model at a time (see p. 294). The screen does not show a disguise within a disguise or a deception within a deception, as in vanitas perception, but an embodiment within an embodiment of an origin, such as nationhood or womanhood. If dog owners buy a dog of the same breed every time their dog dies and call each dog Felix, then the breeders and the dogs are interpreters of the ‘ Felix ’ model. The dog owners appreciate the breeder ’ s and the dog ’ s achievement. ‘ How ’ Felix matches his nature is the question, and a community - to which the respective Felix also belongs - judges this. Felix is free to realize his role individually - or he may realize it automatically if he is considered an instinctual being; self-fulfilment and automation coincide. The Felix model seems to speak 216 Mathias Spohr from the living Felix and becomes a reliable partner for everybody involved. Breeding and training make origin available. Why does the inanimate Felix model seem to come alive in all these dogs? The procedure becomes clearer if we understand the model as a perspective: as if the observers were all looking through a stencil or transparent film on which the dog template is drawn. In this way, the deviation or conformity of the living dog can be measured. The model comes alive when the dog fits. Felix ’ s observation of the model is observed: it is not the picture that must imitate the dog, but the dog that must realize the picture. The model is a common, precisely realized expectation. Reality and its observers are reflected in a model that everyone tries to implement faithfully. Outer qualities understood as inner essence are observer perspectives. A joint wishful thinking thus becomes the measure of perception. The understanding of vanitas that preceded ‘ identity ’ was opposed to this idea. According to the vanitas perception, images do not show anything observed, but rather fix a point of view. Such a perspective only shows that a living observer is missing. The mirror reflects us from a perspective that we cannot adopt (see p. 271). A real observer cannot become a point, he/ she merely tries to fit into a perspective, thus imitating a lifeless thing (see pp. 232 - 234). Real observers render themselves mute and immobile, anonymous and interchangeable when they adopt this perspective, which vanitas rhetoric admonishes with a raised finger. Depicted skulls are mirror images of their viewers: do the observers imitate the inanimate skull, thus becoming a lifeless mirror for their own observers? Does posing for paintings, and later for photographs, render the performers inanimate like stones or corpses; or, conversely, do they enliven a model through their motivated discipline? In the identity perception, records seem to preserve this discipline instead of merely confirming lifelessness. Identification with the eye point of central perspective was a widely discussed imposition during the Renaissance. Does the point of view only point to something missing, or is it an option for identification? Observers make themselves equal with other observers by adopting the same perspective. In so doing, they burdened themselves with guilt, because a common desire might lead to strife as long as bus queues and sporting competitions were not yet commonplace (see p. 232). Between the Middle Ages and modern times, shared guilt became shared pride. In modern interpretations, the central perspective is often described as an individualization of the gaze, but this is contradictory: at best it could be a model of individuality for everyone. Individuality comes at the price of interchangeability and, in fact, superfluousness. The belief in controlling something rather than being controlled is what constitutes this individuality. The covetous, emancipation-willing observers believed they were mastering a know-how rather than being deceived and oppressed. Media of all kinds no longer appeared to be deceptive and faceless masks (see p. 238), but became objectifying visual aids. The telescope, for example, was no longer a sinister magical tool and a proof for the deceptiveness of the senses. It moved from the aristocratic cabinet of curiosities to the classroom and seems to be alive as long as students crowd around it. Vanitas still lifes, on the other hand, show such devices without observers (see p. 243). This makes them appear lifeless and useless. Identity and Vanitas 217 10 How-questions instead of what-questions When society accepts observer perspectives, perception changes. Since the 18th century, Western observers have judged how a person or device sees or does something, instead of asking what they see or do. The how-question no longer leads to the answer ‘ it is a lie ’ , as the what-question does. Audiences do not see the performing artist or device as a liar, but as a reliable interpreter. Letters and numbers play a role here, which are not lies: there is a fixed rule for their spelling. They do not imitate anything, but they embody rules, just as their readers do. In that way the how of execution and observation seems to create reality: shadow, echo and mirror-image no longer lie, but reliably reflect. As soon as the how question is asked, a rule that exists behind all lies is assumed. The apparent lie of any image or performance can lead to reality if we perceive it as a trace: the how evolves from a means of deception to a transparent procedure, as it is performed by ‘ scientific law ’ or by magicians in the circus. Even a criminal can be convicted by asking how questions. A trace does not lie, but unveils. In all these cases, the ‘ what ’ of real magic or real crime is not sought. As fictional traces in the crime novel, they are all the less dangerous. It is welcome that they turn out to be lies, while the how-question leads to reassuring explanations. Observers of a skull, for example (see p. 289), prefer the reassuring how (how can I use this trace? ) to the disturbing what (death is done and present! ). The modern search for clues has one thing in common with the older allegory: behind the apparent lie there seems to be a true meaning. Fiction is valorized, because it is the ‘ how ’ of its representation that matters. The medieval novel as a cautionary tale of lies evolved into the modern detective story (see p. 260). Imagination triumphed in the 19th-century novel: it was now interesting to see how an author told stories, even if they were not true (see p. 266). Answers to how-questions seem more reliable than those to what-questions. The ‘ natural ’ immediacy of body language seems to reveal more about speakers than what they say. What they say may be a lie, but apparently not how they say it. This perceptual principle works even with emoticons added to a written text on a phone or computer: the emoticons tell us how to read the text, and their immediacy seems natural. Viewers follow a rule they think to have mastered themselves and experience an effect. They can easily adopt the expression, and it appears objective because it works. The what of the written communication does not inspire the same confidence as the pictorial how: showing defeats telling. However, the emoticon does not prove that the emotion portrayed is not a lie (see pp. 251, 280). The vanitas still lifes of the 17th century admonish their viewers: an image is not as immediate as you think. What is shown is missing from the image, do not confuse your mirror image with a missing counterpart - and these paintings encourage an allegorical deciphering (see p. 243). Modern vanitas depictions might satirize the idea of emoticons by using skulls or fool ’ s faces (see p. 240). From a modern point of view, it is the regularity of a transmission or mediation that generates trust. Templates to which one can adapt one ’ s body (see p. 256), or melodies to which one can adapt one ’ s voice (see p. 295) are simple examples of embodied rules. A Western orchestra sounds as reliable as a clockwork. Precise tuning, as with dancers in front of the mirror, is not only required of performers, but also of their controlling audience. 218 Mathias Spohr Musicians observe pitch and metre incessantly, and listeners share this know-how. Interpreters and observers add their voices or bodies as the ‘ what ’ to this ‘ how ’ , if the perception of identity prevails (see p. 274). Thus, there is no missing ‘ what ’ as in vanitas perception. In all these cases a faithful interpretation is appreciated: how did you do it? Even the secret of this how could be explained as a measurable ingredient, like a pinch of spice. It is not witchcraft, but the explainable magic of an artist. The popular but poorly regarded spell books of the late Middle Ages (grimoires) gave way to the cookbooks, technical manuals, and motivational guides of the modern era (see p. 272). How-questions upgrade the lies of art. We can explain how the telescope lies, when it shows things closer than they are. Therefore, the observers share its method of perception, and the lie seems to become an objective reality. The high esteem of such observations developed only in the 18th century. The observer perspective of a telescope or a microscope, like that of the mirror, seemed to unveil facts instead of veiling them, if users trusted these instruments to faithfully reproduce rather than faithlessly deceive. Physical laws and faithful functioning were reconciled. Interpreters began to act like technical media, showing nature incorruptibly. But the mirror ’ s nature (how it does what it does) consists of the optical laws of reflection, and the observers ’ nature (how they do what they do) seems to demonstrate loyalty to their community. The first how means causality, the second loyalty. Is there a difference? 11 Simulation instead of description In the 16th century, Copernicus apparently demonstrated how the planets orbited the sun (see p. 236). How-questions presuppose a way of looking at things. But he and his contemporaries still understood his mathematical formulae quite naturally as descriptions of celestial motions, i. e. as an afterimage, not yet as a model of what he observed. It would only be a ‘ necessary inner principle ’ in the case of a simulation: a simulation realizes its own description. Galileo ’ s dictum that the universe is a book written with mathematical symbols (Il saggiatore, 1623) suggests that the universe performs its human description, which the mathematician L. E. J. Brouwer condemned 300 years later, still using the arguments of vanitas. A book has a function for its reader, but not necessarily the universe, and a description of the universe is not necessarily its plan. The function of a medium is confused with the function of what it represents, from writing paper to Schrödinger ’ s cat. The idea that mathematics rules the world and that nature faithfully executes these rules came about by analogy with service regulations, musical notes, or theatre roles. Even when all measurements agree, the captured observer perspective remains as a difference between the world and its simulation. From the 18th century on, teachers and students of Copernicus ’ s drawings declared his perspective valid. The planets themselves appeared to realize the drawings. The loyalty of the enlightened observers to this perspective was also expected of the planets. The reason for this was political: public opinion was at odds with the traditional view espoused by the Pope (in which the sun circled the earth) and the people decided to choose their own point of view. They were unfaithful to the Pope, but believed they were being faithful to nature. Observers who believed themselves to be in the right and in control of the rules rebelled against a personal authority. Identity and Vanitas 219 In the identity perception, observers consider the medium of a form as its first observer (see p. 270): it embodies a model. Not only the beings but also the things seem to anticipate an observer ’ s perspective. The sun, as ruler and point of view, remains at rest, and the planets orbit it like a well-behaved family. In this case, they follow or master the laws of nature. The French Sun King Louis XIV performed this as a ballet with his loyal courtiers (Ballet de la nuit, 1653); it was not a mask play but the authorized view of the world. The performers mastered their roles, and nature seemed to speak through them. At that time, there was still a ruler who guaranteed the objectivity of this perspective. But a secular ruler had replaced the religious one, although loyalty to the Catholic Church was still invoked. However, natural phenomena do not control themselves like actors at the service of their audience. The positive made from the photographic negative or the footprint corresponds to what is measured, but it is not necessarily its model. In quantum mechanics it becomes clear that the causality of the measuring apparatus belongs to the measured value, which cannot be attributed beforehand to the measured object. Schrödinger ’ s cat (see p. 276) or ‘ quantum suicide ’ reflect a decaying particle, as displays of a measuring device, but the causality of the ‘ infernal machine ’ that produces these results cannot be assumed: a bottle of poison should be smashed by a hammer and a cat should be killed by the poison the bottle contains. It is their materiality that makes the predictable effect possible. The state of a quantum object is not defined before we define this object as a triggering medium for us, like the hammer for the bottle or the poison for the cat. The intention to make a difference by measuring does not allow an uninvolved measurement. This is not really a modern insight (see p. 238). But the circularity of measurement and the observer perspective as a ‘ frozen will ’ have had a technical success that could not have been foreseen before the 19th century. Reflection, once deceptive, became a standard of objectivity because the results of measurement, like those of mathematics, must be reproducible and comparable, in order to provide a fair basis for observers. It is not nature, but fidelity to this rule, that promises causality. A social requirement determines the choice and design of measuring media. Vanitas criticizes identity because the transferability of the observer perspective remains an intention that has to be technically realized (see p. 254). A recorded and displayed property is a function of the measuring medium for an observer, but it is not necessarily a function of the object being measured (see p. 266). However, technology can make it so: the measured phenomenon is mirrored back and the measured object then also appears as a medium to which a form is applied, as in the case of one ’ s own weight. A world of information (with clear distinctions and secure effects) is confused with the real material world, which can, however, be turned into a world of information on a sheet of paper or with a machine. There is no mechanistic causa efficiens, but the causa materialis of a faithful medium can be confused with it. The cause is a role. The decaying particle seems to be a model for Schrödinger ’ s dying cat, but it is the other way round: the controllable death of the cat should be the model for the uncontrollable particle. By constructing the qubit, the physicist seems to be saying to the quantum object: I take revenge by making you a carrier of information too. Vanitas interpretations would say that the reality of death is preferred here to the indeterminacy of life. Vanitas depictions show the medium ’ s lack of interest in an imposed 220 Mathias Spohr form that distorts and disintegrates when the viewer changes perspective or makes no effort to preserve it. The lump of clay is only a possibility for modelling, that is, a medium for its future form, if it is considered as such. It does not wait for the artist to find its identity and proudly display it in the museum. Crumbling castles, weathered writings, or traces in the sand are vanitas symbols: disappearing forms point to a past life, and the medium, having overcome this constraint, takes on new forms without regard to expectations. Stability of a form, on the contrary, would be a sign of death, not an expression of discipline, as in the depiction of soap bubbles or eternally blooming flowers in vanitas paintings (see p. 243). By contrast, the late-18th-century tableaux vivants (living pictures) or attitudes (made popular by Emma Hamilton) belong to the ‘ identity ’ view: performers display faithful recreations of a stationary image. They do not shamefully display an image that imitates an absent being, but they are a proud medium that realizes a model, and observers may wonder how they manage to do this so faithfully. Living pictures are both observed images and interpreting observers. When the performers shake or move a little, this does not mean that the mirage is finally disappearing and making way for life, as in vanitas perception, but that the accuracy of the representation is threatened, so that the observers must help to maintain it. A photograph then seems to preserve the ephemeral because it is able to preserve its idea. While the corpse as the medium of its preserved form is a lost world (nature morte, as it is called in art history), and its form is a lie (the cut flower is a common vanitas motif, see pp. 278, 287), the performer of a living image is an interpreter, and the embodied image is reality. Vanitas says: the medium is real and alive regardless of its form. Identity says: the form (or function, or observer perspective) is real and alive regardless of its medium. However, a rule cannot act, only a ruler behind the rules could do so. The spiritualist medium, who appears to make an absent person present instead of merely inventing, describing or imitating, could be seen as a satirical or demonic variant of this concept. An exorcist would be needed to render the ruler behind the rule or role harmless, in order to restore control (see p. 286). Living beings as well as things are media when they appear as observer perspectives. The concept of the ‘ faithful medium ’ is of particular interest: it seems to voluntarily control its own function. The metal of which Hans Christian Andersen ’ s The Steadfast Tin Soldier (1838) is made is not faithful because it would remain steadfast of its own accord, but because this material is designed for its specific use (see p. 259). It does not have the touching motivation for its controllability that one believes to recognize in the tin soldier, or in the painted dog from His master ’ s voice (1916). Observers understand their own mastery as an embracing expression (see p. 284): the imposition of ideas appears as empathy, and the identification appears as a unifying bond. However, the principle ‘ my mastery is my loyalty ’ cannot apply to all. Smiling carcasses in butcher ’ s advertisements are among the clearest examples: animal figures smile because they reflect the satisfied eater. The how of expression is feasible, the what of an absent life is not. Lifelessness is not discipline, and causality is not loyalty. The smiley ’ s smile is a lie, not an invitation (see p. 268). Only its observers, imagining its expression, need be alive. A faithful medium seems to anticipate the viewer ’ s perspective. Identity and Vanitas 221 12 Attractive equality Why does vanitas rhetoric warn against observer perspectives? Equal goals led to unhappy experiences for people in medieval times. When many fight over the same thing, there is chaos and death (see p. 232). The fairness of any ‘ rules of the game ’ had to be argued about for a long time. The rules of gambling had a bad reputation. The older virtue was to keep to measures in the sense of moderation, not of precision and persistence (see p. 260). In former times it was necessary for a father-figure or prince to tell each person whether or not they would receive something. This individual treatment was called grace. Authoritarian grace was the solution to dangerous competitive situations. From today ’ s point of view, grace seems unfair, but once it kept peace as long as the graceful authorities were accepted. Today, we can ask the authorities ‘ why ’ , and they have to justify themselves. Grace, which once had a positive connotation, could now be seen as favouritism or corruption. In civilized life, arbitrary grace has been replaced by rules that are respected by everyone in everyone ’ s interest. Whether it is a god, a father or an employer who is being asked or controlled, the problem is similar at all levels of relationships. Controlled traffic rules promise independence of road users from the grace of individual police officers (although that grace may still be extended to favoured or disadvantaged road users). We pride ourselves not on obeying a king, but on mastering a set of rules. The motivation for self-constraint arises from the avoidance of external constraint. Community is no longer defined by common rulers, but by common rules. That we can cope with and even endorse equality presupposes civilization, as Norbert Elias has explored. Rules can allow peaceful competition. They are role models: observers jointly take on the role of a disempowered authority, and its control on them turns into self-control. There are traditional exceptions to this principle: Queen ’ s English was the language of a person, not a controllable system of linguistic rules. Her language cannot be embodied, but only imitated. The replacement of authority by strictly followed rules did not happen everywhere with the same rigour. Anglo-Saxon law (common law) gives judges greater freedom than continental European law (statutory law). As gracious authorities, Anglo-Saxon judges are less obliged to follow overriding rules than their continental counterparts, and they can exercise mercy with greater latitude. In terms of identity, equality was no longer seen as oppression or self-oppression. Competition should no longer lead to discord, but to commonality. The deliberate appropriation of a point of view, as associated with an image or text or device, should animate the point as a common model (see pp. 250, 253): a proud observation replaces everything observed (see p. 291). Interpreters of the point of view offer their perspective to their audience like a model on the catwalk. The observers may all wear the same fashion, but they can feel individual and creative about it. This is the phenomenon of ‘ expression ’ : observers believe they are not imitating but embodying a point of view that looks like a partner and a community at the same time. The muteness and immobility of mannequins no longer warn us of death, as vanitas rhetoric did, instead, the controlled mannequins seem to look at us in a friendly way, as an inviting observer ’ s perspective. To this day, precise measurements, calculations, quotations or meticulous adherence to formal requirements can become an end in themselves, because they signal commitment to 222 Mathias Spohr a community. Loyalty to one another is supplemented or replaced with fidelity to common rules. Fixed prices instead of laborious negotiations, for example, seem to be immediate to all concerned (see p. 234), and this mechanization of communication was increasingly welcomed. Work in an orchestra or in a scientific discipline is characterized by high fidelity through mastery of the rules and represents this understanding of loyalty as a moral value. Observer perspectives seemingly do not isolate the observers by their concentration on the causality of secure effects and immediate recognition, but lead to a relationship between them: a community of common rules. However, due to the development of technology, this conviction may be no longer taken as a given; today ’ s highly automated observer perspectives do not necessarily include communities of faithfully understanding and executing subjects. The unstable balance of security, transparency and trust when we watch such communities is changing. We may no longer see smooth functioning as an inviting consensus. The promise of self-control and automation can suggest rules that do not make sense. It now seems more likely, as in the heyday of vanitas rhetoric, that the apparent community is in fact a machine controlled by ulterior rulers. Loyalty to a mechanism or apparatus is no longer as appealing as it was at the height of identity perception, because the shared mastery of that mechanism is called into question. In narratives of the horror genre, the theme of reliable reflections that become demonic lies may be crucial: a shift from identity to vanitas. Equality as a motivated discipline can still turn into equality as a premonition of death (see pp. 290, 293). 13 Attempt at systematics In what follows, I use the terms ‘ failure ’ and ‘ afterimage ’ to address the topic of vanitas; when discussing the topic of identity, I employ the terms ‘ success ’ and ‘ model ’ . In my opinion, vanitas means not only transience but absence: an absent being or action can also be too distant to be accessible or merely imagined. Imagination from this point of view is a failure, an attempt at imitation. Identity, on the other hand, creates presence through a successful imagination. It is a strategy that turns descriptions into reality. Let us change the perspective from historicity to systematics. There are four variants of a relationship between a representation and a represented action in the concept of vanitas: 1. success in failure; 2. failure in failure; 3. success in success; 4. failure in success. (Failure here means a failure to hold on to or to produce something alive - absence instead of presence.) The first two variants belong to vanitas rhetoric up to the 17th century, the last two have developed as attempts to overcome vanitas since the 18th century. 1. Success in failure is shown by religious representations, such as depictions of miracles, in which the depiction cannot and must not equal the reality. The tenth-century Visitatio sepulchri, an early example of modern (post-ancient) European theatre, conveys this message. It is an addition to the Easter Mass, performed (initially by clerics in church) as a dialogue between angels and women at Christ ’ s tomb. The resurrection of Christ has been achieved, but there is nothing left at the empty tomb. Only the insight that a presence cannot be produced can be presented. The miracle can only be told. This is still Identity and Vanitas 223 visible in the late medieval theatricalizations of the Eucharist in the Spanish dramatic genre Auto sacramental: what looks like bread and wine is in fact the body and blood of Christ. Sense perception must fail, eyes are deceiving. ‘ Behind ’ an inadequate mediation, however, is a successful miracle. Allegorical interpretation of sensuous impressions makes this understandable. 2. Failure in failure is the most common variant of vanitas rhetoric. It is used to represent not the work of God, but the work of man. The open-eyed cadaver in 17th-century depictions of vanitas only feigns life, as does the image in which it is depicted. Painted eyes are as blind as the eyes of corpses. The image exposes its own failure, albeit very artfully. Like the thing depicted, it is itself prey; a possessive attempt to capture the living that remains lifeless. The depiction of works of art, on the other hand, makes it even clearer that these works remain lifeless and that the creatures depicted are as absent as the artists. A pictorial representation of fireworks does not capture the ephemeral, but in its unnatural static state only shows that it is incapable of doing so. 3. Success in success belongs to the attempts to overcome vanitas since about 1750. In Jean- Jacques Rousseau ’ s drama Pygmalion (1762/ 70, see p. 251), the eponymous sculptor can, for the first time in retellings of this myth, bring his statue to life without divine help and make her his partner. The pantomime-play (melodrama) which contains this action understands itself as something successful by creating a sense of community. This work represents the dramaturgical scheme of the so-called ‘ touching play ’ : the audience sheds tears for a success. Another example is Gluck ’ s opera Orphée et Eurydice (1762, revised in 1774), in which, unlike in past accounts, Orpheus is allowed to bring his wife Eurydice back from the dead. Reports of real-life miracles performed by humans, such as medical successes, also function according to this principle. The portrayal no longer connects with the portrayed through a shared failure, but through a shared success. The ‘ touching play ’ distinguishes a community of success from an older community of suffering and pity. Awareness of powerlessness becomes awareness of power. Passion turns from suffering to a motivated urging. 4. Failure in success also belongs to the attempts to overcome vanitas - but as a brusque demarcation of a successful representation from a represented failure. The media of the 19th century offer many examples of this constellation. The singer of the death aria triumphs over the death of his character by breaking the illusion of reality and accepting applause. He and his audience have survived. This contrasts with the older lament, filled with the shared grief of fading away. In a mad scene the singer shows perfect control of her voice, while the character portrayed loses control. The dancer interpreting the Dying Swan (in Michel Fokine ’ s 1904 choreography) should remain in full possession of her faculties, unlike the swan portrayed. The climax of catastrophic stage scenarios is perhaps the final scene of Richard Wagner ’ s Götterdämmerung (1876). The author, who created his own gods, lets them perish and celebrates himself as the survivor, an attitude shared by his audience. Aesthetic newspaper images of catastrophes basically function according to the same principle. The rhetoric of decadence employed since the 18th century also presupposes superiority over the decadent: an alien world is accused of vanitas in order for one to consolidate one ’ s own identity (see the Western notions of the Orient pp. 266, 273, 291). Even the vanitas representations of the 17th century could be 224 Mathias Spohr suspected of secretly triumphing over what they represent. It is a success of representation that is disguised - with real or feigned modesty - as failure. The two variants of identity as a vanitas-overcoming (3 and 4) tend to combine paradoxically. The ‘ representation of success ’ (the museum piece remains alive! ) combines with the opposite attitude, namely a ‘ triumph over its failure ’ (its authority has finally been overcome! ): for example, authorities to whom gigantic monuments were erected in the 19th century - such as the Austrian emperor Franz Joseph I - repeatedly lost their power. The ephemeral nature of this authority was not acknowledged, but the praise of greatness and the invocation of validity ( ‘ representation of success ’ ) were subliminally accompanied by a real loss of validity, which a modern audience welcomes ( ‘ triumph over failure ’ ). To put it in terms of the distinction between medium and form: the medium (a functionary or a staff of an institution) pretends that it is the form of the embodied monuments that matters, in order to secure its own power and prevent its own replaceability. The afterimage (image of a missing reality) is made into a model (of a self-realized, present world). Authority becomes virtual authority: a fixed, imaginable thing over which the viewer or reader triumphs by embodying the model; their mastery is their loyalty. The model has a presence through imagination. For Ferdinand de Saussure, the signified was an inner image: for him, it was nothing outside of perception, it was not an authority that could still voice its claims. The replacement of the living by the tangible but lifeless exemplar delivers the signified to the power of its beholders, even if they still praise its power. 14 Models as authority figures Self-mirroring, which until the 17th century had a reputation for being reprehensible, has been made the basis of social behaviour since the 18th century - insofar as it is a collective self-mirroring on the basis of valid models, which promise self-realization. An influencer ’ s selfie in today ’ s social media can also be seen as a collective selfie of their followers. Observers select and realize their own authority figures, which are supposed to stay mute and immobile without their admirers ’ animation, because they are not meant to act as arbitrary, intimidating rulers, but to be embodied as models and precepts by their interpreters. The model is a lie, but it is controllable. Inanimate objects serve as mirrors, animated by their viewers, which in turn give them a feeling of safety and security, like the model of a mighty dinosaur reduced to the level of a child ’ s toy. They replace insecure social relationships with jointly controlled functioning. Fidelity to a model is no longer personal loyalty any more, as obedience to a living authority such as a father or a sovereign once was. It can be objectified by measuring: ‘ how well do I fit? ’ External constraint by rulers becomes self-constraint through self-controlled rules when an authority is replaced by a model. A realized model like a garment, a culinary recipe, a construction manual or musical notes promises control and external impact. Sometimes, this notion is a deliberately constructed illusion to legitimize power as a shared one. The celebrity chef or the great composer are relatively harmless examples. Images of dictators, on the other hand, often seem to make these rulers into sympathetic figures dominated by their people. A puppet does not appear dangerous, because it is subject to the Identity and Vanitas 225 joint power of players and audience (see p. 232). When the observers make themselves the causer and fix their counterpart as a model, there is a strict causality. But at some point, the real ruler may emerge from behind the dominated image. In vanitas representations, death is the forgotten ruler. Such narratives, in the way of stories and films like The Mummy Returns, remain familiar. Behind embodiments of rules that promise security and safety by merely reacting like mirrors, appears a ruler as an arbitrary authority (be it natura naturans, a goddess, a king, or an author), who defends himself/ herself against disempowerment and does not care about the rules. Rules can replace rulers, but rulers can still hide behind rules (see p. 286). Who can authorize abilities? In identity perception, observer perspectives can be mastered and at the same time seem to authorize this by inviting the observers like the graceful authorities they have replaced. From my point of view there are three historical stages to this belief: grace of authority, grace of public opinion and grace of one ’ s own. Grace of authority: a good fit is rewarded by the authority. The model is still an authoritarian default. - Public opinion said about Emma Hamilton: ‘ this body looks like that of a lady ’ . Lord Hamilton showed his agreement with public opinion by gracing Emma with marriage, thus making her a proper lady. This is a traditional deal between an authority and its subjects. Authority hands over its power to the public. This arrangement, which seemed new and modern in the 18th century, is still a part of society today. Emma Hamilton ’ s irritating limitation to the physical (her ‘ body ’ ) had to do with the idea of measurement: what was important about her could be mapped. Pronunciation as the ‘ outward shell ’ of a linguistic utterance should also (eventually) make Eliza a lady in George Bernard Shaw ’ s play Pygmalion (1913), and this might have a motivating effect on the performers of this role and their audience. A living being or action fits perfectly into a model. The performer is not an imitation of a lady, but brings an ideal to life. However, she has yet to be rewarded for this by legitimate authority, that is, by the noble who marries her. Grace of public opinion: a good fit is checked. The model is a standard. - In the fairy story, Cinderella ’ s foot fits in the shoe, as everyone realizes (see p. 246). The subjects of the prince were all detectives who found Cinderella ’ s foot, thus realizing the future princess. The prince only has to offer to marry her - in this case a mere formality. The public decides, or at least that is how it should appear. People agree on the objective measurement by judging: ‘ the proof is found ’ . So it is the public that gives the ultimate authorization for Cinderella ’ s acceptance, rather than the prince. The general recognition of a good fit seems to be an authorization. This is the principle of the modern identity card: measurable qualities demonstrated to a public determine membership. The card is not transferable. It seems to connect an observer perspective with an embodying individual. Holders are authorized if they embody their data. Own grace: a good fit is created as a self-authorization. The model has become fully controllable. - As the third stage of this historical development, the measured one gives himself/ herself the right to become part of a coveted community. An observer perspective seems to be equally included and available in the model. By choosing the right shoe, a present-day Cinderella acquires the prince ’ s lifestyle. The shoe model seems to contain a consenting audience that the buyer brings to life through her purchase. She imagines that she becomes a part of this community of lifestyle connotations through embodying its 226 Mathias Spohr identity. The physical conformity is joined by the idea of a community created by it: because she fits well, she does not need to be accepted first. The right to embody an observer perspective, without the accusation of merely imitating, creates a world of ‘ can do ’ that is opposed to a world of ‘ must ask ’ . Dominance, not obedience, seems to be loyalty. However, when a woman reads the first sentence of the American constitution ‘ We the people ’ (see p. 253) and a male audience laughs at it, her idea that her voice fits into that sentence becomes a vain illusion. She might believe that she is replacing the faded voices, and thus triumphing over the departed rulers. But reading accurately and meaning it sincerely is not enough to produce reality, just as perfectly wearing suit and tie does not necessarily lead to acceptance. This kind of fidelity is not crucial. Embodiment requires not only an observer perspective for a faithful performance, but much more the consent of the actual observers. She understands that she has no authorization, and that the ability to read is of no use to her. She remains at the mercy of authorities, so there are no rules for her to govern herself. Writing no longer seems to guarantee equal rights, it remains indifferent. It is not selfevident that readers and viewers believe in the power of embodiment. ‘ Why should I imitate this missing voice? ’ Modern observer perspectives promise to combine equality with the opportunity to realize one ’ s own imagination, which from the vanitas point of view is an illusion. In Thomas Hobbes ’ s Leviathan (1651), the body of the state consists of the citizens, who are subject to the absolute power of the monarch. In absolutism, the king was the first to embody the state. In a sense, he had an identity body and a vanitas body (as Ernst Kantorowicz described it, in other words). Subsequently, however, the monarch becomes a representative one. He becomes the performer of a model, realized through the citizens, who are no longer at his mercy. Henceforth, his power consists of the common will of his observers - rather as with a pop star (see p. 255). The observer ’ s perspective takes over the ruler ’ s perspective. A jointly embodied perspective replaces the authority, and the observers are its faithful medium. They are convinced parts of an apparatus that they themselves have come to control. British media, which still report enthusiastically on the British royal family, demonstrate the principle of a public realization of authority, although there is no longer any real power behind these images of royalty. The reigning causer has been turned into a mastered cause. He still has an effect, but it is his observers who trigger it. Imagination seems to trace the cause back to the causer, but the reader or viewer is now the causer instead of the overcome ruler. Investigative conclusions thus become creative embodiments, and relics are given a future perspective as legible signs. This perception is not selfevident, but culturally conditioned. Rulers become observer perspectives in order to be models for observers. In the 20th century, the author replaced the ruler as the epitome of authority. The authority of the bourgeois ‘ great author ’ , monumentalized like the monarch, is also challenged by such a reception. A monument no longer moves in a self-organized way, but has become a controllable object. The readers of a ‘ great author ’ triumph over his fading voice by replacing it with their own voices. They do not imitate the speaker but embody him. The author ’ s death seems fictional, as long as the readers ’ embodiment of the text is real and alive. But the idea that an author speaks to them is a self-deception. His uniqueness has apparently become their own: a self-mirroring valorized over the centuries. Identity and Vanitas 227 By turning an image into a model, the imitated being or action - on whose reality and irreplaceability the rhetoric of vanitas insists - is replaced by interpretations. However, this failure of the replaced beings is often disguised as their success. But the praise of a past success is dependent on the reader ’ s or viewer ’ s own sense of superiority. Tourists from northern Italy, for example, stroll through Vienna ’ s castles, showing their modern superiority over the former oppressors. Pantomimes stand in front of the buildings and show living pictures, mirroring the tourists and their touching fidelity when taking photos. The power of their observer ’ s perspective, embodying the deceased castle dwellers, makes the absence of the observed rulers attractive. Vanitas interpretations, on the other hand, expose this superiority as self-deception. 228 Mathias Spohr 15 Examples Explanation of the terms used Afterimage: The depicted reality is located ‘ behind ’ the image. It is absent from the world of the viewer. Perception must fail as an attempt to represent reality. The image remains an imitation or illusion. Viewers are fools if they do not notice that the depicted is missing. If they do notice, they grieve. Role model: Reality is created by its observer according to a model. It is present in the world of the observer. Its representation succeeds, and a represented thing is realized. Viewers deny the absence of what is depicted by realizing the picture themselves. The absence of the pictured beings is welcome. Often these are rulers who have been deprived of power. This structure mostly appears in nestings (mise-en-abyme): an afterimage within an afterimage, a model within a model. For the sake of clarity, failure within failure is juxtaposed with success within success in the following examples. The afterimage-within-an-afterimage interpretation (absence within absence: vanitas) is daunting or off-putting. The model-within-a-model interpretation (presence within presence: identity) is encouraging or inviting. This is the rhetorical sense of these traditional perceptions, which represent opposite value judgements. Through the mise-en-abyme, there is an amplification of the effect. Model-within-a-model interpretations have become increasingly common since the later 18th century. A religiously connoted concept of reality (real is what lives, and the image is lifeless) changes to a causal one (real is what acts, and the image seems to act in a controllable way). Identity and Vanitas 229 Fidelity to an unattainable, desired object becomes fidelity of reproduction: instead of mourning a missing being, fidelity refers proudly to a realized model. This way, fidelity becomes manageable, technically feasible and objectifiable. The automatability of this kind of fidelity ( ‘ mechanical reading ’ ) requires a confessing ( ‘ I belong to this institution ’ ) and individualizing ( ‘ I show my freedom ’ ) ingredient called expression ( ‘ expressive reading ’ ). Cultural historians describe this as the transition from an aesthetic of imitation to an aesthetic of expression. A mechanical reading of a rule, for example, leads to ‘ service by the book ’ ( ‘ I do not belong to this institution, and I am not free ’ ), whereas an ‘ expressive ’ reading actualizes the meaning of that rule and thus brings a role, or even an institution, to life ( ‘ I belong to this institution, and I show my freedom ’ ). This way, performers of deterministic actions declare they are free, and their replaceability appears to them as uniqueness. This so-called expression aesthetic tends towards media blindness: models and regulations are internalized and surrounded with the nimbus of the natural. Performers and their observers follow the rules faithfully, but effortlessly. They do not show or perceive the training or machinery required for this. Automation is equally repressed and estimated: behind the scenes, the audience admires how it happens. This ‘ how ’ must be a reliable technique, not an inexplicable influence or magic. Afterimages are compared with what they represent. Models, on the other hand, lead to the question of how they are realized. The ‘ what ’ in the latter case (what we really see) is a medium for the realized effects. Viewers regard this medium as an observer whose perspective they share and whose performance they assess. This is how imitation becomes observation. Question: ‘ What do I see in the mirror? ’ Older answer: ‘ Not me! ’ Newer answer: ‘ A way of showing me. How does the mirror do this? ’ The older answer makes the mirror seem sinister. The newer answer makes the uncanny interesting. The same question can be asked about an actor who plays Queen Elizabeth or a photograph that depicts her: ‘ What do I see? ’ Older answer: ‘ Not Queen Elizabeth! ’ Newer answer: ‘ A way of showing Queen Elizabeth. How does the actor or the photo do it? ’ In the first case art frightens, in the second it becomes fascinating. 230 Mathias Spohr Model (identity) and afterimage (vanitas) interpretations are still common today, and can overlap or merge into each other. Vanitas has a demonic or comic connotation, while identity has a triumphant or touching one. The term afterimage is borrowed from the physiology of perception: it describes an optical impression of something that can no longer be seen. The term is used more generally in this piece: a construction of one ’ s own perception mixes with the traces of an outside world. Identity and Vanitas 231 Herrad von Landsberg: Hortus Deliciarum (around 1175) This image from a medieval encyclopaedia depicts a puppet show. According to the inscription, the scene means ‘ vanitas vanitatum ’ (vanity of vanities). Interpretation afterimage within afterimage: vanitas Within the record: The marionettes manipulated by strings are lifeless in contrast to their puppeteers. Therefore, according to the inscription, they are monsters ( ‘ in ludo monstrorum ’ ). The game played is reprehensible because it stimulates the imagination; the depicted fight encourages warlike thoughts. Outside the record: For viewers of the image, the puppeteers are inanimate drawings. They excite the imagination and can be seen as something alive, just as the puppeteers and their (invisible) audience see their puppets as something alive. But they are not real. The drawn figures are merely replicas of human beings. Both seem to show something alive, but viewers and readers have only dead parchment before them. The constellation of lifeless dolls in the lifeless drawing reinforces the warning against conceit. The fighters, the puppeteers, their audience and the image-viewers seem to have something in common, which is judged negatively. Their self-inflicted egalitarianism leads to competition, strife and death. This message legitimizes the drawing and with it the whole work, intended to be viewed and read by a certain public (i. e. more than one person), just like the puppet show. Interpretation model within model: identity Was not yet common. 232 Mathias Spohr Anonymous: Fresco in Tuse Church, Denmark (before 1480) The fresco shows the widespread legend of the three living and the three dead from the 11th century. Three living kings meet three dead kings on the hunt. Next to the dead we see four banners with the following Latin phrases: ‘ Vos qui transitis nostri memores rogo sitis ’ (You who pass by, I ask to remember us); ‘ Quod sumus hoc eritis ’ (What we are, you will be); ‘ Fuimus aliquando quod estis ’ (We once were what you are); ‘ Heu quantus est noster dolor ’ (Oh, our pain is great). Interpretation afterimage within afterimage: vanitas Within the record: What the living kings see must be a mirage, for corpses eaten by worms can neither stand nor speak. The living kings can only read the banners. They hear no voices. In doing so, they take on the roles of the dead. When they read, they speak to themselves with the voices of the dead. After their own death, they will speak with their own voices to the unborn. In neither persona could they really speak. Outside the record: Even the living kings are only painted. They are lifeless simulacra for the churchgoers viewing them. The situation within the representation - ‘ the living in front of the dead ’ - matches the situation for the observers of the fresco. For them, the living and the dead kings are both lifeless images. Successfully matching a reader ’ s voice to the Latin text does not create reality or identity. Readers lie when they read the pronouns ‘ I ’ , ‘ we ’ or ‘ you ’ - for they are neither kings nor dead. The paradoxical situation of viewing and reading is shaped into a didactic piece; this justifies the deceptive images shown in public. Readers should be frightened, because they speak with the voices of dead people when reading. Only if they themselves were dead and spoke to future living ones would the words have any meaning. In reading them, they become aware of their own transience. Direct speech was read as a description, not yet as a command to embody. Interpretation model within model: identity Was not yet common. Understanding the dead kings as role models created only a sense of atonement for one ’ s own vanity. Identity and Vanitas 233 Jan Provoost: Death and the Miser (1515 - 21) Interpretation afterimage within afterimage: vanitas Within the record: The painting on the left shows the Miser, the one on the right shows his observers. Death seems to be interested in settling his debts, but it is deception - the Miser is made a fool of. As a cheat, he is cheated. Death ’ s play money is not real money, just as the skeleton is not a living being. Death stands for the observer perspective of the bill of exchange, which makes a value transferable in time and space. But in this case, there is no value: both it and life are only imagination. The painter looks over Death ’ s shoulder, reading and observing the Miser. He imitates a debtor while reading and seems to embody the lifeless observer perspective. Death seems to be a puppet of the painter, but he will soon triumph over him too. Outside the record: A painting seems to make a depicted being or action spatially and temporally transferable, as a bill does with monetary value. But this is deception. The bill is legible on the painting, but the text here has no value, like the play money already has no value inside the picture. The depicted Miser and painter are as lifeless as the skeleton inside the picture. Viewers of the painting embody its perspective, as the painter inside the picture does with the bill (and indeed with the painting while painting the picture). Viewers make themselves as lifeless as the painter ’ s point of view and, like him, will soon only be a trace or memory. The Miser imposes an observer ’ s perspective on the debtor and the painter imposes one on the viewer. Both observers are deterred, because their common perspective is an assertion, which does not embody value, life or meaning. The equal treatment of debtors and art lovers through impersonal records was not yet understood as a just equality, but as oppression or imposition. As a punishment for having made themselves equal, they will have a shameful death. The painter will fail with his artful deceptions, just like the Miser. Their observer perspective, passed to the image viewers, is a symbol of reprehensible indifference. Interpretation model within model: identity Was not yet common. The traditional depiction of Death and the Miser can be seen here in two paintings of a triptych. The Miser seems to present Death with a bill of exchange and points to some kind of calendar with his right hand. (International trade in the 16th century increased the importance of bills of exchange as securities.) Death pays with toy money and a man - presumably a self-portrait of the painter - stands behind him admonishingly. 234 Mathias Spohr Pieter Coecke van Aelst the Elder: St Jerome (before 1550) The painting shows the Early Church Father in a study, surrounded by books and pictures. He points thoughtfully to a skull. Interpretation afterimage within afterimage: vanitas Within the record: The books and pictures, like the skull, are only traces of an absence, remembrances of things past or dead, as are the extinguished candle and the expired hourglass. All are afterimages. As with a trompe-l ’œ il, it is difficult to distinguish whether the representation in the background is a painting or a window. If it is a painting, what is depicted would also be missing from Jerome ’ s world (an absence within an absence). Outside the record: The viewers see Jerome vividly before them, but are also aware that he no longer exists in the flesh. The image cannot re-create the man and the saint. It remains an afterimage. Reality cannot be represented, and the sensuous effect of the painting is deceptive. Viewers should grieve for the absence of the depicted and for their own mortality, just as the depicted figure does. To justify his art, the artist admits that it is deception. The viewers show by their mourning that they are aware of the absence of the saint. Like the painter, they atone for their guilt at having imagined what was missing. Interpretation model within model: identity Was not yet common. The fidelity of an oil painting (today we say ‘ naturalism ’ ) was still understood as a perfected deception. Identity and Vanitas 235 Nicolaus Copernicus: Heliocentric World-View (1553) The manuscript of Copernicus ’ s 1553 paper De revolutionibus orbium coelestium shows for the first time the heliocentric solar system (with the sun instead of the earth at its centre). 236 Mathias Spohr Interpretation afterimage within afterimage: vanitas Within the record: The proposed view of the solar system is a mathematical model to calculate the planetary orbits more easily than in the traditional Ptolemaic world-view with the Earth at the centre. Copernicus makes his world-view, which he dedicates to the Pope, compatible with social ideas such as this system representing a family. The idea that the planets move around the sun like a touchingly faithful family remains an awkward allegory of this natural process, and it is not meant to be anything more. No observer can see this, it is a mere imagination. Outside the record: In Copernicus ’ s representation the proportions are not correct, but the idea of faithfulness to the sun is faithfully represented. The perfect circular orbit still had an allegorical meaning. The claim that it is a ‘ model of the real world ’ would not yet have occurred to Copernicus and his contemporaries. Descriptions did not lead to simulations. Interpretation model within model: identity Within the record: The solar system according to Copernicus shows the real world with the sun at the centre. For a long time, the enlightened public believed that the earth actually orbited the sun, and that this theory was definitive, rather than being one of many possibilities. The vision of a true model of reality (instead of a necessarily imperfect afterimage) has caused the dispute about the ‘ real ’ world-view to flare up ever since the 17th century. Of ideological significance here is mankind ’ s detachment from the visual ( ‘ the sun rises, therefore it moves ’ ) in favour of an ‘ objective ’ perspective: it is no longer what I see (the sun) that is in question, but how I see it (an image of the sun from an imaginary point of view). Outside the record: Heliocentric world-views have graced classrooms since the 19th century. Reality emerges through the imaginations of teachers and students. They share a common observer perspective: how we see it, it is true. A way of observing becomes the essence of the observed. Interestingly, the canonization of a role model also occurs in popular portraits of Copernicus - although there is no verifiably authentic portrait of the astronomer. His image was ‘ made real ’ through the common imagination. Since the idea of the light ether as a reference system had to be abandoned at the beginning of the 20th century, disputes about the ‘ real ’ world-view have become obsolete. For the conception of planetariums, the geocentric world view is closer; for space travel the heliocentric one is more practical. No atomic model of modern physics is considered to represent the ‘ real ’ thing today. Reference: Gudula Metze: Die Entwicklung der Copernicus-Porträts vom 16. Jahrhundert bis zum 18. Jahrhundert, Diss., Munich, 2004. Identity and Vanitas 237 Anonymous: Fool ’ s Head World Map (around 1590) The anonymous illustration shows a world map by Flemish cartographer Abraham Ortelius depicted as a fool ’ s face. The figure holds the traditional attributes of the jester ’ s cap with bells, chain of medals and jester ’ s mirror. On the glass sphere (as a fool ’ s mirror) we see neither the fool ’ s face nor the world map, but the inscription: ‘ vanitas vanitatum et omnia vanitas ’ (vanity of vanities, all is vanity). Interpretation afterimage within afterimage: vanitas Within the record: The fool ’ s face shows what he thinks he sees and what is actually missing. The viewer and what he sees become one, as in the mirror: something seeing and being seen at the same time and in the same place. As a fool, he believes he embodies the world. Inside the picture, the glass sphere and the head are round, in contrast to the flat map projection. Outside the record: The viewers of the image see themselves mirrored in the depicted fool, who in turn sees himself mirrored in the world map and the glass sphere. They see no face, just as the fool sees no world. The globe, like the fool ’ s head, can only be represented in a distorted form as a flat picture. Moreover, in the 16th century, the distortions of the latitudes and longitudes as curved lines were still spontaneously perceived as ridiculous, and did not yet appear as a proof of accuracy. The order of the observed and the order of the observers are seen in close connection: while the world map presents itself as something precisely measured, its observers are chaotic in contrast to the map ’ s unifying observer perspective. Wars and even civil wars prevail, as a Latin inscription above the map records. In science the observation of a regularity presupposes a regularity of the observers. The latter at least is not self-evident. The cartographic representation ’ s image of reason and order is confronted with the unreason and disorder of the represented world and its viewers. The real distortions of the map projection are more in line with the real world than its imagined order. Interpretation model within model: identity Was not yet common. Admitting to being a fool still justified the art and science of geography. The idea of objective observer perspectives had not yet become established. 238 Mathias Spohr Jakob Hiebeler: Füssen Dance of Death (1602) Interpretation afterimage within afterimage: vanitas Within the record: Skeletons are silent and motionless. That they seem to make music, dance or speak is the painter ’ s artistic delusion. But his imagination can only make him aware of the lifelessness of his works and his own approaching death. Through this admission, the artist justifies himself to the public and uses the justification for a humble, socially acceptable selfpromotion. Lamenting the transience of existence enables a moment of vanity. Outside the record: Image and writing are lifeless: mute and motionless. Viewing and reading them is self-deception. The realistic image of the painter is as lifeless as the less realistic skeletons. Future generations, viewing the artwork, know that he has already died. Neither a skeleton nor a painted man can dance. Viewers, who read the words inscribed on the painting as if they themselves were speaking, and imagine a dance of death as if they themselves were dancing, become aware of the absurdity of their actions and thus of their own approaching deaths. The paradox of reading direct speech was more understandable in Hiebeler ’ s day than it is now and was perceived thus: actors and first-person narrators are impostors or fools in disguise. They see something living or make something that is not living seem alive. Readers have neither the ability nor the authority to speak in a voice other than their own. Writing is a postscript to something that has faded away and cannot be replaced. Reading does not embody, but imitate: it remains a mechanical linking of sounds and makes one aware that death or a dead person seems to be speaking. Interpretation model within model: identity Was not yet common. Theatrical representations of death-dances were rarer than one might assume today. Images and writings should remain afterimages and afterscripts and not necessarily feature in moving representations, or texts to be read out loud. In the context of ‘ Dance-of- Death ’ (Totentanz) pictures, the painter represents himself. In the lines of text above the painting, Death addresses him ( ‘ Jakob Hiebeler, stop painting, throw down the brush, you have to die. You have depicted my body in a repulsive way, come here, you have to become the same now. ’ ). Identity and Vanitas 239 Anonymous: Relief on the Town Hall of Nördlingen (around 1608) Interpretation afterimage within afterimage: vanitas Within the record: The sculptor, when he creates his text and image, has only stone in front of him, not a human being. By making the work, he admits that he is a fool. He imagines dead stone and dead writing as something alive. It is not transience that is responsible for the absence of a living counterpart, but the human imagination. Outside the record: Viewer and reader look only at a lifeless image; a real, living counterpart is missing. Both the writing and the relief are afterimages. Perhaps the artist has already died. The spontaneous effect of the laughing jester ’ s face is as deceptive as that of a mirror image. There is no one laughing in the mirror. Image and writing remain indifferent. The word ‘ us ’ is a deception because the reader is alone in reading, just as the writer was in composing the text. The carved, inanimate text makes no sound: there is no ‘ we ’ . Interpretation model within model: identity Was not yet common. An observer perspective of art lovers who want to see an artwork as something alive did not yet exist. A ‘ realization ’ of pictures and writings in one ’ s own imagination was still seen as the province of fools: imagination was not yet perceived as ‘ proper ’ . Image and text do not yet demand that the viewers embody a given perspective; instead, they warn against doing this. The vanitas connotation of reproduced direct speech - fools, deceivers, the arrogant, the greedy, the desperate and the undead all lie because they lack something - is a conscious feature of medieval literature. The reader ’ s appropriation of an alien self was a repetition of a presented misdeed. Reference: Monika Unzeitig et al. (eds.): Stimme und Performanz in der mittelalterlichen Literatur, Berlin: de Gruyter, 2017. The relief is located at the entrance to the ‘ jester ’ s house ’ in Nördlingen (Bavaria, Germany), which was used for short prison sentences. The relief of a jester looks out at his viewers, above a text that reads ‘ nun sind unser zwey ’ (now there are two of us). 240 Mathias Spohr Anonymous: Allegory of Vanity (around 1630) An early naturalistic oil painting deceptively depicts a scene with a young woman illuminated by a candle. Interpretation afterimage within afterimage: vanitas Within the record: The skull is only an afterimage of a human head, and the mirrored flame of the oil lamp is only an afterimage of a real flame. A young woman points at both. Outside the record: The painted young woman, who seems alive through the illusionistic technique of oil painting, is as lifeless as the skull depicted, and the real flame is as unreal as the mirrored one. They are all afterimages. The illumination of the woman and the shadows is not due to the depicted flame ’ s effect, but is a clever deception of the senses by the painter, who, however, renders himself absent by not signing the image. Viewers should be irritated by the artist ’ s successful fraud. Reality is missing. However, the painting ’ s moral message justifies the naturalism of the depiction. Interpretation model within model: identity Was not yet common. From the 18th century onwards, it could be argued that the feigned candlelight was not a despicable deception, but an admirable true-to-life reproduction, such as a mirror is capable of. In the 17th century, however, the mirror was not yet perceived as a means of proof, but as a means of deception - just like other optical devices, such as the magnifying glass. All deceive by showing things distorted or in the wrong place. In the 17th century, people still asked ‘ what ’ was to be seen, not ‘ how ’ an effect was produced. There was no admiration for clever deception. The insight that ‘ it is not what it seems ’ devalued representation. Observers ’ perspectives of a mirror or on a painting were not yet considered objective. Rather, they were criticized for their folly, transmissibility and lifelessness. This concept was already in flux. Identity and Vanitas 241 Nicolas Poussin: Et in Arcadia Ego (1637/ 38) Interpretation afterimage within afterimage: vanitas Within the record: The ‘ I ’ as the subject of the sentence is not present: only mute writing remains. It is an afterimage of a past. The read ‘ ego ’ is absent as a voice and as a person. Reading remains a failure, a mechanical act of spelling out. The shepherds notice the absence of the voice of ‘ ego ’ and become aware of their own transience. They have no control. Outside the record: In the painting, the shepherds are permanently mute and motionless, like the script they read and the tombstone they see. The artist has failed. The image of a past, like the writing on the tomb, can only reflect a numbness and silencing. Viewers mourn like the shepherds. Because the living voices are missing, they interpret the writing as an allegory: it is death that seems to speak. Direct speech remains a lifeless description. The historical background is the revival of Latin writings on humanism, which is problematized here. From Plato comes not only the allegory of the cave (only images of reality can be perceived), but also the scepticism about written direct speech. The writing depicted in the painting is not eloquent, but only a trace of something that has been silenced. Readers and viewers cannot replace the dead. Interpretation model within model: identity Is only common from the 18th century onwards. Within the record: The shepherds do not establish an absence through their reading, but bring a past to life. The readers then relate the ‘ ego ’ to themselves and realize it ‘ expressively ’ through their voices. This procedure is no disguise, but an embodiment. Outside the record: Johann Wolfgang Goethe came to embody the read ‘ ego ’ and the viewed shepherds through his motto ‘ Auch ich in Arkadien ’ (I, too, in Arcadia) when he travelled to Italy (Italienische Reise, 1817). The shepherds and the writing they read are classical models, and Goethe not only imitated but embodied them, thus becoming an effective model himself. For him, the Latin sentence was not a postscript to faded speech, but a personal call to action. His readers, the majority of whom in his day would not yet have been able to travel to Italy, were allowed to experience the journey through his words. Goethe ’ s readers shared and still share in his self-realization. Arcadian shepherds read the words ‘ Et in Arcadia Ego ’ (I too in Arcadia) on a tombstone. 242 Mathias Spohr David Bailly: Vanitas Still Life with African Servant (around 1650) Behind a table with vanitas symbols stands a servant holding the image of his master. Interpretation afterimage within afterimage: vanitas Within the record: Musical instruments, letters and books remain silent, dice and painter ’ s palette remain motionless, because their users are missing. Cut flowers and soap bubbles will soon pass away. The servant seems to control his master, but it is only a picture of the master that he holds in his hand. Outside the record: Soap bubbles and cut flowers are captured in the picture. It cannot show their transience and thus has failed. The painted tobacco cannot be smoked, and the painted painter ’ s palette cannot be used. However, the picture can reflect the absence of musicians, painters and painted people. This is best represented by the painted skull: the absence of the person it was part of can be reproduced, just as the muteness of musical instruments and letters, or the motionlessness of artworks and painted soap bubbles and the lifelessness of cut flowers can be rendered. It is only a picture. Because the viewers become aware that all these deceptively real things are missing, they begin to interpret the depictions in a figurative sense, as allegories. Interpretation model within model: identity At the time of the painting, this way of looking at things was only possible ironically. Within the record: The letters, musical instruments and objects are waiting for art lovers to read, restore, repurpose or sell them. The servant enjoys the fact that his master has been banished or has died and at the same time celebrates his continuing respect for him. His imagination brings a vanished world to life. The mastery of the relics masquerades as fidelity. Outside the record: The painting has masterfully depicted everything missing and passing away. Viewers are proud that they have overcome all the hardships associated with the people and things depicted, and at the same time imagine them as alive. This triumph seems to unite them. It seems to be loyalty to the painter and to the world depicted. Identity and Vanitas 243 Guido Cagnacci: Maria Magdalena (1663) Mary Magdalene desperately holds Christ ’ s skull in her left hand. In her right hand is a scourge. Interpretation afterimage within afterimage: vanitas Within the record: The skull is a lifeless afterimage. It signifies that Christ is missing and that Mary Magdalene ’ s erotic desire for him is futile. The scourge implies shame. Religious 244 Mathias Spohr experience does not take the sensory route. Rather, it reminds us that life, and everything associated with it, is transient. Outside the record: The painting, for all its artistry, is a lifeless afterimage, and the artist is a fraud. The viewers believe they are looking at a beautiful woman, but it is only a painting. Their desire is as futile as that of the figure depicted. Rather than rejoicing in the beautiful picture, they mourn the unobtainable nature of its subject. Interpretation model within model: identity Within the record: It may be that Mary Magdalene, in her erotic despair, tries to imagine the living Christ by means of the skull. The skull would then not be an afterimage of the living, but a model for her imagination. The scourge may have an auto-erotic function. Outside the record: The style of the depiction suggests that the viewers are more interested in the naked torso of the beautiful woman than in the image ’ s religious significance. Like the depicted Mary Magdalene, they may use an inanimate object (the painted nude) as a substitute for a living partner - because they prefer an imaginary to a real encounter. They triumph, instead of mourning the absence of a real being. The model interpretation, already possible in the 17th century but perceived as reprehensible, is legitimized and protected by the traditional vanitas interpretation. Identity and Vanitas 245 Charles Perrault: Cendrillon ou La Petite Pantoufle de Verre (1697) Interpretation by the photographer Volodymyr Tverdokhlib. The prince in Perrault ’ s fairy tale is looking for his dancing partner Cinderella with the help of her shoe, which she lost at his ball. The prince has no partner, only a hollow form to look at. The spectator also has no partner, just a photograph. Interpretation afterimage within afterimage: vanitas Within the record: The shoe is only a lifeless afterimage representing the lost partner. Applied as a measure to living women, it makes the fit transferable from the original dancing partner to another, and motivates competition. Competition is indecent because it leads to discord. Cinderella ’ s sisters try to deceive the prince. In reality, a lost one cannot be retrieved in the way the story suggests. The prince is mourning. Outside the record: A text representing a shoe that is supposed to fit a unique woman reveals a double absence. Like the shoe that is transferable to other feet, the text is transferable to other voices, which cannot replace the original. Readers make themselves equivalents to Cinderella ’ s sisters by fitting their voices into the same text. Readers cannot replace Cinderella, just as her sisters cannot. The futility of imitation and the interchangeability of imitators warn and discourage readers. They make themselves interchangeable and superfluous by all believing themselves unique like the prince, who is the only authority. The narrative legitimizes itself with this moral. 246 Mathias Spohr Interpretation model within model: identity Within the record: The prince can reconstruct the lost partner from her shoe. The measure of this shoe does not celebrate transferability, but rather fidelity, like an identity card: the fit of the shoe could hold something unique. Outside the record: A reader brings the text to life with her voice as if it enables her to realize her own identity through Cinderella ’ s imagined slipper. She replaces what is missing with herself and makes herself unique this way. Thus, she is Cinderella and the prince in one person, as in front of the mirror. Readers welcome the fact that the slipper in the text is only a virtual one, because they can all imagine it would fit them. The selection is made on the part of the observer, and ends the competition. This offers a solution to the afterimage problem: shoe and text become products that invite readers ’ self-realization. Their own unique foot seems to offer the key to an imagined world. By choosing, they imagine being chosen themselves. There is no need for a real Cinderella. Readers do not mourn her absence. Both interpretations are possible. The afterimage interpretation still justifies the model interpretation, which has already gained ground in this example. The newer notion of a realizing and individualizing track reading begins to overcome the older notion of the threatening, forcibly equalizing measurement. In 1687, Charles Perrault triggered the Querelle des Anciens et des Modernes. His contributions were crucial for overcoming imitation aesthetics, and led to a growing enthusiasm for fairy tales containing miracles without religious connotations. When the Brothers Grimm and Ludwig Bechstein made their own fairy-tale collections, they turned Cinderella into an identity-forming ‘ German ’ fairy tale. German readers forgot its French model by reading and embodying the narrative in German. Identity and Vanitas 247 Johann Beringer: Würzburg ‘ Lying Stones ’ (1725/ 26) Johann Beringer (1670 - 1738), a doctor and university professor from Würzburg, collected around 2,000 fake fossils and published reproductions of them. They were relief-like representations of animals, and also of letters in the Hebrew alphabet, made from fired clay. Interpretation afterimage within afterimage: vanitas Within the record: According to the widespread view of Beringer ’ s time, fossils were the remains of animals that had perished in the Flood. Their lifelessness reminded viewers of God ’ s divine punishment. Irreplaceable beings had passed away. They were mourned, but the legitimacy of their demise was not doubted. In all likelihood, Beringer was complicit in many of the forgeries that he collected. So they were doubly absent, not only historical but fictional. Outside the record: The publication of illustrations of the fossils only shows an absence: the reproductions are afterimages, just as the stones are afterimages of living creatures. Their depictions convey a religious message: they themselves are sinful and justify this wrongdoing by exposing a sinful subject. This justifies not least the fact that they were invented. Interpretation model within model: identity Within the record: Beringer declared, contrary to prevailing opinion, that fossils were natural models of living beings, archetypes of life. The images did not seem to be lying masks, but revealing traces. He had created the models. Outside the record: The copper engravings faithfully reproduce the fossils. Beringer ’ s publication presented itself as exemplary and seemed to proudly display models of a 248 Mathias Spohr previous life on earth. Justification by warnings no longer seemed needed. However, this effect was undermined by the discovery that the images were forgeries. Nevertheless, the deception did not damage Beringer ’ s reputation. Models were in demand, and fossil science was only just emerging. The animals and the voices that once expressed the Hebrew letters were absent anyway, whether they died or were imagined. Well-intentioned deception and scientific explanations - of optical illusions, for example - were still perceived as closely connected. Natural emergence, technical reproduction and artistic design have in common that they seem to be explained by ‘ how ’ -questions. Beringer ’ s era represented a transitional stage between ‘ what ’ -questions and ‘ how ’ -questions. The absence of a depicted being no longer devalues a representation (it is not what it reproduces), if the observers wonder how a model is realized. Not a past reality, but a present realization is crucial. Today, we may consider Beringer ’ s deception attempts as creativity in the modern sense. He embodied a past. Mute stones became speaking models. Death turned out to be a fiction. The assertion of archetypes and primordial images (which do not possess the shortcomings of imperfect replications or descriptions) went on to become an established tradition, from the ‘ laws of nature ’ of the 19th century to the writings of Sigmund Freud in the 20th century (see p. 272). Reference: Olaf Briese: ‘ Nachgeahmt, gefaked oder gefälscht? Die Behringer-Affäre der Jahre 1725/ 1726 und Fragen nach “ Vorbild ” , “ Nachbild ” und “ Original ” heute ’ , in: ilinx. Berliner Beiträge zur Kulturwissenschaft, 2 (2011): Mimesen, pp. 47 - 69. Identity and Vanitas 249 William Hogarth: The Inspection (1743 - 5) Interpretation afterimage within afterimage: vanitas Within the record: The skull and the doctor ’ s anatomical models in the background are memorials of transience that show death cannot be stopped. The printing press behind the book on the right is a sign of the doctor ’ s vain attempts to disprove this. Outside the record: Viewers of the picture know from its context that the patient is already as dead as the doctor ’ s objects of study, and that the picture itself is lifeless and the characters are fictional. They are warned against fraudulent effects. The painter exposes himself as a fraud by elaborately exposing the lifelike image of a charlatan. This justified the publishing of this picture as a copper engraving in a large edition. However, the work was not as successful as the author had hoped. Interpretation model within model: identity Within the record: The skull and anatomical models are signs of exemplary knowledge of the human body, and inspire confidence. With them, the doctor interprets nature reliably. They may be models for the success of a life-saving surgery. And the pill that the patient holds in his hand may have a healing effect. Outside the record: The pill looks like the enlivening point of view of the picture, a model of life for its viewers. For them it means not death but discipline. If they are parallel cases, like the viewers of the painting, they can hope to experience its effect. An enlightened community seems to be saying, through the viewer ’ s perspective of the painting: we invite you to believe this and to carry out this medical instruction. The painting anticipates modern product photography by seeming to say: “ You can realize the world depicted. Would you like to? ” The satirical depiction shows that, at the time Hogarth created the image, the reputation of practical medicine was in flux. It contrasts the role-model interpretation, then on the rise, with the older afterimage interpretation. The painting depicts a syphilitic patient and his sick mistress visiting a charlatandoctor. The patient, whose disease is illustrated by the black spot on his neck, holds a pill in his hand. 250 Mathias Spohr Jean-Jacques Rousseau: Pygmalion (1762 - 70) In Rousseau ’ s musical-theatrical scene (scène lyrique), the sculptor Pygmalion succeeds (for the first time in the history of this myth) in bringing his statue to life without divine help. Interpretation afterimage within afterimage: vanitas Within the record: The statue is only an afterimage of its creator ’ s wishes. It is not a person. Its reflections of love are indifferent and meaningless. It is merely an erotic stimulus. The artist is a fool and is alone. He mourns the absence of the imaginary woman. Outside the record: The audience watching Rousseau ’ s scene sees a motionless actress representing Pygmalion ’ s statue. She imitates an imitation. The lifelessness of this image makes the absence of a depicted person all the more apparent. Interpretation model within model: identity Within the record: As his ideal, the statue is the artist ’ s model. According to Rousseau ’ s theatrical text, it touches its creator and says ‘ I ’ . Pygmalion ’ s grief over his failure turns into euphoria. Rousseau makes the mirror image of a performer playing this text see and speak without making fools of its beholders. Outside the record: The actress takes the artist ’ s image as her model and, as a performer, becomes a model for her audience. She embodies the successful embodiment of the sculptor. Her standing still as a living picture is not lifelessness but discipline, just like the spectators ’ sitting still. The absence of an imitated person is welcomed by all, for they themselves can imagine the ideal and thus become more relevant than anything imitated. Images and writings are no longer mute and motionless. They are transformed from afterimages of an absent world into models for the imagination of their interpreters. Viewers animate them and understand their controllability as a loyalty that seems to mirror the viewer ’ s loyalty. Henceforth, music will proclaim this message. - Rousseau himself feared the transferability of the theatrical role he had created, and opposed further performances with a different interpreter of the statue to his original actress. Illustration (1770) by Jean Michel Moreau le jeune. The sculptor ’ s shamed wife (to the left of the animated statue) was usually shown in depictions of this story. Rousseau deliberately omitted this character. Identity and Vanitas 251 Johann Wolfgang Goethe: The Sorrows of Young Werther (1774) Werther ’ s last letter and the transition to the fictional editor ’ s commentary. In Goethe ’ s epistolary novel, a young man confides his unhappy love for an unobtainable woman in letters to a friend, then shoots himself. Interpretation afterimage within afterimage: vanitas Within the record: The first-person character writes of a potential lover who is unattainable for him. The adored Charlotte (whether she really exists or not), is missing, and his imagination is only a substitute for her. He is a fool. His death is the warning result of this high-handed behaviour. Outside the record: For the readers of the epistolary novel, the written ‘ I ’ is even more remote than for the fictional reader (Werther ’ s friend Wilhelm). They are fools for adopting his missing voice. At best, readers can understand the novel as a morality tale: a foolish passion has come to a reprehensible end. The moral message justifies Goethe ’ s intent to deceive, and the readers ’ self-deception in believing his story. Interpretation model within model: identity Within the record: Werther ’ s letters invoke a realization of desires. The experiences he and Charlotte share of reading, listening to music or dancing the waltz (no longer perceived as idle pastimes and futile illusions, but as embodying pleasures that make up a relationship: a shared observer ’ s perspective) and his written evocations of these pleasures temporarily overcome the distance between him and his unattainable beloved. Outside the record: Readers identify with the written ‘ I ’ as a shared observer perspective and thus create a community seemingly independent of space and time. The person they have appropriated and embodied does not have to exist for this to happen; what matters is their self-realization. This love lives longer than the lovers. In the reception of Goethe ’ s work - in parodies, pamphlets and imitations - both interpretations were offered. The exemplary (positive) perspective clearly predominated. Napoleon Bonaparte praised Goethe for this work. The shameful violent death became a proud self-imposed death. The alleged proliferation of suicides in this regard led the opponents of exemplarism to denounce this reversal of the deterrent effect (the vanitas interpretation) and gave rise to the term ‘ Werther effect ’ . Reference: Walther Ziegler, Ulrich Hegerl: ‘ Der Werther-Effekt. Bedeutung, Mechanismen, Konsequenzen ’ , in: Der Nervenarzt, 73: 2002, pp. 41 - 49. 252 Mathias Spohr Constitution of the United States (1787) Photo of the handwritten oldest constitution in the world still in force today. Interpretation afterimage within afterimage: vanitas Within the record: The writing ‘ We the People ’ on the old document represents the faded voices of a community of white men. It cannot reflect that community and remains its afterimage. It is a memorial to a vain and ephemeral expression of will. Later readers will be aware that this ‘ We ’ does not speak for them. Outside the record: The photograph reproduces the document, but cannot contain the original and still less the men who once expressed themselves through the writing. The writing, still legible in the photograph, shows all the more clearly that the people who said ‘ We ’ when the document was created are missing. Readers may find it problematic to replace ‘ we ’ with themselves. Even if the will and the ability exist, the recognition may be lacking. Interpretation model within model: identity Within the record: Readers relate the word ‘ we ’ to themselves and realize it ‘ expressively ’ , feeling they are entitled to appropriate it, even if they do not belong to the community that was referred to at the time of writing. New members want to keep that community alive. This text is a model for ever-new persuasive reading. Description has become prescription. In linguistics its embodiment is termed a ‘ speech act ’ (to quote John L. Austin). Outside the record: The photograph reinforces the spirit of this constitution, whose writing should always and everywhere be legible. Faithful rendering of this text through exact copies and close reading creates reality. Looking at this text as a collective memory creates a shared observer ’ s perspective, independent of space and time and not bound to a concrete medium. This will and legitimacy are present and alive. Identity and Vanitas 253 Mètre des Archives (1791) Copy No. 27 of the second Paris prototype metre of 1889, in the possession of the United States. In March 1791, the Constituent Assembly in Paris, formed during the French Revolution 1789, introduced the metre as a unit of length. The original prototype metre was made of brass. Regardless of political differences, the metre gradually prevailed in many countries over multiform anthropomorphic units of length such as the cubit, span, foot and step. Interpretation afterimage within afterimage: vanitas Within the record: The units of cubit or foot are inaccurate afterimages of a missing, living limb. They admonish all measurers not to forget the individuality of the living. Life is multiform, and it is the individual that matters. Therefore, measurements should not be standardized. Indeed, even the mathematically generated original metre remains an inaccurate replica of a measured distance on the earth ’ s surface. Outside the record: Like the measures of cubit or foot, which are little similar to real forearms or feet, primal metre No. 27 is merely a relatively inaccurate copy of an inaccurate prototype. A photograph only magnifies this inaccuracy. An abstract representation is made the measure of all that is alive, and yet remains an inadequate afterimage. Interpretation model within model: identity Within the record: The Paris prototype metre is a neutral model for all measured lengths. It is not a reproduction of human body lengths. It does not depend on a concrete embodiment of measurement. Conversely, living arms or feet are measured with it. Thus, it has to precede the measured: the measured embodies the measurement. Outside the record: The original prototype metre and its copies are now no longer needed. The embarrassing statement that a prototype is also a replica is not possible anymore, because the physical model is dispensable. Its photograph shows an authority that has become historic. The ruler, here in the sense of the measuring tool, has been replaced with rules. An automatic measuring device consistently complies with them. Increased fidelity makes it possible to improve the precision of the metre to this day. It is a practical measuring tool due to its portability, and this is critical to the consensus of its users and to the impact of this standard. The unifying constitution (which was planned after the French Revolution) and the unifying measure of length are closely related. Even the writing of a constitution is not meant to be an afterimage of particular voices, but a model for all voices, chosen rather than imposed. Merciless egalitarianism is reinterpreted as motivating equality. 254 Mathias Spohr Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart: Portrait Aria from Die Zauberflöte (The Magic Flute, 1791) First page of Mozart ’ s manuscript of the ‘ Portrait ’ Aria: Prince Tamino, the opera ’ s hero, falls in love with the Queen of the Night ’ s daughter Pamina through her portrait. Interpretation afterimage within afterimage: vanitas Within the record: Tamino sings about an inanimate object, the afterimage of a woman he has never seen. He is a fool. A nobleman should not be portrayed so ridiculously. Outside the record: Viewers of the musical notes, operatic spectators or listeners to the aria cannot even see Pamina ’ s likeness, but merely hear the music, an afterimage of an afterimage. The singer does not even need to look at an image in order to sing, and he is not noble. The woman is missing twice. Listeners understand the aria as a lament. Interpretation model within model: identity Within the recording: Tamino realizes the role model through hopeful singing. In the course of the plot, his wishful thinking will be fulfilled, when he and the ‘ real ’ Pamina fall in love. Outside the recording: The musical experience makes this model come alive for the audience. They do not require an image or a depicted person to be present. Listeners replace Tamino ’ s absent partner or the prince with themselves, or with their own desired image. Therefore, they welcome the absence of this couple. The prince has become a symbolic, merely ‘ charming ’ authority. And his performer is not a true authority as well, even if he is a celebrity. Listening to an exemplary sound recording does not even require a living performer to be present. The available charms of the picture and of the sound recording are harmless. An aria which could be perceived as a lament evolves into a hopeful realization of what is missing, performed and embodied by singers and listeners. They all prefer an individualized imagining to a living encounter. The general development of a musical repertoire is related to this exemplary way of thinking. Identity and Vanitas 255 Henriette Hendel-Schütz as the Sphinx (1812) Copper engraving in a ladies ’ yearbook: the actress, in the then-new art of the tableau vivant (living picture) represents a Sphinx. In Greek tradition, the Sphinx is a fierce goddess. Interpretation afterimage within afterimage: vanitas Within the record: The Sphinx is a fantasy figure that exists only in ancient sculptures. The actress re-creates an image of something that does not exist and makes herself into something inanimate, just like lifeless pagan sculptures with their dubious appeal. Outside the record: The engraving depicts the actress, who in turn depicts an image. The Sphinx is missing three times, so to speak, because (twice) only images of a conceit are copied. The actress combines the suspect attraction of the exotic motif with her erotic ability to fool the audience. Interpretation model within model: identity Within the record: The Sphinx is understood as an ancient model for the imagination of its modern viewers. Hendel-Schütz realizes the exemplar by making herself into an image. She 256 Mathias Spohr embodies a perspective on the ancient model, and herself becomes a model for reproductions. The motionlessness of a picture no longer means conformity to something dead or unattainable, but is an invitation to realization, making the viewers resemble this view. Observers do not become lifeless, but make a point of view come alive. Immobility signals fidelity of reproduction, and makes the representation seem harmless - for one usually suspects an actress of wanting to beguile with her charms. Outside the record: The mute and immobile engraving depicts the mute and immobile actress who has become the model, and thus becomes the model for domestic representations of the Sphinx. The fact that the mythical Sphinx and the living actress are missing from the image is not relevant for viewers, because they themselves realize the Sphinx according to this model. All share an observer perspective on the Sphinx in this way, as a common feat of imagination. All think they are special by following the Sphinx fashion. The paradox of living images perhaps most clearly shows the transformation of afterimage thinking into model thinking since the end of the 18th century: an observer perspective replaces the observed. Thus, imitation aesthetics become expression aesthetics; imitations of something absent become self-realizations. The emerging field of archaeology played a part in this: ancient relics were no longer perceived as memorials to past paganism, but instead as having a lasting effect, promising stability. Identity and Vanitas 257 Gilbert-Louis Duprez in Rossini ’ s Guillaume Tell (1828) Interpretation afterimage within afterimage: vanitas Within the record: Arnold in Rossini ’ s opera is only an afterimage of the character Ulrich in Friedrich Schiller ’ s drama, and the latter is only an afterimage of a historical or mythical person who arrogantly opposed a legitimate authority of his time. The person, who has long since died or is fictitious, is in a sense triply absent, which makes the image as chilling as a skull. Outside the record: The singer Duprez proves through his athletic performance that the Parisian stage is merely a vanity fair. Through his singing he attempts to surpass the vanity of Schiller ’ s fictional hero (and his real-life counterpart, if such a person existed). But soon his voice, too, will fade away. This warning justifies his audience appeal. Interpretation model within model: identity Within the record: Schiller ’ s heroic Ulrich, who may have been modelled on a young companion of the real William Tell, becomes the model for the young tenor hero of Rossini ’ s opera. They were all admirable and worthy of embodiment. William Tell became a Swiss national hero. Famous tenors were embodiments of this heroism. Outside the record: In the role of Arnold, Duprez became the model for all heroic tenors, even after his voice had faded away. His stage portrait kept this alive, as a souvenir. Rossini ’ s French grand opera helped to improve the Wilhelm Tell figure ’ s acceptance in Frenchspeaking Switzerland, and thus to assert an all-Swiss role model. A melody from the opera became the identity symbol of the Swiss postbuses. The real-life singer and even the opera are no longer needed to transform these past achievements into new role models of a Swiss folk hero: monuments, paintings, festival figures, labels. The absence of these models does not cause disquiet. On the contrary, it is welcome, in that it allows new realizations and embodiments of this seemingly eternal mythical authority. Since about 1960, this conviction has declined. Reference: Max Frisch: Wilhelm Tell für die Schule, Frankfurt am Main: Suhrkamp, 1971. Gilbert-Louis Duprez (1806 - 96) sang the highest note (c ’ ) ever yet produced in chest voice when he performed the role of Arnold in Guillaume Tell on the stage of the Paris Opéra. He thus became the model for all heroic tenors. 258 Mathias Spohr Hans Christian Andersen: The Steadfast Tin Soldier (1838) Illustration of Andersen ’ s fairy tale by Vilhelm Pedersen (1850) In this tale, a one-legged tin soldier falls in love with a paper ballerina who appears to balance on one leg. Interpretation afterimage within afterimage: vanitas Within the record: The tale is only a matter of toys that seem to imitate living beings. The tin soldier is an afterimage of a fantasy figure. By destroying this inanimate object at the end of his narrative, Andersen destroys the deceptive fantasy that it is a living being. This is how he justifies his attempts to deceive. Outside the record: The narrative consists only of lifeless words on a page. Reading can no more liberate the characters from their muteness and motionlessness than playing with toys can make them live. A replica cannot be made real, and replicating this replica in words only makes this clearer. Interpretation model within model: identity Within the record: Toys bring ideas to life. The muteness and motionlessness of the tin soldier and the dancer, even under aggravated conditions, demonstrate exemplary masculine and feminine behaviour among the ‘ lower classes ’ . The soldier ’ s silent staring at the dancer and her silent acceptance of his gaze are exemplary representations of notions of love in Andersen ’ s time. As for the couple ’ s mutual one-leggedness, it appears to symbolize their unity. As disabled but brave people, they seem to have a common identity and a common observer perspective. The function of these materials and, from an outside perspective, the controllability of the toys for the playing children, seem to be their nature. Outside the record: The muteness and motionlessness of letters on the page is, on the one hand, harmless and, on the other, exemplary of disciplined observance, a significant virtue in Andersen ’ s time. Texts do not restrict, but seem alive as controlled mirror images of their viewers, just like the toys in the text. Lifelessness means exemplary discipline. The narrative plays ironically with these two possible interpretations. Identity and Vanitas 259 Crime Novels/ Crime films (19th and 20th centuries) Margaret Rutherford as Miss Marple in a 1961 film adaptation of a novel by Agatha Christie. The very first fictional detective was August Dupin in Edgar Allen Poe ’ s short story The Murders in the Rue Morgue (1841). Interpretation afterimage within afterimage: vanitas Within the record: Corpses and crime traces reveal an absence of life; they show death as the result of human violence. The traces left behind are afterimages and memorials. Blood-feuds and war crimes should be mourned and forgiven in order that peace may be restored. Searching for clues does not bring the victims back to life. A detective who wants to know exactly what happened and find the criminal culprits disturbs the peace. He or she is no hero, but a vain stubborn being, and ultimately doomed to die. Outside the record: Images and writings used to represent the criminal action and its consequences are as lifeless as corpses. As fictions, they also deceive the audience. They can be perceived as off-putting morality tales that illustrate the absence of what is being portrayed. Sales figures or ratings can however be justified by the stories ’ warning message. In modern times, Shakespearean tragedies in the popular theatre have often been performed as morality plays or as melodramas. Hamlet is not a successful detective yet. Interpretation model within model: identity Within the record: The forces of the police, justice and medicine work together to solve the crime. Corpses and clues are not dismissed as shocking signs of death, but are perceived as promising material for forensic science. Trace reading can unveil the truth. What in vanitas rhetoric was perceived as a deterrent now seems to provide security. The heroes who prevail act in an exemplary manner. Even if those who have suffered the crime are silent, their traces can be read about like letters. Absence is made into presence. 260 Mathias Spohr Outside the record: The entertainment (be it a novel or a film) shows how a world is put in order with the help of reason, using modern techniques and procedures. The ambiguity of the causa efficiens ( ‘ can a cause behave arbitrarily? ’ ) is thus defeated: the perpetrator is scientifically identified and rendered harmless, so that this cause can no longer act. This makes detective novels exemplary for disciplined reading or watching. Tracing and regular reproduction are closely linked: the continuously read novel or the continuously running film are not lifeless and boring, or frightening, perceived as an addiction or an unstoppable machine, but create a reassuring distance to their suspenseful content. In plays, films and television dramas the actor or actress of the exemplary detective becomes a role model. Even a corpse actor is praised for his animation of the corpse role, and the absence of a murder victim is welcomed. Fiction is welcome when it makes us believe that death is a lie. The vanitas component is responsible for the crime genre having a lower reputation than, say, literary fiction. In the first detective story, published in 1841, Poe avoids pitting the detective ’ s virtue against the murderer ’ s depravity by making the detective a mysterious nobleman and the murderer an ape. Today, parodic mixing of interpretations can also be common: for example, when the murderer is held up as a role model (see p. 287). Identity and Vanitas 261 Giacomo Meyerbeer: Le Prophète (1849) The opera explores the life of John of Leyden, a 16th-century Protestant ruler. It had a great success at its premiere, which took place in France a year after the failed revolution of 1848. This image depicts John taking command of the Anabaptists, a radical Protestant movement, at sunrise. The stage sunrise was simulated by an arc lamp and was a sensational technical innovation. Interpretation afterimage within afterimage: vanitas Within the record: This prophet was a false one. His charisma led his followers to disaster. An influential interpretation of 1847 interpreted John ’ s story (and Anabaptism) as a cautionary tale, warning of the dangers of ‘ communism ’ . Outside the record: The vain singer on stage portrays an impostor. The arc machine, for its part, glamorously fakes a sunrise. They both fool the audience, but are equally admired for their art. Their success can be justified by deterrence: the deception (the false sunrise) illuminates another deception (a false prophet) and thus serves as a warning against immoral behaviour. Interpretation model within model: identity Within the record: The historic John of Leyden was a revolutionary against the Catholic Church and remains a role model. Outside the record: Meyerbeer ’ s Jean de Leyde is an inspiring role model for the disappointed 1848 revolutionaries, and the stage sunrise is a fascinating symbol of the revolutionary spirit. The art of the theatre is not a deception, but can inspire the audience to feel ‘ communist ’ solidarity. Enthusiastic performers and spectators have the potential to unleash a revolution, as they did at a Belgian performance of the opera La muette de Portici (1828) in 1830. In an apolitical environment, they imagine a ‘ higher reality ’ . In both cases a vision comes to life. 262 Mathias Spohr The composer Richard Wagner, who saw himself as a revolutionary in 1848, initially understood this opera in the sense of the identity perception. He turned away from Meyerbeer when the intended warning became clear to him. He called the opera ’ s success ‘ effect without cause ’ . This was an allusion to Meyerbeer ’ s alleged lack of legitimate lineage as a Jew - a common anti-Semitic argument. It means: the effects of this author are vain, not natural. Meyerbeer was on the side of the rulers, not on the side of nature. However, a staged fiction cannot have any natural cause. Causality and lineage were equated here. In the 20th century, Le prophète was seldom staged. In contrast, the musical Les Misérables (1980) conveys unbroken enthusiasm for the 1832 Paris Uprising, whose failure is no longer perceived as a political issue. Identity and Vanitas 263 Jean-Martin Charcot: Hysteria (1878) Charcot ’ s patient Augustine presenting the ‘ third phase ’ of hysteria. The physician Jean-Martin Charcot aspired to scientifically record the ‘ female disease ’ hysteria, which had featured in writings since antiquity. He held public presentations at the Paris clinic La Salpêtrière, where his female patients demonstrated the clinical picture in the phases he had identified. 264 Mathias Spohr Interpretation afterimage within afterimage: vanitas This interpretation is common again today: we no longer believe that a clinical picture is an image realized by the sick person. Within the record: Charcot ’ s patients were mimicking a performance by their doctor. The doctor ’ s vanity motivated the patients ’ vanity and encouraged them to perform. This clinical picture is not an accurate representation of a disease. Outside the record: The photograph is an afterimage of the afterimage of a historical conception of illness - which makes it seem all the more unreal. Rather, it is the patients that are of interest: they highlight the themes both of the power of medicine and the warning against abusing others. Interpretation model within model: identity This was the contemporary interpretation. Within the record: Charcot ’ s female patients understood that they were valued if they performed his clinical pictures. It gave them an identity as sick people, and made them into role models. Their function for their audience seemed to be their nature. The observing men did not feel threatened by female stimuli, because the patients seemed to faithfully reproduce equally a clinical picture and an eternally valid antique idea. Everything seemed justified and explainable; imagination unveiled the truth. Outside the record: Photography, which was new at the time, seemed to faithfully record the sick and their symptoms for further medical practitioners. Illustrating the clinical picture according to a strict procedure seemed to make it all the more real. The picture became the model for further cases of ‘ hysteria ’ . Sufferers and their doctors were guided by the model and at the same time regarded it as an incorruptibly observed reality. The consensus about it constituted this reality. A specific patient was not needed for this. Claude Bernard, in his Introduction à l ’ étude de la médicine expérimentale (1865), demanded of physicians that they should no longer create models as authors, but discover natural models as scientists. Emile Zola subsequently declared that a novelist should do the same. The belief in natural models was at its height in Charcot ’ s time, and their interpreters appeared relevant. Reference: Georges Didi Huberman: Invention de l ’ hystérie. Charcot et l ’ iconographie photographique de la Salpêtrière, Paris: Macula, 1982. Identity and Vanitas 265 Karl May: Orient Cycle (1881 - 88) For his travel novels such as Durchs wilde Kurdistan (Travel adventures in Kurdistan), the writer Karl May used contemporary maps as a guide. 266 Mathias Spohr Interpretation afterimage within afterimage: vanitas Within the record: The map is an inaccurate afterimage of a landscape and was already out of date when it first appeared. It is only a substitute for a real travel experience and merely shows those longing to travel the absence of what they long for. Outside the record: Karl May ’ s novels, with their awkward Orientalisms, are merely afterimages of the maps and travelogues he took as his models. The real Orient is doubly absent from them. At best, his works are warnings against the dangers of an overheated imagination. Interpretation model within model: identity Within the record: A map symbolizes freedom for its users, even if they are not currently making a journey. It is suitable as a model for planning and orientation, and even as a model for invented worlds. Outside the record: Karl May ’ s texts became a model for people who, like him, could not or would not make a journey. Other models include stage plays, radio plays and films based on his novels. The imagination does not need a real Orient. The writer claimed his novels were authentic, and he himself appeared publicly in the guise of some of his fictional protagonists. For his respectable audience, May ’ s novels were not an imitation of reality, but a proud realization of self-created ideas. A reality shaped by map-reading appeared superior to the real, absent Orient. May ’ s performance told the Kurds who might have been able to see it ‘ look, we invented you ’ , and he felt authorized to do so. He may have been faithful to his sources, but not to the Orient. Identity and Vanitas 267 L ’ Inconnue de la Seine (around 1900) The alleged death mask of a young woman who had chosen to commit suicide in the Seine was copied and made into multiple photographic images at the beginning of the 20th century. Writers and filmmakers used it as a model for their own works. Interpretation afterimage within afterimage: vanitas Is uncommon during this time. Within the record: A dead face cannot smile. This image must be a lie. A death mask is a lifeless imprint. A mask and its copies can smile even less than a dead face. This image must rather have an allegorical meaning: it is a chilling memorial of a suicide. This death was shameful, and the smile is demonic. Outside the record: The photograph of the death mask makes it all the clearer that the living woman is missing. With this deterrent effect, the dissemination of the reproductions can be justified. Its viewers mourn and understand this death as a warning. Interpretation model within model: identity Within the record: This death was heroic. According to legend, the coroner was so moved by the face of the dead woman that he regarded it as a model and duly made a death-mask to capture the vivid expression he had probably modelled himself. The exact reproduction of the death mask gave his imagination evidential value. He embodied the face as his mirror image, as Rousseau ’ s Pygmalion did, and nevertheless unveiled the truth like a detective. The real-life woman, whom he did not know, played no role in his art. The smile remains to this day a direction for further observers that can be recognized and executed immediately like an emoticon: the smile of the dead is rather the expression of her observers taking her 268 Mathias Spohr role. It belongs to the ‘ how ’ of interpretation, not to the ‘ what ’ of a face that is missing and can be replaced by any viewer or performer. The artwork cannot be a forgery because the artist did not change the ‘ what ’ of the face. He merely added his own expression as an interpreter. Outside the record: To the coroner ’ s expression is added the emotion of all the purchasers of copies and photographs of this death mask. Viewers believe they can help the mute object out of its static state by exercising their imaginations. Increase in realizations makes the model more present. The vivid expression could be revived by its interpreters. A ‘ smiley ’ does not smile; only embodiments of this expression are possible. Thus, it becomes a symbol of presence. As with tableaux vivants, multiple reproduction does not reinforce the absence of a replicated person in order to deter; rather, it reinforces a consensus to embody it. The controllable sensuality of the tangible object, combined with clever reproduction technology, seems to make an illusion alive. Death becomes fiction, because animation is reality. References: Vanessa R. Schwartz: Spectacular realities. Early Mass Culture in Fin-de-Siècle Paris. Berkeley: University of California Press, 1999. Elisabeth Bronfen: Over Her Dead Body: Death, Femininity and the Aesthetic, New York: Routledge, 1992. Identity and Vanitas 269 Francis Barraud: His Master ’ s Voice (1916) Interpretation afterimage within afterimage: vanitas Within the record: The voice emerging from the gramophone horn cannot replace the deceased master. The dog is alone. He is mourning. The apparatus remains lifeless and has failed. Outside the record: The picture can neither reproduce the sound of the voice nor the dog, which has also died. The painter in the photograph will soon follow him. His eyes look at the viewer, but they are blind. All these media must fail and remain substitutes. The dog mourns his master, the painter mourns the dog, and the viewers mourn the painter. Interpretation model within model: identity Within the record: The art of the apparatus succeeds: its fascinating effect deceives the dog. He seems to imagine his master. Even nature seems to be fooled by technology. The dog becomes a role model for consumers who listen to recorded sounds as if spellbound. Outside the record: Image viewers can imagine the sound heard by the dog. They do not mourn all those beings who have died, but are inspired. They understand the image as a model because it makes their own engagement with the apparatus, which does not require the presence of actual musicians or pets, seem faithful. Fidelity is reduced to an immediate recognition and imagination of the faithfully reproduced. Any potentially threatening dogs or masters are replaced with harmless reproductions. The master is not mourned, but mastered. Fidelity as a realization, as opposed to fidelity as mourning, is required. This brings relief, and it can be automated as fidelity of sound. The motionlessness and muteness of the dog and of the picture are not lamented as shortcomings (as in the vanitas representations of the 17th century); instead, they are admired as durable examples of discipline in the tradition of living pictures (or the soldier and dancer in Andersen ’ s story). They demonstrate a living embodiment of a lost world. A reality of deceptions is propagated because it shows how one can successfully imagine something that does not exist. Self-deception is not reprehensible. On the contrary, it is an achievement to think something is alive that only has the semblance of being so. Reference: Friedrich A. Kittler: Grammophon, Film, Typewriter. Berlin: Brinkmann & Bose, 1986. Photograph of the artist Francis Barraud painting a version of his famous painting, in which a dog is fixated by the gramophone horn from which the voice of his deceased master is heard. 270 Mathias Spohr Arthur Schnitzler: Fräulein Else (1924) Schnitzler ’ s story is told in interior monologue. Here the first-person narrator - the young woman Else - looks at herself naked in the mirror. She is in a hotel where a rich art dealer is staying. Her parents want to set her up with him. The art dealer has offered a sum of money to see Else naked in his room. Interpretation afterimage within afterimage: vanitas Within the record: Else looks into the mirror at her reflection, and speaks in the voice of the art dealer, her intended viewer. That is, she seems to speak from the perspective of the mirror. This is impossible. Speaking in a voice other than her own is meaningless. She has no counterpart. Outside the record: Readers cannot read ‘ I ’ in their own voices because the characters who seem to say ‘ I ’ in Schnitzler ’ s text are absent. The mirror image cannot be shown through words, and the book page is as impassable as the looking-glass. The voices of Else and the art dealer and the image they describe are all missing. The voice of the covetous beholder (the dealer) is doubly absent because Else, too, is only imagining this role. Everything is fictitious. These absences should warn readers who, like Else and the art dealer, are alone with themselves and their desires. The warning justifies the dissemination of the narrative. Interpretation model within model: identity Within the record: Else speaks with the voice of her observer. She animates the perspective of the mirror like a theatre role. This perspective allows her to put herself in the shoes of a variety of observers. It is an opportunity for her, a self-realization in which she needs not expose herself to dangerous people. Outside the record: Readers find themselves in Else ’ s role when they read ‘ I ’ , and, mediated through this role, in the role of the art dealer and thus in the observer perspective of the mirror. Like the first observer Else, readers identify with this observer ’ s perspective. The same happens with Else ’ s role-playing ( ‘ Come closer ’ ), which readers realize through their own voices. All observers seem to gather in this perspective even though there is nothing to see. But the self-realization of the readers seems to suggest closeness. Else ’ s eagerness motivates the readers to imagine her naked appearance. Sensual effect and direct speech fire the imagination and allow readers to imagine a wished-for image that need not compare with any living person. Imagination creates a reality of harmless seduction. Schnitzler ’ s text also features musical notes, which inspire the imagination even of those readers who cannot read music. The numerous film adaptations and re-tellings of the narrative based on the character of Else become models in their turn. Many have brought to life Schnitzler ’ s ‘ I ’ with their own voices. Identity and Vanitas 271 Sigmund Freud: Wunderblock (1925) Interpretation afterimage within afterimage: vanitas Within the record: A writing instrument is no human memory, but merely a mnemonic device. It is an afterimage, an imitation, a substitute for human memory. Memory as an object of medical research is absent from Freud ’ s reflections. Apparently, he tried to explain instinct by describing a simple machine. Outside the record: The substitute of Freud ’ s text describes the substitute of a mnemonic device. Both are lifeless. Human memory is doubly absent. Interpretation model within model: identity Within the record: The Wunderblock is by no means a research object, but rather a model for human memory. Writing has a function that our memory should have. It seems to optimize memory, like a shopping list, and can therefore serve as a model. The researcher embodies the model to the best of his or her ability: uncovering how the device works by removing the cellophane film and looking for traces on the wax layer leads to clues. It explains how forgotten information can be found without uncanny magic. It is not about the what, but about the how. Description has become prescription. Memory is present, and writing is its model. Outside the record: There is no need for a research object, because Freud ’ s readers embody the memory of the deceased author with their own memories. His text could turn from a description to a realization of a mnemonic device, used as a construction manual or as a user guide for the pad, thus stimulating the imagination. The faithful medium of the wax layer in the faithful text about a faithfully reproduced memory creates a potentiated reality. Writing is superior to human memory, but remains harmless. The constellation of reading within reading within reading does not lead to an awareness of absence and mechanization, but inspires the reader. Readers animate a model: the deceased author as a controllable authority. The two interpretations were and are opposed in the assessment of Freud ’ s theories. Scientific research has rejected them. Wax tablets as a writing medium fell into disuse in the 19th century. A modernized version with a cellophane film on top of the wax was called ‘ Wunderblock ’ (magic writing pad): by removing the film from the wax, any drawing on the film became invisible, but the traces on the wax remained. The psychologist Sigmund Freud used this technique to explain human memory. His text was very influential. 272 Mathias Spohr Ruth St Denis: Oriental Dance in India (1926) Interpretation afterimage within afterimage: vanitas This interpretation is more in the background and plays less of a role in the dancer ’ s selfimage than in her success. Within the record: The rising smoke of the cigarettes and the pagan deities of ancient Egypt pictured symbolize an alluring, but reprehensible way of life. Viewers simultaneously experience a longing for the distant world and a warning against it. A mourning for the inaccessibility of the past or the far away is combined with an uplifting moral message. The warning justifies the allure of the depiction and the smoking. Outside the record: Ruth St Denis staged her Oriental dances for Hollywood - as with her depiction of the decadent life of Babylon in David Griffith ’ s film Intolerance (1916). These stagings had an erotic appeal but also warned of the dangers of dissolute living. The warning justified the dances ’ success. Interpretation model within model: identity Within the record: The product photo says to its viewers: you may realize the depicted world. St Denis used the advertising poster as the model for her own ideas on costume, decoration and dance. In doing so, she became a model herself. The goddess Isis was not worshipped, but rather replaced. She was not necessary for this self-realization. And the cigarette advertisement could be forgotten. Outside the record: Indian dancers took Ruth St Denis ’ s performances as their model and themselves became exemplars of an Indian dance containing Oriental elements. In this way, they established a cultural identity that, de facto, distanced itself from real tradition. The American dancer ’ s example offered them an opportunity to become models themselves. The original American dancer could be forgotten in turn. Reference: Uttara Asha Coorlawala: ‘ Ruth St Denis and India ’ s Dance Renaissance ’ , in: Dance Chronicle 15: 1992, No. 2, pp. 123 - 152. The American dancer Ruth St Denis was inspired to perform Oriental vaudeville dances by a poster of the cigarette brand Egyptian Deities featuring the goddess Isis. Her successful tour of India in 1926 led to the establishment of a new Indian dance tradition. Identity and Vanitas 273 Musical Interpretation (20th century) Sound recording of a significant interpretation of a piece of classical music. Interpretation afterimage within afterimage: vanitas This interpretation is not common. However, it has been known to appear as a motif in a novel or film. Within the record: For the interpreter, the musical notes she or he aurally follows are afterimages of a faded original that they cannot replace. Their interpretation will inevitably fail. Outside the record: Listeners hear in the sound recording only an echo of an absent, possibly deceased performer, whom the recording cannot replace. They would be more interested in meeting a real person. The musical work (understood as a past one-off event) is missing in its interpretation, and its interpreter is missing in the sound recording. All recordings are memorials of past vanity. Listeners mourn. Interpretation model within model: identity This is the common interpretation. Within the record: The musical notation of a score is a model for its interpreter, which she, or he, realizes individually. The past original performance of the work, which has faded away, is not needed for this, only the performer ’ s own individual and creative interpretation. 274 Mathias Spohr Outside the record: Beguiling sounds are no longer dangerous, because their creators are missing. Listeners can enjoy them without committing themselves. The recorded interpretation is a model for further interpreters and for the living imagination of listeners. It allows all listeners to establish some sense of cultural identity. A living, present performer is not needed for this, because it depends on the individual and creative self-realization of the listeners while operating their machines. The machines do not answer, but they work. High fidelity overcomes any potential mourning for what is absent. Despite all this, the performer seems to be and remain a great authority. It is now possible that scraps of sound from a performer ’ s interpretation, mixed with the sounds of countless other performers, can be made into new pieces of music ( ‘ samples ’ ) even if these performers are unknown. Digital fidelity creates new models and replaces fidelity to what is reproduced. Today, many performers listen to sound recordings more than they study musical scores. They believe in not imitating a performance but enlivening a work, and thus becoming unique. Identity and Vanitas 275 Schrödinger ’ s cat (1935) Illustration of the thought experiment, combining a vanitas motif of a dead and a living cat with a graphic by M. C. Escher. The cat and its observer are both inside and outside the cube. In a famous thought experiment, the physicist Erwin Schrödinger illustrated the entangled states of quantum objects with a cat that is poisoned by an apparatus that detects the unpredictable radioactive decay of a particle. The cat, like the particle, would be either alive or dead, but in the quantum world these two possibilities are realities without any choice to be made. The cat appears to be both alive and dead. The fact that a dice shows the results of possible throws without being thrown, on the other hand, does not bother anyone. Schrödinger defended himself against the accusation of inaccurate measurements: it is not the result of the measurement that is unclear, but the state of the measured object. By 276 Mathias Spohr referring to it as a ‘ burlesque ’ , he signalled the proximity of his thought experiment to vanitas perception. Interpretation afterimage within afterimage: vanitas Within the record: A cat is not an elementary particle, but its clumsy imitation. The fact that the cat is killed by a machine tries to make the parallel credible. But nature is not a machine. Outside the record: A thought experiment only imitates a missing phenomenon. Even the cat is absent. The anthropomorphic narrative of the tragic death of an elementary particle due to natural determinism is absurd, especially when this determinism is simulated with a machine and a cat. Rather, it is an allegory of human inadequacy and arrogance. Interpretation model within model: identity Within the record: A measurement reliably conveys the ‘ real ’ state of the measured object to an observer. This is its nature, being fair to its observers. The random result and the influence of the measurer on the result must be false. Outside the record: The observer cannot be excluded from the worlds of the elementary particle and of the cat, because measurement reliably transfers the observer ’ s perspective to any distant world. The thought experiment is not a mere fantasy, but leads to reality. Schrödinger ’ s cat is not a description or imitation of the particle, but its embodiment. It is a model for the clear and predictable results we want to see. It motivates the observers because they are not responsible for the cat ’ s death. Only the observer ’ s perspective is responsible. And that seems to be nature. - The dictatorships of that time can be seen as the background to this way of thinking. Today, we can say: the measurement is reliable, but it influences what is measured. Causality is created by the measurement, but in this case, it is the causality of a roll of the dice. The physicist Albert Einstein criticized the results of quantum mechanics by saying that God does not play dice. He was right in that it is not God, but the observer who rolls the dice. Divine authority has given way to rules of the game. The rules remain fair; perhaps that ’ s what Einstein meant. Reference: Erwin Schrödinger: ‘ Die gegenwärtige Situation in der Quantenmechanik ’ , in: Naturwissenschaften 23.1935, pp. 807 - 812. Identity and Vanitas 277 Kamikaze Pilots as Cherry Blossoms (1945) The Japanese kamikaze pilots of 1945, at the end of World War II, were revered and memorialized as cherry blossoms who would also have a short, beautiful life. The photograph on the right depicts a kamikaze pilot in front of his plane, which is emblazoned with an image of a cherry blossom (left). Interpretation afterimage within afterimage: vanitas Within the record: The image of the cherry blossom is only an afterimage of a blossom that has meanwhile faded. It cannot replace it. The pilot is alone. Outside the record: For the pilot ’ s mother, his photograph is only an afterimage of the son who died. It cannot replace him. She is alone and is mourning. Real cherry blossom is missing from its picture, and the real pilot is missing from his. Interpretation model within model: identity Within the recording: The pilot realizes the model of the cherry blossom through his own brief blossoming. This is his identity, embodied by viewers of the symbol. The depicted cherry blossom is no longer needed, because the pilot has become the realization of the image and understands this as his achievement. The image is an opportunity for selfrealization. Outside the record: More pilots take the image of their colleague as a model. They realize their own cherry blossom identities and become role models in their turn. They all may believe they are special. The pictured pilot is no longer needed. The cherry blossom is an allegory of Japan. In the more recent interpretation of identity, it is a symbol in the sense of Goethe: ‘ not as a dream and shadow [i. e. Goethe ’ s concept of allegory; allegories in his time were considered outdated and awkward], but as a living instantaneous revelation ’ (Maximen und Reflexionen, 1833). Reference: Madoka Yuki: ‘ Vanitas in Japan? Kirschblüte in der zeitgenössischen Fotografie ’ , in: Victoria von Flemming, Julia Berger (eds.), Vanitas als Wiederholung, Berlin: de Gruyter 2022, pp. 175 - 191. 278 Mathias Spohr Citroën 2CV (1948) The popular car model 2CV (Deux chevaux) manufactured by Citroën was described by Roland Barthes as a modern myth. Interpretation afterimage within afterimage: vanitas Within the record: The vehicle is an empty, lifeless thing, and the mobility it may provide does not necessarily lead to the relationships that may be desired. It cannot replace a potential driver or passengers who have since died, or destinations that are no longer accessible. It is a substitute and a memorial of vain wishful thinking. Outside the record: The car on the billboard will soon be a museum piece, just like the monuments in the background. To modern viewers the vehicle is missing even more, because it is no longer produced. A product photo without a deliverable product is no longer a role model. Like the Arc de Triomphe and the Eiffel Tower on the billboard, it has become an afterimage of vain efforts and past power. Interpretation model within model: identity Within the record: Drivers and passengers enter the vehicle and realize their travel wishes. Because the car works successfully, it enables lively encounters. The car is not an inanimate entity, but presents an opportunity for its users. Outside the record: The product photo says to its viewers: you may realize the depicted world. Because the car model is available and affordable, it does not remain purely in the picture. The possibility of practical realization of a wish seems to outweigh the accusation of deception: ‘ That ’ s not a car, just a picture. ’ In the identity perception, an equivalent use-value justifies the copy of a product, be it a car, a photo or a piece of writing. In the vanitas perception it is the warning against illusion and imitation that justifies the copy. Today, this model of a vehicle, like the Eiffel Tower and the Arc de Triomphe, may be understood as a sign of identity that still enlivens a community, at least as a souvenir. Thus, it sheds the tacit connection between charisma and utility that Roland Barthes once criticized. Reference: Roland Barthes: Mythologies, Paris: Seuil, 1957. Identity and Vanitas 279 Robert Doisneau: Le Baiser de l ’ Hôtel de Ville (1950) This photograph expressing French identity first delighted American audiences and then bolstered a post-World War II French self-confidence, by seeming to document love as a quintessentially French quality. Interpretation afterimage within afterimage: vanitas Within the record: Public intimacy could symbolize a delightful but reprehensible resistance to moral codes. But the love depicted does not exist, because actors have staged the scene. The pose is a frozen afterimage of a fantasy. The setting, with the Paris City Hall in the background, was conceived by the photographer. Outside the record: The spontaneous effect of the photograph is deceptive. However, viewers can infer allegorical meaning from the elements in the photograph: the bodies and postures, or the indifference of passers-by, are consciously given meanings. This mediation strategy is the same as that of the vanitas still life: immediacy is called into question, for the allegorical meaning is essential, and must be deciphered. In this case the City Hall could mean ‘ local authority ’ , the passers-by ‘ a restless world ’ , and the couple ‘ desire ’ . The afterimage interpretation prevailed after it became clear in 1993 that the photograph was not a documentary snapshot. The apparent unveiling of nature was as disguise, after all. Interpretation model within model: identity Within the record: French people by nature rebel against overly strict moral codes. The atmosphere outside the Paris City Hall as a natural cause spontaneously inspires a young couple to kiss. Instinct becomes apparent. Unconsciously and fatefully, they embody a genius loci: namely the identity of France as the land of love. Outside the record: The unnoticed photographer has revealed nature. The documentary quality of the photograph reinforces the credibility of the spontaneous action as a 280 Mathias Spohr fascinating self-realization. Nothing is imitated here: nature expresses itself. This picture ’ s direct impact seems to have evidential value; viewers empathize with this model and can imagine it all. An allegory becomes reality when reality and legibility are confused. The technical medium of photography makes naturalness and inwardness seem plausible. The non-French are not obliged to feel national loyalty, but they admire a touchingly loyal medium that observes incorruptibly: the couple as well as the photo succeed in doing this. Social fidelity, which in real life requires effort and self-awareness, seems to be realized involuntarily, without obligation and with guaranteed success. Their immediacy turns clichéd ideas into representations of nature. Identity and Vanitas 281 Alan Turing: Turing Test (1950) In a 1950 essay, the British mathematician Alan Turing (1912 - 54) hypothesized that femininity, masculinity and the ability to think were not objective characteristics, but depended on the acceptance of their observers. From this he developed a test to determine whether a machine can demonstrate ‘ thinking ’ intelligence equivalent to that of a human. All those who take this test - men, women and machines - express themselves through typewritten texts. Interpretation afterimage within afterimage: vanitas Within the record: A machine is lifeless. Whether it appears alive depends, as with a doll, on the self-deception of its users. 282 Mathias Spohr Outside the record: A text produced by a machine is as lifeless as the machine itself. The publication of such texts warns readers of deception. Trackers (people or machines) who assign identities to texts are either fools or (in the case of machines) lifeless themselves. Interpretation model within model: identity Within the record: Gender and thinking ability are inner principles of a being that can be distinguished from any embodiments: they are texts. It is the skills the machine demonstrates that matter, rather than whether a real person is demonstrating them. Outside the record: Readers want to perceive texts not as a warning (be careful - there may be no thinking behind them! ), but as their own fascinating achievement. They themselves have triggered an effect. If the machine succeeds in deceiving, then its thinking powers and/ or gender identity are real. A successful Turing test does not reveal the greatest lie, but the best functioning, whether it resides in a person or a machine. The ‘ Turing machine ’ invented by Alan Turing inspired the principle on which computers still work today. Formal languages can be embodied by everyone, even by machines. Although Turing contributed significantly to deciphering the encrypted messages of the German army during World War II, the British authorities forced him to undergo hormone therapy after the war due to his homosexuality, and he committed suicide as a result. To the mise-en-abyme is added a third level of Turing ’ s own texts. Both the acceptance of his texts and the feasibility of his identity were challenges for him. He was concerned that computing should lead not to unsuccessful and illegitimate imitations, but rather to promising models. This freed his imagination from the identity in which he was to be personally fixed by the authorities ’ later punitive action. Without personal success he had tried to disempower the human rulers with machine rules. Identity and Vanitas 283 Paris Match: Cover (1955) The cover of the magazine Paris-Match depicting a dark-skinned saluting French soldier became famous through a writing of Roland Barthes. 284 Mathias Spohr Interpretation afterimage within afterimage: vanitas This interpretation is hypothetical. Within the record: The soldier seems to see something, but it is an illusion. He is alone. Outside the record: The photograph of the soldier shows him in a respectful posture, but it does not show what he sees. This alerts viewers that a picture is blind, and warns them of the same blindness, as long as they can still see. The magazine justifies its large circulation with this warning. Interpretation model within model: identity Within the record: The flag or monument that the soldier appears to perceive is a model for him. By venerating this paragon, he makes himself a paragon in a motionless pose. His demonstration of loyal behaviour indicates that he may prefer the national symbol to a living authority. His mastery is his loyalty. Outside the record: The pictured soldier appears harmless. He could not be a revolutionary, and he is no personal authority for his observers, because they themselves master the rules of loyal behaviour. With its wide distribution and the technical possibilities of colour photography and reproduction, the magazine gives them this opportunity: nature expresses itself, by fidelity of its media. The soldier and the picture seem touchingly faithful. The viewers do not need the real-life depicted soldier for this and do not lament his absence; instead, he is made into a proud role model, embodied by its users. It represents self-control, controllability and copyability: the attractiveness of a common observer perspective. Roland Barthes interpreted this example as a mise-en-abyme construction ( ‘ a presence of the signified through the signifier ’ ) and problematized the model interpretation ( ‘ there is no better answer to the detractors of an alleged colonialism than the zeal shown by this Negro in serving his so-called oppressors ’ ). Reference: Roland Barthes: Mythologies, Paris: Seuil, 1957. Identity and Vanitas 285 William Friedkin, William Peter Blatty: The Exorcist (1973) A writing on the girl ’ s belly. The film shows the exorcism of a girl possessed by a demon. The words ‘ help me ’ appear on the girl ’ s stomach. She seems to be trapped in her belly and makes herself known in this way. The readers give her a voice, which she lacks because the demon controls her. Interpretation afterimage within afterimage: vanitas Within the record: A reader reads this writing in his/ her own voice and is frightened by their own reflection. There is no other speaking being. Outside the record: The medium of film shows the medium of the belly. Neither has a living voice. The reader has no counterpart. What could be ‘ behind ’ the medium is missing. Besides, it is all fiction. Interpretation model within model: identity Within the record: The girl usually controls her role as a good child, which is also controlled by those around her. Uncontrolled expressions do not correspond to her nature. In the form of the demon, a controlled role becomes an uncontrolled ruler who speaks out of her. The writing on her belly remains the only faithful medium. Outside the record: Readers read the text and watch the film in the knowledge that they themselves are controlling and animating these records. The film actress is expected to embody her feminine nature by presenting her good manners, but her control seems to be lost, just like her character ’ s control. The idea of a being behind these records really coming to life is terrifying. Readers identify with the helpless character and simultaneously fear a loss of control. What is interesting about this example is that the identity perception is chilling and the vanitas perception is reassuring. It can therefore be interpreted as a satire on the identity discourse in the turbulent 1968s. The rule of being a good child seems to say ‘ help me ’ , but a rule is lifeless. A ruler must be to blame if control of the rule is lost. The era of witch-hunts and the establishment of scientific causality can be seen as a historical reference behind this narrative: the girl ’ s ‘ illness ’ does not have a reliable cause, but rather an unpredictable causer. 286 Mathias Spohr Patrick Süskind: Perfume (1985) Scene from the film adaptation of this novel by Tom Tykwer (2006) The anti-hero, reminiscent of those in 18th-century Enlightenment novels, concocts perfume from the bodies of murdered women, just as one extracts scent from cut flowers. Interpretation afterimage within afterimage: vanitas Within the record: The perfume is a fixed after-effect of the women killed. The effect cannot replace the women it emanated from. It merely masks the perfumed customers, as a fleeting luxury, gained at the expense of the lives of victims who should better be mourned. Outside the record: The text is only a postscript of the scent. A description cannot replace the scent itself. The women are missing from the scent, and the scent is missing from its description in the text. Moreover, the story is a fiction. The readers or spectators mourn, because any reality is absent. The author warns them against the harmful influence of imagination and thus justifies his gruesome invention. Interpretation model within model: identity Within the record: Customers seek to realize themselves through the fragrance. The purchasers of the perfumes enjoy their effects without the need for the women from whom the fragrances originated. The women killed can no longer seduce with their scents. A transferable effect is intended: fidelity of reproduction without the embodied beings. The customers believe they are not interchangeable, like the product, but special. Outside the record: Readers and viewers reading the text or watching the film adaptation of the novel realize the perfume in their imaginations. An actual perfume is not needed for this. On the contrary, its absence makes it possible to imagine an individual and ideal perfume. The perfume is an aid to the self-realization of its buyers, and the text or the film are in turn aids to an imaginary realization of the scent depicted. What matters is the selfrealization of the readers or viewers. A missing world ‘ behind ’ the text or the images is not of interest; rather, what is of interest is an imagined reality that only emerges in the world of the viewer. Identity and Vanitas 287 Federico Fellini: Ginger e Fred (1986) In Fellini ’ s film, a satire on television shows of the 1960s and 1970s, an elderly pair of former dancers revive their imitation of the Hollywood screen couple Ginger Rogers and Fred Astaire for an Italian reality TV show. Interpretation afterimage within afterimage: vanitas Within the record: The dancing couple, who were known for these imitations in their youth, understand as the film progresses that the past cannot be retrieved. All images are afterimages of a futile effort. Outside the record: The television images of the unsuccessful imitators within Fellini ’ s film reinforce the awareness that what they attempt to show is not present, even if the live broadcast in which they perform is supposed to suggest spontaneity by technical means. The images are afterimages. It is all fiction. The spectators grieve, because any reality is missing. Interpretation model within model: identity Within the record: Ginger and Fred as film characters are role models of the older dancing couple, whom they embody. For this realization, the stars depicted need no longer be alive. Outside the record: The television images of the older dancing couple are a model for the television-show viewers in the film (many of whom are of a similar age to this couple). They realize this role model in their collective imagination - a replicated person is not needed for this. They are not awkward imitations, but touchingly faithful realizations. The television show as a whole (as portrayed in Fellini ’ s feature film) also serves this purpose. The temporal presence of the live broadcast belies the spatial absence of those depicted, it is a reliable reflection and a fascinating trace. The mise-en-abyme has several levels: Fellini ’ s feature film includes an imitation of a television show which, in turn, includes an imitation of a dance performed by Ginger Rogers and Fred Astaire. The realization pull that the show is supposed to generate ( ‘ role models show role models ’ ) tips over into the potentiated distance of vanitas. 288 Mathias Spohr ‘ Ötzi ’ (1991) The face of the glacier corpse ‘ Ötzi ’ , found in the Tyrol in 1991 (left), has been reconstructed by specialists (right). The autopsy revealed that the 5,300-year-old man was murdered. Interpretation afterimage within afterimage: vanitas Within the record: The corpse shows that the human being no longer exists. Even when mummified, it remains the lifeless afterimage of an unattainable being from a culture that no one can remember. Outside the record: The reconstruction of Ötzi ’ s face is a lifeless mask for the skull. Unlike the image of the skull, it attempts to deceive its viewers by making the face appear as though alive. A memory of the dead man (which cannot exist, bearing in mind his age) would make clear the inadequacy of this reconstructed mask. The mask is a sign of the failure of this animation, because the re-created human being is still missing, and the no less lifeless photo of the mask reinforces this deterrent impression. A disguise presents a disguise. Interpretation model within model: identity Within the record: Archaeological research and a desire to know ‘ whodunit ’ coincide in the reconstruction of the murder case. This fires the audience ’ s imagination. Science ’ s reading of the corpse makes it appear a model rather than an afterimage. There seems to be no mourning of the irretrievable, as with a fictional murder victim in a crime novel: a world put in order by puzzle-solving is more important than a fictional loss. Due to the remoteness of the world the deceased man inhabited, the corpse loses its horrifying aspect and becomes a fascinating trace and a role model at the same time. Outside the record: The reconstructed face, produced with a technique that seems as credible as the photograph of the image, appears alive and inspires the viewer ’ s imagination ( ‘ how did they make it look so alive? ’ ). An actual corpse is not needed for this. The mask appears not as a disguise, but as an unveiling, and the photograph in turn seems to reveal the truth. The technical fidelity of reproduction has triumphed over the mourning fidelity to the reproduced. The mask becomes a kind of telescope that lets the observers look at a distant world. Track reading and creative imagination are closely connected. An academic painter of the 19th century would have used a skull as an anatomical model for a portrait. Through exact fitting to the skull plus his artistic expression, he would have created not a mask for a skull, but an amazingly lifelike, individual face. The example here demonstrates the same mode of perception, using more modern media: a model is enlivened. Identity and Vanitas 289 Cigarette Advert Featuring the Twin Towers in NYC (1990s) Cigarette advertisements from the 1970s to the 1990s often took the Twin Towers of the World Trade Center in New York City as their subject. Interpretation afterimage within afterimage: vanitas Within the record: The huge building looks impressive and alluring, but it is lifeless and a sign of arrogance and transient vanity. Builders and users have had to atone for their greed. For the airplane passengers in the terrorist attack that destroyed the buildings in 2001, the common point of view did not imply discipline, but death. The viewers are warned and are mourning. Outside the record: The picture shows a building that no longer exists, an afterimage of past greatness. The cigarettes depicted in the photomontage have gone up in smoke just as did the building. The image can only reflect their absence. Smoking, an alluring but harmful luxury, has taken its revenge. Interpretation model within model: identity Within the record: The view of the famous building is a role model for proud people who take the achievement of its construction as an example. It conveys identity. Outside the record: The product photo says to its viewers: you may realize the depicted world. The cigarettes take the building as their model and, as a constantly renewed product, convey an attitude to life, realized by a community of consumers. Through the cigarettes that they consume, they acquire a lifestyle as proud and successful people. A smoked cigarette is not mourned, but replaceable. It is not the concrete cigarette that matters, but its model. The attack of 2001 led to the identity perception being transformed into the vanitas perception. The buildings as a product made into a model were ‘ consumed ’ , like cigarettes. They were not replaced. Their pictorial representations became memorials. 290 Mathias Spohr Destruction by the ‘ Islamic State ’ in Syria and Iraq (2015) Remains of the destroyed temple of Baal in Palmyra, photographed by Joseph Eid. In 2015, the terrorist organization Islamic State occupied territory in Palmyra, Aleppo and Mosul and destroyed ancient sites there. An exhibition in Bonn (Germany) in 2019 reconstructed part of what was destroyed. Interpretation afterimage within afterimage: vanitas Within the record: The ancient idols worshipped in these sites do not exist, and the buildings constructed to honour them are lifeless stone. The statues and buildings on these sites are memorials to a pagan age whose beliefs and practices have been overcome. In the Western Enlightenment, these memorials were wrongly made into models. Outside the record: Photographs and reconstructions no longer serve as models, but make us aware of the absence of what is depicted, since it has been destroyed. The virtual-reality animations in the Bonn exhibition show all the more clearly that we cannot experience these moving observer perspectives as real observers. We grieve because our authorization to imagine these monuments is questioned. All we have and admire is a substitute. Interpretation model within model: identity Within the record: Archaeology promises to re-create the ruins (first in a virtual sense, and later on site) according to the model of its records. The reconstruction is about fidelity of reproduction, not fidelity to the gods of antiquity. The image itself is the authority, not the ancient pagan religion behind it. Viewers replace the overcome rulers with their own rules. Outside the record: The virtual reality of the 2019 exhibition makes these models ‘ more real than real ’ , as the French culture minister said. A real Orient, containing all the real destructions of the current wars, may thus become dispensable. The pessimistic afterimage interpretation of the terrorists was opposed to the model interpretation offered by the shocked West. A real, uncontrolled Orient, made available as an observer perspective, had come alive and taken its revenge. The realizations of archaeology and virtual reality made attempts to save the role model status of the destroyed buildings. Reference: Institut du monde arabe (ed.): From Mosul to Palmyra. A virtual journey through the world heritage site, Munich: Hirmer, 2019. Identity and Vanitas 291 Roger Federer Kisses a Trophy (2017) Tennis player Roger Federer kisses the Grand Slam trophy he had just won in Melbourne in 2017. Interpretation afterimage within afterimage: vanitas This interpretation is not common. However, it could be possible in a parody, with comic or demonic connotations. Within the record: The trophy is an inanimate object, and the silent names engraved on it are not equivalent to the named individuals whose performances are long over. The athlete is mistaken. There is nothing to kiss. He is alone. Even his own engraved name will soon refer to something missing. The trophy, with its silver sheen, warns against transient vanity. Outside the record: The photograph of the tennis player is as lifeless as the trophy, and this should be a warning to its viewers. They are alone with this photo: the man is missing, his achievement is over, and his afterimage is a memorial to fleeting, departed vanity. Interpretation model in model: identity Within the record: The documented achievements of previous winners of this trophy make them role models for the athlete, which he realizes through his victory. He does not mourn the former winners, but is himself the new winner who revives the potency of the prize. The kissed object is a mirror image of an imaginary community: a point of view and a role model that the athlete realizes. Outside the record: Viewers see in the photograph a role model to emulate. The photograph ’ s wide impact - it appeared in many publications - reinforces its function as a role model for a community. The tennis player ’ s documented performance will be a challenge for future athletes and an incentive for all viewers. They realize its authority themselves. In front of this photo, they believe they are not interchangeable, but special, just like the winner. For this, the actual depicted human being is dispensable. 292 Mathias Spohr Che Guevara Poster in Cuba (2017) On the 50th anniversary of the death of Ernesto ‘ Che ’ Guevara (1928 - 67), posters depicting the revolutionary hero were erected in Havana. Interpretation afterimage within afterimage: vanitas Within the record: The person depicted is missing from the poster. In reality he met an early, violent end, and this should be a warning to the viewers. His death was shameful. The inscription ‘ siempre presente ’ (always with us) makes them aware of the omnipresence of death. Thus, the image creates a similar impression to the paintings Et in Arcadia ego (see p. 242). Writing and picture remain indifferent. Readers and viewers are mourning. Outside the record: Viewers of the photo see an old-fashioned car in front of the poster and relate the words ‘ siempre presente ’ to this vehicle, as if it were an image from the distant past. Writing and car mean stasis for them, as the photo itself is immobile. Cuba has become a lifeless image. Interpretation model within model: identity Within the record: Che Guevara took his cue from fighters against fascism and became a role model himself, an icon of the revolution. His death was heroic. Cubans reading the poster ’ s text embody his achievement as their identity. They can proudly relate the ‘ siempre presente ’ to themselves. The hero is their mirror image, they are all special like him. This imagination is reality, not a conceit. Outside the record: Viewers of the photograph will perceive a good old Havana, an exemplary representative of its traditions. A touchingly faithful picture reflects a touchingly faithful community. The apparent stagnation is not a sign of death, it is a matter of discipline. The stalemate between identity and vanitas perceptions indicates an exhaustion of model thinking. Identity and Vanitas 293 Donald Trump and the National Flag (2019) In a video recording released on social media, the American president hugs the national flag while saying ‘ I love you, baby ’ . Interpretation afterimage within afterimage: vanitas Within the record: The concept of nationhood is merely a piece of wishful thinking, and the flag can neither contain nor replace it. It shows an absence. The man is alone. He is mourning, because America itself is missing and in any case is not great anymore. Outside the record: The photograph shows an absence. It is only a picture, not a person, and, since November 2020, the president pictured is no longer president. To the extent pictures and writings still exist, they are evidence of futile and reprehensible efforts. The viewer is alone. She or he is mourning. Interpretation model within model: identity Within the record: The president shows that the flag is his role model by embracing it. He does not lament the absence of America because he himself makes America alive. It represents the community of his followers, and this is not meant to be a conceit. The citizens are not alone with their cell phones or laptops. A nation is present. Outside the record: Viewers of the social media video see the president ’ s image as their self-actualized role model, just as they appropriate the ‘ I ’ of his Twitter texts when they read his tweets, taking them as their own opinions. They realize his authority. In doing so, they bring a community to life. This achievement is not meant to be a conceit. Rather, a community of like-minded observers creates reality. There is a strong polarization between the two perceptions, and their respective deterring and attracting effects. The observer perspectives of the videos or the first-person identity of the Twitter texts can appear as either forced (and unconvincing) or as promising. Fear that the role models could become afterimages and thus memorials of past vanity may motivate their maintenance - as Trump ’ s fans ’ desperate behaviour following his failure to win the 2020 presidential election showed. But the afterimage became a model again, and the desire that desire should not be shameful remained important. 294 Mathias Spohr Lost Fighters in Mariupol, Ukraine (2022) Interpretation afterimage within afterimage: vanitas Within the record: The soldier sings about a Ukraine that does not exist. There is only a gloomy bunker. Her imagination rebels vainly against the rule of her attackers. This woman is dangerous because she tempts her followers. She will die in disgrace. Thus, she will be mourned and will remain a cautionary example. Outside the record: Photo and video show a female soldier doomed to die. They are themselves lifeless images, and their dissemination justifies itself with this warning. Kateryna ’ s song has faded away, her gaze in the photo is blind, and this should warn the viewers. If they sing along, they will fail because their voices will equally fade away. Imitators should be deterred. Their death will be a deserved punishment for sinful rebellion. Interpretation model within model: identity Within the record: Singing gives life to a nation, and thus the silencing of a single voice is not relevant to this community. The song is a model and will stay alive through the voices of other interpreters who will render it faithfully. Ukrainians realize what they consider to be their own nature instead of being personally dependent on a ruler. Outside the record: The pictured soldier is a partner and a role model for the viewers of her photo, even if she is unattainable. Viewers bring a nation to life with their own voices. It is precisely the muteness and the blindness of the image that motivate enthusiastic supporters to add their voices and gazes. The picture does not answer, but the imagination works. Russia has promoted the vanitas interpretations of images and news from Ukraine, while the Western media have promoted the identity interpretations. The imperial attitude of multi-ethnic Russia and the closing of ranks between church and state there are reminiscent of how the great empires of the 19th century reacted against the strengthening nation states in Europe. A social design based on personal loyalty meets a social design that seeks to replace authorities with embodied rules. During the war between Ukraine and Russia starting in February 2022, Ukrainian soldiers entrenched themselves from the besieging Russians in the Mariupol steel plant. A video of a female combat medic named Kateryna singing a patriotic song went viral on social media. Identity and Vanitas 295 16 Conclusion The examples I have given, with their opposing interpretations of records, are intended to make the following historical development plausible: While moderating or deterrent afterimage (vanitas) interpretations of texts, images and performances of all kinds predominated until the 17th century, motivating model (identity) interpretations began to establish themselves in the 18th century. The latter have predominated since the 19th century, but have been increasingly called into question since the second half of the 20th century. Taking sides with one view or the other is difficult without examining the circumstances. There are arguments for and against both interpretations. With the transition from vanitas to identity, the practice of authority in general turns from personal obedience to dominated rules. Jointly followed rules replace the rulers, and concepts of loyalty or fidelity become more and more technical. A social construction of causality leads to increasing mechanization. Today, the belief in objective observer perspectives authorized by a community is diminishing. They may be seen no longer as a faithful cooperation but as machinery. The antagonism is less between religion and secularism, as it might appear from a global perspective, than between rulers and rules. Rules make their users a reflection of former authority figures. This approach is mainly based on the following suggestions. Changing aesthetics in the 18th century are accepted as a commonplace in music and art history, but are not usually perceived in the sociological sense I have presented here. There are different theoretical approaches to this historical development. Norbert Elias has proposed that we understand the history of Western civilization as a development from external constraints to selfconstraint; this corresponds to the increasing distinction between ‘ what ’ and ‘ how ’ that Niklas Luhmann has used as the basis for a theory of ‘ second-order observation ’ . On the level of political history, Benedict Anderson has linked the phenomenon of the observer ’ s perspective with that of national identity. Michel Foucault ’ s investigations into the disciplining of European society in the early modern period belong in this field. I was inspired to make the connection between sociology and aesthetics by the following: Roland Barthes ’ s comments about media (which avoided the separation of the two disciplines); and Erving Goffman ’ s ‘ frames ’ , which describe a system of levels of observation (also a principle of Luhmann), but in the context of everyday media, without separating sociology from aesthetics. Speaking of differences rather than of identities, which is perhaps the core of vanitas interpretations, has been evident in many variations since the second half of the 20th century. Gilles Deleuze and Jacques Derrida are among the most important representatives. 296 Mathias Spohr Bibliography Own publications on the subject Vanitas 1999: ‘ Das Problem der Vanitas. Goethes Faust und das Faust-Sujet im populären Musiktheater ’ , in: Maske und Kothurn, 45.3.4 (1999): 71 - 91 2011: ‘ Musik und Vanitas. Das Musikensemble als Symbol der Institution ’ , in: Dissonanz, 113 (March 2011): 12 - 17 2012: ‘ Das Paradigma des Performativen und die Vanitas ’ , in: Kati Röttger (ed.): Welt - Bild - Theater. Bildästhetik im Bühnenraum, Tübingen: Narr, 133 - 141 2013: ‘ Raimund and Nestroy - der Vanitas-Überwinder und der Vanitas-Erneuerer? ’ , in: Nestroyana 33.1.2 (2013): 22 - 38 Media Theory 2000: ‘ Parodien - die Inszenierung der Differenz ’ , in: Maske und Kothurn, 46.3.4 (2000): 105 - 116 2003: Das gemeinsame Maß. Ansätze zu einer allgemeinen Medientheorie, Salzburg: Müller-Speiser 2003: ‘ Noverre ’ s Lettre sur la danse, et sur les ballets (1760) aus mediengeschichtlicher Sicht ’ , in: Kodikas/ Code 26.3.4 (2003): 209 - 216 2003: ‘ Social Compatibility in a Two Gender Society. The Waltz as a Technical Medium ’ , in: Kodikas/ Code 26.3.4 (2003): 217 - 223 2009: ‘ Videoloops - Zeichen ohne Aura? ’ , in: Kodikas/ Code 32.1.2 (2009): 151 - 160 2012: ‘ Von den brute facts zum Reflex. Die Trichotomien von François Delsarte und Charles Peirce ’ , in Id. (ed.): Dance of the Signs - 200 Years of François Delsarte (= Kodikas/ Code, 35.3.4, 2012), Tübingen: Narr, 277 - 287 Expressive Aesthetics and Identity 1997: ‘ Wiederholung und Neugestaltung im Theater ’ , in: Maske und Kothurn, 43.4 (1997): 19 - 24 1998: ‘ Musikgeschichte ist Mediengeschichte ’ , in: dissonanz/ dissonance, 56 (May 1998): 6 - 12 1999: ‘ Die Faszination der objektiven Norm. Warum musikalische Gattungen, Formen, Werke seit dem 18. Jahrhundert zu technischen Medien werden ’ , in: Id. (ed.), Geschichte und Medien der gehobenen Unterhaltungsmusik, Zurich: Chronos, 11 - 54 1999: ‘ Medien, Melodramen, und ihr Einfluss auf Richard Wagner ’ , in: Christoph Hellmuth Mahling, Kristina Pfarr (eds.): Richard Wagner und seine Lehrmeister, Mainz: Are 1999, 49 - 80. 1999: ‘ Jean-Jacques Rousseau und die Naturtreue ’ , in Musiktheorie, 14.3 (1999), 247 - 52 2000: ‘ Melodrama - Technische Medien, stumme Figuren und die Illusion des Ausdrucks ’ , in: Claudia Jeschke, Hans-Peter Bayerdörfer (eds.): Bewegung im Blick. Beiträge zu einer theaterwissenschaftlichen Bewegungsforschung, Berlin: Vorwerk, 2000, 258 - 273 2000: ‘ Wie kommen Schweizer zu identischen Zeichen ohne gemeinsame Sprache? ’ , in: Anselm Gerhard, Annette Landau (eds.): Schweizer Töne, Zürich: Chronos, 237 - 251 2002: ‘ Zur Technologiegeschichte des europäischen Verhaltens: Das Volkstheater als Einheit der Künste ’ , in: Sibylle Dahms et al. (eds.): Meyerbeers Bühne im Gefüge der Künste, Paderborn, Munich: Ricordi 2002, 17 - 53 2002: ‘ Austauschbar oder unverwechselbar? Person und Funktion in der Filmoperette ’ , in: Günter Krenn, Armin Loacker (eds.): Zauber der Bohème. Marta Eggerth, Jan Kiepura und der deutschsprachige Musikfilm, Vienna: Filmarchiv Austria 2002, 415 - 434 2003: ‘ Satire und Identität. Österreich, Arnold Schönberg und Hans Gál ’ , in: Jeanne Benay et al. (eds.): Österreichische Satire 1933 - 2000, Bern: Lang 2003, 75 - 90 Identity and Vanitas 297 2004: ‘ Kann eine Herkunft durch Leistung erworben werden? Vanitas in der italienischen und Identität in der deutschen Oper ’ , in: Sebastian Werr, Daniel Brandenburg (eds.): Das Bild der italienischen Oper in Deutschland, Münster: Lit, 177 - 190 2005: ‘ Wirkung ohne Ursache. Richard Wagner zitiert Pierre-Joseph Proudhon ’ , in: Thomas Betzwieser et al. (eds.): Bühnenklänge, Munich: Ricordi, 139 - 145 2017: ‘ Der Golem und die Rührung. 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Wolters Kantorowicz, Ernst 1957: The King ’ s Two Bodies. A Study in Mediaeval Political Theology, Princeton, NJ: Princeton Univ. Press Kern, Manfred 2009: Weltflucht. Poesie und Poetik der Vergänglichkeit in der weltlichen Dichtung des 12. bis 15. Jahrhunderts, Berlin: de Gruyter Kittler, Friedrich A. 1986: Grammophon, Film, Typewriter. Berlin: Brinkmann & Bose Kuiper, Johannes John Carel 2004: Ideas and Explorations. Brouwer ’ s Road to Intuitionism, Ph. D. thesis, Univ. of Utrecht Lanini, Karine 2006: Dire la vanité à l ’ âge classique: paradoxes d ’ un discours (= Lumière classique. vol. 67), Paris: H. Champion Lepenies, Wolf 1998: Melancholie und Gesellschaft. Mit einer neuen Einleitung. Das Ende der Utopie und die Wiederkehr der Melancholie, Frankfurt am Main: Suhrkamp McLuhan, Marshall 1964: Understanding Media. 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Méditations sur la richesse, le dénuement et la rédemption, Caen: Musée des Beaux-Arts Weihe, Richard 2004: Die Paradoxie der Maske. Geschichte einer Form, Munich: Fink Zimmermann, Anja 2009: Ästhetik der Objektivität. Genese und Funktion eines wissenschaftlichen und künstlerischen Stils im 19. Jahrhundert, Bielefeld: transcript Image Sources Preface p. 200: Mathias Spohr, 2023. p. 229: Mathias Spohr, 2023. p. 232: Herrad von Landsberg: Hortus Deliciarum (around 1175), PD-US-expired, Wikimedia Commons. Identity and Vanitas 299 p. 233: Anonymous: Fresco in Tuse Church, Denmark (before 1480), photographer: Jürgen Howaldt, license CC BY-SA 3.0 DE, Wikimedia Commons. p. 234: Jan Provoost: Death and the Miser (1515 - 21), Museo Brugge, photographer Hugo Maertens, license CC-BY-NC-ND 4.0, artinflanders.be. p. 235: Pieter Coecke van Aelst the Elder: St Jerome (before 1550), Walters Art Museum, Baltimore, MD. p. 236: Nicolaus Copernicus: Heliocentric World-View (1553), autograph, Biblioteka Jagiello ń ska, Kraków. p. 238: Anonymous: Fool ’ s Head World Map (around 1590), National Maritime Museum, Greenwich, London. p. 239: Jakob Hiebeler: Füssen Dance of Death (1602), St.-Anna-Kapelle, Museum der Stadt Füssen. p. 240: Anonymous: Relief on the Town Hall of Nördlingen (around 1608), photographer Metzner, license BY SA 2.0/ de, Wikimedia Commons. p. 241: Anonymous: Allegory of Vanity (around 1630), Galleria Nazionale d ’ Arte Antica, Rome. p. 242: Nicolas Poussin: Et in Arcadia Ego (1637/ 38), Louvre, Paris. p. 243: David Bailly: Vanitas Still Life with African Servant (around 1650), Johnson Museum of Arts, Ithaca, NY. p. 244: Guido Cagnacci: Maria Magdalena (1663), Galleria Nazionale d ’ Arte Antica, Rome. p. 246: Charles Perrault: Cendrillon ou La Petite Pantoufle de Verre (1697), photographer Volodymyr Tverdokhlib. p. 248: Johann Beringer: Würzburg ‘ Lying Stones ’ (1725/ 26), from Lithographiae Wirceburgensis, ed. 1767, PD-US-expired. p. 250: William Hogarth: The Inspection (1743 - 5), National Gallery, London, license CC BY 3.0, Wikimedia Commons. p. 251: Jean-Jacques Rousseau: Pygmalion (1762 - 70), illustration by Jean Michel Moreau le jeune, 1st edition 1775, PD-US-expired. p. 252: Johann Wolfgang Goethe: The Sorrows of Young Werther (1774), edition of 1825, PD-US-expired. p. 253: Constitution of the United States (1787), license PD-EdictGov. p. 254: Mètre des Archives (1791), license PD-USGov-NIST, National Institute of Standards and Technology, Gaithersburg, MD. p. 255: Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart: Portrait Aria from Die Zauberflöte (The Magic Flute, 1791), autograph, Deutsche Staatsbibliothek Berlin. p. 256: Henriette Hendel-Schütz as the Sphinx (1812), Urania. 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Identity and Vanitas 301 K O D I K A S / C O D E Volume 43 (2020) · No. 3 - 4 Gunter Narr Verlag Tübingen From Skinner ’ s Verbal Behavior to Miner ’ s Nacirema: American Identity Between Causal Chains and Rituals Mathias Spohr Abstract: The two publications Verbal Behavior (1957) by Burrhus Frederic Skinner and Body Ritual among the Nacirema (1956) by Horace Mitchell Miner appeared at a time when behaviorism was a dominant trend in psychology, especially in the United States. In this essay, I juxtapose them in order to make it plausible that Miner ’ s fictional investigation can be understood as a critique of behaviorism, and furthermore that both publications illustrate the extent to which a paradoxical connection between causality and rituality has shaped North American self-understanding. Keywords: history of psychology, history of anthropology, ritualization, self-control, causality, behaviorism, motivation, North American identity, vanitas. Zusammenfassung: Die beiden Publikationen Verbal Behavior (1957) von Burrhus Frederic Skinner und Body Ritual among the Nacirema (1956) von Horace Mitchell Miner erschienen zu einer Zeit, als der Behaviorismus eine dominierende Strömung in der Psychologie war, insbesondere in den Vereinigten Staaten. In diesem Aufsatz stelle ich sie einander gegenüber, um plausibel zu machen, dass Miners fiktive Untersuchung als Kritik am Behaviorismus verstanden werden kann und dass beide Publikationen darüber hinaus veranschaulichen, in welchem Maß eine paradoxe Verbindung zwischen Kausalität und Ritualität das nordamerikanische Selbstverständnis geprägt hat. Schlüsselbegriffe: Geschichte der Psychologie, Geschichte der Ethnologie, Ritualisierung, Selbstkontrolle, Kausalität, Behaviorismus, Motivation, Nordamerikanische Identität, Vanitas. 1 Verbal Behavior The psychologist B. F. Skinner considered Verbal Behavior to be his magnum opus, although it was not widely accepted in the fields of psychology and linguistics. In a youthful encounter with the British philosopher Alfred North Whitehead in 1934, Whitehead pointed out to Skinner that his behaviorist beliefs could not be applied to language. Since Skinner was convinced that language was a behavior like any other, his principles had to apply to language if they were to claim general validity. This led to his foray into linguistics (Claus 2007). Because Skinner worked on his theory for a long time, there are various preliminary stages, such as the manuscript of a lecture he gave in 1948 (Skinner 1948/ 2009). Skinner ’ s work is based on theory and contains few examples, but these can easily be added. The following table is based on an essay by Lori Frost and Andi Bondy (Frost/ Bondy 2006) and can be found in Wikipedia 1 in a slightly more pointed version. Skinner ’ s operands Mand, Tact, Intraverbal, Echoic and Autoclitic are explained here. It is not necessary to discuss them in more detail in this context. Noam Chomsky ’ s critique of Skinner ’ s theory (Chomsky 1959) is familiar, but I will take a slightly different approach that is not limited to language learning: in contrast to Skinner, the last column I have added here shows possible reactions in a world that cannot be controlled. Precondition Verbal Operant Consequence Example The same without control Motivating operation Mand Directly Effective A child comes into the kitchen where a mother is, and says: “ I want milk ” . The mother opens the refrigerator and gives the child milk. A child comes into the kitchen where a mother is, and says: “ I want milk ” . The mother says: “ Let us pray. ” (She has no milk.) Feature of the physical environment Tact Educational A child looks out of the window, turns to his mother and says: “ It is hot today. ” The mother says, “ Right! ” A child looks out of the window, turns to his mother and says: “ It is hot today. ” The mother says, “ Let us pray. ” (The harvest is withering.) Verbal behavior of another person Intraverbal Educational A mother asks her daughter: “ What grade did you get in math? ” The daughter replies, “ An A. ” The mother says: “ Very good! ” A mother asks her daughter: “ What grade did you get in math? ” The daughter replies, “ An A. ” The mother says: “ Let us pray. ” (She knows that it doesn ’ t have to mean anything.) Verbal behavior of another person Echoic Educational A teacher says to a student: “ Behavior in German is ‘ Verhalten. ’” The student repeats “ Behavior is ‘ Verhalten ’” . The teacher says “ Correct. ” A teacher says to a student: “ Behavior in German is ‘ Verhalten. ’” The student says “ Let us pray. ” The teacher repeats “ Let us pray. ” (During World War II) 1 https: / / en.wikipedia.org/ wiki/ Verbal_Behavior [accessed 1/ 21/ 2024] From Skinner ’ s Verbal Behavior to Miner ’ s Nacirema: 303 Precondition Verbal Operant Consequence Example The same without control A person ’ s own verbal behavior Autoclitic Directly Effective A child comes into his parents ’ bedroom at night and says “ I think I am sick. ” The mother takes the child and brings him to a hospital. A child comes into his parents ’ bedroom at night and says “ I think I am sick. ” The mother says: “ Let us pray. ” (There is no remedy.) The speech acts that are distinguished and categorized into variants here have a direct or an educational effect. According to the beliefs of behaviorism, a cause (stimulus) is followed by an effect (response), and this effect can be promoted by rewarding actions (reinforcement). A sensation such as thirst or feeling sick leads to a verbal expression, which in turn may lead to the elimination of the deficiency: a causal chain is set in motion. A perception like heat, thirst or sickness or a perception of a verbal utterance triggers another verbal utterance, which in turn triggers another action. The success of the triggering confirms any action. Speech acts thus have an effect. They master situations. The problem with this approach is that it can only be relevant in an environment where control exists and is encouraged. Following the rules, as Robinson Crusoe does (Defoe 1719), resolves the situation of deprivation. The child recognizes its thirst, it masters language and good behavior instead of just trying to take the milk, and the mother rewards the child for this self-control by helping to quench the thirst. The mother will do this regularly so as not to disrupt this routine, and the child will come to rely on it. The child may take advantage of the rule until the mother explains that she is not a machine. Then the rules will be renegotiated. But it is not necessary to make rules that guarantee anything. Situational behavior might suffice, but then it ’ s a matter of obeying. Neither side can then invoke rules to justify its behavior. If there is no control, the speech act remains a wish and a request on all sides. It ‘ does ’ nothing, but at best it attracts some attention. Doing things with words depends on causality (Austin 1955: 14 f.). If the mother cannot satisfy the desire for milk herself, she must pass it on. If she sees no way, she can only pray - just as the child can only ask. The emphasis is no longer on control, but on confirming or creating specific relationships. Reinforcement here is the affirmation of specific relationships, not the general satisfaction that the rules have been followed and especially not the expectation of automatic success. Causality becomes ritual. If the child recognizes that the weather is hot and thus reminds the mother that a crop failure and famine are imminent, then rewarding the child ’ s observation ( “ right! ” ) does not contribute to solving any problem, but rather emphasizes the problem in a sarcastic way. Confirming the linguistic or factual accuracy of the statement is useless and irrelevant. The statement “ it is hot today ” is a plea that the mother repeats in a different way. Shared concern is more important than a theater of illusory control. In a formal learning situation, however, reward and punishment may be understood as direct effects of performance. A student should get a grade for his or her performance, not 304 Mathias Spohr for flattering the teacher and regardless of a difficult situation. They should be treated neutrally, without personal favor or situational caprice. This belongs to the ‘ civilized ’ 2 understanding of justice. The objective assessment in the classroom, with its assumed irrelevance of relationships and situations, is an ideal and a role play. If the play does not lead to success, there is no reason to do it. When the child brings home a good grade from school, she has demonstrated control and expects a reward for this. By giving this reward, the mother is maintaining control herself by encouraging the child to behave in a controlled and controlling way. This is the mutual reinforcement, not the grade itself. If she is not convinced because the good grade might lead to jealousy and arrogance or might not be relevant later in life, the reward and therefore the reinforcement of this behavior will not take place. The mother does not believe in the positive effect of control. When a student learned the German translation of “ behavior ” in the situation of World War II, this only made it clear that behavior cannot be mastered by perfecting language skills. Repetition as training becomes repetition as ritual through the student ’ s response suggested here. They imitate in order to be understood, not to perfect an action, as the consequences are uncertain. It is not about know-how but about hope for the future. In the absence of control, requests are made instead of triggering effects, requests to authorities who might have the power to fulfil desires. It ’ s not about perfecting language or any other behavior, but about convincing a counterpart. Mutually confirmed control, on the other hand, is a different kind of reinforcement, it confirms a more general relationship of shared dominance. When a child says: “ it is hot today ” while the fields are withering, and the mother defiantly confirms the statement, it can mean: “ you are one of the rulers, you know the rules. ” The common denominator is then: “ we won ’ t be defeated. ” It is not God that is invoked, but nature that is hopefully controlled. Reinforcement comes from the affirmation of a relationship, not directly from a triggered effect. But an effect can be mutually confirmed as a success by its observers, as in sports, and thus reinforced. If performance no longer matters or is seen as harmful, it will not be reinforced. Causal chains formed by controlled behavior collapse into a desire that is passed on and ultimately shared by the powerless, a ritual toward an authority, that is: “ help me! ” With technology, a behavior that seeks relationship becomes a behavior that seeks effect. Ritual is the opposite. Effect is anonymous, relationship is personal, which is why relationships resist effect. Effect is a prey, relationship is a reward. Compromise is needed to bring the two together, and civilized rules result from those compromises. They only work when actions trigger effects and affirm relationships at the same time. Hence the general praise for good performance ( “ you have mastered the rules ” ), even if it is not directly beneficial. In a specific case, you may signal that either the relationship or the effect is more important, for example in a professional matter: if a longer collaboration is planned, a mistake may not matter; but if the collaboration is limited to one project, a mistake may be fatal. In the first case, you think that a good relationship is the basis for performance. In the 2 ‘ Civilized ’ in this context means: an understanding of justice and governance by a bourgeoisie in the Western world, which in the course of modernity sought to replace an aristocratic upper class. From Skinner ’ s Verbal Behavior to Miner ’ s Nacirema: 305 second case performance will hopefully lead to good relationships. In the first case the repeated actions consist of requests and courtesies, in the second case they are a perfect functioning. The first behavior is predominantly ritual, the second predominantly causal with a ritual aspect. Because the service is aimed at a certain public, the relationship partners are less defined here. Success can lead to a greater impact or, conversely, to a specific relationship. Both the service and the money earned could be seen as prey (with a predominant utility value: causality) or as reward (with a predominant relationship value: ritual). The security that civilized rules provide consists, on the one hand, of the technical security that causes have the safest possible effects, and on the other hand, of the social security that one does not lose the sphere of influence that the rule guarantees. If one or the other is missing, the rules have to be renegotiated in order to remain valid. The ‘ rules of the game ’ then guarantee everyone a self-controlled sphere, and obedience to the rules becomes an attractive exercise of power in that sphere: it leads to utility values independent of specific relationships, such as a fixed price that excludes any negotiation or haggling. Fixed prices still have a bad reputation in some parts of the world. They may be practical, but they limit social interaction. Effective causation, as long as it is tolerated or even rewarded, is a ritual act toward the outside world, because it signals reassuring self-control: “ I am successful, but I follow the rules. This is how I contribute to your success. ” A burglar may be effective in what he does, but he doesn ’ t follow the rules. If he sees his prey as a reinforcement, he needs to be counteracted. Performance without permission is rarely rewarded. A general distrust of performance can be countered by enforcing consensus, which is what sports is all about. This means that effective causation and ritual are two facets of the same behavior and should ideally align with each other. In Western music, performance seems to be basically harmless and attractive to the audience, it seems a ritual to them, but a virtuoso concert in church would be controversial (cf. Pesic 2021). Technical control over a musical instrument or over own ’ s own voice may create a sense of community, but this shared triumph may be seen as vanity, not an appropriate prayer. Performance and ritual can only be combined to a limited extent. 2 Motivation The psychologist Clark Leonhard Hull tried to make calculable and predictable what distinguishes the acting organism from the functioning machine: it is motivation. Hull defined motivation as a drive, as in mechanics, and distinguished between drive as a pushing force and incentive as a pulling force for action (Hull 1943). In Hull ’ s view, motivation is a desire that can be diminished by reinforcement, be it the loot of the burglar or the praise of the teacher. For Hull, satisfaction reduces drive, like eating reduces hunger, and he represented this mathematically as subtraction. He adapted his mathematical formalism to the measured data until it allowed predictions to be made. As a prerequisite for this endeavor, there is no concrete relationship that can serve as a motivating factor. Subjects, actions and experimenters may be interchangeable serving as media for a general principle. The 306 Mathias Spohr causal utility value of any reinforcement, be it the rats ’ prey or the scientific success of their observers, is thus not disturbed by any relationship value, or at least it seems so. Desire seems to be the only driver of behavior, for the rats as well as for the scientists. As in sports, there is a consensus that should enable causal behavior, because this behavior can be reproduced, compared and, to a certain extent, predicted. Sigmund Freud for his part had made the scientific observation of desire his primary task, and also spoke of drive, but still without a quantifiable dimension. Just as Hull observed his rats, Freud had observed a kind of inner machinery that seemed to oppose human consciousness, and that, like the activity of rats, was traditionally reviled but to be valorized by science. Manual labor and the mere satisfaction of needs once had a bad reputation, which prevented their improvement until the 18th century. Freud was interested in observing a ‘ natural ’ function, just as a craftsman observes the function of his tools or a musician his instrument. According to Hull, the need and greed that motivate rats as well as humans are measurable physical quantities. Measurements seem to regulate embarrassing, dubious or dangerous motivations. Sizes of dimensions are harmless: as soon as energy can be measured, it no longer appears as a fundamentally destructive force. Control and detached observation of motivations were a feat akin to circus dressage. Hull ’ s experimental designs thus had a ritual motivation, separate from the artificially isolated causal motivation of laboratory rats: the benevolent observation of a good and safe performance united the scientists with concert-goers or vaudeville audience. Dimensions have two opposite properties: the dimension of money, for example, appears as a ritual aspect (shared trust) and its size as a technical aspect (performance). The dimension of money shows confidence in a common standard; because everyone agrees on a value, it can be counted. Ideally, a gross national product is the sum of economic win-win situations and thus a measure of a performance that unites the measured users as a nation. It does not (or should not) measure a war of all against all. Money fuels greed and helps keep greed in check. It can be used to measure or create motivation, but it is not a natural prerequisite for motivation. Otherwise, there would be no motivation without money. This is even more true of Hull ’ s dimension: he tried to measure motivation as pure performance in a reliable dimension, be it that of rats or burglars. But he didn ’ t want to believe in the conventionality of this dimension, which is obvious in the case of money. As in physics, the mathematical description seemed to become reality the moment it allowed predictions to be made. Then his experiments could be simulated with the mathematical formalism. When asked why he did not leave it at mathematizing his findings, Hull once replied that he did not want to do without causality (Smith 1990: 11). Motivation thus appears like a quantity of money or electricity that you can put into a machine for an expected output. The expected success gave causal behavior a ritual sense: together we master nature and enable performance, and this confirms our relationship, especially when low-valued rats or burglars are not included. Until the eighteenth century, anonymous desire was considered harmful and kept out of human relationships. But when it is seen as a measurable quality, desire loses its indecency. Like a tamed force of nature, Hull ’ s observed motivation became the drive for machines made up of beings in experimental setups. Success in this definition is From Skinner ’ s Verbal Behavior to Miner ’ s Nacirema: 307 a prey of observed individuals that leads to a relationship of observers. The observed predators are kept at a distance by measurement and calculation. By mechanizing motivation in this way, it becomes neutral. To make experimental results reproducible and comparable, incentives must be anonymous, such as money, which has value to most subjects, or a food that all lab rats like and can access in the same way. Behavior motivated by pure desire seemed to embody the laws of nature. A specific affiliation would be at odds with Hull ’ s scientific framework. The experimental animals rewarded themselves through their successful behavior. Indirectly, the rats ’ prey was a reward for regular behavior within the experimental apparatus, but any relationship related rewards or punishments were suppressed, so the rats could not share the experimenters ’ motivation. Hunting dogs do not eat their prey because their relationship with their owners is more important to them. Breaking into a pantry would probably be reinforcing to the rats as well, but not as a reward from their human observers. Humans may disagree, but they can ’ t accuse the rats of irregular behavior. This means that we can only speak of the rats ’ touching loyalty to the laws of nature as long as they remain confined. When they use their trained skills against humans, their success appears less touching. As long as the rats ’ success is not a collective success that includes humans, they remain dangerous. Relationship as the most important condition for ‘ reinforcement by prey ’ , that would reward or punish it, is missing. By neutralizing the rats ’ motivation through measurement, the crucial reasons for motivation have been removed. The idea of nature as a machine probably stems from situations of this kind. When the rats began to team up, it was a detriment to Hull ’ s experimental design (cf. Ben- Ami Bartal et al. 2016). He wanted to find abstract rules rather than a concrete network of relationships, so his rats had to learn rules without caring about each other. Hull believed that mechanistic causality was a property of nature, not only a property of a selfconstructed machine (Smith 1990: 9 f.). This is where the confusion between the experimental set-up and natural conditions come from. Rather, it was a motivational idea for the observer: his freely chosen experimental designs attempted to turn motivation into a mechanical force until it worked. As an engineer, Hull enthusiastically designed machines to simulate this behavior. He needed this artificial situation so that reinforcement would appear as the effect of a cause, i. e. a prey for the researchers, and not as the mutual confirmation of a relationship, as is usually the case. Perhaps the rats understood their relationship with the experimenters better than the experimenters realized, and the results were affected by this. By isolating the causal aspect of these actions from specific relationships, the observation became value-free in a moral sense. Burglars or plunderers may be loyal to their companions, but they are unfaithful to their victims. Whether they do so skilfully is not in question. It only seems relevant to warfare, and that is the area in which technology has been able to develop since the early modern period. When relationships are removed, all that remains is value-free skill: how does it work? On closer inspection, this concept of nature is a justification strategy for skilful behavior in general, which has much in common with the musical soloists since the 18th century, who were no longer despised as craftsmen of low origin, who could easily misuse their skills, but 308 Mathias Spohr were highly esteemed as artists (cf. Spohr 2011). If it ’ s not a game, it can be a reasonable goal not to promote the development of skills. In a computer game, the motivations of fictional characters can be calculated according to Hull ’ s criteria. However, their success remains symbolic as long as the players are not playing for money. The symbolic prey is then a means of reinforcing the relationship between players who dominate the game. The situation is similar to the observed laboratory rats. A distinction between extrinsic and intrinsic motivation (Reid 2012) is not very helpful here: the illusory relationship with the computer can lead to addictive behavior just as much as the illusory relationship with fictitious opponents or with money. Relationship as a reward for the prey may fail to materialize. Objectification removes the crucial motivation of behavior directed towards particular relationships, and this isolation of skills may lead to the Hobbesian conclusion that the satisfaction of needs is fundamentally destructive, as a machine-like drive. But one ritual reinforcement remains: a mutual affirmation of the observers as rulers. They create motivational freedom for themselves by transforming the observed into an unfree function, as with a practiced musical instrument, a trained body, a domestic animal or a computer game. Mastering an instrument may be more predictable than mastering a pathogen or a criminal. The belief in mastering nature was a ritual that did not harm any of the observers; it gave them security and seemed to unite them. The thesis put forward here, then, is that there are no drives without an advanced mechanization of society. The idea of instinct as a drive comes from the observation of machines. 3 Self-control The mother says “ I am not a machine ” when the child tries to turn its wish for milk into a switch for a desired effect. However, she may not feel like a musical instrument being practiced by the child, or like a lab rat, but may understand her behavior as a reward for the child ’ s success in an educational game in which she is a role player, without being coerced as a person. She believes she is rewarding the child. In this case, she is not the instrument, but the musician, so to speak; she is not only part of a machine, but also its observer, and this keeps her motivated. She shares with the child the sense of being in control, like musicians in an orchestra. Perhaps she understands her self-controlled function as her identity: obeying the rules ( “ you must ” ) has thus become mastering the rules ( “ you may ” ) in order to be proud of a performance. The ritual aspect of obeying has become causal because she controls herself as a free person, it seems, and it ’ s easier when she has machines such as the fridge to support her behavior. The satisfaction that something is working reinforces the action. Machines help maintain self-control, a controversial issue when it comes to guns. Self-control can be lost or used to control others, and this is exploited by terrorism as a social weakness (Ravenscroft 2019). It is a common fear that things organized by users will become selforganized without legitimate self-control. When someone lacks self-control or does not play by the rules, public spaces become dangerous. When people fear being controlled like a machine that has to produce effects, they do not reward control and may refuse the desired response. The lab rats simply don ’ t have a choice. They don ’ t belong to a world of ruling observers. But, like humans, they reward effects From Skinner ’ s Verbal Behavior to Miner ’ s Nacirema: 309 when they benefit from them, and their relationships adapt to this behavior. When control is generally accepted, it is self-control, for example of traffic rules (Elias 1991). Self-control seems harmless; it obeys common rules. Self-controlled people, animals and things seem to say to their observers: “ I am faithful to you. ” But in doing so, they themselves hope that they belong to a community of observant rulers. If not, they are either machines or they refuse the loyalty and practice their skills. Loyalty is the ritual (supplicatory) aspect, while control is the causal or technical (domineering) aspect of this behavior. Self-control can be mechanized to make it a technical safety for users, and loyalty thus becomes indifference to the user. A machine lacks the loyal observation of its own function; rules are followed, but their ritual aspect is lost. Anyone who has access to these machines could use them. This creates a growing uncertainty in proportion to increased technical security. Machines that used to consist of reliable people are now often just machines. From David Hume (Hume 1748) to John Austin, custom or habit is the definition of causality; it once seemed to be identical to ritual, but now the two are different. The ritual aspect of habit is missing when machines are trusted. Machine parts do not say: “ we belong together being loyal to the users ” . Is trust in vote-counting machines during elections a trust in the state or a trust in correct results? The two are inseparable, because relationship and performance are expected at the same time (cf. Mankin 2023). 4 Nacirema In his essay Body Ritual among the Nacirema, anthropologist Horace Miner describes the rituals of a supposed tribe of Native Americans. On closer inspection, he is referring to modern Americans. “ Nacirema ” , read backwards, means “ American ” . Body rituals include shaving and the creating permanent waves with the help of dry hoods, as was popular in the 1950s. Miner analyzes the maltreatment of faces with knives and the “ baking ” of heads with fascination and disgust (Miner 1956: 505). Individual or collective self-control is not necessarily harmless to the controlled body; it can be seen as a machine. Controlling behavior within the rules of the game is empowering. People exercise their own rights, so no one needs to ask. But Miner consistently describes self-control as a ritual. Instead of describing the technical aspect of behavior and leaving out the ritual, as Skinner does, Miner does the opposite: he describes the ritual aspect and leaves out the technical. Instead of reflecting the functionalist notion of achieving something through the mastery of tools and techniques leading to recognition and reinforcement as a well-shaved and coiffed person, these activities appeared as a kind of exotic prayer to mysterious gods and spirits. Tools became sacred objects, service providers became magicians, such as dentists as “ holymouth-men ” , and their payment became an offering (Miner 1956: 504). Perfection of the body seemed to be a cruel self-torture in order to plead powerlessly with authority. The effect is established, but any relationship that this effect could confirm is questionable. For the Nacirema, a shaved face or neat hairstyle does not seem to be a confident sign of belonging to the community, but merely a desperate plea to be noticed and recognized. The successful operation of the hood dryer is not a sign of integration in the modern society, it ’ s just a request that shows a helpless effort. The Nacirema have no control 310 Mathias Spohr over the world in which they live. Triggered effects as such are not a confirmation of relationship and therefore cannot directly cause reinforcement. They appear merely as violence. In the absence of reinforcement, the idea of doing things gives way to the need to ask for a favor. That was Miner ’ s implicit critique of behaviorism. There is always a ritual aspect of technical security, and suddenly it becomes important. Because Miner spoke the language of anthropologists, his essay was taken seriously by more than a few readers and caused consternation about the practices of the supposed savages. It took on lasting significance as a critique of science and society (Johnson 2012). 5 Dimensions and totems There was an important tradition in psychology and anthropology of understanding the technology-based sense of identity as the primal nature of human beings. Nature seemed to be governed not by concrete relationships but by anonymous drives, imagined to be like the forces in physics. So-called totems seemed to limit the sex drive (as a command for exogamy: Lang 1905), which fascinated people at the end of the 19th century. It was not the consideration of personal relationships but the control of blind instincts that appeared to be a prerequisite for social behavior. Primitive man seemed to be an uncontrolled machine. Sigmund Freud turned this into a theory. He considered totemism to be a prerequisite for all cultures, and it seems reasonable to conclude that he was referring to his own culture. In fact, he compared the “ savages ” to the “ neurotics ” (Freud 1913), i. e. people in his time who had difficulty integrating into their environment. They were unwilling or unable to adapt to civilized rules. Freud ’ s observation was a modern culture clash, interpreted in a gray prehistoric age. Savages and neurotics seemed to need to regulate their drives by rules, like motorists, and they seemed to be still learning this self-control, while the civilized world watched them. Legitimizing greed as determinism and mastering it through technology appeared to be a natural phenomenon that the savages had simply not yet fully understood. The totem was a name or image, embodied by a community, with a striking resemblance to family crests, company logos or brand names: something inanimate, a sign, an object, is collectively controlled, it defines communities by self-control, but the idea of loyalty to a superior being remains (cf. Jerolmack & Tavory 2014). Totems seemed plausible as humanity ’ s first signs of identity: an authority that was more an image than a living authority. A totem is a frozen authority that people can obey and master at the same time. It seemed to emerge as a primitive Leviathan (cf. Manow 2011): not as a divine or human ruler, but as a structure, a basic institution, that made relationships possible, as if they could not exist otherwise. The conviction behind it was unshakable: while the savage invokes illusory deities with helpless actions, we understand and master the rules, and that ’ s why we get along. Conversely, it is the case that relationships exist before drives. Primitive man is not a machine, but has little experience with machines. Hull removed the beings to create measurable, value-free drives. When there is no money, but only concrete values without a common dimension, there is no greed for money. Mere possibilities then cannot replace the things or beings. In modern society, however, existing relationships give way to anonymous rules imposed by money, administration, traffic regulations, school, or scientific experiments. When people say: “ I am not a number, ” there can be no sport, but when they take their own From Skinner ’ s Verbal Behavior to Miner ’ s Nacirema: 311 starting number as a basis for performance, they accept the dimension of that number as a fair set of rules: having their own number does not deprive them of their freedom, but guarantees them rights. The totem of the team badge and the dimension have something in common: some people even wear T-shirts with the numbers of fictitious athletes. Dimensions are a basis of trust, and the personal number and size are supposed to guarantee possibilities. This is their ritual meaning. Taking dimensions as given, fails to recognize their ritual significance (cf. Martins 2009). As totems, they are basic social frames, not for primitive man, but for civilized people. Personalizing the anonymity of functions may help relationships to emerge. Totemism implanted this civilized consciousness in primitive man as if it were a matter of course. In the form of totems, modern classification systems seemed the most natural and original. This spared the classifications their justification: it was not the concrete relationships that seemed to reluctantly give way to anonymous rules (an arduous challenge), but, conversely, the anonymous rule that seemed to make relationships possible (a pleasing reward). The focus here is not on the concerns of ‘ savage ’ students and parents, but on the opportunities that their accommodation should provide. Behavior to secure effects, such as training, becomes a wish or demand when we understand it as a ritual, in the hope that relationships will develop or endure. If, on the other hand, frequent prayer becomes a sport by counting repetitions, performance moves away from ritual. More abstractly: performance is measured in a dimension, but the dimension may be more important than its size. The dimension is a wish, and its size is a prey. Performance then becomes a behavior that is merely an invocation: “ I ’ m doing my best to make sure we belong together. ” From a functionalist perspective, this may seem pointless. When a promised effect does not materialize or is no longer sought, technology becomes pure ritual, with “ the crudity and irrelevance of magic, ” as Miner ironically put it (Miner 1956: 507). A successful performance can demonstrate loyalty on the one hand, but can also appear indifferent or threatening on the other. The best candidate may be the most sophisticated, and for reasons of loyalty you may prefer the clumsy one. A helpless performance is a clearer sign of loyalty. 5 Safety and security The Nacirema hoard medicines as magical remedies in a “ charm-box ” , but do not dare to use them again (Miner 1956: 504). A disease as a triggering cause can trigger a successful medication, if there is a cure and the symptoms are correctly identified. But a threatening causer might be better deterred by a threat: with a stockpile of drugs like weapons (cf. Al Zoubi et al. 2021). The threat to an opponent is then more important than the healing effect: magic instead of causality. A threat is a ritual, because it tries to define a relationship. Even a virus is sometimes a causer rather than a cause, seemingly rebelling against the role that medicine has assigned it. When the virus adapts to its treatment, it is not a regularly controllable cause of disease anymore, but a living adversary. Mathematics as a forecasting tool will fail. These considerations are intended to show that mechanistic causality is an artificial construct, not a natural fact. The effort to turn free-acting causers into sure-fire causes is a 312 Mathias Spohr civilizational one. When the causal chain breaks down because there is no reliable functioning, what remains is, in Skinner ’ s words, “ self-reinforcement ” (Skinner 1948: 41). This is the case with the Nacirema body ritual. Things are done with technical success, but the goal is a relationship that is not necessarily available. Personal styling must then suffice, as prey without expectation of reward. Relationships without secure effects characterize pure ritual, secure effects without relationships characterize pure technique. Tools can indeed become sacred objects: the effects they promise then come to represent desirable relationships that may be an illusion. You can ’ t buy relationships directly, but you can buy frames for them. Advertising plays on this expectation. The sociologists Talcott Parsons and Niklas Luhmann tried to summarize rituals in a causally determined world with the concept of ‘ double contingency ’ (Luhmann 1976). The counterpart can accept or reject the frame as a common dimension. For Miner, Skinner ’ s speech acts that express and create reality would all be spells and incantations. However, brushing one ’ s teeth, shaving or getting a perm can be seen as part of one ’ s personal identity even without the need for a successful performance: a perfected self-control without any further social relationship. But this ‘ vanity seen as identity ’ is a kind of relationship: it is almost inevitable that not only the individual, but a community will adopt this perspective. The fashionable hairstyle, for example, must be recognized as fashionable by that community in order to be successfully created. An insecure personality may think while doing this: “ please, please, accept me! ” So the relationship to the mirror image is the relationship to a community, i. e. it is about the publication of reflections and there has to be a consensus with this community of followers when it comes to self-control in front of the mirror. The observer of a mirror image is the observer of a functioning machine. Bringing the machine to life is a traditional idea that makes their perspective that of the mirror. The technical functioning is not enough to reinforce the actions. The feeling of “ it works ” comes only when the desired relationships are confirmed. Ritual needs two sides between which a relationship is to be confirmed, technology apparently needs only one side and a success. When guaranteed effects become increasingly automated, repetition loses the rituality of habit and becomes indifferent machinery. You can do sports (a regular behavior that requires effort) just to improve your performance or just to cultivate relationships. A shared mastery of the rules creates and maintains the relationship. The relationship ‘ to oneself ’ , to the individual as well as to the group, constitutes the ritual potential of technical behavior. If this self is simultaneously tormented by self-control, the imploring ritual and the domineering technical effort paradoxically have the same goal. As many functions as possible are therefore transferred to machines. The awareness of mastery can become an awareness of disconnection, and the ritual component of technology is then in demand again. Self-control is the central and most vulnerable aspect of identity. Is it loyalty to a community, and is it recognized by that community? Civilized observers are well aware of the ritual potential of technology, and this explains the fascination that Miner ’ s satire has aroused. In recent years, there has been interest in the connection between ritualized behavior and norms (Chvaja et al. 2022). The concept of a ritualized technology corresponds to Gregory Bateson ’ s and Erving Goffman ’ s understanding of “ framing ” rituals (Bateson 1957, Goffman 1967), whereas Skinner omits the aspect of ritualization, although he admits that reinforcements are From Skinner ’ s Verbal Behavior to Miner ’ s Nacirema: 313 uncertain, and thus he has difficulty explaining the echoic response. Ritualized technology leads to the shared ‘ rules of the game ’ described by Goffman (Goffman 1956). The roleplaying he observed in social life is not a natural phenomenon, but the constant selfchecking in the mirror that constitutes civilized identities like a musician ’ s control of beat and pitch. The reliability of the mirror makes it possible to realize models such as fashionable hairstyles whose rules are jointly defined (cf. Barthes 1968). The affirmation or renegotiation of the rules have replaced the ancient rituals in the face of authority. The rules seem manageable, the mirror seems reliable, and together the people make sure that the rules are not overturned. The game or play, even the fire drill or the military maneuver, is a paradoxical reality from a functionalist point of view because it strengthens the relationship between the participants and deters opponents without any utility value as long as it does not become serious. The idea of motivation as a battery charge and fighting spirit does not correspond to the facts. Only when the threat of the enemy or fire is not successful do the preparations materialize. Then the failed ritual turns into a causal procedure. Up to this point, the drill must be magic, according to Miner. When the awareness that “ I belong to the rulers because I master the rules ” no longer exists or is never established, there are problems with causality. 6 Conclusion The American self-image is strongly defined in terms of overcoming submissive behavior. Skinnerian behaviorism has elevated this to a general principle of action. It stands in contrast to an older view of life that said: “ stay humble, you don ’ t know whether your intentions will come true. ” Since the United States Constitution, following and mastering rules seemed to be a liberation from obedience to Old World rulers, even if it was and is not feasible for everyone. The reverse shift from powerful technology to powerless ritual (or Miner ’ s unmasking of technology as pure ritual) can be seen as a relapse and a failure: the mastery of effects, the self-made success as a proudly presented self-control becomes a futile and desperate plea. This was the trouble Miner caused. The ritualization of technology is what I have proposed to call identity. This would be the case with an American identity as expressed in Skinner ’ s and, ironically, Miner ’ s accounts. It is possible that this is a Western or a civilized identity in general, perhaps only to a lesser degree. By contrast, I call the older consciousness of an uncontrollable existence, based not on ‘ being able to do ’ , but on ‘ having to ask ’ , vanitas. The distinction is useful. References Austin, John L. 1962: How to Do Things with Words. The William James Lectures delivered at Harvard University in 1955 (ed. by J. O. 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New York: Prentice-Hall 1967, 142 - 143 Chvaja, Radim, Jan Horsky, Martin Lang, Radek Kundt 2022: “ Positive Association Between Ritual Performance and Perceived Objectivity of Moral Norms ” , in: The International Journal for the Psychology of Religion, 33.2 (2022): 115 - 135 Claus, Calvin C. 2007: Calvin C. Claus: “ B. F. Skinner and T. N. Whitehead: A Brief Encounter, Research Similarities, Hawthorne Revisited, What Next? ” , in: Behav Anal., 30.1 (Spring 2007): 79 - 86 Defoe, Daniel 1719: The Life and strange surprising adventures of Robinson Crusoe of York, mariner, London: W. Taylor Elias, Norbert 1991: The Society of Individuals, Oxford: Basil Blackwell Frost, Lori, Andy Bondy 2006: “ A common language, Using B. F. 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Vásquez ’ s More Than Belief ” , in: Method & Theory in the Study of Religion, Religion and Philosophy Collection, 24.4/ 5 (2012): 464 - 481 Lang, Andrew 1905: The Secret of the Totem, London, New York: Longman Luhmann, Niklas 1976: ‘ Generalized Media and the Problem of Contingency ’ , in Jan J. Loubser, Rainer C. Baum, Andrew Effrat and Victor M. Lidz (eds.): Explorations in General Theory in Social Science: Essays in Honor of Talcott Parsons. New York: Free Press: 507 - 532 Mankin, Nina 2023: “ Dysfunctional Performance: The U. S. Voting Machine Debacle and the Machinery of Democracy ” , in: Hemispheric Institute of Performance and Politics, https: / / hemisphericinstitute.org/ en/ emisferica-1-1-enacting-democracy.html Manow, Philip 2011: Politische Ursprungsphantasien: Der Leviathan und sein Erbe, Konstanz: Konstanz Univ. 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Acton (MA): Copley Publishing Group Skinner, B. F. 1948/ 2009: Verbal Behavior [1948], ed. David C. Palmer, Cambridge (MA): Harvard Univ. Press Smith, Laurence D. 1990: “ Models, Mechanisms, and Explanation in Behavior Theory: The Case of Hull versus Spence ” , in: Behavior and Philosophy, 18.1 (Spring/ Summer 1990, 1-18 Spohr, Mathias 2011: “ Musik und Vanitas. Das Musikensemble als Symbol der Institution ” , in: Dissonanz, 113 (March 2011): 12 - 17 Al Zoubi S., Gharaibeh L et al. 2021: “ Household Drug Stockpiling and Panic Buying of Drugs During the COVID-19 Pandemic: A Study From Jordan. ” Front. Pharmacol. 12: 813405. doi: 10.3389/ fphar.2021.813405 316 Mathias Spohr K O D I K A S / C O D E Volume 43 (2020) · No. 3 - 4 Gunter Narr Verlag Tübingen From Renaissance Nominalism to Modern Melodramatics: Jörg Wickram ’ s Novel Der Goldtfaden (1557) Mathias Spohr Abstract: Based on the reception of a Renaissance novel, the following text attempts to explain how, in the course of modern history, common desire has been transformed from something asocial into something unifying. Keywords: history of the novel, media history, nominalism, metallism, equality, melodrama, allegory, vanitas, identity. Zusammenfassung: Ausgehend von der Rezeption eines Renaissance-Romans versucht der folgende Text, der Frage nachzugehen, wie sich im Lauf der neuzeitlichen Geschichte das gemeinsame Begehren von etwas Asozialem zu etwas Verbindendem gewandelt hat. Schlüsselbegriffe: Geschichte des Romans, Mediengeschichte, Nominalismus, Metallismus, Gleichheit, Melodramatik, Allegorie, Vanitas, Identität. 1 Introduction Over time, we see in many media a demand for equality replacing authoritarian grace. Let us look at an early and, in this respect, revealing example. It is about love as equal recognition of a desire. Western romance novels celebrate this as social progress. How did this progress come about? In 1809, Clemens Brentano reinterpreted the late medieval or early modern novel Der Goldtfaden (The Gold Thread) by Jörg Wickram (1557) as a modern fairy tale. Since then, a romantic understanding of the story has prevailed, but from a semiotic, sociological and media-historic point of view, the original version is more interesting. It shows the relationship between love and money as media for communicating values. It is likely that the German novel is not original, but had a Romance model, although the novel has been used as an identity mark for German literature since Brentano ’ s version. If there was a model, the German version had to forget it in order to appear old and original, thus providing identity. Brentano did not seem to have edited the story, but rather worked out its originality, as is done today with more positivist methods of editing. As a very first model, it could serve as a totem. But if you admit the existence of the model ’ s model and have to admit its existence, individuality seems to be in danger, not only for the literary product, but also for the linguistic community behind it. A French model, as is most likely, would not have been welcome anyway. At least, that ’ s how it was seen in Germany in the 19th century. - The semiotic issue of inherent individuality as opposed to the individualization of a model is also what the novel is about. 2 Plot The shepherd ’ s son Lewfried arrives at a count ’ s court as a kitchen boy and is made a valet because of his beautiful singing. His secret love for the count ’ s daughter Angliana has its drawbacks. Angliana omits him in her New Year ’ s gifts for the servants, even when he sings a song about his poverty to her, with his own lyrics to a well-known tune to her. And things turn even worse for him after he sings a love song to her, to another popular melody with new lyrics intended for her. When he points this out to Angliana, she gives him a worthless gold thread from her embroidery frame. He cuts his chest, puts the gold thread in the wound and sews it up. When Angliana asks for the thread back, he cuts his chest again in front of her and pulls out the thread. She sends him to the doctor and treats the bloody gold thread as a token of love. The lovers write letters to each other (they can both read and write! ), and in the end, because the count recognizes Lewfried ’ s merits, they are allowed to marry. In the meantime, Lewfried has been knighted so that the difference in status no longer exists. Although Wickram also wrote cautionary tales (cf. Schultz 2007), in this novel he describes a ‘ bourgeois ’ happy ending. Love across social boundaries was a daring and popular theme, much more so then than now. Readers, though aware of the indecency of this desire, were aroused and business was brisk. By 1687, the novel had appeared in ten editions. Sales and money turned the shameful need and greed into a countable dimension. Money users, lovers or novel readers became a new kind of community through a common desire and could justifiably claim that this desire was subject to the rules of a market economy and therefore not uncontrollable. I propose to call this phenomenon identity. Even the shameful has rules to discover, as Francis Bacon pointed out (Bacon 1620). Legitimizing a relationship between a shepherd ’ s son and a count ’ s daughter as the fairytale ending of this story was highly unrealistic at the time. But desire is an interesting game. It can be cultivated and tamed through comparative situations such as reading novels, playing games, singing, listening to music or watching plays, without any expectation of fulfilment. Scientific observation was not yet usual. Its preliminary forms took place in theatres. The observer ’ s drive persists precisely when it is not fulfilled, and is sustained by further nonfulfilments. Actual fulfilment of desire would have been unseemly. Self-control as a new civic virtue gave new meaning to the old vanitas, which said: “ beware of temptation, you will never reach it. ” The more recent conviction was, on the other hand: “ It constantly tempts me, but I can control myself ” , and even more: “ I will get there, but I still have good manners. ” 3 Model within the model The whole story is about models or standards. A monetary value can be a standard for real values. A melody can be a standard for lyrics sung with that melody. Letters in a book are a standard for reading voices. Love in a novel can be a standard for real love. At the time, the idea of individualized standards was as appealing as it was daring. Novels were an example. 318 Mathias Spohr Standards are usually nested within each other, as is still common in narrative media today (cf. Livingston 2003): In the standard of the book text, which can be read individually, are the standards of love, of monetary value or melody. Just as a reader could read the letters in her own voice, she could also sing Lewfried ’ s song in her own voice, provided she knew the melody, which was known with different lyrics to those in the novel. Since the melody could be individualized with the new lyrics, the reader could take on the role of the lover while reading, and a listener could take on the role of the beloved. This role-playing game was a bold affair. It was shamefully anonymous, but delightful. Many people could not yet read, so it was common to read or sing aloud. It is no coincidence that in his first song Lewfried asks not for love but for money. The model of the reinterpreted song thus contains the model of redeemed monetary value. The rewriting of lyrics for popular songs (so-called vaudevilles) was very popular in the 16th century, especially in French-speaking countries (Schneider 1996). This fashion spread through markets and was therefore closely linked to the principle of exchange value. Vaudeville hits were an early mass phenomenon, even before currencies were standardized. Each city still had its own currency, and it was easy for the authorities to inflate the money supply thereby devaluing it. Monetary value was not yet experienced as a universally accepted rule, but the desire for it already existed (Taylor 1955). The modern revaluation of lyric-less melodies and speechless musical instruments, called instrumental music is related to this development. The fact that wordless melodies were spontaneously recognized like coins and retained an expression like a monetary value, even when played only by instruments, was something quite new. By the 18th century, this idea had slowly but steadily gained acceptance. Music without words became the language of feelings, just as the silent letters in a sentimental novel became the language of love. Thanks to their readers, they did not remain speechless and voiceless. A musical repertoire was created and an enormous number of novels were printed. 4 Individuality or individualization? The female protagonist refuses to conform to such standards. This did not come as a surprise to the readers of these days. As a prince ’ s daughter, Angliana is not a market participant, so there are no market values for her. With the gift of the worthless gold thread, she tells her servant: “ Your gold is not my gold. ” Bearing the same name does not mean being the same for everyone. The signified depends on who uses the signifier. This was a common rebuke at the time, when subjects dared to treat their rulers as their equals. ‘ Gold ’ remains a name and an allegory, like the names of the protagonists Lewfried ( ‘ like someone who tames lions ’ ) and Angliana ( ‘ like an angel ’ ). They are not what they are called. With names, someone, perhaps a parent, has made a wish. Later in the novel, however, Lewfried will actually tame a lion. His name seems to be his destiny; the name materializes in the named. But despite his efforts with the personally rewritten and beautifully performed songs, Angliana punishes her servant for his wishes and ignores him. A peer might have been pleased if Lewfried had glorified him or her with an individualized pop standard, as would probably be the case today. But Angliana is no peer. That a performer, and even more so a listener, can make something personal and From Renaissance Nominalism to Modern Melodramatics: 319 distinctive out of a standard was not yet a common perception. Angliana wonders if she is really meant. The love melody is a general expression of love, and the song is public. For her, it ’ s as if her name has just been added to an existing vulgar love letter. In her eyes, love, like money, is for ordinary people who are interchangeable and replaceable. This is an older perception I call vanitas (Spohr 2012). The difference being discussed here is whether someone or something is inherently individual or rather individualized. Individualization must be based on a model, a rule that applies to a social framework; inherent individuality, on the other hand, does not need any pre-existing rules. Lewfried demands equality from his mistress Angliana because he has been passed over for gifts for her servants. She responds in the usual manner of the time by giving him a worthless gift, as an explicit individual punishment: he is not equal, and this reminds him that the grace of the count ’ s daughter is the moral guide. Today we see equality as just and grace as unjust. In those days it was the other way round. In a novel or in the performance of a song, this theme was central because the readers of a widely circulated print publication, the spectators at a popular theater performance or the listeners at a concert were made aware of their interchangeability and replaceability by being treated equally, and they were admonished to prefer individual grace to such shameful comparative situations. They did not understand a published model as a right to master and individualize it themselves. Reading novels was still a bad habit like gambling, and personal obedience to the word of gracious authorities was more highly valued. This is what Angliana demands for herself. 5 Vanitas Angliana appreciates Lewfried ’ s beautiful voice, but not the messages of his songs, in which he seems to be addressing her. The tune ’ s anonymous passion is only embodied by its performer. The reader can sing the songs and read the novel, but in this case the message is even less personal. They are all lying when they sing ‘ I ’ because they are not Lewfried (cf. Benthien 2010). Novel and song produce only appearance instead of being, only possibility instead of reality, only effect instead of relationship. With the gold thread we have the traditional mise-en-abyme of an absence in the absence (Dällenbach 1977), a main characteristic of vanitas perception: the reader lacks the characters of the plot, which he or she can only imagine, and the gold thread within the narrative lacks value, for its color is only appearance. Its gold remains a name. The title of the novel contains no thread, and the thread contains no gold. On the other hand, the vaudeville tunes of the time already seemed to convey passions even without their original lyrics. This was new in the history of music. Until the early modern period, melodies were neutral in terms of expression. They could represent meanings, such as the triad for the divine Trinity, but they could not inspire emotions in the modern melodramatic sense. From the perspective of the 19th century, they still contained old, boring allegories, but not yet expression (cf. Torra-Mattenklott 2017). Lewfried ’ s first song laments his missing New Year ’ s gift, his second song laments his missing lover, for whom he has the gold thread as a hopeful substitute. The first song is to be 320 Mathias Spohr sung to the tune of the defiant ‘ Bohnenlied ’ (bean song), the second to the tune of the lament ‘ Ach Lieb mit Leid ’ (Oh love with sorrow), both well-known songs, to which he added new lyrics in the vaudeville style. Tunes and money captured the imagination. They were popular, but indecent. The modern view is that money seems to embody value rather than showing the absence of something valuable (as in the older vanitas perception), and a tune seems to embody passion rather than showing the absence of passion. Why? Money and music make a signified countable. They can be separated from bodies and reduced to dimensions. Melodies are dimensions for voices, like sandbox shapes for sand. As is the case with a text, melody needs the body of a performer to become passionate. The listener can understand melodies as an anonymous replica of a missing individual voice (vanitas) or as a model for one ’ s own individual voice (identity). In the case of money, this contrast becomes even clearer: users can understand it as an anonymous substitute for an irreplaceable value or as a model for a self-realized value. The cash value of a beloved pet can stand as an anonymous substitute, when it is the insurance benefit for the dead pet, but it can stand as an individualization, when it is money paid for the purchased pet: imagination has become reality. Today ’ s pedagogical promotion of creativity in early childhood, with the perspective that it will one day enable social mobility, would have been alien to a medieval audience. Imagination was still something to be reviled because it threatened the sense of reality and challenged authority. Reading novels was a condemned addiction. It was not until the 18th century that the novel as a genre was revalued (cf. Watt 2001). 6 Presence instead of absence Lewfried is not frustrated because Angliana does not treat him equally, on the contrary, he is deeply motivated. Grace of authority figures could be meant either positively or negatively: as an explicitly personal reward or as an explicitly personal punishment. Lewfried reinterprets the latter as the former. He interprets the mercy of his punishment with the worthless gold thread as the highest grace he could receive from Angliana, her favor as a lover, and thus transforms the thread into a token of love. But for the time being, Lewfried is alone with his imagination, a fool. Angliana ’ s grace, however, is a value to him that has nothing to do with the market value of the item. It has a nominal value that differs from the metallism of the gold value. Angliana ’ s grace has given the gold thread a value that is expressed in the thread like a value in a coin. Lewfried spontaneously agrees to return this value to her at the cost of further injury. This confirms for her the value of the object, and so its value becomes a shared value for the couple. It is minted by authority (Angliana) and recognized by the common people (Lewfried). For the reader of the novel, however, even the name can have this effect, like a melody, and the novel with this title takes on a market value, as an identity of market participants. The gold thread, a worthless name for a worthless thing, became a brand. To put it in concepts discussed at the time: Philosophical nominalism ( ‘ there are only individual things even if they have the same name ’ ) and monetary nominalism ( ‘ the name indicates a value ’ ) From Renaissance Nominalism to Modern Melodramatics: 321 are reconciled: the name is just a convention, that ’ s true, but its value is real. Reality then consists of common standards for desire, be it money, love or the novel. The vanitas motif is thus reversed: love or value are present, not absent because they are just imagined. What Lewfried failed to achieve with music, he succeeds in doing with his violent performance: he awakens Angliana ’ s desire, as the author makes it clear with a reference to Cupid. His passion also becomes her passion, and this passion, seen as a motivation, is no different from the need or greed for money that exists only on Lewfried ’ s side. The ‘ romantic ’ understanding of love only emerged with the respectability of the sentimental novel. Lewfried ’ s self-mutilation in front of Angliana in order to reveal the gold thread sewn into his chest is an act in the heat of the moment that produces an ‘ affect ’ , to use a Baroque term, or in modern terms: an erotic thrill. Affects in the understanding of the time were not yet emotions that came from within, but influences from without that had something violent about them. The erotic component is in the foreground. From the point of view of the time, it creates a guilty attraction because it bridges differences. The scar on his chest as a trace of self-harm does not show an absence for her, as would be the usual interpretation of the trace as a vanitas motif, remembering a cause that has disappeared. It shows a presence like a letter that can be read spontaneously. The evidence of the trace and the legibility of the letter seem to be combined, and the effect is motivating. 7 Melodrama Considering and presenting an effect as evidence is part of a strategy that attempts to free affects from their harmful, dubious and illusory nature: witches were still persecuted for their spells. The struggle for control and self-control was in full swing (cf. Foucault 1975). It seemed to be decided when ‘ objective ’ values were accepted, reliable rules instead of spells, the observance of which was no longer magic. The unfree, suffered affect was transformed into the controlled and reliable effect: determinism ( “ I am a wheel in a machine. ” ) became causality ( “ I am a user of a machine. ” ), to differentiate the concepts in this way. The depicted has apparently exercised a deterministic power over the image, as with the engraved portrait of a prince on a coin, but the user exercises a causal power over this object by exchanging a guaranteed value for it. Copper coins could have the value of gold coins if their denominations matched. This was no uncanny gold-making. But the coin ’ s legitimacy had to be accepted. Once the frame in which the numbers appeared was trustworthy, only the numbers could be read. One accepts the framework, or the medium of a form, along with a community to which one belongs, just as one trusts a passport from one ’ s own country rather than an unfamiliar one. This communication strategy based on a shared, but imagined reality would be called melodrama much later. It led to certainty in a world of uncertainty. The modern “ absence of a true Sacred ” (Brooks 1976: 21) led to a reality of true love in the sentimental novel, but its reliable perception was controlled by a shared framework that was more economic and technological than anyone wanted to admit. Viewers or readers may discover the feelings of heroes or narrators as their own feelings, because the melodramatic music seems to “ sing ” with their own voices. Moral standards are imposed on them like the authoritative minting 322 Mathias Spohr of coins. But if they are convinced that they belong to the authoritative community and that this imagined reality is their own will, they will not feel it as coercion. The Renaissance models seem clearer and more logical here. In the example of the coin, the user sees his own acceptance in the mirror as the cause of its hopefully lasting value. The value of the coin is an illusion like the mirror image, but it is a common illusion and therefore true. Lewfried ’ s scar as a trace of Angliana ’ s thread becomes a letter that is not only read, but opened like a suitcase. The melodramatic trace, as can already be seen here, seems to lead back to the reader ’ s action, i. e. she recognizes her own voice as the cause of the writing, as if she were rereading her own letters. The reader ’ s voice thus appears not as an arbitrary interpretation of the letter, but as its unmistakable model, as in a mirror image. The letter seems to have the evidential power of the trace, and the trace can be realized as the letter can. This leads to a certain standardization: the past signature on a contract, for example, applies to current behavior, and a personality remains consistent. The gold thread is a kind of relic, with the difference that the honored person is still alive and sees her value reflected in this object: it is Angliana ’ s gift that is presented behind Lewfried ’ s scar, and Lewfried becomes a faithful mirror of her actions. She has given the thread a value she wasn ’ t even aware of, and Lewfried has made it a shared value. The gold thread as a name, on the other hand, has lost this uniqueness and, like a melody, is at the mercy of the reader ’ s imagination. This constellation is an early form of the melodramatic principle. The value of a coin is immediately apparent; it is a convention, but a reality nonetheless. Whether a coin is valid depends on its authorization and acceptance, and it can be traced it to verify its authenticity. The user of the coin belongs to the authorizing authority as a citizen or market participant and recognizes and realizes the value he has authorized together with his community, as in a contract. Angliana did not authorize the value of Lewfried ’ s songs, but she did authorize the value of the gold thread. Thus, the two have constructed a value from their mutual erotic attraction that can be accepted by both sides. Romantic sentiment is as out of place here as modern abhorrence of violence. What is described is reprehensible, it is vanitas. It is about desire and the question of whether it creates relationships or rather destroys them. It is not the use of violence per se that is most objectionable to Lewfried ’ s contemporaries, but the disfigurement of his body through his surgical operations. Blood and body give the scene a quasi-religious character: it is a ‘ passion ’ . The arbitrary re-functioning of divine or lordly grace is the theme at all levels. Lewfried transforms the gold thread into a sensual object of worship, which was reprehensible not only from a religious point of view. The Count ’ s daughter falls victim to the same. For Angliana, too, her erotic excitement is something shameful. This connects the protagonists: they are both victims of their passions, but they make a deal out of it that is increasingly recognized by the public. 8 Embodiment or substitution? The embodiment of the signified as a modern counter-principle to its substitution is already established here. The gold thread does not need to be made special by acts of exchange like a melody or a monetary value, it is already special. The thread cannot realize a connection From Renaissance Nominalism to Modern Melodramatics: 323 with a longed-for lover, whereas the monetary value can realize an exchange. The thread is a token of a special love, while the money coin is a token of a publicly held value. The gold thread remains a kind of compromise between allegory and symbol, to use the distinction commonly used in the 19th century and criticized by Walter Benjamin (cf. Cowan 1981). The allegory does not have the market value of the symbol. Lewfried can embody the melodies of his songs with his voice. They are models of behavior that are individualized in his interpretation, but their expression is no proof of love for Angliana, because she does not need to be individualized, and certainly not by a servant. A gold coin as a means of payment, which would have pleased Lewfried as an effect of his first song, would be transferable like the vaudeville melodies. Once sold, its value would exist in another medium. The gold coin is a symbol of value, because it embodies value that can be exchanged for another embodiment, and the song is a symbol of passion, because it embodies passion that can be exchanged for another embodiment, but the thread as an unused fastener for textiles is an allegory of love that can only be embodied as a single object by a single person. It does not reconcile the general and the particular, but marks their difference. Lewfried ’ s body remains a reliquary for it. However, this allegory does not remain bloodless in the literal sense; it has an ‘ expression ’ that can hardly be denied. Lewfried shows Angliana the affect she has exerted on him and successfully trades the gold thread for her favor. This deal is a win-win situation, and the act of exchange justifies their shared desire. The gold thread is something like a coin whose value is recognized by both sides after some struggle. From the moment of the successful exchange, the allegory became a symbol. The name ‘ Gold Thread ’ has become a totem for the novel ’ s readers, a shared reflection, an archetype of an imagined relationship, like a product label, a national flag, or a jazz standard. The impersonal nature of this sign does not bother its observers because they personalize it themselves. The fact that the name once denoted the unique gift of a gracious authority, which is no longer necessary for its public value, plays a role here: the ruler has given way to a shared rule: the gold is present. There seems to be evidence and immediacy. The brand name still seems to be a ruler, but it has become a reflection of its users who use it as a symbol of self-controlled greed masquerading as obedience (cf. Anderson 1983). Desired measurements on Internet dating sites today can be models of possible partners. The partner seems to be hidden behind them, animated like a cartoon, ready to be presented if he or she meets the expectations (cf. Yurchisin 2005). Behind the trace is not an absent partner (it does not substitute the partner) but the realization of an idea (embodied by the partner). Thus, the user ’ s imagination seems to be the cause of reality, and the name materializes in the named. Following Ferdinand de Saussure (Saussure 1916), we could say: The signified in the imagination of the observer is the cause of the real thing, because every reality is perceived in this way, and thus the signifier becomes a plan of it. References Anderson, Benedict 1983: Imagined Communities. Reflections on the Origin and Spread of Nationalism, London: Verso, 1983. Bacon, Francis 1620: Novum organum scientiarum 324 Mathias Spohr Benthien, Claudia 2010: “ Vanitas, vanitatum, et omnia vanitas: The Baroque Transience Topos and its Structural Relation to Trauma ” , in: Lynne Tatlock (ed.): Enduring Loss in Early Modern Germany: Cross Disciplinary Perspectives, Leiden: Brill 2010, 51 - 69 Brentano, Clemens 1809 (ed.): [ Jörg Wickram: ] Der Goldfaden. Eine schöne alte Geschichte wieder herausgegeben von Clemens Brentano mit Vignetten [by Ludwig Emil Grimm], Heidelberg: Mohr und Zimmer Brooks, Peter 1976: Peter Brooks: The Melodramatic Imagination, Balzac, Henry James, Melodrama, and the Mode of Excess, New Haven (CT): Yale Univ. Press Cowan, Bainard 1981: “ Walter Benjamin ’ s Theory of Allegory ” , in: New German Critique, 22 (1981): 109 - 122 Dällenbach, Lucien 1977 : Le Récit spéculaire. Essai sur la mise-en-abyme, Paris: Seuil Foucault, Michel 1975 : Surveiller et punir. Naissance de la prison, Paris : Gallimard Livingston, Paisley 2003: “ Nested Art ” . in: The Journal of Aesthetics and Art Criticism, 61.3 (Summer 2003): 233 - 245 Reichlin, Susanne 2007: “ Erzählen vom magischen Augenblick. Mediale Selbstüberschreitungen in Jörg Wickrams Goldtfaden ” , in: Christian Kiening (ed.): Mediale Gegenwärtigkeit, Zurich: Chronos, 207 - 224 De Saussure, Ferdinand 1916: Cours de linguistique générale, eds. Charles Bally, Albert Sechehaye, Lausanne, Paris: Payot Schneider, Herbert 1996 (ed.): Das Vaudeville. Funktionen eines multimedialen Phänomens, Hildesheim: Olms Schultz, Marianne 2007: Ökonomie, Geld und Besitz in den Werken Wickrams, Ph. D. thesis Universität des Saarlandes Spohr, Mathias 2012: “ Das Paradigma des Performativen und die Vanitas ” , in: Kati Röttger (ed.): Welt - Bild - Theater. Bildästhetik im Bühnenraum, Tübingen: Narr, 133 - 41 Taylor J. 1955: “ Copernicus on the Evils of Inflation and the Establishment of a Sound Currency ” , in: Journal of the History of Ideas, 16.4 (1955), 540 - 547 Torra-Mattenklott, Caroline 2017: “ Musik als Sprache der Leidenschaften. Literatur und Musikästhetik zwischen 1740 und 1800 ” , in: Nicola Gess & Alexander Honold (eds.): Handbuch Literatur & Musik, Berlin, Boston: De Gruyter, 324 - 337 Watt, Ian 1957: The Rise of the Novel, London: Chatto & Windus Wickram, Jörg 1557: Der Goldtfaden, Straßburg: Fröhlich Yurchisin, Jennifer 2005: “ An Exploration of Identity Re-Creation in the Context of Internet Dating ” , in: Social Behavior and Personality 33.8 (2005): 735 - 750 From Renaissance Nominalism to Modern Melodramatics: 325 K O D I K A S / C O D E Volume 43 (2020) · No. 3 - 4 Gunter Narr Verlag Tübingen The Waltz in Film: Between Identity and Vanitas Mathias Spohr Abstract: Vanitas motifs are signs that emphasize the absence of a signified. The simplest expression of this is a picture or writing that captures something that is passing away: the intention of vanitas motifs is to draw attention to the fact that they could not prevent the passing away. They remain lifeless. Vanitas is media criticism using the media. The waltz came into being in the second half of the 18th century, when the European Enlightenment sought to reject or marginalize the traditional vanitas rhetoric. On the contrary, the waltz is used as a motif of vanitas overcoming: as a sign of unbroken joie de vivre or successful pioneering spirit and, above all, as a sign of the self-chosen yet enduring institution such as a couple relationship, a nation state or a company. The waltz is no longer a lascivious social dance that threatens to destroy relationships, but rather one that establishes them. This motif is often used ambivalently to make dramaturgical constructions interesting: identity as the overcoming of vanitas ( ‘ we have the same point of view and above all the same imagination ’ ) has the older vanitas as a threat in the background; triumph tips over into failure, self-created and asserted life into death. Other variants are suspended between these opposites. In the vanitas interpretation, a film waltz makes the viewer aware of the lack of a dance partner (because there is only a film and no people in front of him/ her). This constellation is usually repeated in the film as a character ‘ waltzing ’ with an inanimate object or with a merely imagined partner. Keywords: Waltz, film music, dance on film, identity, vanitas, history of technology, imagination, self-control. Zusammenfassung: Vanitas-Motive sind Zeichen, die die Abwesenheit eines Bedeuteten betonen. Der einfachste Ausdruck dafür ist ein Bild oder eine Schrift, die etwas festhalten, was vergeht: Vanitas-Motive sollen darauf aufmerksam machen, dass sie das Vergehen nicht verhindern konnten. Sie bleiben leblos. Vanitas ist Medienkritik mit Hilfe der Medien. Der Walzer entstand in der zweiten Hälfte des 18. Jahrhunderts, als die europäische Aufklärung versuchte, die traditionelle Vanitas-Rhetorik zu verwerfen oder zu marginalisieren. Vielmehr wird der Walzer als Motiv der Vanitasüberwindung eingesetzt: als Zeichen ungebrochener Lebensfreude oder erfolgreichen Pioniergeistes und vor allem als Zeichen der selbstgewählten, aber beständigen Institution wie einer Paarbeziehung, eines Nationalstaates oder eines Unternehmens. Der Walzer ist nicht mehr ein lasziver Gesellschaftstanz, der Beziehungen zu zerstören droht, sondern etwas, was sie begründet. Dieses Motiv wird oft ambivalent eingesetzt, um dramaturgische Konstruktionen interessant zu machen: Identität als Überwindung der Vanitas ( “ wir haben denselben Standpunkt und vor allem dieselbe Vorstellung ” ) hat die ältere Vanitas als Bedrohung im Hintergrund; Triumph kippt ins Scheitern, selbst geschaffenes und behauptetes Leben in den Tod. Weitere Varianten sind zwischen diesen Gegensätzen angesiedelt. In der Vanitas-Interpretation macht ein Filmwalzer dem Betrachter das Fehlen eines Tanzpartners bewusst (weil er/ sie nur einen Film und keine Menschen vor sich hat). Diese Konstellation wiederholt sich im Film in der Regel als Walzer einer Figur mit einem unbelebten Gegenstand oder mit einem lediglich imaginären Partner. Schlüsselbegriffe: Walzer, Filmmusik, Tanz im Film, Identität, Vanitas, Technikgeschichte, Imagination, Selbstkontrolle. 1 Introduction The waltz promises opportunities, as does film. Dance can help to initiate relationships, and film brings distant worlds closer to the audience. By placing a waltz (as a concrete dance or as a musical symbol) in a film, the possibilities seem to reinforce each other. One medium contains another medium. Both the waltz and the film promise to make something distant present, alive, tangible, constant - either through a regulated sequence of images or steps. Can a film waltz keep this promise? 1 Vanitas motifs are intended to make it clear to media users that an object, such as a text, an image or a mechanism, cannot be a partner, and that the reactions of this object are merely imagined, as an echo or reflection of a reader or viewer. Music, like shadow and echo, is a traditional vanitas motif: 2 it symbolizes passing and fading, and thus also mobilizes the resistance of its performers and listeners to this transience. Such resistance manifests itself in media that, as objects - be they writings, devices or works of art - attempt to capture the ephemeral or generate life. 3 Vanitas motifs reached their zenith in the 17th century. Rather than pious modesty, however, they demonstrate the heightened self-confidence of (European) man at the time, allowing him to display his qualities and ambitions by modestly dismissing them as vanities. In vanitas still lifes, riches or products of art and technology are depicted next to skulls: in 1 The following volume has made a first contribution to the topic of the film waltz: Georg Maas, Wolfgang Thiel, Hans J. Wulff (eds.): Walzerfilme und Filmwalzer, Marburg: Schüren, 2022. 2 Cf. Mathias Spohr: ‘ Music und Vanitas. Das Musikensemble als Symbol der Institution ’ , in: Dissonanz/ Dissonance, no. 113, March 2011, pp. 12 - 17. 3 As a general introduction to the topic as presented here, see Mathias Spohr: ‘ Das Paradigma des Performativen und die Vanitas ’ , in: Kati Röttger (ed.): Welt - Bild - Theater, vol. 2: Bildästhetik im Bühnenraum, Tübingen: Narr, 2012, pp. 133 - 41. The Waltz in Film 327 the context of the message that all this is earthly and empty, you can show it off. This is the classic vanitas rhetoric: one may do something by admitting one ’ s sinfulness. Around the middle of the 18th century, the ‘ overcoming of vanitas ’ became apparent: human achievements no longer had to be seen as vanities. The emergence of a musical repertoire or of archaeology are signs of this historical change: instead of lamenting transience, the preservation and revival of a past is celebrated. The verdict of vanitas, on the other hand, is that media are only a deceptive substitute for social relations, and at best destroy them or make them impossible. This verdict could still be applied to techniques and procedures that have become established as means of sociability in the course of the rebellion against this tradition, such as ballroom dancing. The claim that dance does not lead to fornication but creates order and enables relationships has been enforced at the time of the creation of the waltz. Social dance is generally a vanitas motif - from the conservative (religious) point of view that it is an anonymous and repeatable coordination of limbs rather than a personal and distinctive social action, and that its purpose is to inflame passions, to make the participants interchangeable, and therefore has nothing to do with human relationships, but at most creates the fleeting appearance of relationship. Religious tracts warning against lascivious social dancing continued into the 19th century. People still danced, but with the explicit awareness that the dance event was just a world of sin and make-believe. These negative characteristics have been increasingly valorized since the 18th century: impersonal comparability, lifeless technical coordination, arousal of passions and imagined relationship are no longer sinful, but are shared by many media that serve as a framework for emancipatory activity, from sport to the use of smartphones. What led to the positive re-evaluation of so many vanitas motifs, and thus to the emancipation of these media? It is human self-awareness in the Western world. The waltz stood at a kind of fulcrum between vanitas and identity (as overcoming vanitas): on the one hand, it was seen as a sign of self-confident will and joie de vivre; on the other, it was seen as a sign of the self-established and enduring institution, from the private relationship of a couple or club to the company or the nation state. 4 Identity here means: belonging to a proudly claimed community. The older vanitas persists alongside the newer identity, especially in popular culture. In the case of ‘ violence in the media ’ , for example, the question is whether this violence is an attraction or a deterrent: the recommendation of a behaviour or the exposure of wrongdoing. Deterrence is the older but still present attitude. Depictions of violence are less a problem for the cautionary stance of vanitas than for the motivating stance of identity. The overturning of sociable activities into the vanitas of vain illusions, greed or aggression is a common stylistic device in horror films. When a film ’ s plot warns against Frankenstein ’ s hubris in daring to create a monster, this daring is transferred to the film producers and their audience, who visualize figures that are only appearances and shadows. The film warns of itself, of its imaginative power that could get out of control, and it justifies itself in doing so. 4 For the identity connotation of the Vienna waltz as opposed to the vanitas connotation of the historically earlier Nestroy couplet (which is also in three-four time), see Mathias Spohr, “ Raimund und Nestroy - der Vanitas-Überwinder und der Vanitas-Erneuerer? ” , in: Nestroyana 33(2013), H. 1 - 2, pp. 22 - 38, cf. p. 32 - 33. 328 Mathias Spohr Vanitas motifs basically show this recursivity. André Gide gave this rhetorical figure the name ‘ mise en abyme ’ . 5 Literally, it means ‘ put into the abyss ’ : a frame is put into a frame, or an inanimate image contains an inanimate image. Lifelessness, deception and impersonal effect are synonymous for the moralizing intent of the vanitas rhetoric. The blind but vivid-looking eyes in a portrait are among the clearest examples. The warning against them comes in the form of a revelation: the film contains, for example, mummies, machines or vampires that have come to life, thus on the one hand warning that it is not itself alive, and on the other hand stimulating the imagination of its viewers, who imagine the coming to life with the appeal and justification that it is a warning. From a vanitas point of view, imagination is a danger to reality because it can create an addiction to the unattainable, to the neglect of social relations. From an identity point of view, however, imagination helps to improve control. This principle is very familiar to us from melodramas and moritrades, in serious and ironic variants. Tim Burton and Mike Johnson ’ s Corpse Bride (2005), for example, combines the older vanitas symbolism of the fairy tale with the animated film, whose aim is to make dead objects appear alive. The groom makes his unique wedding ceremony reproducible through practice, to gain control over his actions, which is avenged by his loss of control over the animated dummy that comes between him and his bride like Pygmalion ’ s statue. 6 A trainable mechanism differs from a social action by its arbitrary repeatability and thus becomes risky: there is a risk of losing control. Control can fail or lead to addiction and thus become an asocial misbehaviour in the sense of vanitas. The sad and partnerless dummy will later challenge the protagonist (and the audience) with a piano waltz: ‘ make me alive ’ . 7 The piano is no partner for her, and the animated corpse is no partner for the observing protagonist either, who is only an animated character for his audience, too. The vital relationships of those who take the animation too seriously are in danger: with a film character there is no relationship; the apparent liveliness of the animation becomes a threat. The media seem to deceive their users, but the revelation of the deception maintains control. The audience plays along, convinced that it has insight into the deception of which it is a victim, and admires its success. The actors ’ pretence, for example, is justified by the fact that their play warns against impostors. 8 There was once a German television programme called Vorsicht Falle! (Beware of the trap! , ZDF 1964 - 2001) with re-enacted scenes of fraud - but even Molière ’ s Imaginary Invalid or his hypocritical Tartuffe are constructed on the same principle of revealed deception. Actors do not deceive their audience with malicious intent, but reveal something to them, just like the trickster in the circus arena. Or: the elaborate technology of animation and film sets is justified by denouncing the hubris of modern technology, which in disaster films leads to the brink of the end of the world. Enthusiasm for technology is lived out on the pretext of revealing its dangers. 5 Cf. Lucien Dällenbach: Le Récit spéculaire. Essai sur la mise en abyme, Paris: Seuil, 1977. 6 Trailer: https: / / www.youtube.com/ watch? v=G9boDkpEyvc [accessed 1/ 25/ 23]. 7 Film excerpt: https: / / www.youtube.com/ watch? v=nuEOA9GbK6U [accessed 1/ 25/ 23]. 8 Cf. Mathias Spohr: ‘ Raimund und Nestroy: Der Vanitas-Überwinder und der Vanitas-Erneuerer? ’ , in: Nestroyana, vol. 33, nos. 1/ 2, 2013, pp. 22 - 38. The Waltz in Film 329 The traditional precept of modesty, according to which human achievement should only be presented as the failure of reprehensible intentions, is transformed in the course of modernity: the older exposure of unleashed greed and successful deception, whose vanity is avenged, is overlaid by a more modern interest in the loss of technical and social control, which is no longer seen as a vice but as a malfunction. Silent films that combine a biblical plot with a modern frame story, such as Michael Kertész ’ s Sodom und Gomorrah (1922), contrast the newer pattern of interpretation with the older one. The profit motive or the expenditure on decoration is justified by a warning as the ostensible intention of this film. Film as a luring and warning medium contains ballroom dancing as an equally luring and warning medium. Film had still not lost its reputation as a shady backstreet attraction. The negatively connotated dance scenes in this example remain controlled like the film projection, but as debauchery they are a foreshadowing of disaster. 9 The controlled loss of control is both interesting and reassuring. Media products are meant to appear alive, but not to be alive, in order to demonstrate control. The audience values their reliable functioning over unpredictable action. 2 Imagination and institution Frankenstein ’ s monster becomes an animated being in the film ’ s action, just as the film ’ s pictures ‘ learn to walk ’ . It is often said that the coordinated elements, be they the monster ’ s body parts or the film ’ s stills, become ‘ organic ’ to their viewers: mechanisms become actions in the eyes of their observers. The sinful arbitrariness of animation and the assertion that relations consisting only of the skilful coordination of ‘ loosely coupled ’ elements 10 are something real and permanent are closely related ideas, meeting in the concept of imagination, which is no longer seen as an antisocial conceit but as a world of opportunities for everybody. The revelation of cunning, magic and artifice no longer means: ‘ you are threatened, beware! ’ , but ‘ a know-how is shared with you, join in! ’ . As the most general concept of media, I prefer that of the ‘ opportunity for action ’ : media are opportunities for action. A ‘ fixed ’ coupling of elements as a ‘ form ’ of media, as Niklas Luhmann has put it, is not necessarily a deliberate action, even if the coupling is understood as a process, but perhaps something mechanical. For example, a metronome beat is not music, but a medium for music. The vanitas motif of the 17th century has the merit of making a clear, sharp distinction between inanimate objects and acting subjects (or between impersonal effects and personal social behaviour). A mechanism understood not as action but as automatism appears ‘ expressionless ’ according to this conception. Animating the models and mechanisms branded as lifeless with ‘ expression ’ has become common since the 18th century. 11 Jean Baudrillard has criticized the fact that the ‘ soulless ’ map (a common 9 Film excerpt: https: / / www.youtube.com/ watch? v=M8w78uyMruk [accessed 1/ 25/ 2023]. A waltz serves as the silent film ’ s incidental music here. 10 This is the definition of a medium in Niklas Luhmann ’ s systems theory, who took suggestions from Fritz Heider and Karl E. Weick for this. Cf. Niklas Luhmann: ‘ Die Form der Schrift ’ , in: Hans Ulrich Gumbrecht, Karl Ludwig Pfeiffer (eds.): Schrift, Munich: Fink, 1993, pp. 337 - 48. 11 Musical expression is traditionally defined as ‘ deviation from the regular ’ (Carl E. Seashore: Psychology of Music, New York: McGraw-Hill, 1938, p. 267) or similar. The individual deviation, however, is contrasted with 330 Mathias Spohr motif of vanitas) has since been prioritized over the ‘ animated ’ landscape. 12 Lifeless images of living things are made into models to be animated. The imagined institution in Thomas Hobbes ’ s Leviathan (1651) is a living organism, as visualized by the famous illustration on the title page of the first edition: the observed king ‘ on the stage ’ (as a head visible from the front), together with his observing subjects ‘ in the audience ’ (as bodies visible from behind), becomes the collective of the civil state, a form of organization that emancipates itself from authoritarian models of society by acting together, while authority, in the course of the next two centuries, gradually solidifies into a lifeless image, as did the Austrian Emperor Franz Joseph I, immortalized in countless pictures and statues, at the outbreak of the First World War. The former authority had become an idol, an animated and therefore dominated role model. Models and rules only come to life through their interpretation: the veneration of a monument is welcomed as a controlled enlivenment, but the appearance of the depicted authority is feared as a loss of control. In the eyes of the revolutionaries, the mild and wise authority became a demonized power. The aristocrat rendered powerless as an elected and paid gigolo at the balls of the 1920s has become an icon. This nobleman remained under the control of his (male and female) observers. Authoritarian acts were replaced by functioning services. Benedict Anderson has spoken of Western nation-states as ‘ imagined communities ’ , with some influence on political theory. 13 In his view, imaginary communities are those whose members do not know each other personally because of temporal and geographical distances or because of their multiplicity, and who therefore need objects to embody their identity. Objects no longer lead to melancholy and loneliness, as in the vanitas motif, but define and unite a following. Like a chorus in front of these objects, the nation is always present, even if invisible: ‘ Nothing connects us all but imagined sound. ’ 14 A Leviathan of voices, be they the voices of voters or musical voices, is a sign of collective action, or in other words: a kind of observer ’ s perspective. This is illustrated here by the example of the waltz in the film. 3 Waltz The bourgeois waltz emerged in the second half of the 18th century, replacing the aristocratic minuet as the leading social dance. It is a central symbol of the overcoming of vanitas through rebellion against traditional vanitas motifs, and it symbolizes the birth of that social affiliation which today is called identity. What does this rebellion consist of? It has to do with the relationships that the waltz asserts. The couple ’ s dance is no longer meant to be a fleeting encounter, but to represent lasting relationships - not just couple the common conviction or solidarity of the performers. The musical avant-garde of the 20th century denounced ‘ expression ’ as a disguise for automations, but automations have taken hold on the widest possible basis today. 12 Jean Baudrillard: Simulacres et simulation, Paris: Galilée, 1981, p. 10. Karl May constructed the settings of his novels from maps and thus found an audience. 13 Benedict Anderson: Imagined Communities: Reflections on the Origin and Spread of Nationalism, revised edition, London: Verso, 2006. 14 Ibid., p. 145. The Waltz in Film 331 relationships, but relationships of all kinds, up to (and including) identity in the nation state. The ideology of the waltz is roughly as follows: the mechanism of the social dance does not destroy peaceful coexistence by replacing concrete relationships with wishful thinking or by making them interchangeable, but it makes relationships possible. The establishment of a relationship and the coming to life of visions are one and the same for the spectator: the sculptor Pygmalion in Jean-Jacques Rousseau ’ s seminal version of this motif (1762/ 1770) begins a relationship with his statue when it comes to life. 15 Johann Wolfgang Goethe should be mentioned in the history of the waltz. He approached the theme of vanitas cautiously. The overcoming of vanitas, which his contemporaries were working on, remains a hope and a premonition for him, but does not become a striking triumph. 16 The suffering young Werther (1774) waltzes with his chosen Charlotte, but this choice of partner does not prevail against the social constraints, and the protagonist stages his failure. The vision of great love does not last, but it continues to find its readers. Werther ’ s death was no longer a warning, like the fatal love of Romeo and Juliet in the moralizing novels of the late Middle Ages, but he found like-minded people, inspired a fashion and was partly responsible for a wave of suicides. It preoccupied Goethe throughout his life. The ‘ Werther effect ’ is still famous today, and is used, for example, as an argument against publicizing railway suicides. 17 The fact that the novel was not a morality tale (the waltzing Werther as a deeply fallen fantasist) but encouraged participation (Werther as a visionary who lives his love beyond death) caused problems for both the author and waltz. Of course, Goethe wanted to write texts that would motivate like-minded people rather than discourage them. To this end, he invented or developed the Bildungsroman. The waltz is caught between exemplary education and deterrent addiction. Unlike the minuet, which was invented for Louis XIV, the Sun King, the waltz was originally a folk dance and was also accepted as a court dance in Vienna, where it is still celebrated today as a historical consensus of all social classes. However, the Imperial Court in Berlin from 1871, a new institution, less firmly rooted in tradition, but eager to appear traditional, did not accept the waltz and, at the end of the 19th century, still required the nobility (against their will) to dance the Baroque court dances on official occasions. 18 Thus, for the first time, there was a broad social consensus in favour of the waltz, something that neither the courtly nor the popular dances possessed - which were equally branded immoral by the religious side. In its entirety, the waltz could not escape the moralizing accusation against the ballroom dances - that they were merely frivolous and ephemeral pleasures. In the late 19th century, however, the waltz became a symbol of the proudly selfassured couple, and a symbol of technological innovation that promised prosperity and 15 For more details see Mathias Spohr: ‘ Pygmalion ’ , in: Carl Dahlhaus, Sieghart Döhring (eds.): Pipers Enzyklopädie des Musiktheaters, vol. 5, Munich: Piper, 1994, pp. 464 f. 16 Cf. Mathias Spohr: ‘ Das Problem der Vanitas. Goethes Faust und das Faust-Sujet im populären Musiktheater ’ , in: Maske und Kothurn, vol. 45, nos. 3 - 4, 2001, pp. 71 - 91. 17 Walther Ziegler, Ulrich Hegerl: ‘ Der Werther-Effekt. Bedeutung, Mechanismen, Konsequenzen ’ , in: Der Nervenarzt, vol. 73, 2002, pp. 41 - 49. 18 Rudolf Braun, David Gugerli: Macht des Tanzes, Tanz der Mächtigen. Hoffeste und Herrschaftszeremoniell 1550 - 1914, Munich: Beck, 1993, p. 211. 332 Mathias Spohr comfort, 19 as numerous Strauss waltz titles show: ‘ Schwungräder ’ (flywheels), ‘ Spiralen ’ , ‘ Cycloiden ’ seem to give expression to the rotary movements in engineering technology. The communities that danced these waltzes at their balls demonstrated their mastery of this technology. Waltzing is a simple sequence of steps that can be automated, in contrast to the minuet, which is made up of refined, ever-changing combinations of steps. The automatism of the waltz, however, is thought to be more expressive. Its movements obviously have an order and an impact as long as they remain under control. Waltz dance makes automations socially attractive. It is a symbol of technology, a symbol of greed, but also a symbol of selfcontrol, and therefore a symbol of relationship. ‘ The perfect movement ’ , as Stanley Kubrick is said to have called the waltz, 20 links success with consensus. Expression and ‘ performance ’ in the technical or sporting sense are closely linked. In the popular music film of the first half of the twentieth century, dance, song, sport and technology of all kinds take on the same meaning in a striking way: they all serve equally as emancipatory media, which supposedly do not destroy relations (which would make them suspect) but establish them. 21 A promised taming of centrifugal force is at the forefront. A film in the Harry Potter series (Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire, Mike Newell 2005) - in which ‘ school ’ is portrayed as an institution that combines success with consensus through the transmission of know-how - gives the waltz at the school dance a representative function. 22 Know-how emancipates when the question is no longer ‘ what you are ’ but ‘ how you do things ’ , without these actions being dismissed as dangerous sorcery. The film characters control their magic, and the readers or spectators control their books or playback devices at a safe distance from them. In contrast to social relations, which according to the old concept are not feasible but prescribed by authority, social dances depend on the ability and will of the participants and, from a conservative point of view, tempt people to fornicate. This vanitas connotation is still present in the film waltz: the symbolic exchange of partners in the waltz dance at the beginning of Stanley Kubrick ’ s Eyes Wide Shut (1999) gets temporarily out of control (or in a dream world), according to the pattern of the horror film, and leads to prostitution and occultism. 23 19 I elaborated on the thesis that the waltz is a technical medium in Mathias Spohr: ‘ Social Compatibility in a Two Gender Society. The Waltz as a Technical Medium ’ , in: Kodikas/ Code. Ars Semeiotica, vol. 26, 2003, pp. 217 - 23. 20 This statement by Stanley Kubrick, which is said to have come from an interview, was the title of the conference ‘ The Perfect Movement - Deconstructing the Waltz ’ held by the Austrian Embassy in London in 1999. Unfortunately, no conference report was published. 21 This link between society and technology could perhaps be explained as follows: since David Hume or Isaac Newton, a measurable ‘ great effect ’ can be a neutral scientific fact and is no longer inseparable from the controversial sensuality of power, wealth or numerous lovers. The emancipation of passions through the valorization of ‘ natural effects ’ was desired by large sections of the population. The promotion of technology could serve as an argument for this emancipation. Cf. in this context the Austrian musical film: Mathias Spohr: ‘ Austauschbar oder unverwechselbar? Person und Funktion in der Filmoperette ’ , in: Günter Krenn, Armin Loacker (eds.): Zauber der Bohème, Vienna: Filmarchiv Austria, 2002, pp. 415 - 34, on the waltz pp. 430 ff. 22 Note here the characterization of the waltz as ‘ well-mannered frivolity ’ , film excerpt: https: / / www.youtube. com/ watch? v=WdSi5UkbDfs, [accessed 1/ 25/ 23]. 23 See the trailer: https: / / www.youtube.com/ watch? v=FBrbQSDfh7Q, [accessed 1/ 25/ 23]. The Waltz in Film 333 The (unrealized) couple ’ s dance 24 of the protagonists of Federico Fellini ’ s Ginger e Fred (1985), two once-famous imitators of the Hollywood screen couple, only shows that bygone times (and thus also the long since ended private relationship of the two characters) cannot be brought back. The ageing heroes sink into the visual and musical kitsch of the comeback show, which tries to assert the eternal presence of its stars, but can only offer a creepy cabinet of curiosities. Television viewers know that there are no people in front of them, only the screen, and that it is not Ginger Rogers and Fred Astaire that they see, but their impersonators, and not even they appear, only their aged imitations (and from the point of view of the film audience, only actors playing ageing impersonators who, unlike their characters, have never had a private relationship). What appears as a fascinating production of proximity through the media (as a common opportunity for action) is, in Fellini ’ s interpretation, the potentiated distance of vanitas, the wistful glimpse into the past and the unattainable. On the contrary, the media of visualization produce a consciousness of absence. 4 Love and identity Since the 18th century, love (which, according to Niklas Luhmann, is one of the ‘ symbolically generalized communication media ’ 25 ) has been the legitimate medium of animation. Sensual love is no longer just destructive greed, but holds together a self-chosen relationship - in the face of the suspicion of parents and other authorities who prefer arranged marriages. The programme of love, generalized, is: ‘ Self-made or chosen institutions shall endure. ’ These imagined realities include relationships between two people, friendships, clubs, bands and cooperatives, companies and states - and with them, the observer perspective of a film on the screen, realized by its audience. In the ‘ Emperor ’ s Waltz ’ between Franz and Sissi from Franz Marischka ’ s hugely popular Sissi trilogy (Part 2, 1956), this is precisely the theme: the imperial couple have triumphed over social obstacles with their love. After Sissi ’ s political success in reaching an agreement with the Hungarians, they present their identity to the court, which joins the dancers in a waltz - not as a symbol of power, but as an exemplary stand for consensus. 26 Identity, I once suggested, is the counter-model to vanitas: 27 From the vanitas point of view, the waltz is only a substitute for a real relationship, the waltz song only a substitute for dancing, the instrumental melody only a substitute for singing, and the wordless melody only a substitute for speech, just as the sound of a musical instrument is only a substitute for the human voice and the feature film only a substitute for a real experience. According to an older view of art theory, they are all mere imitations of a living thing and must admit this to their shame. In the interpretive pattern of identity, on the other hand, the substitute acquires 24 After eight bars of prelude by the orchestra, the lights in the studio go out so that the dance cannot begin, see: https: / / www.youtube.com/ watch? v=SpV5bbYwyD8, [accessed 1/ 25/ 23]. 25 Niklas Luhmann: Liebe als Passion. Zur Codierung von Intimität, Frankfurt am Main: Suhrkamp, 1994, on the subject of freedom see pp. 57 ff. 26 Film clip: https: / / www.youtube.com/ watch? v=N5CAi_AzPSU, [accessed 1/ 25/ 23]. 27 See for example Mathias Spohr: ‘ Videoloops - Zeichen ohne Aura? ’ , in: Kodikas/ Code. Ars semeiotica, vol. 32, nos. 1 - 2, 2009, pp. 151 - 60, here p. 156. 334 Mathias Spohr the meaning of a model that can apply to everyone, and makes these substitutes a world of opportunities. 28 Thus, in the nominalist conception of money, it does not matter if it is a substitute for value, as long as it can be exchanged for values. 29 A description is an imitation or a substitute for the described. Music, which does not describe anything but can serve as a model for action, such as the waltz beat, is greatly enhanced for this reason. Many relationships can develop in waltz dancing, many couples can dance to the waltz song, and many people can sing a variety of lyrics to the instrumental melody. 30 Song or ballroom dance are opportunities for action through which reality can seemingly be produced - as concrete action within the framework of these models - so that it does not remain a wistful memory or a helpless imagination. There is a competition between a depicted world that remains absent and a world that is first created as the action of an audience: between ‘ diegesis ’ and ‘ performance ’ . 31 The recorded narrative functions as an afterimage of a lost or merely invented world, or, conversely, as a model for a present world that is only just emerging when perceived. The connection between a world of action and a world of observation, of which the audience is aware in front of the screen, is repeated in many plot constructions. This nesting stems from traditional mise en abyme structures. Whereas vanitas rhetoric asks ‘ what do you perceive? ’ at each level, noting a potentiated failure or absence, because the answer is always ‘ a deception ’ , identity rhetoric asks ‘ how do you perceive? ’ in order to reverse this perception. The question of how has since determined ‘ second-order observation ’ , as Luhmann has noted. 32 Sigrid Nieberle highlights the staircase in waltz films as a link between a space of observation and a space of action. 33 The staircase shows how a space of action is opened up, in contrast to the insurmountable boundary between the audience and the action of the film. The what of the actors is not accessible to them, but the how of their behaviour is conveyed: it is not possible to enter the film, but it is possible to sing and dance along. Sissi propagates the overcoming of historical, spatial and social barriers - in the direction of action to observation: identity is transferred from the dancing couple Franz and Sissi with their imagined relationship; one level of observation further to their spectators in the picture (the court in front of the imperial couple) and again one level further to the film audience outside the screen. Each imagines a community and wants to hold on to its reality. The court in time with the observed imperial couple looks like a moving variant of Hobbes ’ s Leviathan, and like an ‘ imagined community ’ beyond the time of its existence as a state: musical time is a 28 I once tried to describe this ‘ fractal ’ structure in the following essay: Mathias Spohr: ‘ Musikgeschichte ist Mediengeschichte ’ , in: dissonanz/ Dissonance, no. 56, May 1998, pp. 6 - 12. 29 On the parallel between money and dance in the early modern period, see Eric Achermann: Worte und Werte. Geld und Sprache bei Gottfried Wilhelm Leibniz, Johann Georg Hamann und Adam Müller, Tübingen: Niemeyer, 1997, p. 266. 30 Allusion to the early modern fashion of the vaudeville as a public retexting of melodies, cf. Herbert Schneider (ed.): Das Vaudeville. Funktionen eines multimedialen Phänomens, Hildesheim: Olms, 1996. 31 A distinction between image and music that goes in the same direction has already been suggested by Zofia Lissa.: ‘ Zur Theorie der musikalischen Rezeption ’ , in: Archiv für Musikwissenschaft, H. 3, 1974, pp. 157 - 169. 32 Niklas Luhmann: Die Wissenschaft der Gesellschaft, Frankfurt am Main: Suhrkamp, 1992, pp. 312 f. 33 Sigrid Nieberle: ‘ Auf glattem Parkett. Ballszenen in der Literaturverfilmung ’ , in: Internationales Archiv für Sozialgeschichte der deutschen Literatur, vol. 38, no. 2, 2013, pp. 427 - 42, here p. 434. The Waltz in Film 335 time beyond all times. The emperor as authority is no longer in the foreground, but the medium of the waltz, which promises freedom: everyone welcomes this opportunity to act and uses it to demonstrate consensus and control. The ‘ what ’ of the depicted but absent ruler is replaced with the ‘ how ’ of the rules of a dance or a song. In this way, the mise en abyme structure of the vanitas motifs is transformed into a vision of belonging and intimacy. The ruler can no longer rule, but the dance can be mastered. The spectators become the ‘ what ’ and thus replace anything portrayed. This seems to create a social framework or community. In all the examples of identity construction, as we shall see, this process is the same. State identity is revealed here as a mechanical coordination of couples, just as film itself is a mechanical coordination of images. Both are ‘ fixed ’ couplings of ‘ loose ’ elements, according to Luhmann ’ s technical-sounding but socially meant definition of a medium. When social constellations are replaced by mechanisms, it is not the loss of trust but the loss of control that appears as a threat. You need to trust the bank teller or the bus driver; you need to control the ATM or the car. But this development starts long before automation. Subordination to a mechanism was not a frightening idea anymore because mechanisms promised to be feasible and available - in contrast to traditional relationships and their associated expectations. In this way, the vanitas motif was re-evaluated: the wistful awareness of the unattainable became a controlled game with symbols of power that cannot harm. Mechanical submission to the tact of the imperial couple becomes something voluntary when the Ancien régime has disappeared and the glamorous tradition is merely a masquerade. As early as the 19th century, the subjects imagined, to the beat of the waltz, that it was love that bound them to the nation-state. Johann Strauss Jr. was one of the revolutionaries of 1848 - he would never have wanted to write a waltz for the emperor ’ s wedding, nor would he have been allowed to - and only reconciled with the court when this court had become a fiction of its own. The fantasy of freedom made citizens forget the absence of freedom. The combination of the actors Romy Schneider and Karlheinz Böhm to form the waltzing ‘ dream couple ’ was confirmed by its success, even though, or perhaps because, there was no personal relationship between these actors. The consensus of a common vision was more important than the knowledge that imitations are not real. 34 Imagination was not a threat to reality, but was meant to create reality. The disillusioning mise en abyme with its potentiation of absence ( ‘ it ’ s not a live broadcast, but only a recording, it ’ s not the imperial couple depicted, this couple has no relationship at all ’ - comparable to the plot construction of Ginger e Fred) turned into the opposite of fascinated enactment: 35 waltzing is easy to reproduce, unlike faraway lands and dead heroes. What-questioning only leads to an 34 The tradition of this sense of identity in the history of Viennese operetta has been traced by Moritz Csáky: Ideologie der Operette und Wiener Moderne. Ein kulturhistorischer Essay zur österreichischen Identität, Vienna: Böhlau, 1998. 35 I have tried to describe the reversal of the potentiated distance into fascinating proximity as ‘ fidelity of effect to cause ’ . Mathias Spohr: Das gemeinsame Maß. Ansätze zu einer allgemeinen Medientheorie, Salzburg: Mueller-Speiser, 2003, pp. 69, 297, 315. 336 Mathias Spohr awareness of deception, but how-questioning leads to a know-how, to a sense of feasibility. The latter exists outside the film, the former is unattainable. The Sissi film succeeds in the goal of backstage dramaturgies that the show in Ginger e Fred fails to achieve: the awareness of imitation is prevented by giving the audience the feeling of being present at a realization. The mise en abyme of a stage in a film usually means increased proximity, i. e. overcoming vanitas: a fascinating realization is taking place. 36 Waltzes seem to encourage this perception. In Géza von Bolváry ’ s film Two Hearts in Waltz Time (1930), the search for a lost waltz does not lead to traces of a past that cannot be retrieved (such as old photographs), but to a realization: the first performance of the recovered waltz on the operetta stage. Film audiences, for their part, were able to experience the brand-new technology of film sound as a premiere: a well-functioning technology overcame the sense of absence, i. e. the melancholy that this comedy declares war on at the beginning, when the female protagonist demands music that is not sad. From the perspective of vanitas, the casting of actors in roles or the grouping of dancers into couples is merely a mechanical assignment: the living gives way to a lifeless imitation. Compared to this traditional notion, the feasibility of relationships through media is fascinating. Good actors, dancers or musicians animate the mechanical with their expression, and relationships come alive. 37 This idea became established at the time when the waltz became the leading ballroom dance. 38 An enthusiastically applauded functioning of man and machine became established as a realization, in contrast to the older idea that only the living was real. Whereas vanitas declares the painter or sculptor a failed imitator of the unique, unrepeatable life, identity asserts that what is real is what ‘ works ’ in different cases: controlled animation is preferred to the living. From this period comes the idea that a skilfully manipulated musical instrument sings, rather than merely being a substitute for a singing voice. 39 In 16th century choirs, musical instruments still replaced missing voices, they were dummies. But in the 18th century, the traditional perception of the instrument as a substitute changed: a listener imagined the ‘ singing ’ of a musical instrument as an enlivening achievement rather than perceiving a lifeless imitation. The voice of an instrument could be a model for the voices of a community that seemed to be singing together. It no longer indicated the absence of a particular voice, but claimed to be an inviting model for all singers and listeners. The older aesthetics of imitation is an aesthetics of failure, because imitation cannot conceal the absence of the imitated. The newer 36 On mise en abyme and expression cf. Mathias Spohr: ‘ Wiederholung und Neugestaltung im Theater ’ , in: Maske und Kothurn, vol. 43, no. 4, 1997, pp. 19 - 23. 37 Walter Benjamin has circumscribed the unstable balance between vanitas and identity (according to my distinction) as the polarity of allegory and expression, cf. for example Suk Won Lim: Die Allegorie ist die Armatur der Moderne. Zum Wechselverhältnis von Allegoriebegriff und Medientheorie bei Walter Benjamin, Würzburg: Königshausen & Neumann, 2011. 38 Cf. Mathias Spohr: ‘ Noverres Lettres sur la danse, et sur les ballets (1760) aus mediengeschichtlicher Sicht ’ , in: Kodikas/ Code. Ars Semeiotica, vol. 26, nos. 3 - 4, 2003, pp. 209 - 16. 39 In the history of music and poetics, this is regarded as a change from imitation to expression aesthetics, cf. for example Marguerite Iknayan: The Concave Mirror. From Imitation to Expression in French Esthetic Theory 1800 - 1830, Stanford: California Univ. Press, 1983. The Waltz in Film 337 aesthetics of expression, on the other hand, is an aesthetics of success, because it conveys identity. 40 5 Choirs to overcome vanitas Instrumental music in films, which is not part of the action but seems to stand outside it, is a kind of chorus that helps the audience to imagine. It comes from the tradition of theatre orchestras, which could still be heard in cinemas as silent film orchestras in the 1920s. 41 In the 19th century, the theatre orchestra was often described as a chorus expressing wordless solidarity (as Ludwig Börne claimed 42 ) or preceding the vocal utterances of the audience (as Sören Kierkegaard described 43 ). It is only in passing that we mention Richard Wagner ’ s explanation that his orchestra replaced the chorus of ancient tragedy. 44 His idea of the orchestra can be linked to Benedict Anderson ’ s ‘ imagined community ’ . The instrumental music to a performed event is in a sense a Leviathan, a mechanism of many people with a common, wordlessly expressed goal. Music consists of coordinated voices that give the technical apparatus of the theatre machinery or the film projector the expression of a common perception. A polyphonic observer ’ s perspective here becomes the role for a community of spectators. The sound corresponding to the silent image is something of a metaphor for reading: the silent film audience knows that, as with reading intertitles or mouth movements, it is only with its own voice that it can make the characters speak. And wordless sound, like silent writing, must be read to become speech. Both are no longer substitutes, but models to be embodied. The audience ’ s actions are the only real thing when watching the film. 40 On the history of music, cf. Carl Dahlhaus: Musikästhetik, Cologne: Hans Gerig, 1976, pp. 28 - 38. 41 Mathias Spohr: ‘ Die theatralischen Wurzeln der Hollywood-Filmmusik. Ignorierte Traditionslinien städtischer Musikkultur ’ , in: Dissonanz/ Dissonance, no. 42, November 1994, pp. 11 - 15. Michel Chion took up this suggestion and elaborated on it with a cinematic expertise that I do not possess: see La musique au cinéma, Paris: Fayard, 1995, pp. 32 f. 42 ‘ In antiquity, it was the chorus which [ … ] presented the sensation and contemplation of the listener as a free work of art [ … ]. In our country, where the use of the chorus in tragedy was ineffective primarily because our monarchical public education made us shudder and close the shops if even three individuals from the people had the same will and the same opinion and dared to express it in the open air - in our country, only music can take the place of the chorus. ’ (In der Antike war es der Chor, welcher die Empfindung und die Betrachtung des Zuhörers [ … ] als ein freies Kunstwerk hinstellte [ … ]. Bei uns, wo der Gebrauch des Chors in der Tragödie vorzüglich darum wirkungslos bleiben würde, weil wir bei unserer monarchischen öffentlichen Erziehung in Schauer gerathen und die Kramläden schließen, wenn auch nur drei Menschen aus dem Volke den nämlichen Willen und dieselbe Meinung haben und sie unter freiem Himmel auszusprechen sich erkühnen - bei uns kann nur die Musik die Stelle des Chors vertreten.) Ludwig Börne: ‘ Die Waise und der Mörder ’ , in: Gesammelte Schriften, Hamburg: Hoffmann und Campe, 1862, vol. 5, no. 62, pp. 36 f. 43 ‘ there begins that other orchestra which does not obey the stick of the concertmaster but follows an inner drive, that other orchestra, the natural sound of the gallery ’ (da fängt jenes andere Orchester an, das nicht dem Stock des Konzertmeisters gehorcht, sondern einem inneren Trieb folgt, jenes andere Orchester, der Naturlaut der Galerie). Sören Kierkegaard: Die Wiederholung, Copenhagen, 1843, ed. by Hans Rochol, Hamburg: Meiner, 2000, p. 39. 44 More detail in Mathias Spohr: ‘ Filmmusik ’ , in: Daniel Brandenburg, Rainer Franke, Anno Mungen (eds.): Wagner-Lexikon, Laaber: Laaber, 2012, pp. 217 - 19. 338 Mathias Spohr On the theme of the chorus as an aid to imagination and orientation in connection with the waltz, a sound sample from a Swiss wartime film is apt: Menschen, die vorüberziehen (1942) by Max Haufler. A young woman from a circus dynasty tries to settle down into bourgeois life, but after the death of her father, the circus director, she nevertheless takes over the business. 45 The musical excerpt from the Anthology of Swiss Film Music accompanies the scene in which a circus director named Horn loses control and falls from the tightrope. He is seen on his deathbed shortly afterwards. As he falls, one hears a scream from the audience, as if from a single mouth, i. e. a ‘ living ’ , spontaneously coordinated community. This is accompanied by the rhythmic sounds of fireworks going off at the same time. The lifeless mechanics of the fireworks, with their festive gesture, remain motionless in the face of the tragedy unfolding, unlike the shocked spectators. The sounds of the fireworks form a ‘ lifeless ’ chorus as a backdrop to the ‘ living ’ but equally wordless chorus of the circus audience, doubling the situation of the film spectators in relation to the mechanics of the film on the screen: the fireworks are visible, the audience invisible, as if sitting in the space of the film screening. Film viewers identify with the chorus, which is not obviously coordinated with the image. Later, on Horn ’ s deathbed, in the presence of his daughter, ‘ his waltz ’ sounds, as he deliriously declares - now as a chorus of musical instruments. For the audience, there is frequent doubt as to whether this music is diegetic (music that belongs to the world of the action 46 ) or extradiegetic (music that comes from outside the action), since the waltz seems to be sounding in his head, not in his external world. Whether the daughter can hear the waltz is not clear, but the viewers, who know this waltz as the leitmotif of the film, ‘ sing along ’ . They identify with the inner world of the character. There is no longer a mother, but the character ’ s partnerlessness is not the issue, for the waltz functions as a symbol of the ideal of the unattached community of circus people. Its extradiegetic component has an illusionary effect. In the sense of a vision, the lifeless, impersonal voices of the musical instruments get the expression of a social ‘ harmony ’ , a wordless but sympathetic chorus, played with vibrato: a fine example of vanitas overcoming. The audience joins in and brings the narrative to life. After the death of the circus director, signaled by a fateful fanfare, there is a jarring transition to a mechanical music automaton in an inn, which plays the same waltz, but here as an unloved inanimate noise. The waltz music moves completely into diegesis, and vanitas overcoming becomes vanitas again: the music is merely a dance of death, without expression. An analogous effect would occur (in a silent film, for example) if waltzing circus performers were seen as a vision of the dying man and, after his death, this setting was superimposed on the mechanically coordinated dancing figures on a music box. Film or music draws attention to its lifelessness in the manner of the vanitas motif when it presents something lifeless. Loss of illusion seems to be loss of control. The audience is aware that the film is only a matter of moving shadows on the screen or sounds from the loudspeaker and that the gradations between a lively babble of voices, a 45 Mathias Spohr (ed.): Swiss Film Music. Anthology 1923 - 2012, Zurich: Chronos, 2015, p. 225. Online: http: / / swissfilmmusic.ch/ wiki/ Menschen,_die_vorüberziehen 46 Diegesis in the sense of Anne Souriau ’ s definition, cf. Anton Fuxjäger: ‘ Diegese, Diegesis, diegetisch: Versuch einer Begriffsentwirrung ’ , in: montage AV, 2/ 16/ 2007, pp. 17 - 37. The Waltz in Film 339 ‘ harmonizing ’ orchestra and inanimate musical mechanics are illusory. They do, however, help the audience to localize their observer ’ s perspective: depending on focalization 47 (or the degree of illusion), some components of the perceived voices and movements appear more vivid than others: on the level of the cinema, the audience can distinguish the living people from the mechanical screening of the film; on the level of the plot, it distinguishes the living audience reactions in the circus from the lifeless mechanics of the fireworks, or the waltz music as a witnessed dream vision of the dying man from the inanimate reproduction of the same waltz by the music automaton in the inn. In all these cases, an enlivened ‘ inner world ’ , in which the audience is supposed to participate, is distinguished from an ‘ outer world ’ of deceptive diegesis. At the end of the film, the daughter joins the circus people and their ideas of freedom, even though she had previously tried to gain a foothold in bourgeois life. Identity triumphs over the affirmation of vanitas: the father ’ s debauchery takes its revenge, but the daughter ’ s trust saves his enterprise. A self-chosen institution survives the death of the individual. The audience can identify with this idea, because the self-assertion of a private enterprise is counted towards the overcoming of vanitas. The circus in the film could be seen as a symbol for small and medium-sized enterprises (KMUs) in Switzerland, which had to struggle during the war. 6 Disillusionment Why is it often disillusioning when music (or even an accompanied dance) enters the diegesis, even though this makes it seem real? Conversely, music (or dance, e. g. as a ‘ dancing ’ camera movement or the imaginary dance of the audience to the film music) has an illusionary effect in the extradiegesis. The what in the diegesis is deceptive, whereas the how in the extradiegesis inspires the imagination. Models for action such as instrumental music are intended for the audience ’ s singing and dancing, even if it remains imaginary, and they are weakened by preceding realizations. The consensus of a shared experience can only emerge in front of the screen, and such a consensus is suggested by extradiegetic elements. The turning off of an apparently extradiegetic waltz by a character in the action, as noted by Michael Braun and Werner Kamp, 48 draws attention to the mechanics of the musical playback by revealing itself to be diegetic. The audience ’ s control is taken out of their hands, so that their empathy ends with a demonic or comic effect. The previous example shows 47 The word focalization belongs to the terminology of Gérard Genette ’ s narrative theory (Figures III, Paris: Seuil, 1972, pp. 206 - 11). However, the frequent coincidence of zero focalization and internal focalization in film music appears as a paradox that is difficult to resolve and can at best be described as metalepsis. Perhaps Erving Goffman ’ s Frame Analysis is better suited to differentiating frames through film music, because Goffman starts from social rules instead of mediated content, which correspond better to the choral nature of music: instead of the what of a perceived event, they establish a how of perceiving, an opportunity of action for the audience. (Frame Analysis: An Essay on the Organisation of Experience, London: Harper and Row, 1974). Film music as a ‘ point of view made up of voices without text ’ is more likely to combine what Genette is trying to distinguish. 48 Michael Braun, Werner Kamp: ‘ Pathos im Kopf. Musik und Mindscreen in Stanley Kubricks Eyes Wide Shut (1999) ’ , in: Sandra Poppe (ed.): Emotionen in Literatur und Film, Würzburg: Königshausen & Neumann, 2012, pp. 267 - 80, here p. 271. 340 Mathias Spohr basically the same case: in the inn, a guest ’ s consensus with the now diegetic ‘ expressionless ’ circus waltz from the automaton is missing. The film spectators, who have befriended Horn ’ s vision, want to contradict the guest, although they can neither bring the circus director to life nor influence the scene. They feel disconnected. Consensus and control are not equally given. If the inn were full of happy dancing guests, the mechanical music of the automaton would sound expressive and lively. The dancing guests would form an enlivening chorus in front of the machine and this perception would influence that of the film viewers: together, they seem to master the mechanism. The audience turns away from the uncontrollable ( ‘ disillusionment ’ ) and prefers to imagine something controlled ( ‘ illusion ’ ). Wolfgang Thiel has pointed out that the mechanical-sounding waltz - whether played by automatons or interpreted without expression - is a genre of film waltz in its own right. 49 The mechanical waltz is in a sense neutral: depending on how it is perceived by the audience, it can evoke consternation in the sense of vanitas or give rise to empathy in the sense of identity. In the latter case, the lifeless coordination in the diegesis contrasts with the ‘ expressive ’ social harmony in the extradiegesis. The mechanism can be animated by expressive voices or dancing movements, like a naked musical metre that the listeners master. In horror films, on the other hand, the touching animation of dolls or music boxes can appear as a premonition of loss of control: mastery turns out to be an illusion. From the vanitas point of view, the human becomes technical; from the identity point of view, the technical becomes human. Disillusionment 50 also occurs in the courtly ball scene of Luchino Visconti ’ s Il gattopardo (1963). Dance and music are diegetic, in an exclusive space - the commoners with whom the audience sympathizes remain excluded. In front of a painting depicting the death of an ancestor, the protagonist fatefully senses his own death, despite the joyful sounds of the waltz. Within the lifeless film image, the character contemplates a lifeless image. Like the audience, he feels he has no control. Although it is a Verdi waltz, as a symbol of Italian independence, and not a Vienna waltz, as a symbol of Austrian foreign rule for the Italians, and although a relationship is initiated that transcends social barriers, this dance cannot demonstrate any Italian identity. As a dance of death, it spreads the melancholy of vanitas, while transient power consoles itself with escapism. The prince has no partner and his dance is a substitute, like the minuet, which is often dismissed as mechanical. He remains attached to vanitas and cannot participate in the modern principle of identity. Predictably, skeletons dance minuets, not waltzes. Class barriers are insurmountable from a vanitas point of view; the couple dance offers the prince no opportunity to enter into a relationship, but remains a frivolous game. The audience and listeners of a waltz, on the other hand, 49 Wolfgang Thiel: ‘ Kino im Dreivierteltakt. Die dramaturgische Funktion des Walzers im Spielfilm ’ , in: Ursula von Keitz, Philipp Stiasny (eds.): Der Tanz und das Kino, Marburg: Schüren, 2017, pp. 12 - 31, here pp. 17 f. The relationship of the mechanical carousel waltz to film has been investigated by Teresa Marlies Magdanz: The Celluloid Waltz: Memories of the Fairground Carousel, Ph. D. thesis, Univ. of Toronto, 2006. 50 Instead of Goffman ’ s not readily comprehensible terms ‘ upkeying ’ and ‘ downkeying ’ (cf. note 47), I use the analogous terms illusion and disillusionment (understood as the adoption of, or distancing from, patterns of interpretation). The Waltz in Film 341 expect to be able to participate in a relationship, rather than to remain on the outside looking in. Similarly, Ruth Beckermann ’ s documentary Waldheims Walzer (2018) attempts to play off the represented identity of the waltz and the vanitas of the politician portrayed against each other. With a waltz as background music, a parodic effect could easily have been achieved. But the film does not manipulate. The waltz promised in the title is missing - not only as a dance but also as music - as is the identity. In this film, the former president of Austria Kurt Waldheim does not become an imaginary partner. 7 Identity through control Social consensus in the style of the 1950s is depicted in Kurt Früh ’ s film Oberstadtgass (1957): the vocal waltz as the title melody presents the upper town of Zurich as a community to which one could and would like to belong, because happiness dwells in all the alleys. 51 The solo voice is followed by a chorus with the same lyrics, as if it were a chorus of the inhabitants, testifying to their consensus, and in which the film ’ s viewers can feel included as their adopted home, because, after all, ‘ all cities are the same ’ . This chorus is a model, a kind of Leviathan. The ‘ troubles ’ that mar this ideal world are exemplified in the film ’ s plot by the integration of a ‘ difficult ’ young boy into society. Eligibility and control are, as argued above, the main motivations for vanitas overcoming. More pronounced here than the electability of the relationship (which is foregrounded in the Sissi example) is the desire for social control: the fear of losing control is overcome, and the song is its expression. One could, of course, show the inhabitants of the upper town waltzing to this music. But this would leave us with the (diegetic) representation of a waltz dance: the ‘ realization ’ of the waltz is to be reserved for the audience, which is supposed to share the expression. The waltz song ‘ Edelweiss ’ in the film musical The Sound of Music (Robert Wise, 1965) moves in a similar direction of overcoming vanitas. The edelweiss is not personalized, although it is about a ‘ love song ’ , as the singing character explains before the reprise. The motifs of the missing partner and the transience of the flower are linked. The song could be staged in the style of 1930s revues as a choreographed crowd scene with dancers in Austrian costume. This is avoided here by the concept of the children ’ s father reluctantly and awkwardly singing the song to the guitar as an expression of love for home and family, 52 which expresses his motives more credibly. He is not a patriarch, but a helpless lover. Technically awkward animation can succeed if it has the consensus of its audience, as in Merian C. Cooper ’ s King Kong (1933), where the consensus is motivated by the intended effect of the awkward puppet trick through Max Steiner ’ s orchestral music: the musically motivated performance of the observers outside the film overcomes the clumsy performance inside the film. The audience ’ s trust in the filmmaker ’ s vision heals the threat of losing control of the monster ’ s shaky animation. Within the film, control seems to be lost over the monster as a symbol of revolting nature. 53 In the form of the partnerless monster, 51 Spohr: Swiss Film Music. Anthology (cf. note 43), p. 234. Online: http: / / swissfilmmusic.ch/ wiki/ Oberstadtgass 52 Film clip: https: / / www.youtube.com/ watch? v=8bL2BCiFkTk [accessed 1/ 25/ 23]. 53 Film clip: https: / / www.youtube.com/ watch? v=zct1tPK1Zk0 [accessed 1/ 25/ 23]. 342 Mathias Spohr nature rises up against civilization, and the spectators are on nature ’ s side, because it is only a harmless animated figure, and the animation is the audience ’ s achievement. Control defines an observer perspective, even on the subject of loss of control; in fact, it is the audience ’ s discipline that brings nature to life. In the end, the monster turns out to be a helpless lover. Kong is not a king, but a Leviathan. In the more private film scene from a fictional Salzburg, a very similar consensus is suggested by the empathy of the singing family and the guests. An extradiegetic string choir, as a no less simple device, serves as a model for the audience ’ s singing along. The singers ’ partnerlessness is offset by the solidarity of the spectators; the failure of the diegesis becomes an extradiegetic success, transferred from the spectators inside the action to the spectators outside the film - mediated by extradiegetic music. It is not the edelweiss that is animated, but the community of an audience: the flower is a natural symbol for it. Because of the pseudo-political reprise at the end of the film, the song is often mistaken for the Austrian national anthem by overseas tourists who expect to see the world of this film in Salzburg. 54 An eternally resounding song should never let love die - thus putting the programme of identity as a vanitas overcoming into simple words. When the loss of control over the voice threatens, first the family choir, then the Leviathan of the theatre audience and, in parallel, the film audience show solidarity with the singer: trust heals loss of control. Their trembling along in the hope that Austrian identity will come into harmony with the Trapp family ’ s love of nature is discreetly anticipated by an extradiegetic choir of mandolins. 55 The dying of the individual voice is drowned out by the ‘ infinite melody ’ of an observing chorus. This ‘ you are not alone ’ message is central to the rhetoric of identity - even if it is only imagined, because a character is not left alone by his/ her invisible viewer, and the viewers want to lull themselves into the same security of not being left alone. The image of the singer, which apparently looks at its audience head-on, is not blind, even if the actor has died in the meantime. A global community seems to look out of his eyes and take over his voice, as a shared role. Even more clearly than in the Sissi films, Austria is made into an ‘ imagined community ’ beyond state and historical borders. This construction of identity has the quality that its success cannot be abused ideologically. There is nothing inappropriate about the Ländler that Julie Andrews dances with the children ’ s widowed father as the nanny in this film, and it leads, as expected, to a relationship - initiated by the temporary loss of control that the observers notice, and which causes the dance to break off in a similar way to the waltz song in the recapitulation. 56 Loss of control appears here in the form of falling out of the role. ‘ Trust heals loss of control ’ is again the meaning of this process, which courts empathy and solidarity. Here, as there, the staged loss of control serves to avoid the suspicion of vanity, deception or a claim to power. 54 On this Heinz Drügh: ‘ Overstanding Robert Wises The Sound of Music. Überlegungen zu Österreichs berühmtesten Film-Exilanten ’ , in: Ulrich Meurer, Maria Oikonomou (eds.): Fremdbilder. Auswanderung und Exil im internationalen Kino, Bielefeld: transcript, 2015, pp. 87 - 105. 55 Film clip: https: / / www.youtube.com/ watch? v=z6-P3pFhmQI [accessed 1/ 25/ 23]. 56 Film clip: https: / / www.youtube.com/ watch? v=qUfWRBGQkz0 [accessed 1/ 25/ 23]. The Waltz in Film 343 Loss of control (or the tension that accompanies its avoidance 57 ) has one thing in common with expression: a mechanism proves that it does not remain an automatism by requiring observers to intervene helpfully, and to identify with a rescued individual (which is more a common role than a living being) by forming a chorus of solidarity. Individual deviations from an automatism confirm the possibility and necessity of its control - and make the automatism attractive. Control is a common thing. 8 Return of the vanitas Dance music does not imitate anything, but serves as a model of action: one can distinguish its mechanism of movement (as what) from its visual and musical design (as how). What can only be heard ‘ in the head ’ of the characters and the audience belongs to the how: the music to the waltz between Natasha and Andrei in Sergei Bondarchuk ’ s Woina i mir (1966) is too complicated for a ballroom dance. 58 It oscillates between diegetic dance music (What do they hear? ) and Natasha ’ s inner experience, which is shared by the film ’ s audience (How does she hear it? And beyond that: how is the ball event perceived? ). The ‘ expression ’ of her situation is superimposed on the simple pattern of real dance music. 59 The viewer identifies with Natasha ’ s perspective because he or she feels as anonymous and unnoticed by the film ’ s characters as Natasha did before Andrei asked her to dance. The autism of her wishful thinking points in the direction of vanitas: contact with Andrei will never really come about, it helplessly remains in her imagination. A real partner is missing. But the experience of absence is what the character has in common with the film audience. A shared experience of vanitas leads to identity: the audience brings this character to life, as an imaginary partner or alter ego. In the perception of identity, the ‘ how ’ puts the audience in the perspective of the mirror: they replace the missing person with themselves. The Swiss film Dällebach-Kari (1970) by Kurt Früh presents a Bernese original from the time after the First World War: the hairdresser Kari, who falls unhappily in love with the bourgeois daughter Annemarie, becomes addicted to alcohol and kills himself. The waltz as an unfulfilled vision of freedom of choice beyond social barriers has a similar function here as in Goethe ’ s Werther. The ‘ Annemarie Waltz ’ as the leitmotif of the film is heard both at Kari ’ s dance with Annemarie and as a wistful memory in retrospect after the relationship has failed (music excerpt 3 in the Swiss Film Music Anthology 60 ). As with many film waltzes, 57 In Peter Wuss ’ s formulation, this corresponds to the second variant of narrative tension: ‘ the possibility of the protagonists to be able in bringing the course of events under control by certain forms of conduct ’ . ( ‘ Narrative Tension in Antonioni ’ , in: Peter Vorderer, Hans J. Wulff, Mike Friedrichsen (eds.): Suspense: Conceptualizations, Theoretical Analyses, and Empirical Explorations, Hillsdale, N. J.: Lawrence Erlbaum, 1996, pp. 51 - 70, here p. 52.) The suggestive solidarization of observers to avoid a loss of control is added as an essential moment. 58 Film clip: https: / / www.youtube.com/ watch? v=k30OO5_nEWY [accessed 1/ 25/ 23]. 59 On the thesis of expression as composed individualization, see Mathias Spohr: ‘ Wirkung ohne Ursache. Richard Wagner zitiert Pierre Joseph Proudhon ’ , in: Thomas Betzwieser et al. (eds.): Bühnenklänge, Munich: Ricordi, 2005, pp. 139 - 45. 60 Mathias Spohr: Swiss Film Music. Anthology (see note 44), p. 247. Strictly speaking, above the straight-beat variation of the waltz melody in the score is the designation ‘ Schnellpolka ’ . Online: http: / / swissfilmmusic.ch/ wiki/ Dällebach_Kari. 344 Mathias Spohr there is a march version of the same melody that accompanies a race with Annemarie. The waltz is an elegant salon waltz, representing Annemarie ’ s upper-class surroundings. In Swiss films in particular, a simple country dance would also be conceivable, which would characterize Kari ’ s rural or petit-bourgeois origins without disdain (as is often heard in Franz Schnyder ’ s films as a ‘ Swiss-German identity ’ , for example in the opening credits of Heidi und Peter, 1955 61 ). In the sense of vanitas, however, a symbol for the distant unattainable is chosen here. Kari must atone for his vision, although his audience makes him live forever, but Annemarie will not return for him. The remembered melody is a wistful substitute for the long-gone waltz dance. Repetitions ‘ do not realize ’ this waltz because it was only possible with one particular person. 62 The prelude and postlude of the waltz in the music excerpt accompany Kari ’ s longing and alcoholism in the present of the frame story, thus sounding ‘ in his head ’ (and in that of the viewer), the waltz in between serves as diegetic dance music in the flashback without acoustic demarcation, it accompanies the failed. In the manner of the turbulent 1960s, this film emphasizes social differences rather than suggesting a consensus. A more modern example is the bridge scene in Chan-wook Park ’ s Oldboy (2003): the protagonist remembers being unable to prevent his sister ’ s suicide. The audience in front of the screen shares his perspective. 63 The extradiegetic waltz music makes it clear to both the protagonist and the audience that they can neither hold on to what they have seen nor bring it to life. They all lack a dance partner; they are faced with the question of whether the vision of an immortal community will console them for their concrete solitude. A relationship between the siblings was impossible and hopeless. The shutter of the camera in the internal plot, like the closing of the lift door in the frame story, signals to the viewer an insurmountable separation from the person portrayed. Conversely, the music as an extradiegetic chorus stands for the vision of a love that transcends death, rather than the irretrievable in the sense of vanitas. Both a deterrent or an exemplary perception of this scene are possible: the lovers had to atone for their vision - or, on the contrary, they triumphed heroically over the adverse circumstances. Hans J. Wulff cites two film examples in which a character ’ s dance partner is replaced by the controls of a vehicle, 64 mirroring the situation of the film viewer who, instead of a dance partner, has only the controlled mechanics of the film in front of him and cannot intervene at the moment of loss of control. From a vanitas perspective, vehicles, musical instruments or weapons are not partners, but lifeless functional entities, just like the film that plays before its viewers. In Berlinger (Alf Brustellin, Bernhard Sinkel, 1975), the protagonist voluntarily steers an aeroplane to his death to the sound of waltzes. In Wages of Fear (Le salaire de la peur, Henri Georges Clouzot, 1953), a lorry driver has a vision of a dancing ball to the sound of waltzes on the car radio, in joyful anticipation of his return home, and ‘ dances ’ with his 61 Ibid., p. 233. Online: http: / / swissfilmmusic.ch/ wiki/ Heidi_und_Peter. 62 On the question of the meaning or meaninglessness of repetitions, cf. Victoria von Flemming, ‘ Das Neue: Vanitas als Wiederholung, Wiederholung als Vanitas ’ , in: Victoria von Flemming, Julia Catherine Berger (eds.): Vanitas als Wiederholung, Berlin: de Gruyter, 2022, pp. 1 - 30. 63 Film clip: https: / / www.youtube.com/ watch? v=ur31IcG-1qg, [accessed 1/ 25/ 23]. 64 Hans J. Wulff: ‘ Textsemantische Grundlagen der Analyse von Musikszenen und musikalischen Inserts ’ , in: Kieler Beiträge zur Filmmusikforschung, vol. 9, 2013, pp. 224 - 92, here p. 234. The Waltz in Film 345 lorry until he loses control of the vehicle. The driver perceives the journey as a ball, but it is not a ball. Radio music can at best create the atmosphere of a ball. No trust of the audience can heal this lonely loss of control, just as the driver cannot help the fainting woman in the dreamed dance scene. The ‘ vision of freedom beyond death ’ in the sense of identity and the ‘ punishment for wantonness ’ in the sense of vanitas meet. The idea of being a player who played hard but lost everything seemed bearable for the generation of war returnees. An animated film is nominally not a representation of fact, but pure fantasy. Aware that what is being depicted is missing anyway and that there is therefore no competition for newly designed worlds, viewers, stimulated by extradiegetic music, imagine a world of their own - just as a child gives a doll its own voice, or a viewer reads comic-book speech bubbles. As in silent films, musical voices act as placeholders for the voices of an imaginary audience singing or dancing along. Here is an example: in Valse à quatre mains (Supamonks Studio, 2016) 65 , two girls play a piano waltz for four hands and sadly reject a suitor. After he improvises on the violin outside the window to their piano playing, they pluck up the courage to meet him. They turn out to be Siamese twins. The small castle in which they live is filled with vanitas attributes, such as art objects or taxidermy next to a skull. On closer inspection, they all embody the identity of the Siamese twins. Lifelessly, the clock ticks, and the film works with the traditional vanitas attributes of the performing arts: reflection, shadow - and echo: the doubling of the pianist is only revealed just as she begins to play. The piano is not a partner, but only a mirror. The audience is aware that they are being shown a culmination of what is technically possible, with computer-assisted movements, camera movements and shadows for everything that can be calculated: the potentiated absence of a living being or the fascination of how? For the lonely characters, playing the piano is an instrumental substitute for dancing the waltz in convivial company. The waltz itself would be a substitute for relationships from a vanitas perspective, and the instrumental waltz is a substitute for this substitute. This is the traditional structure of the mise en abyme, potentiating the unattainable or inanimate. The Siamese twins are a symbol of the musical voices of the piano waltz: they are coupled by beat and harmony, but the coupling constitutes neither an individual nor a community. It is only the foreboding of a chorus in front of the inanimate object of the musical instrument, for a dance partner is missing. The failure of two hands to play the piano and its resumption conveys the suggestive message: ‘ trust heals loss of control ’ . Keyboard instruments can ‘ sing ’ to a lesser degree than melodic instruments, their singing remains a wistful wish. In the tradition of melodrama, both the mute figure and the textless piano sound seem to say to their audience: ‘ read me, so that I may come alive through your voice ’ . 66 The instrumental 65 Film: https: / / www.youtube.com/ watch? v=jYu2kY2vcjA [accessed 1/ 25/ 23]. 66 In the melodrama Yelva, ou l ’ orpheline russe (1828) by Eugène Scribe, the mute protagonist acts to well-known melodies. Her utterances are made intelligible to the audience by remembering the words of the melodies. This ‘ reading ’ was also possible for the illiterate members of the audience. If what is perceived is not real ( ‘ melodies are not language, just as a waltz only heard is not a dance ’ : arguments of vanitas), then it is made plausible as writing, and the ‘ reading ’ of this writing is realization (singing along to the remembered text or waltzing to the melody: arguments of identity). Like the letter or the musical note, the silent figure mutates from a sign of its lack of voice into a model of action for readers who supplement this voice. Melodrama asserts: ‘ Everything is writing ’ , and promises the legibility of the world. In the guise of the mute character, writing is presented as the most natural, immediate means of expression. On this tradition, which has passed from theatre to film, see 346 Mathias Spohr sound becomes the precondition for one ’ s own speech, the animation the precondition for one ’ s own movement - a substitute becomes an opportunity for action. The violinist anticipates what is expected of the film audience: as an observer, he enriches the mechanism of piano playing with the expression of an expected relationship. Speaking or dancing, on the other hand, is reserved for the audience. In the context of this film, the chorus of instrumental voices, like the animated porcelain figurines, remains an ‘ undead ’ monster that, like Frankenstein ’ s monster, cannot find a social connection as an artificial figment. The audience, which merely watches the lifeless mechanics of the animated film instead of engaging socially, sees itself reflected in it, even as it defiantly wants to animate what it sees. 67 Like the rejected suitor of the piano players at the beginning, they see no counterpart in them, but only their own shadow on the glass of the screen, with which they all become Siamese twins. The line of sight from the observation space to the action space only leads to mechanics and absence: vanitas. Technical coordination, on the other hand, makes it possible for people and institutions that cannot see or know each other to work together, symbolized by the admirer playing together outside the window with the pianists inside. The scenery brightens and the music moves into the extradiegetic: it turns from the what of a perceived to the how of perceiving, animating an illusion or vision, and the awareness of absence becomes expectation. The direction of perception ‘ from outside to inside ’ , which encounters insurmountable obstacles, is followed by a hopeful path ‘ from inside to outside ’ . A meeting of the unequal pair only comes about on the way ‘ from inside to outside ’ , through the encounter with observers. Identity succeeds when the encounter leaves the film and leads to a chorus of moving spectators. The line of sight from the action space to the observation space leads to a living reality. 9 Coexistence of identity and vanitas The naively conceived Swiss film ’ s Margritli und d ’ Soldate by August Kern (1941) shows how the vanitas of a waltz melody, as a reminiscence of an unfulfilled couple ’ s relationship, can be diverted into a successful national identity. The waltz, which has become well known in Switzerland, is sung by soldiers in praise of their idol Margritli (literally: little daisy). As mobilization for war takes the soldiers away from their private lives, they all hope for a relationship with Margritli even if it remains an unfulfilled longing for the time being. The children ’ s choir, which sings the song in a setting of artificial daisies that break down the name into a typographical combination of letters, detaches the common goal from any desire that would not be harmless, and includes women and children in the perspective. 68 It Mathias Spohr: ‘ Melodrama - technische Medien, stumme Figuren und die Illusion des Ausdrucks ’ , in: Claudia Jeschke, Hans-Peter Bayerdörfer (eds.): Bewegung im Blick. Beiträge zu einer theaterwissenschaftlichen Bewegungsforschung, Berlin: Vorwerk, 2000, pp. 258 - 73. 67 Walter Benjamin laconically called the ‘ reading ’ of the ‘ mute creature ’ ‘ salvation through the signified ’ . The reflecting viewers and readers are in fact the signified. According to him, it is the mourning of the mute object that motivates this empathy. This is still true for the animated films discussed here. It is the same procedure that I call ‘ Trust heals loss of control. ’ Gesammelte Schriften, Frankfurt am Main: Suhrkamp, 1991, vol. I, 1, p. 401. 68 Film clip: https: / / www.youtube.com/ watch? v=Piduz-wTUrs [accessed 1/ 25/ 23]. The Waltz in Film 347 is clear to the film ’ s audience that Margritli does not exist, only an actress portraying her. Margritli remains an allegory. There is no waltz with Margritli for anyone, so the waltz, like ‘ Edelweiss ’ from The Sound of Music, remains a vocal waltz. In the sense of mise en abyme, the unattainability is intensified: Margritli is a missing partner with the name of an ephemeral flower. After a drum roll, the camera first shows the shadow of a dummy, an absence within an absence or, conversely, a model within a model. The letters, the fake flowers (as well as the bouquet of real daisies), the sung name, the actress, all are not the signified, and the film as a whole is only an image - but this is not lamented either. Margritli ’ s inaccessibility is a freedom, because it deprives the fictional idol of any authority. Margritli appears as an authority only in the sense that she is constructed by the Leviathan of her observers: words are formed by a community of letters, as shown in the film scene with extras in the role of animated letters, who give these letters iconic meaning by moving their petals. All these dummies do not remain inanimate, they become embodied models through their players. Margritli is a symbol of power without force, because the power of her observers prevails. Switzerland knows no queens. The ‘ what ’ here (like the waltz beat itself) is not an afterimage and postscript of something unattainable, but a model and recipe for something that can be shaped and enlivened, an opportunity for action. Everyone can represent Margritli and admire themselves in the process, without competing with an original. The coupling of the elements in the medium of the alphabet is itself a chorus that signals consensus by creating a meaning. This explains the paradoxical correspondence between vanitas and the overcoming of vanitas in these examples: failure is success, because the lack of a real authority enables an identity as a shared vision. To put it more theoretically: the intradiegetic lack of a relationship partner is compensated by his/ her unifying extradiegetic imaginability. The original waltz melody of a film is often transformed into a march, as here. Two types of movement give the same identity. At the end of the film, the goal of the singers ’ and dancers ’ common longing becomes more concrete: the Margritli melody is synchronized with the rhythmic march of the mobilized army. 69 The perspective offered to the audience is a simple variant of Leviathan: a motivated and obedient army as a model for the ‘ imagined community ’ of its viewers. The memory of Margritli (or rather a vision of Margritli, as a triumph of unfettered imagination) complements the mechanical grid of the march with the expression of the music. The unfulfilled couple ’ s relationship becomes a common experience and success, as when a male choir sings ‘ Ännchen von Tharau ’ (a song about a girl in slow waltz time popular with German male choirs): the audience constructs a fictitious partner. When the relationship between admirers of an idol is more important than their relationship to the idol, then any reality behind the idol becomes dispensable. 70 69 Spohr: Swiss Film Music. Anthology (see note 43), p. 223. Online: http: / / swissfilmmusic.ch/ wiki/ 's_Margritli_and_d'Soldate. 70 The American audience ’ s empathy with the unfulfillable desire for a relationship between the prince and the waitress in the waltz song ‘ Deep in My Heart ’ from the operetta The Student Prince (Sigmund Romberg 1924, filmed by Richard Thorpe 1954) is also a triumph over the failure (or the ‘ decadence ’ ) of these characters, because this empathy arises from a consciousness of superiority: the (apparent) American overcoming of European class boundaries. In this variant of the ‘ sad film paradox ’ identity is formed as a triumph over reproduced failure. Love is an opportunity for action for the world of the audience, as opposed to the world of the characters. 348 Mathias Spohr The teen film Twilight (2008) by Catherine Hardwicke strives for an even clearer coexistence of vanitas and identity: the vampire Edward refuses to take the viewer, in the form of the girl Bella, into the undead realm of the film characters with a bite during a ‘ waltz ’ , because the imaginary relationship should continue as before. 71 This means that she or he can be satisfied with controllable objects such as films, music or fan posters before getting serious about eroticism. Neither the viewer nor the character has a real partner, although a couple is shown dancing. Self-control is maintained: Edward ’ s inaccessibility is desired, despite the desired closeness. There is no relationship to the image of a monster, but it doesn ’ t bite either. If Bella ran off with him and the relationship went wrong, the film would be a morality tale. Edward is an available symbol of power for the viewer, without power. An object or mechanism has no intentions; this can be lamented as the absence of a loving attention (vanitas), but welcomed as the absence of destructive intent, combined with the possibility of controlling the uncanny (identity). Edward ’ s image is a substitute for a partner, and perhaps a model for future partners outside the film. In the interpretive pattern of vanitas, the frame structure ( ‘ observation within observation within observation ’ ) is perceived from the outside in: between the film spectators and the film characters is the insurmountable boundary of the screen. This boundary is repeated on another level between the film characters and their idol. In the interpretive pattern of identity, the same frame structure is viewed from the inside out, and the boundaries seem to dissolve. The desperately desired relationship is with the characters inside the frame, and the possible relationship with the observers outside. A circle of admirers can form around Margritli or Edward without the need for a personal relationship with the idol. Rather than admirers, they are all actors in a role model, because the visualization seems more real than any depicted reality. This fan community, in the form of a film audience, can expand without temporal or geographical barriers: one can sing or dance to a film melody at any time and any place, imagining the realization of a relationship. This way, music motivates an action outside the film, the performance of its audience. 72 Identity 71 Film excerpt: https: / / www.youtube.com/ watch? v=eDblDj6BISo [accessed 1/ 25/ 23]. The music is straightbeat, although the closed dance here is often referred to as a waltz, unlike the dances that precede it. 72 A thesis may be added here: The deliberate ambiguity as to whether a piece of music sounds diegetically, but only ‘ in the head ’ of a character, or extradiegetically, strives for ‘ identity ’ , because an extradiegetic script (such as subtitles) would be read by the audience in their own voices just as much as a diegetic one (such as a letter from a character). The musical voices, therefore, as a symbol or model of this reading, are not limited to one level and are intended to assert immediacy: reading crosses borders, as it were, as a sign of solidarity between the ‘ first ’ and ‘ second ’ order observers. ‘ I am in the head and looking at the head ’ is the situation when looking in the mirror, reading monological subtitles referring to figures in the picture, or listening to their thoughts realized as off-voices. An observer ’ s perspective is presupposed in the observed. The ideas that writing addresses its reader or the mirror image looks at its viewer are equivalent and can transcend all framings. External reference and self-reference have comparable media, or: the action depicted and the action of an observer overlap. Two opposing types of action belong to diegesis: an imitated action and an action that arises in the perception of this imitation, which can take on a life of its own as a performance. Readability creates presence. Speech act theory distinguishes between facts that are described and facts that emerge through the act of performance. As far as I can see, there has been no productive continuation of this approach in film theory. Wolfgang Iser has made an effort with the concepts of identity, fiction and imagination, see for example ‘ Ist der Identitätsbegriff ein Paradigma für die Funktion der Fiktion? ’ , in: Odo Marquard, Karlheinz Stierle (eds.): Identität, München: Fink, 1979, pp. 725 - 29. Judith Butler has criticized the determination of The Waltz in Film 349 asserts the reality of such a world of visions, and dance is no less a ‘ realization mechanism ’ than the experienced film projection. The feature film, and even more so the animated film, stimulates the audience ’ s imagination because fiction does not have to be compared to fact. In Walt Disney ’ s Sleeping Beauty (1959), the animation of the cartoon is further enhanced by the fact that the animal figures together simulate a dance partner for Sleeping Beauty, who is addressed as an acquaintance in the song lyrics, although the observing prince who embodies this doubly animated and doubly absent partner in the course of the dance is still as unknown to her as the film audience. 73 Sleeping Beauty ’ s expected animation by the prince at the end of the tale is anticipated by her imagination of the prince. It is not the absence of a dance partner that is made painfully clear to the character and the spectator with the waltz song, for there is an illusion in illusion, but the mirrored spectator is supposed to believe that he or she is the missing reality. The singing of the word ‘ you ’ embodies the you rather than emphasizing its absence. Sleeping Beauty ’ s direction of perception ‘ from outside to inside ’ , which encounters insurmountable obstacles, is followed by a successful path ‘ from inside to outside ’ , i. e. from the action space to the observation spaces. The prince ’ s trust heals her loss of control while dancing, and the audience agrees. One ’ s own reflection appears as a partner, not with ridiculous or demonic effect, but with touching effect. At the end of the scene, the music entirely moves into extradiegesis. The image no longer shows a broken song or a failed dance, but a chorus of observers takes over the power of interpretation, and the fictional camera shows a wide shot: a relationship is imagined by shifting dance and song into the auditorium. The animated animals as dance partners and later observers illustrate the Leviathan model very vividly. 10 The vanitas of propaganda Might ‘ identity ’ , as the waltz implies, not be a relationship but merely the illusion of shared control? A prime example of an ‘ imagined community ’ is Nazi Germany in propaganda films. In Rolf Hansen ’ s 1942 war film Die große Liebe (The Great Love), a famous singer and a military pilot find their way to each other because, or despite, being a pawn in the hands of those in power, which permanently separates them. Repression and emancipation become compatible, because obstacles only intensify love, and the shared experience of unfulfilled longing can be transferred to the anonymous community of the dictatorship. Loving couples and sworn party comrades turn against an impersonal fate, in unison and heroically, and at the same time come to terms with their situation, because the defiantly asserted duration of love promises prospects for the future, even beyond death. Destiny, determinism and teleology appeared united in the model of the film, which reliably unwinds before the eyes of its audience like an eternal waltz. Determinism seemed to be freedom. The love of the unattainable is seen here not as the fleeting illusion of vanitas, but as the enduring vision of identity. An ideological proximity to contemporary fundamentalist identities with the help of speech act theory in: Gender Trouble: Feminism and the Subversion of Identity, New York: Routledge, 1999, pp. 173 ff. 73 Film clip: https: / / www.youtube.com/ watch? v=TXbHShUnwxY&list=RDTXbHShUnwxY [accessed 1/ 25/ 23]. 350 Mathias Spohr suicide bombers cannot be denied: in this context, Talal Asad emphasizes ‘ collective immortality ’ as an idea of identity without a specifically religious background. 74 For those who act together, death is not the warning end of autonomous action, but its triumph. An ideal and fictive timeless community whose members need not know each other (Benedict Anderson ’ s criterion for an ‘ imagined community ’ ) is preferred to living, real but finite relationships. 75 A self-chosen, defiantly asserted institution survives individual death. In the animated film Waltz with Bashir (Ari Folman, 2008), the killing spree is exposed as an apparent liberation in the vanitas sense. 76 The soldier shooting wildly to a Chopin waltz lacks a dance partner. This is replaced by the medium of the controlled weapon - in which the film audience sees itself mirrored, with no living counterpart but only the lifeless mechanism of the film in front of it. A waltz with Bashir, as promised in the title, is not possible for them. The controlled loss of control of the rampage as a helpless way out for this character (in the tradition of the ‘ mad scene ’ , as it were) seems to retain a trace of the visionary, because the brutal reality of the mechanical clatter falls silent in the face of the dainty idleness of the piano waltz: 77 the narrator, the spectator and perhaps even the person portrayed no longer perceive the acoustic reality. The ‘ how ’ of the waltz triumphs over the ‘ what ’ of the gunshot. Instead of identity, however, the loss of reality is transferred to the viewer: the waltz music that remains of the acoustic events of the internal plot is merely a substitute. It is not a vision that is expressed, but, on the contrary, the impossibility of adequately reproducing the events - analogous to the replacement of optical reality by animated drawings. Image and sound are equally a substitute, not a model. Failure of imagination shows the incomprehensibility of the real, which can only be clumsily imitated. This representation does not find the strength for a triumphant experience of identity, nor should it. Like Bashir, the audience has no control. We cannot imagine all this. Propaganda stands in sharp contrast to this: in Die große Liebe, Zarah Leander sings the fast waltz ‘ Davon geht die Welt nicht unter ’ (The world will not end from this) in front of swaying Wehrmacht soldiers in Paris. 78 This waltz remains a song and becomes only an imaginary dance of the film audience, as an observer of her observers. The slow waltz in the film, performed in a theatre in Berlin, has a similar programme and escalates into the visionary: ‘ Ich weiß, es wird einmal ein Wunder geschehn ’ (I know, a miracle will happen one day). 79 A choir reinforces the refrain. The unhappily-in-love conductor has no partner, just like the observed singer and the observing film spectator. But the will to persevere expressed in the waltz beat is vanitas overcoming par excellence: not only love but also 74 Talal Asad: On Suicide Bombing, New York: Columbia Univ. Press, 2007, p. 96. 75 The composer Karlheinz Stockhausen called the attack on the World Trade Center on 11 September 2001 as an identity experience ( ‘ vision of freedom beyond death ’ ), while its impact unfolded as a vanitas symbol ( ‘ punishment for arrogance ’ ). Cf. for example Arthur Engelbert: Global Images. Eine Studie zur Praxis der Bilder, Bielefeld: transcript, 2014, p. 22 ff. 76 Cf. the analysis by Hans J. Wulff: ‘ Der Schock des Realen: Einige Bemerkungen zur ästhetischen und politischen Wirkungsdramaturgie von Ari Folman ’ s WALTZ WITH BASHIR ’ , in: Tà katoptrizómena - Magazin für Kunst, Kultur, Theologie und Ästhetik, vol. 61, 2009, Online: https: / / www.theomag.de/ 61/ hjw9.htm [accessed 1/ 30/ 24]. 77 Film clip: https: / / www.youtube.com/ watch? v=AjsSJcf32p4, from about 01: 40, [accessed 1/ 25/ 23]. 78 Film clip: https: / / www.youtube.com/ watch? v=p8D126NPTrU [accessed 1/ 25/ 23]. 79 Film clip: https: / / www.youtube.com/ watch? v=xp6l59mZojM [accessed 1/ 25/ 23]. The Waltz in Film 351 dictatorship assert their permanence as conspiratorial communities in self-chosen coercion, even if no relationship is established beyond these utopian notions. This is reminiscent of the merely imagined freedom of the waltz in the 19th century: a substitute for freedom poses as a model of freedom. The unattainable partner promotes self-control in the sense of an ideology. The fundamentally socializing quality of self-control is called into question, and the sense of identity dissolves. Today, a vanitas interpretation of the film is closer than the intended one of identity; imagined heroic deeds turned out to be real misdeeds. The filmed singer seems to look the audience in the face, at any time and in any setting, but her image remains blind. Like a baroque vanitas still life, the film seems to warn of its perfected imaginative power - which one nevertheless admires. 11 Zero focalization and the illusion of control In Stanley Kubrick ’ s 2001: A Space Odyssey (1968), the illusion of control that is part of identity is taken to extremes. There is neither waltzing nor singing of a waltz song. The ‘ Danube Waltz ’ by Johann Strauss Jr. as the famous music of this film 80 remains extradiegetic because it cannot sound in a vacuum. The screen doubles the demarcation of the human world from the airless, hostile universe. The boundary between extradiegesis and diegesis stands here in the greatest generalization for the differences between the living and the lifeless, between the how and the what of what is perceived, or between expression and mechanism. No image is shown clumsily, but a common vision is propagated. Its realization takes place outside the film: in the cinema or television room, which, as concrete spaces, fit into the placeholder of this sound space, 81 and appear as dominating outer worlds of the boundless. Celestial bodies seem to dance to this music like horses in a circus, although the waltz is not really their model. 82 People were as proud of the success of the first moon landing as they were of the film ’ s special effects. In this vision of freedom, consensus and control, it is not just a dancing couple but a global human community that conquers space, as some science fiction works around 1970 propagated as an identity and alternative to the discord of the Cold War. The medium of the waltz seems to replace an unattainable partner in the distance of space as a pure opportunity for action ( ‘ the medium is the message ’ , as Marshall McLuhan put it 83 ) and can become a triumph for an ‘ imagined community ’ : apparently, we can do everything. The notion of vanitas overcoming, as is particularly clear in this example, seems to be related to the omnipotence of a supra-individual perspective. It connects the seemingly largest community with the seemingly largest control. If, on the other hand, the waltz music 80 Film clip: https: / / www.youtube.com/ watch? v=q3oHmVhviO8 [accessed 1/ 25/ 23]. 81 According to the proposed interpretation, an extradiegetic chorus is perceived as a (social) space: as a model or merely a stage direction for the community of an audience. 82 In the circus, too, the music has to follow the horses in reverse, cf. Reto Parolari: Circusmusik in Theorie und Praxis, Winterthur: Swiss Music, 2005, p. 30. 83 Marshall McLuhan: Understanding Media. The Extensions of Man, London: McGraw-Hill, 1964, pp. 7 - 28. What and how shift by one level in the transition between imitation and expressive aesthetics: in an imitation, the thing imitated is the what and the medium of its representation is the how. Here, on the other hand, the medium is the what, and its use is the how. In place of an absent world, there is a model that can be embodied: the viewer or listener enlivens the ‘ what ’ . 352 Mathias Spohr were to sound ‘ diegetic ’ on board the spaceship or inside the astronaut ’ s helmet, it would merely be part of a ridiculously small inner world facing a gigantic lifeless outer world. The collapse of the omnipotent zero focalization (according to Gérard Genette) into an extremely limited internal focalization (that of a lonely human being in space) is the dramaturgical principle of the film ’ s music, which draws attention to the contradiction between the intoxication of power and actual powerlessness - similar to the music of Kubrick ’ s A Clockwork Orange (1971), with Beethoven as the proverbial vanitas overcomer. A solitary diegetic illusion lacks consensus, whereas a shared extradiegetic illusion claims reality as a vision. Loss of control is the theme of the film, as the controlled technology comes to life and the on-board computer HAL rebels against the astronauts (which could also be a delusion of the hero, who has to live in the spaceship without communication, and also mirrors the situation of the viewer, who cannot talk to the film and its characters). Relationship partners are out of reach for the astronaut on his heroic mission, and technology is not a communicative counterpart, but can at best be controlled. The waltz music mutates in retrospect from a vision of boundless community to a symbol of the missing dance partner, from identity to vanitas. What would be the answer to the question posed at the beginning? The filmic waltz is a dance without a real partner: the ‘ waltz ’ of the spectator with the film is repeated in the action of the film as the ‘ waltz ’ of a character with an object. The absence of a partner can be perceived as an opportunity for action, but this absence is only cancelled out when the music is taken from the film and used by the singing and dancing audience to realize relationships. Performance, as a shared expression, thus triumphs over diegesis without remaining imaginary. However, control is then no longer guaranteed. Why is this principle of perception present in all media? Because we have to learn and practise it like the grammar of a language. This behaviour is not trivial or self-evident. While older vanitas rhetoric warns of a loss of social relations, with viewers losing themselves in the illusions of lifeless records and mechanisms, newer identity rhetoric values the unifying control that such illusions allow. The partnerlessness of the film waltz can put off the viewer or, on the contrary, encourage him or her in a defiant way, because control is a promise of power. The promise ‘ you may imagine ’ is crucial to the sense of identity. It reflects the shared power of a community. Readers or viewers imagine a reality and mirror themselves into what is missing. References Achermann, Eric 1997: Worte und Werte. Geld und Sprache bei Gottfried Wilhelm Leibniz, Johann Georg Hamann und Adam Müller, Tübingen: Niemeyer Anderson, Benedict 2006: Imagined Communities: Reflections on the Origin and Spread of Nationalism, revised edition, London: Verso Asad, Talal 2007: On Suicide Bombing, New York: Columbia Univ. Press Baudrillard, Jean 1981: Simulacres et simulation, Paris: Galilée Benjamin, Walter 1991: Gesammelte Schriften, Frankfurt am Main: Suhrkamp The Waltz in Film 353 Braun, Rudolf & David Gugerli 1993: Macht des Tanzes, Tanz der Mächtigen. Hoffeste und Herrschaftszeremoniell 1550 - 1914, Munich: Beck Braun, Michael & Werner Kamp 2012: ‘ Pathos im Kopf. Musik und Mindscreen in Stanley Kubricks Eyes Wide Shut (1999) ’ , in: Sandra Poppe (ed.): Emotionen in Literatur und Film, Würzburg: Königshausen & Neumann, 267 - 80 Butler, Judith 2 1999: Gender Trouble: Feminism and the Subversion of Identity, New York: Routledge Chion, Michel 1995: La musique au cinéma, Paris: Fayard Csáky, Moritz 1998: Ideologie der Operette und Wiener Moderne. Ein kulturhistorischer Essay zur österreichischen Identität, Vienna: Böhlau Dahlhaus, Carl 1976: Musikästhetik, Cologne: Hans Gerig Drügh, Heinz 2015: ‘ Overstanding Robert Wises The Sound of Music. Überlegungen zu Österreichs berühmtesten Film-Exilanten ’ , in: Ulrich Meurer, Maria Oikonomou (eds.): Fremdbilder. Auswanderung und Exil im internationalen Kino, Bielefeld: transcript Engelbert, Arthur 2014: Global Images. Eine Studie zur Praxis der Bilder, Bielefeld: transcript von Flemming, Victoria & Julia Catherine Berger (eds.) 2022: Vanitas als Wiederholung, Berlin: de Gruyter Fuxjäger, Anton 2007: ‘ Diegese, Diegesis, diegetisch: Versuch einer Begriffsentwirrung ’ , in: montage AV, 16.2 (2007): 17 - 37 Genette, Gérard 1972: Figures III, Paris: Seuil Goffman, Erving 1974: Frame Analysis: An Essay on the Organisation of Experience, London: Harper and Row Iknayan, Marguerite 1983: The Concave Mirror. From Imitation to Expression in French Esthetic Theory 1800 - 1830, Stanford: California Univ. Press von Keitz, Ursula & Philipp Stiasny (eds.) 2017: Der Tanz und das Kino, Marburg: Schüren Kierkegaard, Sören [1843]: Die Wiederholung, Copenhagen, 1843, ed. Hans Rochol, Hamburg: Meiner 2000 Lim, Suk Won 2011: Die Allegorie ist die Armatur der Moderne. Zum Wechselverhältnis von Allegoriebegriff und Medientheorie bei Walter Benjamin, Würzburg: Königshausen & Neumann Lissa, Zofia 1974: ‘ Zur Theorie der musikalischen Rezeption ’ , in: Archiv für Musikwissenschaft, 3 (1974), 157 - 169 McLuhan, Marshall 1964: Understanding Media. The Extensions of Man, London: McGraw-Hill Luhmann, Niklas 1992: Die Wissenschaft der Gesellschaft, Frankfurt am Main: Suhrkamp Luhmann, Niklas 1993: ‘ Die Form der Schrift ’ , in: Hans Ulrich Gumbrecht & Karl Ludwig Pfeiffer (eds.): Schrift, Munich: Fink, 337 - 348 Luhmann, Niklas 1994: Liebe als Passion. Zur Codierung von Intimität, Frankfurt am Main: Suhrkamp Maas, Georg & Wolfgang Thiel, Hans J. Wulff (eds.) 2022: Walzerfilme und Filmwalzer, Marburg: Schüren Magdanz, Teresa Marlies 2006: The Celluloid Waltz: Memories of the Fairground Carousel, Ph. D. thesis, Univ. of Toronto Marquard, Odo & Karlheinz Stierle (eds.) 1979: Identität, München: Fink Nieberle, Sigrid 2013: ‘ Auf glattem Parkett. Ballszenen in der Literaturverfilmung ’ , in: Internationales Archiv für Sozialgeschichte der deutschen Literatur, 38.2 (2013): 427 - 442 Parolari Reto 2005: Circusmusik in Theorie und Praxis, Winterthur: Swiss Music Schneider, Herbert (ed.) 1996: Das Vaudeville. Funktionen eines multimedialen Phänomens, Hildesheim: Olms Seashore, Carl E. 1938: Psychology of Music, New York: McGraw-Hill Spohr, Mathias 1994: ‘ Pygmalion ’ , in: Carl Dahlhaus & Sieghart Döhring (eds.): Pipers Enzyklopädie des Musiktheaters, vol. 5, Munich: Piper, 464 f. 354 Mathias Spohr Spohr, Mathias 1997: ‘ Wiederholung und Neugestaltung im Theater ’ , in: Maske und Kothurn, 43.4 (1997): 19 - 23 Spohr, Mathias: ‘ Musikgeschichte ist Mediengeschichte ’ , in: dissonanz/ Dissonance, 56 (May 1998): 6 - 12 Spohr, Mathias 2002: ‘ Melodrama - technische Medien, stumme Figuren und die Illusion des Ausdrucks ’ , in: Claudia Jeschke & Hans-Peter Bayerdörfer (eds.): Bewegung im Blick. Beiträge zu einer theaterwissenschaftlichen Bewegungsforschung, Berlin: Vorwerk, 258 - 273 Spohr, Mathias 2001: ‘ Das Problem der Vanitas. Goethes Faust und das Faust-Sujet im populären Musiktheater ’ , in: Maske und Kothurn, 45.3 - 4 (1999): 71 - 91. Spohr, Mathias 2002: ‘ Austauschbar oder unverwechselbar? Person und Funktion in der Filmoperette ’ , in: Günter Krenn & Armin Loacker (eds.): Zauber der Bohème, Vienna: Filmarchiv Austria, 415 - 34 Spohr, Mathias 2003: ‘ Social Compatibility in a Two Gender Society. The Waltz as a Technical Medium ’ , in: Kodikas/ Code. Ars Semeiotica, 26.3 - 4 (2003): 217 - 23 Spohr, Mathias 2003: ‘ Noverres Lettres sur la danse, et sur les ballets (1760) aus mediengeschichtlicher Sicht ’ , in: Kodikas/ Code. Ars Semeiotica, 26.3 - 4 (2003): 209 - 216 Spohr, Mathias 2003: Das gemeinsame Maß. Ansätze zu einer allgemeinen Medientheorie, Salzburg: Mueller-Speiser Spohr, Mathias 2005: ‘ Wirkung ohne Ursache. Richard Wagner zitiert Pierre Joseph Proudhon ’ , in: Thomas Betzwieser et al. (eds.): Bühnenklänge, Munich: Ricordi Spohr, Mathias 2009: ‘ Videoloops - Zeichen ohne Aura? ’ , in: Kodikas/ Code. Ars semeiotica, 32.1 - 2 (2009): 151 - 160 Spohr, Mathias 2011: ‘ Music und Vanitas. Das Musikensemble als Symbol der Institution ’ , in: Dissonanz/ Dissonance, 113 (March 2011): 12 - 17 Spohr, Mathias 2012: ‘ Das Paradigma des Performativen und die Vanitas ’ , in: Kati Röttger (ed.): Welt - Bild - Theater, vol. 2: Bildästhetik im Bühnenraum, Tübingen: Narr 2012, 133 - 141 Spohr, Mathias 2012: ‘ Filmmusik ’ , in: Daniel Brandenburg et al. (eds.): Wagner-Lexikon, Laaber: Laaber, 217 - 19 Spohr, Mathias 2013: “ Raimund und Nestroy - der Vanitas-Überwinder und der Vanitas-Erneuerer? ” , in: Nestroyana 33.1 - 2 (2013): 22 - 38 Spohr, Mathias (ed.) 2015: Swiss Film Music. Anthology 1923 - 2012, Zurich: Chronos Thiel, Wolfgang 2017: ‘ Kino im Dreivierteltakt. Die dramaturgische Funktion des Walzers im Spielfilm ’ , in: Ursula von Keitz, Philipp Stiasny (eds.): Der Tanz und das Kino, Marburg: Schüren, 12 - 31 Wulff, Hans J. 2009: ‘ Der Schock des Realen: Einige Bemerkungen zur ästhetischen und politischen Wirkungsdramaturgie von Ari Folman ’ s WALTZ WITH BASHIR ’ , in: Tà katoptrizómena - Magazin für Kunst, Kultur, Theologie und Ästhetik, 61 (2009), URL: https: / / www.theomag.de/ 61/ hjw9.htm Wulff, Hans J. 2013: ‘ Textsemantische Grundlagen der Analyse von Musikszenen und musikalischen Inserts ’ , in: Kieler Beiträge zur Filmmusikforschung, 9 (2013): 224 - 292 Wuss, Peter 1996: ‘ Narrative Tension in Antonioni ’ , in: Peter Vorderer et al. (eds.): Suspense: Conceptualizations, Theoretical Analyses, and Empirical Explorations, Hillsdale, N. J.: Lawrence Erlbaum, 51 - 70 Ziegler, Walther & Ulrich Hegerl 2002: ‘ Der Werther-Effekt. Bedeutung, Mechanismen, Konsequenzen ’ , in: Der Nervenarzt, 73 (2002): 41 - 49 The Waltz in Film 355 K O D I K A S / C O D E Volume 43 (2020) · No. 3 - 4 Gunter Narr Verlag Tübingen Dietegen on Instagram: Social media as a stage for theater Mathias Spohr Abstract: From a futuristic theater production from 2019, a 15th-century Swiss mercenary has become a social media influencer, fearlessly fighting and promoting a war he himself does not understand. Gottfried Keller, the author of the literary model, had created a satirical Swiss folk hero with this material. He was aware of the contrast between the thirst for identity of his own time and the vanitas of the time of his late medieval models. The social media production could show that the older vanitas is well understood again today, but at odds with the intentions of the social media operators. Keywords: Identity, vanitas, music theater, global literature, fiction in social media, influencers, history of public spheres, sociology of technology. Zusammenfassung: Ausgehend von einer futuristischen Theaterproduktion aus dem Jahre 2019 wird ein Schweizer Söldner aus dem 15. Jahrhundert zum Social-Media- Influencer, der furchtlos für einen Krieg kämpft und wirbt, den er selbst nicht versteht. Gottfried Keller, der Autor der literarischen Vorlage, hatte mit diesem Stoff einen satirischen Schweizer Volkshelden geschaffen. Er war sich des Widerspruchs zwischen dem Identitätsdrang seiner eigenen Zeit und der Vanitas seiner spätmittelalterlichen Vorlagen bewusst. Die Social-Media-Inszenierung konnte zeigen, dass die ältere Vanitas heute wieder gut verstanden wird, aber im Widerspruch zu den Absichten der Social- Media-Betreiber steht. Schlüsselbegriffe: Identität, Vanitas, Musiktheater, Weltliteratur, Fiktion in sozialen Medien, Influencer, Geschichte der Öffentlichkeit, Techniksoziologie. 1 Introduction The theater performance Dietegen, based on a story by Gottfried Keller, was staged in Zurich in September 2019 as a kind of Swiss anti-festival play on the occasion of the 200th anniversary of Gottfried Keller ’ s birth. In Switzerland, there has been a tradition of open-air patriotic plays and festivals since the late 19th century, which increased during the world wars and still has some remnants (Künzli 2011). The Dietegen production made an ironic reference to this tradition by premiering at the Zurich Knabenschiessen, a traditional shooting competition for young people. It was a free professional theater production, financed with funds from the Gottfried Keller Jubilee. 1 I acted as director and producer in a three-person management team. The production was staged under the aegis of an organization called Spuren der Zukunft (Traces of the Future), founded for the jubilee events, and the preparations took about two years. The following text will focus less on the theater version and more on the social media presentation that emerged from the theater production at the time of the 2020 - 21 Covid pandemic, with its new opportunities and challenges when theaters were closed. It will conclude by asking whether the current transformation of public spheres is not a more urgent issue for current debates than content. At the heart of this is the question of who is in control. The text is therefore less a critique or analysis than a discussion of this change, which is already inherent in the production. 2 Theater production Keller ’ s 1874 story, set in the late Middle Ages, was transposed to a dystopian Swiss future in 2050. The Tonhalle Maag, the city ’ s most prestigious concert hall, was transformed into a gloomy sound space filled with electronic sounds by composer Bruno Spoerri. Four singers acted as the ‘ inner voices ’ of the main characters. They improvised according to the composer ’ s instructions and suggestions. The voice artist Saadet Türköz lent Dietegen her voice and formed the musical heart of the performance. It is a voice that the warrior and protagonist Dietegen hears as tinnitus in his head, which he explains as being caused by the radiation sickness that most of his contemporaries suffer from. Weapons and acts of war that play an important role in this story can be portrayed more convincingly on film than in the theater. So, the event was conceived as a multimedia performance, incorporating seemingly authentic film clips and photographs with the same actors as on stage. In the theater performance, which roughly followed the plot without trying to tell a logical story, the pre-produced images and films were mixed with live recordings of the actors made with their cell phones, transferred to a central computer and projected onto a backdrop in changing compositions. Indoor dialogues took place live, while outdoor scenes were pre-produced, but also commented on live on stage. In essence, live action and projections took place simultaneously. In contrast to the ‘ cinematic ’ projection screen, the performers ’ actions were distributed throughout the space, which has ideal acoustics as a concert hall. This was accompanied by electronically mixed surround sound, which also mixed live recorded sound with pre-produced sound. The performers on stage almost always played with their backs to the audience, recording themselves. These images, as well as the pre-produced videos and photos (by the film director Ivan Engler who directed the Swiss science fiction film Cargo in 2009) were projected onto the screen (Engler 2019), divided into sixteen practicable doors, which also constituted the main stage set. The rest of the action took place in the auditorium and behind the stage. The main languages were Swiss German and English. In the crowd scenes, which took place in the auditorium, the actors used their native languages, so that more than ten 1 The unreferenced statements in this text are based on my own experience as the director and producer. For more detailed information about the production cf. Spohr 2019. Dietegen on Instagram 357 languages could be heard simultaneously. They played the fates of individual victims of war, immersed in a common sound that stood in space as a Gesamtkunstwerk as in Wagnerian opera. Richard Wagner had developed his idea of the Gesamtkunstwerk in his writing Das Kunstwerk der Zukunft (1850) under the influence of Swiss cooperatives, and saw it as a vision of society in which alienating divisions would be overcome. Swiss music and theater performances around 1850, in which Friedrich Schiller ’ s idea of freedom played an important role, appeared as a nucleus of democracy after the failed revolution of 1848. 2 In Dietegen ’ s science fiction theater setting this future society appeared as a disorderly, confused, yet touching crowd of the voices of war victims. Unlike opera, there were no obvious principles of order for the voices, such as meter and pitch, but the lack of comprehensibility of the text and the formation of a common acoustic expression were in keeping with opera. 3 Instagram account As there were no more performances during the pandemic, Dietegen took a different route. Audiovisual material, partly pre-produced and partly from the performances, was posted on Figure 1: Posted on Instagram 4/ 13/ 2021. Late medieval history has been modernized. 2 In Switzerland, people in turn were very aware of Richard Wagner ’ s ideas, see Max Widmann. Die Frage der schweizerischen Nationalbühne. Bern: K. J. Wyss, 1892, p. 23. 358 Mathias Spohr the social networking site Instagram. 3 There was a total of 300 contributions, the so-called posts: photos and videos with written comments posted at intervals of about three to five days between May 2019 and November 2022. The story, from Küngolt ’ s drug party to her rescue before her execution, was told chronologically, as if it were happening right now. For promotional purposes, the account was originally designed as a fictional blog of the main character, who thus becomes an influencer describing his seemingly positive experiences of everyday war life (Rippmann 2019). Theater characters ’ blogs have become a common form of presentation in productions where theater and social media meet (cf. Le Saux-Farmer 2020). The vanity fair of blogging, with its pretense of reality and its selfdramatization (cf. Schachtner 2020), was confronted with the Dietegen myth in an uncomfortable way. Instead of having the bloggers portray themselves more favourably than they are, the comfortable Swiss existence of the actors was juxtaposed with the visionary emergency situation of their characters, as if it were a desirable goal, a promising dream of the future. Because of this change in function, the medium of Instagram has become not only a transmission channel or a marketing tool for a theater (which, as experience has shown, can Figure 2: Posted on Instagram 12/ 8/ 2019. Actors recorded themselves on their character ’ s cell phones, which was projected live onto a backdrop. 3 Instagram account Dietegen: https: / / www.instagram.com/ dietegen/ [accessed 7/ 3/ 2023] Dietegen on Instagram 359 only have limited success 4 ), but the theater itself. 5 It was therefore important to thematize the medium in the plot: the last mobile network in 2050 is supposed to be run by an opaque monopoly called the Pear Group, and the last currency in existence is their cryptocurrency Global Coin. This allowed for topical references. Advertisements and more or less serious investment offers appear constantly in this medium and could be integrated into the plot. Dietegen is always interested in making money, and also shakes his head at people who seem to live in the past. 4 Story According to Keller ’ s story, Dietegen is a late 15th-century mercenary who makes his living fighting the Burgundian army and dreams of killing the Burgundian prince Charles the Bold. But he is drawn away from his war adventures to help his stepsister, who has been kidnapped and sentenced to death by the rival neighboring village of Ruechenstein, a fictional place in Switzerland. Dietegen was hanged as a child by the same Ruechensteiners for allegedly obtaining a weapon by fraud, but survived the execution. This went unnoticed until he was rescued by a little girl named Küngolt who noticed that something was still moving in his coffin. 6 He grows up with the rescuer ’ s family in Seldwyla, another fictional place in Switzerland, and she considers him a possession and future husband. Dietegen is taught the use of weapons by her father, is taken on war campaigns, and eventually escapes from her control. Considered rebellious, Küngolt is accused of a murder that occurred at a party she hosted, because she had distributed a drug. Sentenced to hard labor in the local cemetery, she is kidnapped by the victim ’ s relatives seeking revenge. 7 Her stepbrother returns from a war campaign and prevents Küngolt ’ s execution by ransoming her and marrying her, since she, like him, is an orphan, her father and Dietegen ’ s teacher having been killed in the war. He does not want to owe anyone anything, says Dietegen, who is also not very talkative in Gottfried Keller ’ s original story. After the two have started a large family and Dietegen has fallen in battle, Küngolt freezes to death at his grave. Keller had based his story on late medieval sources, so his tale was in part a ‘ true story. ’ Such stories are still conceivable today in Africa or the Middle East. By 2050, according to this interpretation, they will also be commonplace again in Switzerland. What four years ago was dismissed as a far-fetched fantasy now seems realistic, and it seems to have aroused real fears. 4 On the potential of social media to support theater productions cf. Haley 2017. 5 For an introduction to the various relationships between social media and theater cf. Lonergan 2015. 6 Post from 9/ 12/ 2022 (5000 views from Iran and Turkey without paid promotion, this feature was already disabled). https: / / www.instagram.com/ p/ CiZnygIDhQd/ [accessed 7/ 4/ 2023] 7 Post from 8/ 13/ 2021 (40,000 views mostly from India with 8 € paid promotion). https: / / www.instagram.com/ p/ CSgy8yODYCG/ [accessed 7/ 3/ 2023] 360 Mathias Spohr 5 Urgency and timelessness On Instagram, this is a kind of comic-book sequence of images and videos, in reverse order, with the most recent post at the top left of the page and the oldest one at the bottom right. This order inspires a play with time: the simple plot of the underlying narrative allows for flashbacks, repetition, slow motion, fast motion, and a constant interplay between past and future, always in relation to the ‘ total presence ’ of the respective current post. Everything is past, present and future at the same time, parodying the principle of live broadcasting. Urgency and mythical timelessness meet in a paradoxical way, especially when it comes to the subject of war as a timeless and always urgent phenomenon. More precisely, two kinds of urgency constantly meet: a pleasant determinism that corresponds to the suspenseful course of a thriller and does not put the reader or viewer in danger, and a demonic determinism of naked violence that threatens the consumer as a realistic vision of the future. It is up to the viewer to decide whether he or she wants to understand indifference, non-committal suspense, funny jokes or an urgent warning. The numerous flashbacks of Dietegen on Instagram are linked to the topos of traumatic memory proposed by Yevgenya Strakovsky for the character of Dietegen (Strakovsky 2018). Dietegen ’ s fearful memories that repeatedly disturb his optimism mirror his viewers ’ fearful visions of the Figure 3: Posted on Instagram 3/ 19/ 2020. After the stabbing at Küngolt ’ s party. The image qualities explain the medium in which the images were taken. Dietegen on Instagram 361 future. However, it is not necessary to understand everything in order to follow this account. The sense of mystery and the idea of the first-person narrator are enough. A tightrope walk between comedy and seriousness, or between aesthetics and sheer misery, is already inherent in the literary model. In this post-apocalyptic situation, the legendary Swiss countryside has disappeared in the nuclear winter. All the characters try to survive by destroying more and more of what is left of their livelihood without even realizing it. It was decided to remove all of Keller ’ s religious references, as they are most likely to be misunderstood today. Keller ’ s mockery of the Jewish junk dealer who sells Dietegen the crossbow or of the Catholic priest who assists in Küngolt ’ s execution could be interpreted as discriminatory. Both characters are therefore omitted. Death is very sober in this secularized society: Keller ’ s cemetery where Küngolt has to serve her sentence turns into a crematorium, which in the photos and videos is an industrial site. Keller himself was an early advocate of cremation. The hog-banner (Saubanner) of the rebellious Swiss warriors of 1477 becomes a wild boar label reminiscent of today ’ s hit squads. Gottfried Keller ’ s Ruechensteiners are proud of their executions, which they use to boost their morale. 6 Images and imagination Keller was inspired by Diebold Schilling ’ s late medieval illustrated chronicle of Swiss history, in which cute little men are shown stabbing each other to death. He apparently saw in it a parallel to the ponderous, humorous narrative tone of the late 19th century, especially in German popular literature to be read aloud in the family parlor, a genre which he himself had helped to shape and in which even the gruesome could be turned into pleasure. The cruelty of the Ruechensteiners becomes a cheerful, picturesque hustle and bustle. The complacency of his readers and viewers, which Keller ironically anticipated in his stories, now seems to coincide with the collective self-reflection of blogs and selfies on the Internet. Keller was well aware of the vanitas of late medieval depictions and understood their contrast with the identity frenzy of his time. He avoided taking a position and instead highlighted the contradictions between the two perceptions. The popular heroic tales of his time, in which Swiss peasants sacrifice themselves for freedom in the manner of William Tell or Arnold Winkelried, did not appeal to Keller, although he initially had visions similar to Richard Wagner ’ s of a national Swiss festival culture (cf. Amrein 2016). He questioned the models, and to this day their interpretation leads to a kind of infinite regress. Dietegen ’ s war adventures never seem to end, they remain in a vicious circle. But suddenly death arrives and everything is frozen into an image that will in turn serve as a role model for future generations, like the fictional painting of Küngolt described by Keller at the end of his story, where she has turned from a fallen girl into a bourgeois lady. The wild boar logo of the mercenaries around Dietegen is perhaps the clearest example of how the revaluation of images is handled in the theater production. It refers to the Swiss forces ’ Saubannerzug 1477 (see Miller, Embleton 1979: 27). The hog banner, used by discontented Swiss mercenaries after the Battle of Nancy to demand more pay, is still cited in Switzerland today as a sign of a disorderly and illegitimate uprising, in the sense of the older vanitas. It is intended as a deterrent, not an encouragement like the Swiss national 362 Mathias Spohr symbols since the 19th century. In Dietegen ’ s theater production, however, it becomes a symbol of identity, proudly displayed by Dietegen and his stepfather, inviting the hesitant viewer to join in. Contrary to this spiral of revaluation, the Instagram narrative interprets Dietegen as a constant and inevitable decline. The hermeneutics of art lovers appears as an infinite regress, a vicious circle. Natalie Moser speaks of the iconic surplus of the images (ikonischer Überschuss), which is already present in the original (Moser 2022). In Keller ’ s story, she discovers an abundance of images that serve as ironic role models, and the characters in the story in turn become models for the reader. The rebellious, self-confident Küngolt, who has no chance in the plot and literally freezes to death in front of Dietegen ’ s grave, finally becomes a decent woman in a silent and motionless picture “ by a good painter ” , which is all that remains of her. This historical source is also a forgery. Paradoxically, Keller describes an abundance of images in the medium of text. He had begun his career as a painter and ended it as a successful writer. 7 Technical features With ‘ likes ’ being the only pre-determined reaction that can be given to the Instagram posts, it is never clear whether the statements themselves or their aesthetic presentation are being appreciated. The viewer is torn between the attraction of beautiful images and the deterrent of the protagonist ’ s enthusiasm for war. Interaction on Instagram can take the form of likes, comments on posts that can turn into dialogues, shared posts between accounts or posts that are a collaboration between two accounts. Posts can also appear in a hashtag. These are keywords that group posts from different accounts together, are not exclusive and can be used by anyone (e. g. #dietegen is a hashtag for all participants and some followers who contributed to it, #küngi, #küngisexecution or #dietegensnightmares are hashtags that summarize parts of the story thematically - and were at least temporarily made invisible by the censors). In principle, it is possible to promote posts for which you can specify monetary amounts and target audiences, but despite the numbers presented, there is no real overview or control over who these posts were shown to and when. 8 Audience Over time, Dietegen has created its audience. A seemingly peaceful world community of followers and likers seems to be unanimously on the side of the thoroughly unpeaceful and rather egotistical hero, like a big family, to whom he can be eternally grateful for their idealistic support. They seem to form a Rousseau-like global village, a common identity in which all disputes are overcome. The principle of the 19th-century hero story is thus faithfully implemented, but the influencer Dietegen just wants to get by somehow. For all his talk of honor and gratitude, he wants to earn a good reputation and make money. The interest in this presentation from the Balkans, the Middle East, India, Africa and the unstable states of Latin America seems here to realize in a globalized way what was once called world literature. Dietegen on Instagram 363 The original marketing intent of Dietegen ’ s social media accounts on Facebook and Instagram didn ’ t work but making the Instagram presence itself the main thing worked well. With Instagram, it was possible to create not only a kind of replacement for the performances that did not materialize during the pandemic, but also a kind of further development of the idea. It was an opportunity to reach a much larger audience than with the theater performances, an audience that did not have any knowledge of Swiss history and literature. The language of the Instagram texts is English, that of the video dialogues Swiss German. Because of the language, most of the followers are from the USA, the UK, India and Nigeria. However, Brazil, Turkey and Iran are also well represented, and there are comments in Russian, Arabic and Persian. Users under the age of 18 have apparently been blocked from the account, those aged 18 - 35 generally just watch without participating, those who contribute with likes and comments are on average older than 40 and make up about a third of the regular audience. 8 9 The shock of violence Apparently, the account was listed as dangerous: Instagram ’ s censorship limited the public visibility of this account every time a global political crisis occurred, from the Covid pandemic in 2020 to the attack on the U. S. Capitol in 2021, from the outbreak of the war in Ukraine in 2022 to the protests in Iran in 2023. Indeed, there was an echo from people affected by war and arbitrariness from all over the world. Each of these crises brought new followers to the account, but also caused new blocks of seemingly dangerous content. On the other hand, it was also possible to react to current events with images from the Dietegen narrative. Since the Russian invasion of Ukraine, the warlike theme of the updated late medieval original has been perceived differently and has been increasingly subject to censorship. However, the shock of violence is followed by a certain habituation to violence, which is particularly evident in Western reactions to the contributions. In the eyes of the participants, it ’ s a success that one can be seen as a nuisance and a danger with a seemingly outdated narrative material: although the depictions of violence are nowhere near those of the average TV crime drama, visibility has been reduced and new blockades and restrictions were constantly being imposed. Imagined violence is apparently more powerful than that which is openly shown. 10 Reality and fiction Why is such a production considered disruptive? During the lockdown caused by the Covid pandemic in 2020 (cf. Fuchs 2022), the awareness of ‘ distant realities ’ that are nonetheless real increased, as did the need to fend off attempts at deception. Because everything was 8 Statistics as of June 25, 2023: 5791 followers. Most represented cities: Lagos 2.7 %, London 1.2 %, Istanbul 1.2 %, Bagdad 1.2 %, New York City 1.1 %. Countries: USA 11.4 %, Nigeria 6.3 %, United Kingdom 4.8 %, Germany 4.5 %, India 4.4 %. 364 Mathias Spohr seen on the same screen, it was important to separate the frames: this is theater (or fiction), this is reality. Even everyday life was imagined in front of a screen. On the other hand, fiction has the advantage of being controllable, unlike reality, and the fear of losing control characterized the time of the pandemic. But it is difficult to make a clear distinction between reality and fiction. Social media, not just Instagram, tells its users: you can make your own narrative come true, and we ’ ll help you do it. It ’ s about the success of dreams or claims. Compared to all the inflated self-portraits with extended fingernails or fancy cars that expect a big stage of their own, even the fiction of this 19th-century novel takes on something strangely subversive. It competes with and mocks the individual make-believe worlds. Of course, in a world of wishful thinking that claims to be real and is supported by the media, belief in election results or evidence of war crimes fades. Only one ’ s own imagination seems to create reality, and reality and solidarity are closely linked. The justification for art theater is that it shows a kind of reality even in fiction. 9 It is about a truth in the sense of probability. This is exactly what is not valued in a world where realities are in danger: when political lies destroy the evidence or, conversely, evidence destroys political solidarity. On social media, dystopian fictions that see themselves as the opposite of reality are more common, such as cosplayers who appear in standardized warrior costumes: men heavily armored, women half-naked. This kind of fiction usually signals a clear demarcation between the performers and the world they play. It says: I ’ m okay, and what I ’ m playing will never be reality. Fictional game and real world are strictly separate. Theater or fiction in general that deals with the present or future possibility of such imaginings, or even claims them as distant realities, is not necessarily welcome. It warns of the vision rather than triumphing over a dominated fiction in a perfect costume. The cosplayers unfollowed Dietegen when this intention became clear. The cosplayers ’ imagined world is not realistic but controlled, Dietegen ’ s imagined world is realistic and uncontrollable. Fiction and the assertion of reality are a pressing issue of our time, as is the transformation of public spheres. There is no such thing as the general public or objectivity anymore. Reality can be a narrative. The individualization of social media contradicts an older understanding of the public sphere: newspapers, television, cinema or theater still offer everyone the same observer ’ s perspective. Even the audience in the cheap seats in the gallery of old theater buildings could, in principle, see the entire stage and the performance from beginning to end. Social media is fundamentally different, because it tries to individually determine who gets to see what. 11 Censorship This brings us back to the issue of censorship. How does censorship work on Instagram? I can only speak from my experience. Either one ’ s ability to act, such as commenting, messaging or liking is restricted, or the scope of one ’ s posts in the feed and hashtags is limited to the point of de facto invisibility. Deletions of posts are rare: Dietegen had only two 9 For a short overview of artistic fiction in social media cf. Sant 2014. Dietegen on Instagram 365 deleted posts, some deleted comments, and some posts with comments or hashtags disabled; the opaque punitive measures predominate. When visibility is restricted, the reason remains unclear. Mostly there is no information at all. Control, rewards and punishments are handled by an algorithm whose automatic actions have so much randomness built into them that they cannot be predicted. This results in a kind of Blade Runner scenario: machines try to find out which of their opponents is equally a machine. 10 Especially when irony is misunderstood, it becomes clear that some kind of artificial intelligence is at work. There is something totalitarian about the randomness of the algorithm. A machine is only fun if you can control it. The automatic analysis of photos and comment texts apparently sounds an alarm for weapons in the picture and for words like “ shoot ” or “ gun. ” Complaints from other users also play a role, and viral successes are automatically stopped or prevented. Many views in Iran or in some African countries make what is seen suspicious, and rural areas of the US are particularly well protected from seemingly dangerous influences. The system of censorship is quite sophisticated and tries to serve those who want to do business undisturbed. Storytelling is seen as a marketing tool, not an artistic intent (cf. Moin 2020). Paid content promotion was disabled for Dietegen, after it had been successful a few times in Africa, India, and the Middle East. When the hashtags of videos were made permanently invisible (this is called a “ shadow ban ” ), we promoted some of them and got many thousands of views for a few euros. As a result, this feature was blocked. 12 Conclusions The conclusions drawn from four years of experience confirm the concept of this social media presence. The main character Dietegen is already dead but survives forever, just like his pictures and videos. Instagram itself is the dystopian world in which Dietegen moves, and he must defend himself against the thieves and scammers who lurk along his path. Theater in social media has become theater about social media. The worldwide contacts with interesting and interested people are the positive side of the project. Marshall McLuhan ’ s vision of a global village (McLuhan 1962) is thus becoming a reality. But a quick success remains too superficial despite the technical possibilities. Relationships take time to develop. Instagram has signaled from the start, even if there is no direct communication, that this project is tolerated, but not really wanted. The suspicion of manipulation that was associated with the mass media in the mid-20th century seems to have been dispelled by the individual treatment of users. It seems that they are not brought into line, but can choose for themselves. The seemingly boring or sinister fact that all readers of a book or a newspaper receive the same product, which is still a principle of cinema and television, actually comes from the theater. It already applied to illiterates, for example at the events at the Parisian fairs (cf. Isherwood 1981). This was once considered a principle of equal rights and had to be fought for in the 18th and 19th centuries. The public sphere of the 20th century was the result. 11 With social media, however, a pre- 10 Blade-Runner. Director Ridley Scott. USA 1982. 117 min. 11 For further reflections about equality in Dietegen cf. Spohr 2019. 366 Mathias Spohr modern state of affairs seems to have been restored, with gracious ladies and gentlemen deciding what content is ‘ relevant ’ to which of their subjects, as it is so aptly put. It seems to be a gift for the users that they are not treated equally, but individually. There is no longer any talk of equality. This, however, goes hand in hand with seemingly unlimited selfrealization, which may be possible for a few powerful people, but remains an illusion for the rest. Dietegen feels free as a well-paid mercenary, but he is a pawn in the hands of his warlords and the Pear Group, who only shows him a slice of the world online. He doesn ’ t really know what he ’ s doing and can ’ t judge it. He only controls his gun. This is something he has in common with his followers who only control their cell phones. There can be a right to equal information, but not necessarily a right to equal selfpublication, which Angela Merkel even demanded for Donald Trump when his Twitter account was deactivated after his attempted coup. 12 Users can be treated equally, but the power cannot lie in the hands of individual users if they can undermine this justice, even when they are followed voluntarily. The equal but passive users of former times seemingly have become actors themselves. Paradoxically, this individualization goes hand in hand with disempowerment, making most users, like Dietegen in his story, a pawn in obscure power struggles that they serve without understanding them. All media bear responsibility, just as a newspaper does for published letters to the editor. Instagram ’ s understandable fear of being blamed for the next high-school massacre seems to run deep, and because of the lack of transparency, no public can have a say. Only the clandestine reporting of unwanted content, denunciation so to speak, is possible. There can be no theatrical scandals on social media, 13 as was the tradition in Europe until the 1970s, in a different kind of public sphere than the one we are experiencing today. The scandals challenged the public control that had been assumed and guaranteed. Today, controversial content is no longer shown to a large audience anymore but, if possible, only to like-minded people. If these people become radicalized, the majority does not know about it, and the operators could encourage or suppress it, as with the Russian military bloggers during the Ukraine war. The fascination of being able to make a difference at the touch of a button comes at the price of an imperceptible narrowing of one ’ s vision and visibility. And the shared values do not lead to a global community, but to the opposite. The gun enthusiast Dietegen puts it in a nutshell when he says to a Russian follower: “ We ’ re one big family. Aren ’ t we? ” 14 The martial idea of community in heroic stories cannot create a community in a globalized world. At its core, it is the emancipatory desire that “ we can do things and no longer have to ask ” that unites media users. However, if the role model for this ability is a warrior, the question arises as to who is left as an enemy if everyone is a successful warrior. It may be questionable to declare ‘ users ’ to be a community, as the example of gun users shows. This criticism is obvious in the case of Dietegen. If enthusiasm for war becomes a deterrent to war, and identity turns into vanitas, because the observers see that this idea doesn't work, then enthusiasm for business can also become a deterrent to business. This is the fear of social media, which rely on people ’ s hopeful imagination. Dietegen is 12 “ Merkel: Twitter-Sperre des US-Präsidenten ist ‘ problematisch ’ . ” Süddeutsche Zeitung, 1/ 11/ 2021, https: / / www.sueddeutsche.de/ politik/ trump-twitter-merkel-1.5170842 [accessed 7/ 2/ 2023] 13 Cf. the instructive considerations by Soltani et al. 2022. 14 Post from 4/ 6/ 2021. https: / / www.instagram.com/ p/ CNUkMzbHuLG/ [accessed 11/ 14/ 2023] Dietegen on Instagram 367 enthusiastic about both, but his enthusiasm is implausible. That is the trouble. Because the principle of change through trade has failed in global politics, the peacefulness of the latter is in doubt. Enthusiasm for both war and business may not be a pleasant prospect. Both may be realistic and uncontrollable, only the medium can create the illusion of controllability. Although Vladimir Putin ’ s secret intelligence methods are often portrayed as relics of an ancient understanding of governance, they may embrace these developments and even point to a future that has much in common with the late Middle Ages. Although we believe we have controllable technological devices in our hands today, they are not controllable. There is no public transparency and no reality of commonly accepted and controlled rules. In this respect, Dietegen was ahead of the curve. The once motivating perception of a Swiss folk hero, which accompanied European revolutions in the 19th century when William Tell was celebrated, has become a chilling vanitas morality, and this perception has an impact on the medium in which the story is presented. References Amrein, Ursula 2016: “ Am Mythenstein (1861) ” , in: Id. (ed.): Gottfried Keller Handbuch, Stuttgart: Metzler, 221 - 224 Engler, Ivan 2019: “ Videoprojektionen zu Dietegen. ” , in: Mathias Spohr (ed.): Dietegen. Gottfried Keller im 21. Jahrhundert, Zürich: Chronos 121 - 23 Fuchs, Barbara 2022: Theatre of Lockdown. Digital and Distanced Performance in a Time of Pandemic, New York: Bloomsbury Haley, Brett 2017: Theatre, Social Media and Meaning Making, London: Palgrave Macmillan Isherwood, Robert 1981: “ Entertainment in the Parisian Fairs in the Eighteenth Century ” , in: The Journal of Modern History, 53.1 (1981): 24 - 48 Künzli, Rudolf 2011: “ Switzerland ” , in: Pericles Lewis (ed.): The Cambridge Companion to European Modernism, New York: Cambridge Univ. Press, 204 - 214 Le Saux-Farmer, Danielle 2020: “ Paradigm Shift. Making Theatre with Social Media. ” Critical Stages/ Scènes critiques. The IATC journal/ Revue de l ’ AICT, 21.1 (2020). Online: https: / / www.critical-stages. org/ 21/ paradigm-shift-making-theatre-with-social-media-in-the-21st-century/ [accessed 7/ 3/ 2023] Lonergan, Patrick 2015: Theater and Social Media. Berlin: Springer McLuhan, Marshall 1962: The Gutenberg Galaxy. The Making of Typographic Man, Toronto: Univ. of Toronto Press Miller, Douglas and Embleton, Gerry 1979: The Swiss at War 1300 - 1500, Men-at-arms series No. 94, Oxford: Osprey Publishing Moin, S. M. A. 2020: Brand Storytelling in the Digital Age. Theories, Practice and Application. Berlin: Springer Moser, Natalie 2022: “ Ikonischer Überschuss. Zur Funktion der Bilder in Gottfried Kellers Dietegen. ” , in: Frauke Berndt & Philipp Theison (eds.): Gottfried Kellers Moderne, Berlin: de Gruyter, vol. 2, 177 - 92 Rippmann, Till 2019: “ Dietegen und Social Media. ” , in: Mathias Spohr (ed.): Dietegen. Gottfried Keller im 21. Jahrhundert, Zürich: Chronos, 127 - 31 Sant, Toni 2014 “ Art, Performance, and Social Media. ” , in: Jeremy Hunsinger & Theresa Senft (eds.): The Social Media Handbook, New York: Routledge 2014, 45 - 58 368 Mathias Spohr Schachtner, Christina 2020: The Narrative Subject. Storytelling in the Age of the Internet. London: Palgrave Macmillan Soltani, M. et al. 2023: “‘ Did You See What Happened? ’ How Scandals are Shared via Social Media. ” , in: Corporate Reputation Review (2023), Online: https: / / doi.org/ 10.1057/ s41299-023-00165-z [accessed 7/ 3/ 2023] Spohr, Mathias 2019: “ Gleichheit, Recht und Gerechtigkeit in Gottfried Kellers Dietegen. ” In: Id. (ed.): Dietegen. Gottfried Keller im 21. Jahrhundert, Zürich: Chronos, 49 - 63 Strakovsky, Yevgenya 2018: “ Trauma and the promise of modernity in Gottfried Keller ’ s Dietegen. ” , in: Monatshefte für deutschen Unterricht, deutsche Sprache und Literatur. 110.3 (2018): 344 - 63 Widmann, Max 1892: Die Frage der schweizerischen Nationalbühne. Bern: K. J. Wyss Dietegen on Instagram 369 K O D I K A S / C O D E Volume 43 (2020) · No. 3 - 4 Gunter Narr Verlag Tübingen Autor / Author PD Dr. Mathias Spohr (born 1960) holds a doctorate in literary criticism from the University of Zurich and a habilitation in theatre studies from the University of Bayreuth. He is a Privatdozent at the University of Bayreuth. Editorial member of Piper ’ s Encyclopaedia of Music Theatre, publications on cultural sociology, media history, popular theatre forms, film music. Director of Studies at the University of the Arts Bern. Lecturer at the Universities of Vienna, Bern and Bayreuth. Theatre producer and director. - Selected Books: Das gemeinsame Mass. Ansätze zu einer allgemeinen Medientheorie, Salzburg: Müller-Speiser 2003. Swiss Film Music, Zürich: Chronos 2014, Dietegen. Gottfried Keller im 21. Jahrhundert, Zürich: Chronos 2019. Anschrift des Autors / Address of the Author PD Dr. Mathias Spohr Universität Bayreuth Theaterwissenschaft Universitätsstraße 30 D-95447 Bayreuth Germany mspohr@bluewin.ch Hinweise zur Gestaltung von Manuskripten Beiträge für die Zeitschrift K ODIKAS / C ODE (ca. 10 - 30 S. à 2.500 Zeichen [25.000 - 75.000], Times od. Times New Roman 12., 1.5-zeilig, Rand 2 - 3 cm l/ r) sind dem Herausgeber in elektronischer Form (Word- oder rtf-Datei) und als Ausdruck auf Papier einzureichen. Abbildungen sind getrennt vom Text in reproduzierbarer Form (mind. 300 dpi, schwarzweiß) beizufügen. Nach dem Titel des Beitrags folgt der Name des Autors (der Autoren) mit Angabe das Dienstortes. Dem Text (in deutscher, englischer, französischer oder spanischer Sprache, ggfs. gegengelesen von native speakers) ist eine kurze Zusammenfassung (abstract) in englischer Sprache voranzustellen (1-zeilig petit 10.). Die Gliederung des Textes folgt dem Dezimalsystem (1, 2, 2.1, 2.1.1). Auf separatem Blatt sind ihm die Anschrift des/ der Verf. und eine kurze bio-bibliographische Notiz (3 - 5 Zeilen) beizufügen. Zitierweise In der Semiotik gibt es eine Vielzahl konkurrierender Zitierweisen, die alle ihre Vor- und Nachteile haben. Für K ODIKAS wird hier eine in vielen Disziplinen (und anderen semiotischen Zeitschriften) international verbreitete Zitierweise empfohlen, die sich durch Übersichtlichkeit, Benutzerfreundlichkeit, Vollständigkeit der Angaben und Sparsamkeit der Zeichenökonomie auszeichnet. Wörtliche Zitate werden durch normale Anführungszeichen kenntlich gemacht ( “…” ). Wenn ein Zitat die Länge von drei Zeilen überschreitet, wird es links 0.5 eingerückt und 1-zeilig petit (11.) geschrieben: Ich bin ein Blindtext und bin blind geboren. Es hat lange gedauert, bis ich begriffen habe, was es bedeutet, ein blinder Text zu sein. Man macht keinen Sinn. Man wirkt hier und da aus dem Zusammenhang gerissen. Oft wird man gar nicht erst gelesen. Aber bin ich deshalb ein schlechter Text? Ich weiß, dass ich nie die Chance habe im S PIEGEL zu erscheinen. Aber bin ich darum weniger wichtig? Ich bin blind! Aber ich bin gerne Text. Und sollten Sie mich jetzt tatsächlich zu Ende lesen, dann habe ich geschafft, was den meisten “ normalen ” Texten nicht gelingt. Ich bin ein Blindtext und bin blind geboren … (Autor Jahr: Seite). Zitatbeleg durch Angabe der Quelle gleich im Text mit einer auf das Literaturverzeichnis verweisenden bibliographischen Kurzangabe (Autor Jahr: Seite): “ [ … ] wird für die Herstellung des Zaubertranks die Beigabe von Dracheneiern empfohlen ” (Gaukeley 2006: 387). Wenn das Zitat im Original über eine Seite hinausgeht, wird entsprechend ein “ f. ” (= folgende) an die Seitenzahl angefügt (387 f.). Alle Auslassungen und Hinzufügungen in Zitaten müssen gekennzeichnet werden: Auslassungen durch drei Punkte in eckigen Klammern [ … ], Hinzufügungen durch Initialien des/ der Verf. (EHL). Hervorhebungen werden durch den eingeklammerten Zusatz “ (Hervorh. im Original) ” oder “ (Hervorh. nicht im Original) ” bzw. “ (Hervorh. v. mir, Initial) ” gekennzeichnet. Wenn das Original einen Fehler enthält, wird dieser übernommen und durch ein “ [sic] ” (lat. so) markiert. Zitate innerhalb von Zitaten werden in einfache Anführungszeichen gesetzt ( “… ‘…’ …” ). Auch nicht-wörtliche Zitate (sinngemäße Wiedergaben, Paraphrasen) müssen durch Verweise gekennzeichnet werden: Auch Dracheneier werden für die Herstellung eines solchen Zaubertranks empfohlen (cf. Gaukeley 2001: 387). Gundel Gaukeley (2001: 387) empfiehlt den Gebrauch von Dracheneiern für die Herstellung des Zaubertranks. Objektsprachlich gebrauchte Wörter oder grammatische Formen werden kursiviert: “ Die Interjektion eiapopeia gilt als veraltet. ” Die Bedeutung eines sprachlichen Elementes steht in einfachen Anführungszeichen: “ Fähe bedeutet ‘ Füchsin ’ . ” Standardsprachlich inkorrekte Formen oder Sätze werden durch Asterisk gekennzeichnet: “ *Rettet dem Dativ! ” oder “ *der Dativ ist dem Genitiv sein Tod. ” Fußnoten, Anmerkungen Auf Anmerkungen und Fußnoten wird im Text durch eine hochgestellte Zahl verwiesen: [ … ] verweisen wir auf Gesundheitsgefahren, die mit regelmäßigen Geldbädern einhergehen. 2 Vor einem Satzzeichen steht sie möglichst nur dann, wenn sie sich direkt auf das Wort unmittelbar davor bezieht (z. B. die Definition eines Begriffs angibt). Fußnoten (am Fuße der Seite) sind gegenüber Anmerkungen am Ende des Textes vorzuziehen. Fußnoten (Anmerkungen) werden einzeilig petit (10.) geschrieben, mit 1.5-zeiligem Abstand zwischen den einzelnen Fußnoten (Anmerkungen). Bibliographie Die Bibliographie verzeichnet alle im Text genannten Verweise. Bei Büchern und Editionen: Nachname / Komma / Vorname / ggfs. Herausgeber (ed.) / ggfs. Auflage als Hochzahl / Jahreszahl / Doppelpunkt / Buchtitel kursiv / ggfs. Punkt bzw. Satzzeichen / ggfs. Untertitel / Komma / Ort / Doppelpunkt / Verlagsname: Gaukeley, Gundel 2001: Das kleine Einmaleins der Hexerei. Eine Einführung, Blocksberg: Hexenselbstverlag Duck, Dagobert (ed.) 4 2000: Wie verdiene ich meine erste Phantastillion? Ein Ratgeber, Entenhausen: Disney Bei Aufsätzen in Zeitschriften oder Sammelbänden (dort ggfs. mit Kurzverweis auf einen eigenen Eintrag des Sammelbandes), wird der Titel in Anführungszeichen gesetzt, dann folgen die Angaben mit Seitenzahlen: Gaukeley, Gundel 1999: “ Verbesserte Rezepturen für Bombastik-Buff-Bomben ” , in: Vierteljahresschrift des Hexenverbandes 7.1 - 2 (1999): 27 - 41 Duck, Donald 2000: “ Wie leihe ich mir einen Taler? Praktische Tips für den Alltag ” , in: Duck (ed.) 4 2000: 251 - 265 Duck, Dagobert (ed.) 4 2000: Wie verdiene ich meine erste Phantastillion? Ein Ratgeber, Entenhausen: Disney Gibt es mehrere Autorinnen oder Herausgeber, so werden sie in der Reihenfolge aufgeführt, in der sie auch auf dem Buchrücken oder im Titel des Aufsatzes erscheinen, verbunden durch “ und ” oder “ & ” (bei mehr als drei Namen genügt ein “ et al. ” [für et alii] oder “ u. a. ” Hinweise zur Gestaltung von Manuskripten 373 nach dem ersten Namen). Dasselbe gilt für mehrere Erscheinungsorte, getrennt durch Schrägstriche (bei mehr als drei Orten genügt ein “ etc. ” ): Quack, Primus von & Gustav Gans 2000: Untersuchungen zum Verhältnis von Glück und Wahrscheinlichkeit, Entenhausen/ Quakenbrück: Enten-Verlag Duck, Dorette und Daniel Düsentrieb (eds.) 1999: Ente, Natur und Technik. Philosophische Traktate, Quakenbrück etc.: Ganter Wenn ein Buch innerhalb einer Buchreihe erschienen ist, kann der Reihentitel und die Bandnummer hinzugesetzt werden: Duck, Tick et al. 2001: Ordens- und Abzeichenkunde für Fieselschweiflinge (= Schriftenreihe des Entenhausener Pfadfinderverbandes 13), Quakenbrück etc.: Ganter Duck, Tick u. a. 2001: Ordens- und Abzeichenkunde für Fieselschweiflinge, Quakenbrück usw.: Ganter (= Schriftenreihe des Entenhausener Pfadfinderverbandes 13) Auch sog. ‘ graue ’ Literatur - Dissertationen im Uni- oder Reprodruck ( “ Zürich: Diss. phil. ” ), vervielfältigte Handreichungen ( “ London: Mimeo ” ), Manuskripte ( “ Radevormwald: unveröff. Ms. ” ), Briefe ( “ pers. Mitteilung ” ) etc. - muss nachgewiesen werden. Innerhalb des Literaturverzeichnisses werden die Autor(inn)en in alphabetischer Reihenfolge aufgeführt. Gibt es mehrere Veröffentlichungen derselben Person, so werden sie in chronologischer Reihenfolge aufgelistet (innerhalb eines Jahres mit Zusatz eines kleinen lateinischen Buchstabens zur Jahreszahl - entsprechende Angaben beim Zitieren im Text): Duck, Daisy 2001 a: “ Enten als Vorgesetzte von Erpeln. Einige Beobachtungen aus der Praxis ” , in: Entenhausener Zeitschrift für Psychologie 7.1 (2001): 47 - 67 Duck, Daisy 2001 b: “ Zum Rollenverständnis des modernen Erpels ” , in: Ente und Gesellschaft 19.1 - 2 (2001): 27 - 43 Internetquellen Zitate aus Quellen im Internet müssen stets mit vollständiger URL inklusive Transferprotokoll (http: / / oder ftp: / / etc.) nachgewiesen werden (am besten aus der Adresszeile des Browsers herauszukopieren). Da Angaben im Internet verändert werden können, muß das Datum des Zugriffs in eckigen Klammern hinzugesetzt werden. Handelt es sich um einen innerhalb eines eindeutig betitelten Rahmens (Blogs, Onlinezeitschriften etc.) erschienenen Text, so wird genauso wie bei gedruckten unselbständigen Arbeiten zitiert: Gans, Franz 2000: “ Schon wieder keinen Bock ” , in: Franz Gans ’ Untaten. Blog für Arbeitsscheue, im Internet unter http: / / www.franzgansuntaten.blogspot.com/ archives/ 00/ art07.htm [15.01.2009] Trägt die Website, aus der ein zitierter Text stammt, keinen eindeutigen Titel, so wird der Text ähnlich wie eine selbstständige Arbeit zitiert: Klever, Klaas (o. J.): Wer wir sind und was wir wollen, im Internet unter http: / / www.entenhausenermilliadaersclub.eh/ organisation/ index.htm [15.01.2009] Ist der Verfasser nicht zu identifizieren, so sollte stattdessen die jeweilige Organisation angegeben werden, die für die angegebene Seite verantwortlich zeichnet: Entenhausener Onlineportal (ed.) 1998: Einbruch bei Dagobert Duck. Panzerknacker unter Verdacht, im Internet unter http: / / www.eopnet.eh/ aktuell/ lokales/ 980315/ art21.htm [15.01.2009] 374 Hinweise zur Gestaltung von Manuskripten Instructions to Authors Articles (approx. 10 - 30 pp. à 2 ’ 500 signs [25.000 - 75.000] line spacing 1.5, Times New Roman, 12 pts) must be submitted to the editor both on paper and in electronic form (wordor rtf-file). Figures (graphics, tables, photos) must be attached separately (300 dpi minimum, black and white). The title is followed by name(s) of author(s), affiliation and location. The language of the text, preceded by a short summary (abstract) in English, must be German, English, French, or Spanish. The outline follows the decimal system (1, 2, 2.1, 2.1.1). On a separate sheet, the postal address(es) of the author(s), including e-mail address, and a short bio-bibliographical note (3 - 5 lines) is to be attached. Quotations Quotations are referred to in the text with author (year: page) and indicated by normal quotations marks “…” (author year: page), unless a quotation is more than three lines long, in which case its left margin is - 0.5, in single spacing and petit (11 pts): I am a blind text, born blind. It took some until I realised what it meant to be a blind text. One doesn ’ t make sense; one is taken out of context; one isn ’ t even read most of the times. Am I, therefore, a bad text? I know, I will never have a chance to appear in Nature or Science, not even in Time magazine. Am I, therefore, less important? Okay, I am blind. But I enjoy being a text. Should I have made you read me to the end, I would have managed what most of the ‘ normal ’ texts will never achieve! I am a blind text, born blind … (author year: page). The short bibliographical reference in the text refers to the bibliography at the end. All deletions and additions must be indicated: deletions by three points in square brackets [ … ], additions by initials of the author. If there is a mistake in the original text, it has to be quoted as is, marked by [sic]. Quotations within quotations are indicated by single quotation marks: “… ‘…’ …” . Paraphrases must be indicated as well: (cf. author year: page) or author (year: page). Foreign words (nota bene) or terms (the concept of Aufklärung) are foregrounded by italics, so are lexical items or grammatical forms (the interjection gosh is regarded as outdated); the lexical meaning is given in single quotation marks (Aufklärung means ‘ Enlightenment ’ ); incorrect grammatical forms or sentences are marked by an asterisk (*he go to hell). Footnotes (annotations) Footnotes are indicated by upper case numbers (as argued by Kant. 2 ). Footnotes at the bottom of a page are preferred to annotations at the end of the article. They are written in single spacing, with a 1.5 space between them. Please avoid footnotes for mere bibliographical references. Bibliography The bibliography lists all references quoted or referred to in alphabetical order. They should follow the form in the following examples: Short, Mick 2 1999: Exploring the Language of Poems, Plays and Prose, London: Longman Erling, Elizabeth J. 2002: “‘ I learn English since ten years ’ : The Global English Debate and the German University Classroom ” , in: English Today 18.2 (2002): 9 - 13 Modiano, Marko 1998: “ The Emergence of Mid-Atlantic English in the European Union ” , in: Lindquist et al. (eds.) 1998: 241 - 248 Lindquist, Hans, Steffan Klintborg, Magnus Levin & Maria Estling (eds.) 1998: The Major Varieties of English (= Papers from M AVEN 1997), Vaxjo: Acta Wexionensia No. 1 Weiner, George 2001: “ Uniquely Similar or Similarly Unique? Education and Development of Teachers in Europe ” , Plenary paper given at the annual conference, Standing Committee for the Education and Training of Teachers, GEC Management College, Dunchurch, UK, 5 - 7 October 2001. http: / / www.educ.umu.se/ ~gaby/ SCETT2paper.htm [accessed 15.01.09]. 376 Instructions to Authors Special issue: Identity and Vanitas by Mathias Spohr Preface Identity and Vanitas. Two Contrasting Modes of Perception From Skinner’s Verbal Behavior to Miner’s Nacirema: American Identity Between Causal Chains and Rituals From Renaissance Nominalism to Modern Melodramatics: Jörg Wickram’s Novel Der Goldtfaden (1557) The Waltz in Film: Between Identity and Vanitas Dietegen on Instagram: Social media as a stage for theater narr.digital