Journal articles on the topic 'Cinema organ'

Referencing a range of sources from personal testimonies, diaries, trade union reports and local cinema studies, this chapter unearths the history of women musicians who played to silent film. It traces the pre-history of their entry into the cinema business through the cultures of Edwardian female musicianship that had created a sizeable number of women piano and violin teachers who were able to fill the rapid demand created by newly built cinemas around 1910. This demand was further increased during the First World War as male musicians were called to the Front and the chapter documents the backlash from within the industry against women who stepped in to fill vacant roles. The chapter argues that women were central to creating the emerging art-form of cinema musicianship and shaping the repertoire of cinema music during the first three decades of the twentieth century. With the coming of sound, those women who had learned the cinema organ, in the face of considerable snobbery, were also well placed to continue musical careers in Cine-Variety during the 1930s and beyond. This article looks particularly at the careers of Ena Baga and Florence de Jong who went on to play for silent films until the 1980s.

Niniejszy artykuł jest kolejnym przyczynkiem do dziejów muzycznych Poznania, a skupia się na opisie i charakterystyce najbardziej wyjątkowych w skali Polski organów „Muza”, które od 1927 r. znajdowały się w kinie Słońce. Najnowocześniejsze kino w Poznaniu mogło poszczycić się pierwszymi organami typu kinowego na terenie Polski, które w dodatku zostały zbudowane na wzór instrumentów amerykańskich przez polską firmę Dominika Biernackiego (braci Biernackich). Posiadały one szereg urządzeń imitujących odgłosy przyrody czy życia codziennego, m.in. burzę, syrenę czy kukułkę. Niestety, powojenny los organów nie jest znany, a ślad po nich zaginął. Jak dotąd, żaden inny polski zakład budowy organów nie zdołał powtórzyć tej wyjątkowej realizacji. Całość dopełniona jest krótką charakterystyką muzyki wykonywanej w Słońcu, szczególnie przez znanego poznańskiego spikera Ludomira Budzińskiego, który koncertował pod zmienionym nazwiskiem Szeliga. The musical mysteries of Poznań — the “Słońce” cinema and its unique organ This article is yet another contribution to a history of music in Poznań. It focuses on the description and the story of the most exceptional organ in Poland — the “Muza” organ, which was housed in the “Słońce” cinema since 1927. The most technologically advanced cinema in Poznań was the proud owner of the first organ dedicated to cinema performances in Poland. It was made by a Polish company run by Dominik Biernacki (The Biernacki Brothers) based on the American design. It was equipped with a number of devices imitating the sounds of nature or of every day life, such as storms, sirens, or cuckoo calls. Unfortunately, no one knows what happened to it after the Second World War. So far, no other organ manufacturer has been able to recreate this unique piece of work. The article is complemented by a short description of music performed in the “Słońce” cinema, particularly by the famous Poznań announcer Ludomir Budziński who performed under the alias — Szeliga.

The idea to write music for silent films, both in a form of written-down scores and composed live has experienced its renaissance for more than ten years. Thanks to a quite decent number of preserved theatre instruments and also due to the globalisation and wide data flow options connected with it, the knowledge and interest in Anglo-Saxon tradition of organ accompaniment in cinema were able to spread away from its place of origin. The article is the first part of four attempts to present the phenomenon of combination of the art of organ improvisation with cinematography and it was based on the fragments of the doctoral thesis entitled “Current methods of organ improvisation as performance means in the accompaniment for silent films based on the selected musical and visual work”. The dissertation was written under the supervision of prof. dr hab. Elżbieta Karolak and was defended at the Ignacy Jan Paderewski Academy of Music in Poznań in 2020. The article touches on the initial phase of the development of silent cinema from 1895 to 1909. Having differentiated the terms of typical organ improvisation and the art of improvisation for silent films, the article describes the development of cinema art. From the praxinoscope invented by Émile Reynaud, through the cinematograph and the Kinetoscope (Dickson), Vitascope (Jenkins and Armat) and Bioscop (Skladanowsky brothers), it finally discusses the process how the Lumière brothers invented the cinematograph. It its further part, it presents the development of cinematography based on the improvements in theatre introduced by Méliès. The whole text serves as a basis for more parts of the article touching on the issues of the sound added to silent films and the creation of the theatre type of the pipe organ.

The idea to write music for silent films, both in a form of written-down scores and composed live has experienced its renaissance for more than ten years. Thanks to a quite decent number of preserved theatre instruments and also due to the globalisation and wide data flow options connected with it, the knowledge and interest in Anglo-Saxon tradition of organ accompaniment in cinema were able to spread away from its place of origin. The article is the third part of four attempts to present the phenomenon of combination of the art of organ improvisation with cinematography and it was based on the fragments of the doctoral thesis entitled “Current methods of organ improvisation as performance means in the accompaniment for silent films based on the selected musical and visual work”. The dissertation was written under the supervision of prof. dr hab. Elżbieta Karolak and was defended at the Ignacy Jan Paderewski Academy of Music in Poznań in 2020. The article focuses on the profile of Robert Hope-Jones, an eccentric creator of cinema organ. It describes the period preceding the time when typical theatre instruments called “Mighty Wurlitzer” acquired their final shape, i.e., from the introduction of first electromagnetic tracture innovations in England, to the establishment of Hope Jones’s collaboration with the Wurlitzer company in the United States of America and the creation of instruments of the Unit Organ type.

The idea to write music for silent films, both in a form of written-down scores and composed live has experienced its renaissance for more than ten years. Thanks to a quite decent number of preserved theatre instruments and also due to the globalisation and wide data flow options connected with it, the knowledge and interest in Anglo-Saxon tradition of organ accompaniment in cinema were able to spread away from its place of origin. The article is the second part of four attempts to present the phenomenon of combination of the art of organ improvisation with cinematography and it was based on the fragments of the doctoral thesis entitled “Current methods of organ improvisation as performance means in the accompaniment for silent films based on the selected musical and visual work”. The dissertation was written under the supervision of prof. dr hab. Elżbieta Karolak and was defended at the Ignacy Jan Paderewski Academy of Music in Poznań in 2020. The article touches on the process of adding sound to silent films, creating publications containing the so-called genre music (i.e., music for specific tyles of scenes), as well as cue-sheets which appeared since 1909 and which were particularly useful for improvising pianists and organists. It also describes the practice of orchestra accompaniment and different sizes of lineups connected with it.

This article is dedicated to exploring the correlation between the emotional tone of gestures and their localizati on through the conduct of content analysis of gestures presented in the multimedia subcorpus of spoken Russian language, annotated by E. A. Grishina and including video fragments of Soviet and late Soviet cinema. The paper aims at determining the prevailing tonality of a gesture depending on its localization. Corpus linguistic analysis, multimodal sentiment analysis and correlational analysis are presented in the paper to state the possible connection between the active organ of gesture realization with its tonality. The article reflects the relevance of the research, covers the history of works devoted to the study of cinema as a polycode test and describes the methods used to analyze the film discourse. Based on the analysis, a comparative table of gestures and a matrix demonstrating the correlation of their tonalities are presented.

This article offers a metaphorical and embodied examination of the representation of perception in narrative cinema. Using insights from Conceptual Metaphor Theory we argue that the perceptual states of characters can be represented cinematically via audio-visual expressions of metaphors related to the physical functioning of human bodies. More specifically, we show how a predominant pair of conceptual mappings, namely the metonymy perceptual organ stands for perception and the metaphor perception is contact between perceiver and perceived, plays a crucial role in the non-verbal representation of the characters’ perceptual experience.

The current approaches, materialized in studies and research programs, further explain and complete the general picture regarding the identity of buildings for shows in the Republic of Moldova. The need to update existing information and correct errors and unconfirmed assumptions arises as a result of identifying new data. The research carried out in the field of buildings for shows focuses both on the detailing of its constitution and on the revelation of the architectural-artistic value – starting with the 19th century. The first buildings for shows (the Nobles’ Meeting Club and the „Pushkin” Auditorium), the refurbished buildings („Patria” Cinema and the Organ Hall) and adaptations to new programs such as soviet cinemas are highlighted. Thorough research of the history of construction and reconstruction of the two most famous buildings for shows, which were the headquarters of the Romanian National Theater in Chisinau, contributes to the identification of valid novelties in the correct and coherent dating and interpretation, as well as the names of the authors of the projects. Programs based on appreciating the value of the cultural heritage of the Soviet period are submitted to the attention of the professional environment, the interested public and the administrators of the built heritage and represent an attempt to raise awareness of the importance of re-evaluating this heritage.

Introduction Solid organ transplant (SOT) recipients can experience bone loss caused by underlying conditions and the use of immunosuppressants. As a result, SOT recipients are at risk for decreased bone mineral density (BMD) and increased fracture incidences. We propose a network meta-analysis (NMA) that incorporates all available randomized control trial (RCT) data to provide the most comprehensive ranking of anti-osteoporotic interventions according to their ability to decrease fracture incidences and increase BMD in SOT recipients. Methods We will search MEDLINE, EMBASE, Web of Science, CINAHL, CENTRAL and CNKI for relevant RCTs that enrolled adult SOT recipients, assessed anti-osteoporotic therapies, and reported relevant outcomes. Title and full-text screening as well as data extraction will be performed in-duplicate. We will report changes in BMD as weighted or standardized mean differences, and fracture incidences as risk ratios. SUCRA scores will be used to provide rankings of interventions, and quality of evidence will be examined using RoB2 and CINeMA. Discussions To our knowledge, this systematic review and NMA will be the most comprehensive quantitative analysis regarding the management of bone loss and fractures in SOT recipients. Our analysis should be able to provide physicians and patients with an up-to-date recommendation for pharmacotherapies in reducing incidences of bone loss and fractures associated with SOT. The findings of the NMA will be disseminated in a peer-reviewed journal.

This study explores the controversial use of taboo language in Jinn, the first original Jordanian Arabic supernatural Netflix series. Taboo words uttered in each episode of Season 1 of the series (length=159 minutes) were compiled, quantified and categorised according to Ljung’s (2011) thematic categorisation. The results show that 75% of the taboo words fall under ‘major themes’ (scatological (31%), religious/supernatural (20%), sexual activity (12%), sex organ (9%) and mother (3%)) and 25% fall under ‘minor themes’ (prostitution (16%) and animals (9%)) in Ljung’s (2011) thematic divisions. Furthermore, the results show that the first episode has the greatest concentration of taboo words (55%). We argue that the writers/producers intentionally condensed the majority of the taboo words under investigation into the first episode in order to attract the attention of the largest viewership possible because they were aware of how polemical the issue of uttering Jordanian Arabic taboo words on screen was. Finally, it is evident that Jordanian society is still conservative when it comes to using/hearing taboo words in Jordanian cinema and television as demonstrated by the angry reaction of Jordanians in the press, television and social media.

Abstract The communication structures of the Ministry of National Defense have a considerable seniority and have played an important role both in different historical, critical periods for the country (wars, political crises) or institutional building (the forming of the Romanian army, of the modern command structures, etc.) as well as during the transition period after 1989. The first military publication, Observatorul Militar, (Military Observer), was released in 1859, being followed by a few thousands of magazines, newsletters, specialized directories, or during the war years of information and opinion journals such as Romania, organ of the General Headquarters, in the years of World War I, or Soldatul (The Soldier), Santinela (The Sentry), during the years of World War II. One after another, others followed such as: since 1916 Studioul Cinematografic al Armatei (Army Cinema Studio), originally, a photo-cinema structure, then specialized in the documentary film: history, presentation or training, and, since 1940, on public radio frequencies Ora Ostaşului (Ora Armatei), (Soldier’s Hour, Army’s Hour), then since 1968, a television broadcast on public television station broadcasting frequencies, since 1996 the web products (the first web site of an army in Eastern Europe, the first site of a ministry within the Government of Romania). The force and the role of the structures varied from period to period Studioul cinematografic (The Cinematographic Studio) had in 1989, 217 employed people, military and civilians, today there are less than 15), according to the budgets and the importance of what they were given by the management structures. The revolution of December 1989 marked the depoliticization of the communication act and the switch to the professionalization of the specialized structures, transforming their propaganda tools into products and means of Public Relations. The years 1990-1995 have marked this process through: (a) the establishment of structures, (b), staff training (in France, Switzerland, Germany, but especially in the United States), (c) the completion of the first guides, instructions, procedures for the field, (d) the opening of the first course for specialists, (e) the initiation of a quarterly specialized magazine Panoramic militar, (Military Panorama), (f) a code of ethics for practitioners.

Представлена парадигма музыкальных инструментов Старого Тифлиса XVIII века и ее эволюция до советизации Грузии. Рассматриваются визуальные тексты Нико Пиросмани, Вагаршака Элибекяна, Джованни Вепхвадзе, а также видеотексты фильмов «Саят-Нова» и «Цвет граната». Объект исследования – парадигма музыкальных текстов Старого Тифлиса как кросскультурного пространства. Акцентируются семантика и функциональные особенности музыкальных инструментов в поэтических и в визуальных текстах. Особое место уделяется визуализации музыкальных «перформансов». В статье аргументирован следующий тезис: описание парадигмы музыкальных инструментов в визуальных и художественных текстах предоставляет возможность выявить дух, «вещный» мир Старого Тифлиса, эволюцию музыкальных вкусов, а также имплицитные функции, визуальные синтагмы и коннотативную семантику музыкальных инструментов. Эмпирический анализ материала показал, что визуализация музыкальных инструментов в живописи и киноискусстве является важным приемом поэтики для передачи духа Старого Тифлиса. Анализ фильма Сергея Параджанова обнаружил аллюзию на работы Пиросмани. Подробный анализ стихотворения Саят-Новы выявил семантические и функциональные особенности любимого инструмента (каманча). Анализ визуализации каманчи в фильме Параджанова «Цвет граната» показал, что многие метафоры стихотворения поэта были перекодированы на язык кино. Каманча стала ключевым «актером» для раскрытия поэтических баталий в фильме «Саят-Нова» режиссера Кима Арзуманяна. В результате детального анализа работ Ходжабекяна, Пиросмани, Элибекяна выявилось, что музыкальное трио (два зурначи и один барабанщик) было «классическим» набором для всех праздников, свадеб и веселий. При этом зурна в сопровождении церковных колоколов в фильме Параджанова поменяла свою функцию на траурную. На картинах Элибекяна шарманщики со своими инструментами стали не только композиционным трюком, способом изображения, неотъемлемым коммуникативным элементом духанной культуры Старого Тифлиса конца XIX – начала XX века, но и зна́ком присутствия европейских музыкальных влияний, «продуктом» города и визуальным маркером городского общественного пространства. The article presents the paradigm of musical instruments of Old Tiflis in the 18th century and its evolution before the Sovietization of Georgia. The visual texts of Niko Pirosmani, Vagharshak Elibekyan, and Giovanni Vepkhvadze, as well as the video texts of Sayat-Nova and The Color of Pomegranate, are analyzed. The object of the study is the paradigm of musical texts of Old Tiflis as a cross-cultural space. The semantics and functional peculiarities of musical instruments in poetic and visual texts are highlighted. Particular attention is paid to the visualization of musical “performances”. The article argues the following thesis: the description of the paradigm of musical instruments in visual and artistic texts provides an opportunity to reveal the spirit, the material world of Old Tiflis, the evolution of musical tastes, as well as implicit functions, visual syntagmas, and connotative semantics of musical instruments. The empirical study of the material showed that the visualization of musical instruments in painting and film art is an important poetic technique for conveying the spirit of Old Tiflis. The analysis of the film by Sergei Parajanov revealed an allusion to the works of Pirosmani. The detailed analysis of Sayat-Nova’s poem revealed the semantic and functional features of the beloved instrument (kamancha). The analysis of the visualization of the kamancha in Parajanov’s film The Color of Pomegranates showed that many metaphors of Sayat-Nova’s poem were recoded into the language of cinema. The kamancha became the key player revealing the poetic battles in the film Sayat Nova by Kim Arzumanyan. The detailed analysis of the works of Khojabekyan, Pirosmani, and Elibekyan revealed that the musical trio (two zurna players and one drummer) is a classical set for all festivities, weddings, and revelries. At the same time, the zurna, accompanied by church bells in Parajanov’s film, changes its function to mourning. In Elibekyan’s paintings, the organ grinders with their instruments became not only a compositional trick, a method of representation, a communicative element of Old Tiflis’ inn culture of the late 19th – early 20th centuries, but also a sign of European musical influences, an artifact of the city and a visual marker of the urban public space.

Abstract Is a schizoanalysis of cinema possible? This question arises from the observation that there is no apparent continuity between Deleuze’s two-volume collaboration with Guattari, Anti-Oedipus and A Thousand Plateaus, and the books he wrote afterwards, Cinema 1 and Cinema 2. It is also prompted by the observation that Anti-Oedipus and A Thousand Plateaus seem to rely a great deal on cinema in order to develop and exemplify the many new concepts these books introduce. This paper highlights three such instances in their work. The fact is, Deleuze and Guattari claim that the core schizoanalytic concepts of the body without organs, the abstract machine and assemblage can account for “all things”; as such, these concepts must account for cinema too. It is the sheer expansiveness of these concepts that makes them attractive to cinema studies. Not only that, they promise a way of engaging with cinema that isn’t reliant on the fictions of identification, recognition and fantasy. In this sense we are permitted to assume that to some degree Cinema 1 and Cinema 2 are already schizoanalytic, albeit in ways we have yet to properly understand. The author makes a direct link between cinema and schizoanalysis by highlighting the significance of delirium to both. This paper argues that the royal road to a schizoanalysis of cinema is via delirium rather than dream or fantasy. It goes on to show how Deleuze and Guattari’s formalisation of delirium as a “regime of signs” can be used to inaugurate a new kind of semiology of cinema.

Abstract While Lenin considered human knowledge to be similar to a mirror-like reflection of the object, Aleksandr Bogdanov emphasized the creative role of the subject in organizing the world. On the basis of some textual evidence, it is possible to describe the epistemologies of the two most influential Russian Marxists at the beginning of the twentieth century using the two metaphors of photography, on the one hand, and cinema, on the other. In particular, while discussing Einstein’s relativity, Bogdanov considers sense organs, memory, and all the apparatus of human knowledge ‘as a certain kind of cinematographic device’. Sergei Eisenstein deems that cinema is ‘an excellent instrument of perception … for the sensation of movement’. Although it is difficult to find compelling proof of exchange and influence, this is an actual ‘tangential point’ between Bogdanov’s and Eisenstein’s ideas on human knowledge.

Background and Objective. Impaired health-related quality of life (HRQOL) is one of the possible outcomes after discharge from an intensive care unit (ICU). Evaluation of patient health status on discharge from the ICU would help identify factors influencing changes in HRQOL after ICU discharge. The objective of the study was to identify whether health state on discharge from prolonged stay in the ICU has any influence on survivors’ HRQOL 6 months after intensive care. Material and Methods. A prospective study of patients with the prolonged length of stay (exceeding 7 days) in the ICU was conducted. The study covered the impact of organ system dysfunction (SOFA score), number of therapeutic interventions (TISS-28 score), and critical illness neuromuscular abnormalities (CINMA) on discharge from the ICU on HRQOL 6 months following ICU discharge. Results. In total, 137 patients were included in the study. The SOFA score on the last day in the ICU was 2.91 (SD, 1.57); the TISS-28 score on the last day in the ICU was 21.79 (SD, 4.53). Decreased physical functioning (PF) and role physical (RP) were identified. Circulatory impairment on discharge from the ICU had an impact on decreased PF (P=0.016), role physical (P=0.066), and role emotional (P=0.001). Patients with dysfunction in more than one organ system on ICU discharge had decreased role emotional (P=0.016). Severe CINMA was diagnosed in 18 patients. They had decreased PF (P=0.007) and RP (P=0.019). Patients with the TISS-28 score above or equal to 20 points showed lower HRQOL in the PF domain (P=0.077) and general health (P=0.038). Conclusions. HRQOL in patients with prolonged stay in the ICU is particularly impaired in the domains of physical functioning and role physical. It is associated with circulatory impairment, CINMA, and greater number of therapeutic interventions on discharge from the ICU.

Vernonia cinerea L. (sawilangit) is a wild plant that has potential as a medicinal plant because of the secondary metabolites in each organ. This research aimed to explore the morphological and anatomical characters of the sawilangit that grow at different altitudes in Banyumas, Cilacap, and Purbalingga. Plant samples were taken using the purposive random sampling method at an altitude of <350 masl, 350–700 masl, and >700 masl. Sawilangit growing at <350 masl has superior morphological and anatomical characters than sawilangit growing at the other two altitudes, which have the characteristics of taller, wider leaf, larger stem diameters, and darker flower color. The observation on quantitative of morphological and anatomical characters showed that sawilangit at <350 masl has an average height of 66.17 cm, root diameter of 0.33 cm, stem diameter 0.32 cm, leaf length and width of 5.7 cm and 2.14 cm, and stomata index of 0.28. These results indicated that altitude <350 masl is suitable for sawilangit growth because it can produce optimal morphological and anatomical characteristics.

The text raises a critical interpretation about the representation of the body in the documentary Noticias (2009) of the Chilean directors Bettina Perut and Ivan Ossnovikof. To this end, it is emphasize on the capacity of the concept of a body without organs to destroy the intellectual reflection that has been universally hegemonic when it comes to appreciating a work of art. In this way, it is argued that the body in the analyzed film, aims to the de-hierarchization of the gaze in the intellectual act of appreciating cinematographic work. The body understood,then, as a sensitive organicity that inverts the reflection of body/intellect, shows the capacity of making a critique of the classic cinematic representation and a questioning to the ideological and social configuration in which, historically, the cinema has developed its discourse.

The paradoxical dependence of genre histories on historically accidental acts of naming and on transcendental critical imagination is demonstrated by the Chinese western, a little-understood genre that has become a major part of Chineselanguage cinema over the past two decades. After the genre was proposed in 1984 by the Chinese film theorist Zhong Dianfei, as a realist reaction against the ideological excesses of the Cultural Revolution, its ambiguous status as a Hollywood import quickly became a proxy for larger cultural battles over China's place in an American-dominated international cultural system. Moreover, despite assurances by Zhong and other critics that the genre was not susceptible to Hollywood influence, the production history of the genre from the late 1980s to the present demonstrates a pattern of generic influence and eventual fusion that tracks Chinese state-owned studios' evolution from subsidized propaganda organs to participants in a globalized entertainment industry.

Théoricien du surréalisme belge, Nougé consacre une bonne partie de ses écrits - essais et fictions - à la question de l’érotisme. Il y soulève une interrogation majeure : les difficultés du langage devant une notion qui échappe, le sexe. Comment nommer ? L’observation presque scientifique est à la base de ses écrits sur la sexualité. La supériorité de l’image visuelle sur le mot exige du narrateur, devenu voyeur, une maîtrise qui opère sur le stéréotype commercial comme elle opère sur l’objet vu, de préférence la femme. Nougé conçoit l’oeil comme «principal organe érogène ». Dans ses descriptions, il se rapproche des mécanismes mis à l’oeuvre dans le cinéma pornographique.

Five Magelona species, M. cornuta, M. crenulifrons, M. obockensis, M. pulchella, and an undescribed species (identifiedby Louis Amoureux as M. cornuta in 1983 and described herein as M. montera sp. nov.) have been previously reportedfrom the seas surrounding the Arabian Peninsula. The present study details a further six Magelona species off the coastsof Iran and Qatar, collected between 1998 and 2007. Five species are newly recorded for the region: Magelona cf. agoen-sis, Magelona cf. cincta, M. conversa, Magelona cf. falcifera and M. symmetrica, and one species (M. sinbadi sp. nov.)is deemed new to science. A key is provided for the 15 species with verified reports currently known from the westernIndian Ocean region. Magelona pacifica originally described from Panamá is discussed and re-described due to its simi-larity to M. montera sp. nov. A ‘buccal organ/tube’ in addition to an everted proboscis was observed in one specimen (Ma- gelona cf. agoensis) and is herein described and discussed in relation to previous morphological studies.

Oksana Bulgakowa is a researcher of visual culture, a film critic, a screenwriter, a director, and a professor at the Johannes Gutenberg University Mainz. She has taught at the Humboldt University of Berlin, the Leipzig Graduate School of Music and Theater, the Free University of Berlin, Stanford University and the University of California Berkeley. Author of the books “FEKS: Die Fabrik des exzentrischen Schauspielers” (1996), “Sergei Eisenstein – drei Utopien. Architekturentwürfe zur Filmtheorie” (1996), “Sergej Eisenstein. Eine Biographie” (1998), “The Gesture Factory” (2005, a renewed edition to be published by NLO publishing house in 2021), “The Soviet hearing eye: cinema and its sensory organs” (2010), “The Voice as a cultural phenomenon”(2015), “SINNFABRIK/FABRIK DER SINNE” (2015), “The Fate of the Battleship: The Biography of Sergei Eisenstein” (2017). Author of the network projects “The Visual Universe of Sergei Eisenstein” (2005), “Sergei Eisenstein: My Art in Life. Google Arts and Culture” (in collaboration with Dietmar Hochmuth, 2017–2018), and the films “Stalin – eine Mosfilmproduktion” (in collaboration with Enno Patalas, 1993), “Different Faces of Sergei Eisenstein” (in collaboration with Dietmar Hochmuth, 1997). In this issue of P&amp;I, Oksana Bulgakowa talks about medial giants and midgets, obscene gestures of Elvis Presley, “voice-over discourse” of TV presenters, and the birth of Eisenstein’s “Method” from psychosis and neurosis. Interview by Ekaterina Maksimova. Photo by Dietmar Hochmuth.

Relevance: Cytological criteria of tumors in exudate fluids are associated with certain subjective difficulties, one of which is the differential diagnosis of proliferating mesothelial and adenocarci-noma cells. The study aimed to increase the informational value of cytological diagnostics in a multidisciplinary hospital. Methods: From 2018 to 2021, 10,082 serous cavity effusions (pleural – 8,166 (81%), abdominal cavity – 1,512 (15%), pericardial – 404 (4%)) were included in the cytological examination. Micro-scopic examination of traditional preparations was carried out, and immunocytochemical (ICC) ex-amination was carried out in difficult diagnostic situations. Results: Analysis of the study showed that by the traditional cytological method in effusion fluids in women, metastatic lesions of the serous cavities were diagnosed in 672 cases (58%), mainly due to the progression of breast cancer (26%). In men, pleurisy was mainly due to metastasis of adenocar-cinoma of the lung – 266 cases (23%). ICC research increased the diagnostic accuracy of cytological examination by 62-93% and the specificity – by 95-99%. Conclusions: An algorithm for conducting ICH studies, differing in the number of panels of mono-clonal antibodies used to determine the histological form and organ - the source of the tumor, has been developed. In specific cases, conducting ICR studies with 2-3 monoclonal antibodies may be quite enough to confirm the histological form of the tumor and, where necessary, perform additional ICR studies without significant loss of time for obtaining results.

The author of the work raises the issue of the phenomenon of nomadism in the context of the work of the French director Alain Resnais. The object of the research is the early works of the director, such films as "Last year in Marienbad", "Hiroshima, my love", "I love you, I love". The purpose of the work is to answer the question of how nomadic strategies allow the author to create non-linear narrative structures, oscillating characters and flickering characters in his films, and how understanding these strategies can help viewers and researchers in the act of deciphering works. The author also analyzes a number of phenomena related to nomadism, such as the rhizome, the body without organs, deterritorialization, escape, flicker. The novelty of the research lies in the application of nomadic strategies to the cinema of Alain Resnais. This approach makes it possible to use the current philosophical and art history prism to study narrative structures, intraframe space and characters. The author argues that Rene's cinematography can be viewed through a position of resistance to forms of power - suppression and control - which manifests itself in the violation of traditional forms of narration and the creation of split characters. To study the mentioned aspects of Rene's work, the author resorts to the philosophy of Gilles Deleuze and Felix Guattari. The author also explains the position of the modern viewer and describes the strategies of looking, which can lead to a state of pleasure from interacting with nomadic works.

Французский композитор Пьер Жодловски (1971) — один из самых заметных современных авторов мультимедийной музыки. В интервью композитор рассказывает о впитанных им творческих влияниях, о своих общественно-политических взглядах, об увлеченности кинематографом, а также о своеобразном личном манифесте, называемом «active music». Наиболее подробно Жодловски раскрывает специфику своих методов работы через сопоставление с техникой монтажа кинорежиссера Сергея Эйзенштейна и концепцией театрального режиссера Антонена Арто. Используя понятие «тело без органов», композитор описывает способ взаимодействия элементов в своих мультимедийных работах. Автор отъединяет привычные функции объектов от действий, позволяя жесту играть роль звука, а звуку — комментировать видео. Подобный подход вы­свобождает неограниченный потенциал для создания новых связей между музыкой, светом, электроникой и другими медиа. French composer Pierre Jodlowski (1971) is one of the most outstanding composers of his generation in the field of multimedia music. In this interview, Jodlowski talks about what influenced him as a composer, his social-political views, passion for cinema, as well as his own idiosyncratic manifesto, which he calls “active music.” He explains the specifics of his creative approach through comparisons with the art of film director Sergei Eisenstein and theatre director Antonin Artaud. Using the concept of “body without organs,” the composer describes the way in which some components interact in his multimedia works. Jodlowski separates the familiar functions of objects from actions, thus allowing the gesture to play the role of the sound, and the sound to comment on the video. Such an approach unleashes unlimited potential for creating new bonds between music, light, electronics and other media.

Background. А history of the development of the human community is at the same time a history of the relationship between men and women, their role in society, in formation of mindset, development of science, technology and art. A woman’s path to the recognition of her merits is a struggle for equality and inclusion in all sectors of public life. Originated with particular urgency in the twentieth century, this set of problems gave impetus to the study of the female phenomenon in the sociocultural space. In this context, the disclosure of the direct contribution of talented women to art and their influence on its development has become of special relevance. The purpose of the article is to summarize segmental of information that highlights the contribution of women to the treasury of world art, their creative and inspiring power. Analytical, historical-biographical and comparative studying methods were applied to reveal the gender relationships in art and the role of woman in them as well as in the sociocultural space in general. The results from this study present a panorama of gifted women from the world of art and music who paved the way for future generations. Among them are: A. Gentileschi (1593–1653), who was the first woman admitted to The Florence Academy of Art; M. Vigee Le Brun (1755–1842), who painted portraits of the French aristocracy and later became a confidant of Marie-Antoinette; B. Morisot (1841–1895), who was accepted by the impressionists in their circle and repeatedly exhibited her works in the Paris Salon; F. Caccini (1587–1640), who went down in history as an Italian composer, teacher, harpsichordist, author of ballets and music for court theater performances; J. Kinkel (1810–1858) – the first female choral director in Germany, who published books about musical education, composed songs on poems of famous poets, as well as on her own texts; F. Mendelssohn (1805–1847) – German singer, pianist and composer, author of cantatas, vocal miniatures of organ preludes, piano pieces; R. Clark (1886–1979) – British viola player and composer who created trio, quartets, compositions for solo instruments, songs on poems of English poets; L. Boulanger (1893–1918) became the first woman to receive Grand Prix de Rome; R. Tsekhlin (1926–2007) – German harpsichordist, composer and teacher who successfully combined the composition of symphonies, concerts, choral and vocal opuses, operas, ballets, music for theatrical productions and cinema with active performing and teaching activities, and many others. The article emphasise the contribution of women-composers, writers, poetesses to the treasury of world literature and art. Among the composers in this row is S. Gubaidulina (1931), who has about 30 prizes and awards. She wrote music for 17 films and her works are being performed by famous musicians around the world. The glory of Ukrainian music is L. Dychko (1939) – the author of operas, oratorios, cantatas, symphonies, choral concertos, ballets, piano works, romances, film music. The broad famous are the French writers: S.-G. Colette (1873–1954), to which the films were devoted, the performances based on her novels are going all over the world, her lyrics are being studied in the literature departments. She was the President of the Goncourt Academy, Chevalier of the Legion of Honour, a square in the center of Paris is named after her. Also, creativity by her compatriot, L. de Vilmorin (1902–1969), on whose poems С. Arrieu, G. Auric, F. Poulenc wrote vocal miniatures, is beloved and recognized as in France as and widely abroad. The article denotes a circle of women who combined the position of a selfsufficient creator and a muse for their companion. M. Verevkina (1860–1938) – a Russian artist, a representative of expressionism in painting, not only helped shape the aesthetic views of her husband A. Yavlensky, contributing to his art education, but for a long time “left the stage” for to not compete with him and help him develop his talent fully. Furthermore, she managed to anticipate many of the discoveries as for the use of light that are associated with the names of H. Matisse, A. Derain and other French fauvist. F. Kahlo (1907–1954), a Mexican artist, was a strict critic and supporter for her husband D. Rivera, led his business, was frequently depicted in his frescoes. C. Schumann (1819–1896) was a committed promoter of R. Schumann’s creativity. She performed his music even when he was not yet recognized by public. She included his compositions in the repertoire of her students after the composer lost his ability to play due to the illness of the hands. She herself performed his works, making R. Schumann famous across Europe. In addition, Clara took care of the welfare of the family – the main source of finance was income from her concerts. The article indicates the growing interest of the twentieth century composers to the poems of female poets. Among them M. Debord-Valmore (1786–1859) – a French poetess, about whom S. Zweig, P. Verlaine and L. Aragon wrote their essays, and her poems were set to music by C. Franck, G. Bizet and R. Ahn; R. Auslender (1901–1988) is a German poetess, a native of Ukraine (Chernovtsy city), author of more than 20 collections, her lyrics were used by an American woman-composer E. Alexander to write “Three Songs” and by German composer G. Grosse-Schware who wrote four pieces for the choir; I. Bachmann (1926–1973) – the winner of three major Austrian awards, author of the libretto for the ballet “Idiot” and opera “The Prince of Hombur”. The composer H. W. Henze, in turn, created music for the play “Cicadas” by I. Bachmann. On this basis, we conclude that women not only successfully engaged in painting, wrote poems and novels, composed music, opened «locked doors», destroyed established stereotypes but were a powerful source of inspiration. Combining the roles of the creator and muse, they helped men reach the greatest heights. Toward the twentieth century, the role of the fair sex representatives in the world of art increased and strengthened significantly, which led Western European culture to a new round of its evolution.

In this article the phenomenon of visuality in modern Anglo-American academic space is studied. Special attention is paid to highlighting the phenomenon of visual turn in research, namely, why visual culture attracted the attention of scientists of the twentieth century and how visuality conquered various socio-cultural spaces. Visual rotation and the privilege of vision over other sense organs (oculocentrism) and the emergence of new technologies are analyzed. The penetration of the visual into cultural theory and the spread of images in culture itself are called the “visual turn” (sometimes it is called «pictorial turn» or «iconic turn»). It was present-ed in the research of one of the most prominent theorists of media and visual culture W. J.T. Mitchell. Over time the concept of “visual” has successfully established itself not only in culture itself, but also in cultural studies, philosophy, sociology, and history, which are increasingly intertwined through the image. Texts of cultural researchers and theorists such as Stuart Hall, Gordon Fife, John Law, John Peter Burger, Martin Jay,Ella Shohat, Robert Stam, Donna Haraway and many others much attention is paid to the study of various aspects of the problem of visuality, and the focus of academic research often shifts to the interdisciplinary level. In research, much attention is paid to the definition of visuality and other phenomena of the phenomenon of visibility, the ontology of sight and vision, the identification of boundaries between the visible and invisible, the problem of the image, the theoretical properties of the image in photography, cinema, art, education, etc. is highlighted. The problem of the visual has been elevated to the center of new research; the foundation has been laid for the emergence of new areas of research, visual. This marks the beginning of a new stage in the development of humanitarian research, when from the simple observation that we live in an era of image dominance, we move on to the theoretical conceptualization of this phenomenon

This article is dedicated to the transforming influence of television on consciousness of modern man. Forall this we paid a particular attention to those aspects of its moderative effect which had not been enough studiedand reflected in a wide spectrum of materials.First of all, the reasons of TV popularity as the most perfect and reflective means to date of socio-cultural lifeof the society such as an inclusion of all the sections of the population, address to the emotional human sphereand use of universal cinema language have been considered.The telemoderation of human consciousness in the sphere of formation of his/her basic cultural and socialknowledge is of special significance for us. With this purpose we studied in the article a positive moderating roleas well as a negative one of such forms of the contact with the audience as serials, talk shows or aestheticizingTV programmes.At the same time, the main accent was given to the hidden forms of TV influence. The major conclusion basedon the research of competent authors such as mediaphilosopher H. McLuhan and psychiatrist J. O’Keeffe is in thatTV images organize a multiscaled reformation of thinking processes in human brain. The activization of his/hercreative right cerebral hemisphere and percepting perfection become the result of this productive moderation.The telemoderation of emotional human sphere is not of lesser importance. The analysis of researchoutcomes made by the German mediapsychologist Winterhoff-Spurk confirms the positive significance of TVcontent, especially one of horror genre, for increasing a general level of interior motivation. However, the resultsof experiments of quite a number of other researchers proclaim a negative moderation aspect by the telecastsbeing permeated with sense of alarm and fear because the negative feelings accumulate in the subconsciousnessthat raises a level of social and personal anxiety. The research outcomes on latent TV influence upon human physiology and at the same time upon his/herpersonal activity proved to be the most important. The conclusions of multiple experiments collected by theresearcher R. Patzlaff state that a TV review disconnects the proper activity of eyes, provokes its immobilitythat also decreases the interior activity. This aspect has a particular importance in the development of a child’sintellect and his/her verbal organs because the TV role in his/her life grew immeasurably. So the unlimitedcontact of the child with the screen results in the problem of development of his/her speech because any dialogueis not supposed to be here.The conclusion motivates the necessity of thorough study of negative aspects of telemoderation with thepurpose of minimizing its nonproductive effect.

Abstract: “The work of censorship carries a great deal of responsibility”. A documentary glimpse of the activity of them Estonian SSR Glavlit in 1941–1948" Censorship was one of the important social control mechanisms of the Communist Party of the Soviet Union. The Main Administration for Literary and Publishing Affairs, or Glavlit (in Russian Glavnoe upravlenie po delam literaturȳ i izdatel’stv), was established under the jurisdiction of the People’s Commissariat for Education on 6 June 1922 by decree of the Russian SFSR Council of People’s Commissars. Its task was to combat the ideological opponents of the Soviet regime. The censorship of essentially all printed works published in the Soviet Union was gradually placed under Glavlit’s jurisdiction. By the end of the 1930s, Glavlit was transferred to the jurisdiction of the USSR Council of People’s Commissars (starting in 1946 the Council of Ministers), but substantially, censorship officials were placed under the direction of subordinate institutions and officials of the Communist Party, and of the state security organs. The same kind of institutions in the Soviet republics and oblasts were subordinated to the central Glavlit of the USSR. The Glavlit of the Estonian SSR was established by decree of the Estonian SSR Council of People’s Commissars on 23 October 1940. The task of Glavlit was to prevent the disclosure in print and in the media of Soviet military, state and economic secrets with the overall objective of banning the publication of all manner of ideas and information that was unacceptable to the regime. It was also to prevent such ideas and information from reaching libraries. To this end, both pre-publication censorship (the review of control copies of printed works before their publication) and post-publication censorship (review of published printed works, the physical destruction or obstruction of access to works that have proven to be unsuitable) were implemented. In order to carry out censorship, lists of banned literature were drawn up in cooperation with the state security organs, along with enumerations of information that was forbidden to publish in print. These formed the basis for the everyday work of Glavlit’s censors, in other words commissioners. Not a single printed work or media publication could be published during the Soviet era without Glavlit’s permission (departmental publishing houses practiced self-censorship). In addition to scrutinising printed works, the monitoring of art exhibitions, theatre productions and concert repertoires, the review of cinema newsreels, and provision of guidelines for publishing houses and libraries also fell within Glavlit’s jurisdiction. Censors also read mail sent by post and checked the content of parcels (first and foremost the exchange of postal parcels with foreign countries). In the latter half of the 1980s, when Mikhail Gorbachev rose to lead the Soviet Union, Glavlit’s control functions in society gradually started receding. State censorship was done away with in the Soviet Union on 12 June 1990, depriving the former censorship office of its substantial functions. Glavlit was disbanded in Estonia on 1 October 1990. The Estonian SSR Glavlit activity overview for the years 1940–1948 is published below. This is a report dated 20 October 1948 from Leonida Päll, the head of the Estonian SSR Glavlit (in office in 1946–1950), to Nikolai Karotamm, the Estonian SSR party boss of that time. This document provides a brief departmental insight into the initial years of the activity of the Estonian SSR Glavlit. It outlines the censorship agency’s main fields of activity, highlights the key figures of that time, and describes the agency’s concrete achievements, including recording the more important works and authors that had been caught between the gearwheels of censorship.

Introducción: El objetivo principal en el manejo de los pacientes receptores de trasplante renal, es mantener el estado de inmunosupresión adecuado para evitar la presentación de un rechazo inmunológico del injerto. El rechazo activo mediado por anticuerpos es una de las causas más frecuentes de disfunción del injerto en el periodo postrasplante temprano, además de representar una causa importante de disminución en su sobrevida, sin embargo, en México son escasos los reportes de la prevalencia de este evento, sobre todo en lo referente a la población pediátrica. Métodos: Estudio retrospectivo, transversal, descriptivo. Todos los niños con trasplante renal que hayan sido trasplantados en la UMAE Hospital de Pediatría CMNO. Se solicitó en el archivo médico el listado de pacientes con diagnóstico de “rechazo de injerto”, “rechazo humoral”, “rechazo agudo de injerto”, “rechazo agudo humoral” “rechazo mediado por anticuerpos” de Enero 2018 a Diciembre 2020, posteriormente, con el número de afiliación, se revisaron los expedientes electrónicos. En una hoja de captura se vaciaron los datos necesarios para la investigación, los cuales fueron analizados. Resultados: Se estudiaron 103 pacientes que recibieron un trasplante de riñón en un período de 3 años, de estos, 2 fueron excluidos, quedando 101 pacientes. De ellos, 15 pacientes presentaron rechazo agudo catalogado por biopsia de injerto renal, con 1 (6.6%) clasificado como rechazo celular, 3 (20%) clasificados como rechazo mixto y 11 (73.3%) catalogados como rechazo mediado por anticuerpos, representando un 10.9% de los pacientes trasplantados, de los cuales 8 (72.7%) recibieron trasplante de donador vivo relacionado y 3 (27.3%) lo recibieron de donador cadavérico. Se encontró una distribución equitativa por género, hubo un total de 6 (54.5%) pacientes del género masculino y 5 (45.4%) del género femenino. El rango de edad fue de 7 a 19 años, con una media de 13 años. Conclusión: La prevalencia de rechazo mediado por anticuerpos en pacientes pediátricos de la UMAE Hospital de Pediatría CMNO fue de 10.9%. Recibido: Agosto 01, 2022 Aceptado: Septiembre 30, 2022 Publicado: Septiembre 30, 2022 Editor: Dr. Franklin Mora Bravo. Introducción El rechazo mediado por anticuerpos es la mayor causa de disfunción y pérdida del injerto después del trasplante renal. Actuamente están descritos tres categorías de cambios de la función renal mediados por anticuerpo: Presencia del marcador C4d sin rechazo, rechazo agudo mediado por anticuerpos (RAMA) y rechazo crónico mediado por anticuerpos (RCMA) [1]. Para el diagnóstico de RAMA se requiere el diagnóstico de lesiones histológicas (glomerulitis, capilaritis peritubular, microangiopatía trombótica, necrosis tubular aguda, arteritis intimal), evidencia latente de interacción entre anticuerpos y endotelio (C4d peritubular, glomerulitis + capilaritis, activación endotelial) y la presencia de anticuerpos donante específico [2]. El RAMA se clasifica en 2 fenotipos : el rechazo precoz durante los primeros 3 mses posttrasplante y el recrhazo tradía que ocurre luego del primer año de trasplante, el primero ocurre en paciente con panel reactivo de anticuerpo positivos pretrasplante, usualmente C4D positivo y el segundo con anticuerpos anti HLA de novo usualmente C4D negativo, asociado a la falta de adherencia farmacológica con peor respuesta terapéutica [3]. El RCMA constituye una de las causas principales de pérdida de los injertos, y se asocia a mal pronóstico. La característica que permite el diagnóstico es el hallazgo histológico de la glomerulopatía del trasplante (GT) [4]. La GT se diagnostica en etapas avanzadas por microscopia óptica por la aparición de dobles contornos y expansión de la matriz mesangial. Los cambios preceden a cualquier manifestación clínica. En la microscopia electrónica se aprecia la multilaminación de la membrana basal capilar y/o engrosamiento y duplicación de la membrana basal glomerular. Desde el punto de vista clínico cursa en 2 etapas. Una etapa subclínica sin alteraciones en la función renal ni proteinuria, cuyo único hallazgo es la GT en las biopsias de protocolo y una segunda etapa clínica, caracterizada por disfunción crónica del injerto, con proteinuria e hipertensión arterial [5]. Los pacientes con rechazo crónico pueden asociar elementos de daño activo en la microcirculación mediada por anticuerpos, conocido como rechazo crónico activo, que se define por la presencia concomitante de: Evidencia histológica de daño tisular crónico como: GT, si no hay microangiopatía crónica; delaminación severa de la membrana basal de los capilares peritubulares (en la microscopia electrónica; fibrosis de la íntima arterial de inicio reciente, descartando otras causas; evidencia de interacción de anticuerpos (actual o reciente) dado por cualquiera de los siguientes: C4d en los capilares peritubulares, inflamación de la microcirculación moderada, marcadores moleculares (endothelial-associated transcripts), Evidencia de anticuerpos donantes específico (HLA y no HLA) [6, 7]. Aunque se ha referido una prevalencia baja de rechazo de injerto mediado por anticuerpos en pacientes no sensibilizados, ésta aumenta de forma muy importante en pacientes de alto riesgo, como pacientes previamente sensibilizados, en quienes puede alcanzar de un 10 a un 35% [6]. Esta cifra es alarmante, pues el rechazo de injerto mediado por anticuerpos es el principal factor de riesgo para pérdida del injerto renal en el primer año postrasplante, además de que todo rechazo mediado por anticuerpos no tratado culmina en la pérdida del injerto renal. En México existen escasos datos que aporten la prevalencia de este evento en la población pediátrica, por lo que el objetivo del presente estudio fue determinar la prevalencia de rechazo de injerto mediado por anticuerpos en pacientes pediátricos trasplantados de riñón en la UMAE Hospital de pediatría CMNO. Materiales y métodos Diseño del estudio El presente estudio es observacional, descriptivo, de tipo retrospectivo. Escenario El estudio se realizó en el departamento de nefrología en la Unidad Médica de Alta Especialidad, Hospital de Pediatría, Centro Médico Nacional de Occidente, Instituto Mexicano del Seguro Social, Guadalajara, Jalisco-México, durante el periodo de 1ro de enero del 2017 al 30 de diciembre del 2020. Participantes Se incluyeron pacientes pediátricos con el diagnóstico de enfermedad renal crónica estadio 1-3-T que requirieron hospitalización por necesidad de tratamiento de rechazo agudo, catalogado como mediado por anticuerpos. Se excluyeron paciente con anticuerpos pre-formados. Se eliminaron casos con datos incompletos para el análisis, con historias clínicas incompletas o sin seguimiento posterior al ingreso. Variables Las variables fueron: edad, sexo, tipo de trasplante, tiempo transcurrido del trasplante, grupo sanguíneo, fuente de donación, HLA receptor-donador, inducción, esquema de inducción, esquema de inmunosupresión, biopsia del injerto, dosis acumulada de timoglobulina, identificación de anticuerpos HLA donante específico. Fuentes de datos/mediciones La fuente fue indirecta, se revisó el expediente electrónico institucional, el registro de los servicios de estadística, nefrología y la unidad de trasplantes. Sesgos Con el fin de evitar posibles sesgos de entrevistador, de información y de memoria, los datos fueron custodiados durante todo el tiempo por el investigador principal con una guía y registros aprobados en el protocolo de investigación. El sesgo de observación y selección fueron evitados con la aplicación de los criterios de selección de los participantes. Se consignaron todas las variables clínicas y paraclínicas del periodo ya comentado. Dos investigadores de manera independiente analizaron cada uno de los registros por duplicado y se consignaron las variables en la base de datos una vez verificada su concordancia. Tamaño del estudio La muestra fue no probabilística, tipo censo, en donde se incluyeron todos los casos posibles del período en estudio. Variables cuantitativas Se utilizó estadística descriptiva. Se expresaron los resultados en escala en medias y desviación estándar. Los datos categóricos como el sexo se presentan en proporciones. Análisis estadístico Se utiliza estadística no inferencial. Se calculó la prevalencia de RAMA con intervalo de confianza para una proporción. El paquete estadístico utilizado fue SPSS 25.0 (IBM Corp. Released 2017. IBM SPSS Statistics for Windows, Version 25.0. Armonk, NY: IBM Corp.). Resultados Participantes Se estudiaron 103 pacientes que recibieron un trasplante de riñón en un período de 3 años, de estos, 2 fueron excluidos, uno por no contar con expediente clínico completo y el otro por tener anticuerpos preformados, quedando 101 pacientes que contaban con expedientes clínicos completos. Características basales de la población de estudio De los 101 pacientes trasplantados, 60 (59.4%) corresponden al sexo masculino y 41 (40.6%) corresponden al sexo mujer. La edad media de los pacientes al momento del trasplante fue 12 años. En la mayoría de los trasplantes se realizaron de injertos provenientes de donador vivo 80 (79.2%), y 21 (20.7%) pertenecían a donante cadavérico. Durante el periodo revisado, se encontró un total de 15 pacientes que presentaron rechazo agudo catalogado por biopsia de injerto renal (histopatología), con 1 (6.7%) clasificado como rechazo celular, 3 (20%) clasificados como rechazo mixto y 11 (73.3%) catalogados como rechazo mediado por anticuerpos. Rechazo mediado por anticuerpos Los 11 pacientes con rechazo mediado por anticuerpos representan un 10.9% de los pacientes trasplantados, de los cuales 8 (72.7%) recibieron trasplante de donador vivo relacionado y 3 (27.3%) lo recibieron de donador cadavérico. Del total de pacientes catalogados con rechazo mediado por anticuerpos, se encontró una distribución equitativa por género, ya que hubo un total de 6 (54.5%) pacientes del género masculino y 5 (45.4%) del género femenino. El rango de edad fue de 7 a 19 años, con una media de 13 años y una moda de 14 años de edad. En la figura 1, se presenta la distribución por edad de la población de pacientes con rechazo. Tomando en cuenta el tiempo transcurrido de la fecha del trasplante a la fecha de la presentación del rechazo, el período de tiempo más corto fue de un mes y el más largo fue de 23 meses, con un promedio de tiempo de presentación de 11 meses, como se muestra en la figura 2. Análisis secundarios La variable compatibilidad se definió como una variable dicotómica: < 3 antígenos y ≥3 antígenos. De los 11 pacientes que presentaron rechazo mediado por anticuerpos, sólo fue posible obtener los datos de compatibilidad de 8 de ellos, los cuales fueron en su totalidad trasplantes de donador vivo, los 8 pacientes compartían más de 3 antígenos. Descrito con más detalle, uno de ellos compartía dos haplotipos, cinco de ellos compartían un haplotipo y dos de ellos compartían únicamente antígenos de la clase II. No contamos con los HLA de los 3 pacientes cuyo trasplante fue de donador cadavérico. La inducción recibida durante el trasplante renal se realizó con Basiliximab en 10 casos (90.9%) y 1 (9%) con Timoglobulina. El único paciente que recibió inducción con Timoglobulina presentó rechazo a los 23 meses del trasplante renal. En cuanto al esquema de inmunosupresión de mantenimiento que recibían los pacientes al momento de la presentación del rechazo, la totalidad de ellos tenía triple esquema, teniendo corticosteroide (Prednisona) en común, sin embargo existieron variaciones en el uso de antimetabolitos e inhibidores de calcineurina como se presenta en el Gráfico 8. Se encontraron 6 pacientes en el grupo de Prednisona + Tacrolimus + MMF, 4 pacientes en el grupo de Prednisona + CsA + MMF y solo un paciente tenía Azatioprina como antimetabolito. El periodo de tiempo transcurrido del trasplante a la presentación del rechazo en el grupo de Prednisona + CsA+ MMF fue de 1 a 23 meses, en el grupo de Prednisona + Tacrolimus + MMF fue de 1 a 22 meses y en el paciente con Prednisona + Tacrolimus + Azatioprina fue de 16 meses. No existió diferencia significativa en el tiempo de presentación del rechazo (p= 0.66) al comparar los grupos de Prednisona + CsA+ MMF y Prednisona + Tacrolimus + MMF. Del total de los pacientes, 6 tenían mal apego a tratamiento confirmado por cuidadores y los pacientes mismos, sin embargo, incluso entre estos pacientes, el tiempo transcurrido del trasplante al rechazo fue muy variable, encontrando periodos tan cortos como 6 meses hasta períodos de 23 meses. Entre estos pacientes, se encuentra el que recibió inducción con Timoglobulina. De estos pacientes, 10 (90.9%) fueron tratado con plasmaféresis, en cantidad de 5 sesiones con inmunoglobulina endovenosa a dosis de 2g/kg/dosis, además del uso de anticuerpo monoclonal anti CD20 (Rituximab) al haber completado las 5 sesiones de plasmaféresis, uno de los 11 pacientes recibió Timoglobulina además del tratamiento mencionado. El paciente restante fue dado de alta por edad antes de poder recibir tratamiento. Discusión Para la realización de este estudio se estudiaron de forma retrospectiva los expedientes de pacientes que habían tenido diagnóstico de disfunción de injerto, rechazo agudo o rechazo de injerto. La prevalencia de rechazo de injerto mediada por anticuerpos encontrada en este estudio fue de 10.9%, lo que correlaciona con la prevalencia en adultos encontrada en estudios en Europa y Latinoamérica, como los realizados por Lorent [8] y Borroto Diaz [9], donde se reportó en 16.2% y 11.23% respectivamente. En México no encontramos reportes de este evento en edad pediátrica. El tiempo transcurrido desde la fecha del trasplante renal hasta la presentación del rechazo fue muy variable, ocurriendo desde 1 hasta 23 meses después. La inducción recibida en los pacientes trasplantado fue con un mayor porcentaje a base de Basiliximab, sin embargo, aunque no se cuenta con una muestra representativa de pacientes con inducción a base de Timoglobulina, si se observa que en estos pacientes el tiempo de presentación de rechazo fue mayor y la incidencia de rechazo agudo confirmado por biopsia fue significativamente más alta en el grupo que recibió inducción con Basiliximab. Aunque otros estudios no se reportado diferencias significativas en la supervivencia del injerto en los dos grupos de estudio [10]. En cuanto a la inmunosupresión de mantenimiento recibida al momento de la presentación del rechazo no se observaron diferencias al comparar los grupos (PDN+ Tacrolimus + MMF vs PDN + CsA + MMF) (P=0.66), sin embargo, el no apego al tratamiento de mantenimiento fue una variable importante en la presentación de rechazo; la no adherencia es un factor de riesgo significativo e independiente para la pérdida del injerto; por ello consideramos que la vigilancia del paciente pediátrico, sobre todo el adolescente, debe ser extremadamente estrecha por el alto riesgo de no apego, y en toda la población pediátrica trasplantada, esta vigilancia debe ser estricta con el objetivo de mantener sus niveles de inmunosupresión dentro de parámetros recomendados y con ello evitar la presentación de rechazo mediado por anticuerpos. Estos pacientes recibieron tratamiento en varias líneas, tanto plasmaféresis como Rituximab y utilización de gamaglobulina endovenosa; se plantea a futuro la realización de estudios posteriores los cuales pudiesen demostrar la eficacia de algunas de estas medidas. Se pretendió conocer la compatibilidad de los antígenos HLA, ya que en investigaciones anteriores, se ha evaluado y concluido que la compatibilidad HLA influye sobre la supervivencia del injerto y la mortalidad en el trasplante renal, por ejemplo, un estudio observacional y encontró que la incompatibilidad HLA en general se asoció significativamente con mayor riesgo de falla del injerto, incluso mayor mortalidad [11]. Un sesgo muy importante en este estudio es la falta de conocimiento de la compatibilidad en los antígenos HLA en los tres pacientes que presentaron rechazo mediado por anticuerpos, que habían recibido su injerto de donante cadavérico. Sin embargo, cabe mencionar que muchos de los órganos procurados de donante cadavérico provienen de otros estados y el envío de muestras para la realización de estudios así como el tiempo necesario para tener los resultados disponibles dificulta la realización de los mismos, por lo que estos pacientes deben de ser considerado como de alto riesgo independientemente de la edad y deberán ser inducidos a base de Timoglobulina. Los 8 pacientes restantes, recibieron su injerto de donador vivo y todos compartían más de 3 antígenos. Se decidió no excluir a los pacientes de donador cadavérico para contar con este grupo de pacientes y dar a conocer la evolución de los mismos, además de que, de haberlos eliminado, se habría reportado una menor prevalencia. Conclusiones De los 101 pacientes trasplantados, 60 (59.4%) corresponden al género masculino y 41 (40.5%) corresponden al género femenino. La prevalencia de rechazo mediado por anticuerpos fue de 10.9%. Del total de pacientes catalogados con rechazo mediado por anticuerpos, 6 (54.5%) pacientes del género masculino y 5 (45.4%) del género femenino. En los pacientes catalogados con rechazo mediado por anticuerpos, el rango de edad fue de 7 a 19 años, con una media de 13 años y una moda de 14 años de edad. El tiempo transcurrido de la fecha del trasplante a la fecha de la presentación del rechazo fue desde 1 hasta 23 meses. El tiempo de presentación del rechazo en pacientes de donante cadavérico, en quienes se desconoce la compatibilidad HLA, fue muy variable, abarcando desde 8 hasta 22 meses. No existió diferencia estadísticamente significativa al comparar el esquema de inducción recibido y la presencia de rechazo. El tiempo de presentación más largo fue en dos pacientes, que habían recibido Basiliximab y Timoglulina cada uno. No existió diferencia estadísticamente significativa en el tiempo de presentación del rechazo al comparar los distintos esquemas de inmunosupresión de mantenimiento recibidos. Sin embargo, se observó poca adherencia al tratamiento como variable interviniente. Abreviaturas ABMR: Rechazo mediado por anticuerpos (Antibodies mediated rejection) ADCC: Citotoxicidad dependiente de anticuerpos CAM: Complejo de ataque de membrana CD: Célula dendrítica. CDC: Citotoxicidad dependiente de complemento CMH: Complejo Mayor de Histocompatibilidad. CMNO: Centro Médico Nacional de Occidente. CPA: Célula presentadora de antígeno. CXCL: Ligando de quimiocina (Chemokine Ligand) DC: Donador cadavérico. DSA: Anticuerpos Donante Específicos (Donor Specific Antibodies). DVR: Donador vivo relacionado. ERC: Enfermedad renal crónica ERO: Especies reactivas de oxígeno. FDA: Administración de fármacos y alimentos (Food and drug administration). GT: Glomerulopatía del trasplante HLA: Antígeno Leucocitario Humano (Human Leucocitary Antigen) ICAM: Molécula de adhesión intercelular (Intercellular Adhesion Molecule 1) IFN: Interferón Ig: Inmunoglobulina IKK: Cinasa inhibidora del factor Kappa B (I Kappa B Kinase) IMSS: Instituto Mexicano del Seguro Social. LRA: Lesión renal aguda MAPK: Proteincinasa activada por mitógeno (mitogen-activated protein kinase) MMP: Metalopeptidasa de la matriz (Matrix Metallopeptidase) NLRs: Receptores tipo NOD (NOD like receptors). PMAD: Productos moleculares asociados a daño. PRA: Panel reactivo de anticuerpos rATG: Globulina antitimocito de conejo (rATG) RRP: receptores de reconocimiento de patrones TLRs: Receptores tipo Toll (Toll like receptors). TNF: Factor de necrosis tumoral (Tumoral necrosis factor) TRIF: Interferón-B inductor de adaptadores que contienen dominios de Tirosina UMAE: Unidad Médica de Alta Especialidad. VCAM-1: Molécula de adhesión celular vascular (vascular cell adhesion molecule 1) VEGF: Factor de crecimiento endotelial vascular (vascular endotelial grown factor). Información suplementaria Materiales suplementarios no han sido declarados. Agradecimientos No aplica. Contribuciones de los autores Mónica Verenice Cámara Carrillo: Conceptualización, Curación de datos, Análisis formal, Adquisición de fondos, Investigación, Metodología, Administración de proyecto, Recursos, Software, Escritura – borrador original. Santa Ramírez Godinez: Conceptualización, Supervisión, Validación, Visualización, Redacción: revisión y edición. Juan Carlos Barrera de León: Metodología, validación, supervisión, redacción: Revisión y edición. Todos los autores leyeron y aprobaron la versión final del manuscrito. Financiamiento Los autores proveyeron los gastos de la investigación. Disponibilidad de datos o materiales Los conjuntos de datos generados y analizados durante el estudio actual no están disponibles públicamente debido a la confidencialidad de los participantes, pero están disponibles a través del autor correspondiente a pedido académico razonable. Declaraciones Aprobación del comité de ética y consentimiento para participar Este estudio fue aprobado por el comité de ética en investigación de la Unidad Médica de Alta Especialidad Hospital de Pediatría CMNO, aprobación número R-2021-1302-077. Consentimiento para publicación No aplica cuando no se publican imágenes o fotografías del examen físico o radiografías/tomografías/resonancias de pacientes. Conflictos de interés Los autores reportan no tener conflictos de interés. Referencias Loupy A, Lefaucheur C. Antibody-Mediated Rejection of Solid-Organ Allografts. N Engl J Med. 2018 Sep 20;379(12):1150-1160. DOI: 10.1056/NEJMra1802677. PMID: 30231232. Zorn E, See SB. Is There a Role for Natural Antibodies in Rejection Following Transplantation? Transplantation. 2019 Aug;103(8):1612-1619. DOI: 10.1097/TP.0000000000002743. PMID: 30951015; PMCID: PMC6660357. Haas M, Mirocha J, Reinsmoen NL, Vo AA, Choi J, Kahwaji JM, Peng A, Villicana R, Jordan SC. Differences in pathologic features and graft outcomes in antibody-mediated rejection of renal allografts due to persistent/recurrent versus de novo donor-specific antibodies. Kidney Int. 2017 Mar;91(3):729-737. DOI: 10.1016/j.kint.2016.10.040. Epub 2017 Jan 16. PMID: 28104301. Chapman JR, Wavamunno M, O'Connell PJ, Nankivell BJ. Unravelling the connections between donor specific antibodies and renal allograft pathology. Clin Transpl. 2013:361-5. PMID: 25095530. Asante-Korang A, Jacobs JP, Ringewald J, Carapellucci J, Rosenberg K, McKenna D, McCormack J, Wilmot I, Gjeldum A, Lopez-Cepero M, Sleasman J. Management of children undergoing cardiac transplantation with high Panel Reactive Antibodies. Cardiol Young. 2011 Dec;21 Suppl 2:124-32. DOI: 10.1017/S1047951111001703. PMID: 22152539. Velez M, Johnson MR. Management of allosensitized cardiac transplant candidates. Transplant Rev (Orlando). 2009 Oct;23(4):235-47. DOI: 10.1016/j.trre.2009.07.001. PMID: 19778695; PMCID: PMC2796825. Jeong HJ. Diagnosis of renal transplant rejection: Banff classification and beyond. Kidney Res Clin Pract. 2020 Mar 31;39(1):17-31. DOI: 10.23876/j.krcp.20.003. PMID: 32164120; PMCID: PMC7105630. Lorent M, Foucher Y, Kerleau K, Brouard S, Baayen C, Lebouter S, Naesens M, Bestard Matamoros O, Åsberg A, Giral M; EKiTE consortium. The EKiTE network (epidemiology in kidney transplantation - a European validated database): an initiative epidemiological and translational European collaborative research. BMC Nephrol. 2019 Oct 11;20(1):365. DOI: 10.1186/s12882-019-1522-8. PMID: 31601177; PMCID: PMC6788117. Borroto Díaz G, Caballero Gonzalez M, Chong López A. Relación entre los resultados de biopsia del trasplante renal, según la clasificación de Banff del 2011, y el tiempo de vida del injerto. Revista Cubana de Medicina 2016;554(2):97-113. SCIELO: S0034-7523 Newland DM, Royston MJ, McDonald DR, Nemeth TL, Wallace-Boughter K, Carlin K, Horslen S. Analysis of rabbit anti-thymocyte globulin vs basiliximab induction in pediatric liver transplant recipients. Pediatr Transplant. 2019 Dec;23(8):e13573. DOI: 10.1111/petr.13573. Epub 2019 Sep 12. PMID: 31512802. Senev A, Coemans M, Lerut E, Van Sandt V, Kerkhofs J, Daniëls L, Driessche MV, Compernolle V, Sprangers B, Van Loon E, Callemeyn J, Claas F, Tambur AR, Verbeke G, Kuypers D, Emonds MP, Naesens M. Eplet Mismatch Load and De Novo Occurrence of Donor-Specific Anti-HLA Antibodies, Rejection, and Graft Failure after Kidney Transplantation: An Observational Cohort Study. J Am Soc Nephrol. 2020 Sep;31(9):2193-2204. DOI: 10.1681/ASN.2020010019. Epub 2020 Aug 6. PMID: 32764139; PMCID: PMC7461684. DOI: Digital Object Identifier. PMID: PubMed Identifier. Nota del Editor La REV SEN se mantiene neutral con respecto a los reclamos jurisdiccionales sobre mapas publicados y afiliaciones institucionales.

La pelota es un símbolo de identidad vasca. El objeto de este artículo es analizar lavisión de este deporte a través del principal órgano de información y propagandavisual del franquismo: el noticiario cinematográfico NO-DO. Se trata de un noticiariosemanal que, según su propia cabecera, pretendía poner “el mundo enteroal alcance de todos los españoles” y cuya proyección fue obligatoria en todos loscines desde 1943 hasta 1975. Aquí tratamos de descubrir si, al hablar de la pelotavasca, el fuerte nacionalismo español del NO-DO es compatible con un ciertoregionalismo.Pilota euskal nortasunaren ikurra da. Artikulu honen bitartez, frankismoareninformazio eta propaganda bisualeko organo nagusiak, hau da, NO-DO albistegizinematografikoak, kirol hori nola ikusi zuen aztertu nahi dugu. Astean behingoalbistegia zen NO-DOa, eta bere amaierako idazkunean adierazten zuenez, “munduosoa espainol guztien esku” jarri nahi zuen. 1943tik 1975era bitarte zinema-aretoguztietan nahitaez eman behar zuten filmaren aurretik. Hemen aztertu nahi dugunazera da, euskal pilota hizpide hartzean, NO-DOren nazionalismo espainol indartsuanolabaiteko erregionalismo batekin uztartzen ote zen.Pelota is a symbol of Basque identity. The object of this article is to analyse thevision of this sport through the main organ of information and visual propagandaof Francoism: the cinema newsreel NO-DO. It is a weekly newsreel that, accordingto its own opening credits, was intended to place “the whole world within reachof all Spaniards” and whose projection was obligatory in all cinemas from 1943to 1975. Here we attempt to discover if, when talking about Basque pelota, thestrict Spanish nationalism of the NO-DO is compatible with a certain regionalism.

The metaphoric use of light, traditionally a domain reserved to painting andarchitecture, has always, by its very nature, played a major role in film, because photography and cinema are simply specific ways of dealing with light. In Uliisses (1982) German film director Werner Nekes makes use of the fact that the processing centers of the cerebrum work much faster than, for example, the organ of perception, the eye. Indeed it is just this sluggishness of the eye, creating the impression of actual movement out of a specific rapid sucession of individual images in sequence, which is fundamental for film as a medium. In fact, it is clear that it is not the eye that sees, but the brain. In that sense, in this film, both, text and viewer inhabit the same dominant fiction. This paper explores how Nekes’ film language attempts to activate the capacities of the cerebral cortex, and in so doing, to bring about a greater collaboration between eye and brain.

Usually associated with the practice of cinema, offscreen is understood as everything and what is not contained in the field of cinema, in the plane of image and sound. This conference addresses the issue, placing the field and the field out of the image creation and its relation to what the plan entails and obliterates, in the same way as theatre space, the existence of another space that is filmic. In the same way, the sound field installs itself as the offscreen, to where it is sent what is not in the field. The sound construction, far from replicating the field of the image, establishes the possibility of the film being composed, in fact, by two films. The absence of sound in silent films would have its adherents in the totalizing idea of the art of moving images. However, offscreen was a real need to occupy this field. With the advent of sound, the transformations of silent cinema into sound cinema, established the possibility of a new cinematographic art, in fact two arts: silent cinema and sound cinema. The characteristics of both are not complementary, but rather simultaneous. That means a true relationship between the need of to show everything in field and to reinforce the idea that the field doesn’t exclude the offscreen. Cinema is a sound art, like music and theatre. Like them, cinema founds its nature in the replica of the human: the voice, the sound production, the silence. Like the theatre, cinema makes use of two organs for its reception and for its creation: the eye and the ear. In this way, the cinema works the look more than the see and works more listening than hear.

O artigo busca compreender o surgimento do conceito de Música Visual fundado na pintura abstrata, desenvolvido nos concertos de color organs e consolidado no cinema de vanguarda. Partindo de uma abordagem historiográfica, escritos de artistas pioneiros do conceito e análises de teóricos que os pesquisaram são articulados para investigar o movimento e a abstração enquanto fundamentos da sintaxe originária da Música Visual.

This paper introduces and examines the ‘Killer’ Father and the ‘Final’ Mother in Tarsem Singh’s The Cell (2001). They are descendants of Carol J. Clover’s ‘Killer’ and ‘Final Girl’ respectively. The Killer Father is a bad father figure who tortures or even kills his family. The Final Mother is a ‘muscle mother’, who kills the Killer Father in order to save her child from his fringes. This study uses the psychoanalytical concept of ‘womb-envy’ as a critical tool to illustrate the unconscious motives of the Killer Father. The employment of womb-envy shows that the Killer Father’s behaviour displays unconscious envy of the female reproductive organs, and the capacity to give birth and nurture. In the end, this paper argues that the presence of the Killer Father and the Final Mother in the contemporary horror cinema is indicative of the dilemmas that preoccupy modern parenthood and the agency of the nuclear family.

Gilles Deleuze and Félix Guattari are among the names who contributed to the development of film philosophy with nomadic thought. In this process, thinkers who explain nomadic thought through concepts have benefited from various concepts such as rhizome, deterritorialization, becoming, movement image, time image, and the body without organs. Within the scope of the study, the aforementioned concepts were discussed in the context of Özcan Alper's film The Festival of Troubadours (Âşıklar Bayramı, 2022). This discussion, which was built on the concepts borrowed from philosophy, was carried out with the categories created over the basic elements of the film about being a nomad. These categories were determined as the rejection of fatherhood, the road and journey, and the contributions of cinematographic elements to nomadic thought. Since the story of the film is based on being a road and a passenger, it carries traces of nomadic thought from the very first scenes. However, it is not appropriate to define nomadism as a simple "state of being in movement". The journey is only the primary reason that drives the characters of the film to become nomads. As a matter of fact, real nomadism is in the soul of the characters and in their minds. Throughout the journey, both characters strive and seek to achieve their goals. The state of being in search has also made them deterritorialized and included them in rhizome relations. Both characters have a common desire: to be liberated. As a matter of fact, at the end of the film, one character is liberated by giving and receiving blessings from all the people who touched his life, and the other character is liberated by discovering that the questions he carried in his mind for years were irrelevant. The Festival of Troubadours is a film based on the great collaboration of cinema and philosophy with its narrative structure and cinematographic preferences.

AbstractThe first instar larva of a species of the Australian endemic genus Aenigmetopia Malloch is described for the first time, along with the first instar larvae of three other Australian species representing the genera Amobia Robineau-Desvoidy and Protomiltogramma Townsend. Larval morphology was analysed using a combination of light microscopy, confocal laser scanning microscopy and scanning electron microscopy. The following morphological structures are documented: pseudocephalon, antennal complex, maxillary palpus, facial mask, modifications of thoracic and abdominal segments, anal region, spiracular field, posterior spiracles and details of the cephaloskeleton. Substantial morphological differences are observed between the three genera, most notably in the labrum and mouthhooks of the cephaloskeleton, sensory organs of the pseudocephalon, spinulation, sculpture of the integument and form of the spiracular field. The first instar larval morphology of Aenigmetopia amissa Johnston, Wallman, Szpila & Pape corroborates the close phylogenetic affinity of Aenigmetopia Malloch with Metopia Meigen, inferred from recent molecular analysis. The larval morphology of Amobia auriceps (Baranov), Protomiltogramma cincta Townsend and Protomiltogramma plebeia Malloch is mostly congruent with the morphology of Palaearctic representatives of both genera.

3D-modeling in the medical field can be used to create medical models (eg, tissues and human organs) using 3D-printing or used for digital 3D visualization of the necessary structures. Medical 3D-printing is used when the work on prostheses that should perfectly match the patient's anatomy is needed. In addition, thanks to 3D-modeling technology, it is possible to develop peculiar medical tools. It is also possible to perform trial surgeries on 3D-models before the actual operation. There is special software for creating medical 3D-models for further printing. The purpose of this work is to determine the functions of 3D-modeling in preparation for 3D-printing in the process of creating medical models and comparative analysis of software for 3D-modeling used in the medical field. There is a common workflow that can be used to convert volumetric medical imaging data (created by computer tomography (CT), or other imaging techniques) into physical models printed on a 3D-printer. This process is divided into three stages: image segmentation, polygon mesh refinement, and 3D-printing. 3D-modeling programs are used at the stage of polygon mesh refinement. They allow almost unlimited manipulations to refine the mesh to make the model printable. The main manipulations for post-processing of a segmented model using 3D-modeling are: 1) reparation - correction of errors and discrepancies that sometimes occur in the process of segmentation and images export; 2) smoothing - correction of errors that occur during segmentation due to inappropriate resolution of the original medical image via softening by smoothing the surface of the model; 3) adding elements - combining a segmented model with other structures or removing unnecessary parts from the segmentation. As a result of a comparative analysis of 3D-modeling software used in the medical field, it was found that for 3D-modeling can be used software specifically designed for medical 3D-modeling and regular 3D-modeling software. When using regular software, you need third-party software to get the correct model file format. The choice of software depends on the goal: to work with implants and create patient-specific devices, it is possible to use specially designed programs for these purposes, such as Within Medical and Medical Design Studio; if high accuracy is required, it is possible to use D2P created for working with DICOM-images at the image segmentation stage; to achieve fast results, when maintaining of maximum accuracy is not needed, a mobile version of the software, such as Ossa 3D, can be used; common 3D-modeling software, such as Cinema 4D and Blender, can be used to develop peculiar tools and medical equipment.

One thousand and four hundred crude organic extracts from natural plants, botanical chemicals were evaluated for anti‐inflammatory activity LPS treated cell lines: BV‐2 microligal cells, RAW 264.7 macrophages and C6 glioma cells. LPS is commonly used to invoke in vitro inflammation. However, studies using immortalized macrophages, microglia or astrocytoma (malignant phenotype) could result in an interfering variable when evaluating natural products which are both anti‐inflammatory and anti‐cancer (pro‐apoptotic) at similar/close concentrations. In this study, a high throuput HTP study was conducted on inflammatory parameters using an in vitro therapeutic index (iTI) = ratio of toxicity (LC50) / anti‐inflammatory potency (IC50) compared to reference controls (e.g. hydrocortisone, dexamethasone, iNOS inhibitor N6‐(1‐iminoethyl)‐L‐lysine (L‐NIL) and other OTC NSAIDs). Preliminary profiling studies showed (1) LPS activation of BV2 cells resulted > 10‐fold rise in IL‐6, MIP‐2, MIP‐1g, RANTES and nitric oxide (NO); (2) LPS activated RAW 264.7 cells generated > 10‐fold rise in sTNFR2, MCP‐1, IL‐6, GCSF, RANTES and NO (3) LPS/IFN‐g activated C6 glioma initiated >10‐fold rise in MCP‐1, CINC1, CINC2a, CINC3 and NO. Using NO2‐ production as a guideline molecule for HTP screening, the data show that of all compounds tested : the highest anti‐inflammatory differential LC50/IC50s (Ti ) with efficacy < 250μg/mL occurred in the presence of Ashwaganda, Elecampane, Feverfew, Tansy, Turmeric, Bayleaf, Rosemary, Green Tea, Yerba Santa and Centipeda Herb. Likewise, naturally derived substances with the highest anti‐inflammatory differential LC50/IC50s (Ti ) were established for cardamonin and to a lesser extent: butein, apigenin, EGCG, curcumin and quercetin. These substances had capacity to reduce NO, downregulate iNOS protein expression, significantly attenuate IL‐6 in activated RAW/BV2 cells and reduce levels of cytokine‐induced neutrophil chemoattractant CINC‐1/3, in C6 cells. These particular natural substances seem to hold therapeutic value above many others tested, with possible applications for future prevention of neuro inflammatory conditions / treatment of general inflammatory chronic disorders and possibly drug development for strategies to prevent multi‐organ damages associated with endotoxic shock.Support or Funding InformationNIMHD Grants G12MD007582 and Grant Number 1P20 MD006738

IntroductionCan a person’s tastes in art, music, literature, cinema, sport, humour or other fields be changed through online activity? This article explores that question by comparing recent research findings in the areas of neuroplasticity and flow. Neuroplasticity, also known as brain plasticity, is the idea that the human brain can change its structure and function through thought and activity, even into old age (Doidge). The second concept—flow—comes from the field of psychology, and refers to a deeply satisfying state of focused attention that people sometimes experience while engaging in an enjoyable activity such as browsing the Web (Csikszentmihalyi, Flow). Research into the experiences of web users, conducted from these two different perspectives, reveal interesting connections to the acquisition of taste and opportunities for further investigation. Neuroplasticity The term neuroplasticity comes from the words neuron and plastic. Neurons are the nerve cells in our brains and nervous systems. Plastic, in this context, means flexibility or malleability. Neuroplasticity has replaced the formerly-held belief that the brain is a physiologically static organ, hard-wired like a machine (Kolb, Gibb and Robinson). For much of the last century, scientists believed that adult brains, unlike those of children, could not produce new neurons or build new pathways or connections between neurons. According to this view, any brain function that was lost through damage was irretrievable. Today, research into neuroplasticity has proven that this is not the case. In the late 1960s and 1970s pioneering scientists such as Paul Bach-y-Rita demonstrated that brains change their structure with different activities they perform (Kercel). When certain parts fail, other parts can sometimes take over. Subsequent research by many scientists has validated this once-controversial idea, leading to practical benefits such as the restoration of limb function in stroke victims, and improved cognition and perception in people with learning disabilities (Nowak et al.). Merzenich, for example, has demonstrated how a brain’s processing areas, called brain maps, change in response to what people do over the course of their lives. Different brain maps exist for different activities and functions, including sensory perception, motor skills and higher mental activities. Brain maps are governed by competition for mental resources and the principle of “use it or lose it.” If a person stops exercising particular mental skills, such as speaking Spanish or playing piano, then the brain map space for those skills is handed over to skills that they practise instead. Brain maps are also governed by a principle that is summarised by the expression, “neurons that fire together wire together” (Doidge 63). Neurons in brain maps develop stronger connections to each other when they are activated at the same moment in time. Consequently people are able to form new maps by developing new neural connections. Acquiring Tastes Doidge has illustrated the role that neuroplasticity plays in acquiring new tastes by explaining how habitual viewing of online pornography can shape sexual tastes (102). In the mid- to late-1990s, Doidge (a psychiatrist and psychoanalyst) treated several men who had lost interest in their sexual partners as a consequence of their addiction to online pornography. Doidge explains their change of sexual taste in terms of neuroplasticity, noting that “pornography, delivered by high-speed Internet connections, satisfies every one of the prerequisites for neuroplastic change” (102). The sexual excitement of viewing pornography releases a chemical neurotransmitter named dopamine that activates the brain’s pleasure centres. Since “neurons that fire together wire together”, the repeated viewing of pornography effectively wires the pornographic images into the pleasure centres of the brain with the focused attention required for neuroplastic change. In other words, habitual viewers of pornography develop new brain maps based on the photos and videos they see. And since the brain operates on a “use it or lose it” principle, they long to keep those new maps activated. Consequently, pornography has an addictive power. Like all addicts, the men who Doidge treated developed a tolerance to the photos and videos they observed and sought out progressively higher levels of stimulation for satisfaction. Doidge explains the result: The content of what they found exciting changed as the Web sites introduced themes and scripts that altered their brains without their awareness. Because plasticity is competitive, the brain maps for new, exciting images increased at the expense of what had previously attracted them—the reason, I believe, they began to find their girlfriends less of a turn-on. (109) If the habitual viewing of online pornography can change sexual tastes, what other tastes can be changed through online activity? Art? Music? Literature? Cinema? Sport? Humour? One avenue for investigating this question is to consider existing research into the flow experiences of web users. The term flow refers to a deeply satisfying state of focused attention that was first identified by psychologist Mihaly Csikszentmihalyi (Beyond Boredom) in his studies of optimal experiences. According to Csikszentmihalyi, people in flow “are so involved in an activity that nothing else seems to matter; the experience itself is so enjoyable that people will do it even at great cost, for the sheer sake of doing it” (Flow 4). Flow experiences are characterised by some common elements, which include a balance between the challenges of an activity and the skills required to meet those challenges; clear goals and feedback; concentration on the task at hand; a sense of control; a merging of action and awareness; a loss of self-consciousness; a distorted sense of time; and the autotelic experience. The term autotelic refers to an activity that is done, not with the expectation of some future benefit, but simply because the doing itself is the reward. Whenever people reflect on their flow experiences, they mention some, and often all, of these characteristics. Support for Csikszentmihalyi’s characterisation of flow can be found in studies of many diverse activities, such as playing computer games (Chen) and participating in sport (Jackson), to mention just two examples. The activities that people engage in to experience flow vary enormously, but they describe how it feels in almost identical terms. Pace has developed a grounded theory of the flow experiences of web users engaged in content-seeking activities including directed searching and exploratory browsing. The term grounded in this instance refers to the fact that the theory was developed using the Grounded Theory research method, and its explanations are grounded in the study’s data rather than deduced from research literature (Charmaz). A review of that theory reveals many similarities between the flow experiences of web users engaged in content-seeking activities and the experiences of habitual viewers of online pornography described by Doidge. The following sections will consider several of those similarities. Focused Attention Focused attention is essential for long-term neuroplastic change. Goleman notes that “when practice occurs while we are focusing elsewhere, the brain does not rewire the relevant circuitry for that particular routine” (164). In a series of brain mapping experiments with monkeys, Merzenich discovered that “lasting changes occurred only when his monkeys paid close attention” (Doidge 68). When the animals performed tasks without paying close attention, their brain maps changed, but the changes did not last. Focused attention also plays a central role in the flow experiences of web users. The higher-than-average challenges associated with flow activities require a complete focusing of attention on the task at hand, or as Csikszentmihalyi puts it, “a centering of attention on a limited stimulus field” (Beyond Boredom 40). An important by-product of this fact is that flow leaves no room in one’s consciousness for irrelevant thoughts, worries or distractions (Csikszentmihalyi, Flow 58). People who experience flow frequently report that, while it lasts, they are able to forget about the unpleasant aspects of life. Consider the following comment from a 42-year-old male’s recollection of experiencing flow while using the Web: “It’s a total concentration experience. You’re so interested in doing what it is you’re doing that nothing’s interrupting you.” In everyday life, one’s concentration is rarely so intense that all preoccupations disappear from consciousness, but that is precisely what happens in a flow experience. All of the troubling thoughts that normally occupy the mind are temporarily suspended while the pressing demands of the flow activity consume one’s attention. Let’s now consider a second similarity between the flow experiences of web users and the taste-changing experiences of habitual viewers of online pornography. Enjoyment The pleasure experienced by the pornography addicts treated by Doidge played an important role in the alteration of their brain maps and sexual tastes. Since “neurons that fire together wire together”, the repeated viewing of pornographic photos and videos wired those images into the pleasure centres of their brains with the focused attention required for neuroplastic change. Web users in flow also experience enjoyment, but possibly a different kind of enjoyment to the pleasure described by Doidge. Seligman and Csikszentmihalyi make the following distinction between pleasure and enjoyment: Pleasure is the good feeling that comes from satisfying homeostatic needs such as hunger, sex, and bodily comfort. Enjoyment, on the other hand, refers to the good feelings people experience when they break through the limits of homeostasis—when they do something that stretches them beyond what they were—in an athletic event, an artistic performance, a good deed, a stimulating conversation. (12) The enjoyment experienced by people in flow is sometimes described as “the autotelic experience.” According to Csikszentmihalyi, an autotelic experience is “a self-contained activity, one that is done not with the expectation of some future benefit, but simply because the doing itself is the reward” (Flow 67). Because autotelic experiences are so satisfying, they create a strong desire to repeat the activity that produced the experience. Consider the following comment from a web user about the reasons he enjoys online content-seeking activities that have led to flow: It’s like going to somewhere new. You’re always learning something. You’re always finding something. And you don’t know what it is you’re going to find. There’s so much out there that you’ll go there one day and then you’ll come back, and you’ll actually end up on a different path and finding something different. So it’s investigation of the unknown really. This comment, like many web users’ recollections of their flow experiences, points to a relationship between enjoyment and discovery. This connection is also evident in flow experiences that occur during other kinds of activities. For example, Csikszentmihalyi suggests that “the reason we enjoy a particular activity is not because such pleasure has been previously programmed in our nervous system, but because of something discovered as a result of interaction” (The Evolving Self 189). He illustrates this point with the example of a person who is at first indifferent to or bored by a particular activity, such as listening to classical music. When opportunities for action in the context of the activity become clearer, or when the individual’s skills improve, the activity may start to be interesting and finally gratifying. For example, if a person begins to understand the design underlying a symphony he or she might begin to enjoy the act of listening. This example hints at how discovery, enjoyment and other rewards of flow may engender change in a person’s taste. Let’s now consider a third similarity between the two areas of research. Compulsive Behaviour One consequence of flow experiences being so enjoyable is that they create a strong desire to repeat whatever helped to make them happen. If a person experiences flow while browsing online for new music, for example, he or she will probably want to repeat that activity to enjoy the experience again. Consider the following comment from a 28-year-old female web user who recalled experiencing flow intermittently over a period of three days: “I did go to bed—really late. And then as soon as I got up in the morning I was zoom—straight back on there […] I guess it’s a bit like a gambling addiction.” This study informant’s use of the term addiction highlights another similarity between the flow experiences of web users and habitual viewing of online pornography. Flow experiences can, in a very small percentage of cases, encourage compulsive behaviour and possibly addiction. A study by Khang, Kim and Kim found that “experiences of the flow state significantly influenced media addiction” across three media forms: the Internet, mobile phones and video games (2423). Examples of problems associated with excessive Internet use include sleep deprivation, poor eating and exercise habits, conflict with family members, and neglect of academic, interpersonal, financial and, occupational responsibilities (Douglas et al). Some heavy Internet users report feelings of moodiness and anxiety while they are offline, along with an intense desire to log in. Doidge states that “the addictiveness of Internet pornography is not a metaphor” (106), but many researchers are reluctant to apply the term addiction to heavy Internet use. Internet addiction first came to the attention of the research community in the mid-1990s when Young conceptualised it as an impulse-control disorder and proposed a set of diagnostic criteria based on the diagnostic criteria for pathological gambling in the Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders. However, after more than fifteen years of research on this subject, there is still no agreement on a definition or diagnostic criteria for Internet addiction. Some researchers argue that Internet addiction is not a true addiction and may be no more than a symptom of other existing disorders such as anxiety or depression (Weinstein and Lejoyeux). Regardless of this controversy, the potential for compulsive behaviour is another clear similarity between the flow experiences of web users and the neuroplastic change caused by habitual viewing of online pornography. One more similarity will be considered. Sidetracks In Pace’s study of the flow experiences of web users, informants reported engaging in two general types of content-seeking behaviour: (1) a directed searching mode in which one is motivated to find a particular piece of content such as the answer to a question or a specific music video; and (2) an exploratory browsing mode that is characterised by diffuse motives such as passing time or seeking stimulation. Directed searching and exploratory browsing are not dichotomous forms of navigation behaviour. On the contrary, they are closely interrelated. Web users move back and forth between the two modes, often many times within the same session. Just as web users can change from one navigation mode to another, they can also get sidetracked from one topic to another. For instance, it is reportedly quite common for a web user engaged in a content-seeking activity to decide to pursue a different goal because his or her curiosity is aroused by interesting content or links that are not directly relevant to the task at hand. Consider the following comment from a 21-year-old female web user whose desire to find contact details for a local Tai Chi group disappeared when a link to the Sportsgirl web site attracted her attention: I think I typed in “sports” […] I was actually looking for a place to do Tai Chi and that sort of thing. So I was looking for a sport. And it ended up coming up with the Sportsgirl web site. And I ended up looking at clothes all afternoon. So that was kind of cool. Sidetracks are a common feature of the flow experiences of web users. They are also a prominent feature of the description that Doidge provided of the pornography addicts’ neuroplastic change (109). The content of what the men found exciting changed as the web sites they viewed introduced “themes and scripts” or sidetracks that altered their brain maps. “Without being fully aware of what they were looking for, they scanned hundreds of images and scenarios until they hit upon an image or sexual script that touched some buried theme that really excited them”, Doidge notes (110). Conclusion Can a person’s tastes in art, music, literature, cinema, sport, humour or some other field be changed through online activity, just as sexual tastes can? This article alone cannot conclusively answer that question, but significant similarities between the flow experiences of web users and the neuroplastic change experienced by habitual viewers of online pornography suggest that flow theory could be a fruitful line of investigation. Can the flow experiences of web users lead to changes in taste, just as the neuroplastic change caused by habitual viewing of online pornography can lead to changes in sexual taste? What is the relationship between flow and neuroplastic change? Is the Internet the most appropriate environment for exploring these questions about taste, or do offline flow activities provide insights that have been neglected? These are some of the unanswered questions arising from this discussion that require further investigation. Advances in the field of neuroplasticity have been described as some of “the most extraordinary discoveries of the twentieth century” (Doidge xv). These advances provide an opportunity to revisit related theories and to enhance our understanding of phenomena such as flow and taste. References Charmaz, Kathy. Constructing Grounded Theory: A Practical Guide Through Qualitative Analysis. Thousand Oaks, California: Sage Publications, 2006. Chen, Jenova. “Flow in Games (and Everything Else).” Communications of the ACM 50.4 (2007): 31–34. Csikszentmihalyi, Mihaly. Beyond Boredom and Anxiety: The Experience of Play in Work and Games. San Francisco: Jossey-Bass Publishers, 1975. Csikszentmihalyi, Mihaly. The Evolving Self: A Psychology for the Third Millennium. New York: HarperPerennial, 1993. Csikszentmihalyi, Mihaly. Flow: The Psychology of Optimal Experience. New York: HarperPerennial, 1990. Doidge, Norman. The Brain That Changes Itself: Stories of Personal Triumph from the Frontiers of Brain Science. Melbourne: Scribe Publications, 2010. Douglas, Alecia C., Juline E. Mills, Mamadou Niang, Svetlana Stepchenkova, Sookeun Byun, Celestino Ruffini, Seul Ki Lee, Jihad Loutfi, Jung-Kook Lee, Mikhail Atallah, and Marina Blanton. “Internet Addiction: Meta-Synthesis of Qualitative Research for the Decade 1996-2006.” Computers in Human Behavior 24 (2008): 3027–3044. Goleman, Daniel. Focus: The Hidden Driver of Excellence. New York: HarperCollins, 2013. Jackson, Susan. “Toward a Conceptual Understanding of the Flow Experience in Elite Athletes.” Research Quarterly for Exercise and Sport 67.1 (1996): 76–90. Khang, Hyoungkoo, Jung Kyu Kim, and Yeojin Kim. “Self-Traits and Motivations as Antecedents of Digital Media Flow and Addiction: The Internet, Mobile Phones, and Video Games.” Computers in Human Behavior 29 (2013): 2416–2424. Kercel, Stephen W. “Editorial: The Wide-Ranging Impact of the Work of Paul Bach-y-Rita.” Journal of Integrative Neuroscience 4.4 (2005): 403–406. Kolb, Bryan, Robbin Gibb, and Terry E. Robinson. “Brain Plasticity and Behavior.” Current Directions in Psychological Science 12.1 (2003): 1–5. Merzenich, Michael. Soft-Wired: How the New Science of Brain Plasticity Can Change Your Life. San Francisco: Parnassus Publishing, 2013. Nowak, Dennis A., Kathrin Bösl, Jitka Podubeckà, and James R. Carey. “Noninvasive Brain Stimulation and Motor Recovery After Stroke.” Restorative Neurology and Neuroscience 28 (2010): 531–544. Pace, Steven. “A Grounded Theory of the Flow Experiences of Web Users.” International Journal of Human-Computer Studies 60.3 (2004): 327–363. Seligman, Martin E. P., and Mihaly Csikszentmihalyi. “Positive Psychology: An Introduction.” American Psychologist 55.1 (2000): 5–14. Weinstein, Aviv, and Michel Lejoyeux. “Internet Addiction or Excessive Internet Use.” The American Journal of Drug and Alcohol Abuse 36 (2010): 277–283. Young, Kimberly S. Caught in the Net: How to Recognize the Signs of Internet Addiction—And a Winning Strategy for Recovery. New York: John Wiley & Sons, 1998.

Prometheus, chained to a rock, having his liver pecked out by a great bird only for the organ to grow back again each night so that the torture may be repeated afresh the next day must be the quintessential image of masculinity in crisis. This paper will consider Promethean myth and the issues it raises regarding 'creation' including: the role of creator, the relationship between creator and created, the usurping of maternal (creative) power by patriarchy and, not least, the offering of an experimental model in which masculine identity can be recreated. I argue that Promethean myth raises significant issues relating to anxieties associated with notions of masculinity and gender, which are subsequently transposed in Shelley's modernist recasting of the myth, Frankenstein. I then consider 'Promethean' science fiction film, as an area particularly concerned with re-creation, in terms of construction of the self, gender and masculinity. Prometheus & Creation Prometheus (whose name means 'forethought') was able to foresee the future and is credited with creating man from mud/clay. As Man was inferior to other creations and unprotected, Prometheus allowed Man to walk upright [1] like the Gods. He also stole from them the gift of fire, to give to Man, and tricked the Gods into allowing Man to keep the best parts of sacrifices (giving the Gods offal, bones and fat). Thus Prometheus is regarded as the father and creator of Mankind, and as Man's benefactor and protector; whose love of Man (or love of trickery and his own cleverness) leads him to deceive the Gods. Prometheus's brother, Epimetheus (whose name means 'afterthought'), was commissioned to make all the other creations and Prometheus was to overlook his work when it was done. Due to Epimetheus's short-sightedness there were no gifts left (such as fur etc.) to bestow upon Man – the nobler animal which Prometheus was entrusted to make. Prometheus, a Titan, and illegitimate son of Iapetus and the water nymph Clymene (Kirkpatrick, 1991), helped fight against the Titans the side of Zeus, helping Zeus seize the throne. More than simple indication of a rebellious spirit, his illegitimate status (albeit as opposed to an incestuous one – Iapetus was married to his sister Themis) raises the important issues of both legitimacy and filial loyalty, so recurrent within accounts of creation (of man, and human artifice). Some hold that Prometheus is punished for his deceptions i.e. over fire and the sacrifices, thus he is punished as much for his brother's failings as much as for his own ingenuity and initiative. Others maintain he is punished for refusing to tell Zeus which of Zeus's sons would overthrow him, protecting Zeus' half mortal son and his mortal mother. Zeus's father and grandfather suffered castration and usurpment at the hands of their offspring – for both Zeus and Prometheus (pro)creation is perilous. Prometheus's punishment here is for withholding a secret which accords power. In possessing knowledge (power) which could have secured his release, Prometheus is often viewed as emblematic of endurance, suffering and resistance and parental martyrdom. Prometheus, as mentioned previously, was chained to a rock where a great bird came and tore at his liver [2], the liver growing back overnight for the torture to be repeated afresh the following day. Heracles, a half mortal son of Zeus, slays the bird and frees Prometheus, thus Man repays his debt by liberation of his benefactor, or, in other accounts, he is required to take Prometheus's place, and thus liberating his creator and resulting in his own enslavement. Both versions clearly show the strength of bond between Prometheus and his creation but the latter account goes further in suggesting that Man and Maker are interchangeable. Also linked to Promethean myth is the creation of the first woman, Pandora. Constructed (by Jupiter at Zeus's command) on one hand as Man's punishment for Prometheus's tricks, and on the other as a gift to Man from the Gods. Her opening of 'the box', either releasing all mans ills, plagues and woes, or letting all benevolent gifts but hope escape, is seen as disastrous from either perspective. However what is emphasised is that the creation of Woman is secondary to the creation of Man. Therefore Prometheus is not the creator of humankind but of mankind. The issue of gender is an important aspect of Promethean narrative, which I discuss in the next section. Gender Issues Promethean myths raise a number of pertinent issues relating to gender and sexuality. Firstly they suggest that both Man and Woman are constructed [3], and that they are constructed as distinct entities, regarding Woman as inferior to Man. Secondly creative power is posited firmly with the masculine (by virtue of the male sex of both Prometheus and Jupiter), negating maternal and asserting patriarchal power. Thirdly Nature, which is associated with the feminine, is surpassed in that whilst Man is made from the earth (mud/clay) it is Prometheus who creates him (Mother Earth providing only the most basic raw materials for production); and Nature is overcome as Man is made independent of climate through the gift of fire. Tensions arise in that Prometheus's fate is also linked to childbirth in so far as that which is internal is painfully rendered external (strongly raising connotations of the abject – which threatens identity boundaries). The intense connection between creation and childbirth indicates that the appropriation of power is of a power resting not with the gods, but with women. The ability to see the future is seen as both frightening and reassuring. Aeschylus uses this to explain Prometheus's tolerance of his fate: he knew he had to endure pain but he knew he would be released, and thus was resigned to his suffering. As the bearer of the bleeding wound Prometheus is feminised, his punishment represents a rite of passage through which he may earn the status 'Father of Man' and reassert and define his masculine identity, hence a masochistic desire to suffer is also suggested. Confrontations with the abject, the threat posed to identity, and Lacanian notions of desire in relation to the other, are subjects which problematise the myth's assertion of masculine power. I will now consider how the Promethean myth is recast in terms of modernity in the story of Frankenstein and the issues regarding male power this raises. Frankenstein - A Modern Prometheus Consistent with the Enlightenment spirit of renewal and reconstruction, the novel Frankenstein emerges in 1818, re-casting Promethean myth in terms of science, and placing the scientist (i.e. man) as creator. Frankenstein in both warning against assuming the power of God and placing man as creator, simultaneously expresses the hopes and fears of the transition from theocratic belief to rationality. One of the strategies Frankenstein gives us through its narrative use of science and technology is a social critique and interrogation of scientific discourse made explicit through its alignment with gender discourse. In appropriating reproductive power without women, it enacts an appropriation of maternity by patriarchy. In aligning the use of this power by patriarchy with the power of the gods, it attempts to deify and justify use of this power whilst rendering women powerless and indeed superfluous. Yet as it offers the patriarchal constructs of science and technology as devoid of social responsibility, resulting in monstrous productions, it also facilitates a critique of patriarchy (Cranny Francis, 1990, p220). The creature, often called 'Frankenstein' rather than 'Frankenstein's monster', is not the only 'abomination to God'. Victor Frankenstein is portrayed as a 'spoilt brat of a child', whose overindulgence results in his fantasy of omnipotent power over life itself, and leads to neglect of, and lack of care towards, his creation. Indeed he may be regarded as the true 'monster' of the piece, as he is all too clearly lacking Prometheus's vision and pastoral care [4]. "Neither evil nor inhuman, [the creature] comes to seem little more than morally uninformed, poorly 'put together' by a human creator who has ill served both his creation and his fellow humans." (Telotte, 1995, p. 76). However, the model of the natural – and naturally free – man emerges in the novel from an implied pattern of subjection which demonstrates that the power the man-made constructs of science and technology give us come at great cost: "[Power] is only made possible by what [Mary Shelley] saw as a pointedly modern devaluation of the self: by affirming that the human is, at base, just a put together thing, with no transcendent origin or purpose and bound to a half vital existence at best by material conditions of its begetting."(ibid.) Frankenstein's power expressed through his overcoming of Nature, harnessing of technology and desire to subject the human body to his will, exhibits the modern world's mastery over the self. However it also requires the devaluation of self so that the body is regarded as subject, thus leading to our own subjection. For Telotte (1995, p37), one reflection of our Promethean heritage is that as everything comes to seem machine-like and constructed, the human too finally emerges as a kind of marvellous fiction, or perhaps just another empty invention. Access to full creative potential permits entry "into a true 'no man's land'…. a wonderland...where any wonder we might conceive, or any wondrous way we might conceive of the self, might be fashioned". Certainly the modernist recasting of Promethean myth embodies that train of thought which is most consciously aiming to discover the nature of man through (re)creating him. It offers patriarchal power as a power over the self (independent of the gods); a critique of the father; and the fantasy of (re)construction of the self at the cost of deconstruction of the body which, finally, leads to the subjection of the self. The Promethean model, I maintain, serves to illuminate and further our understanding of the endurance, popularity and allure of fantasies of creation, which can be so readily found in cinematic history, and especially within the science fiction genre. This genre stands out as a medium both well suited to, and enamoured with, Promethean reworkings [5]. As religion (of which Greek mythology is a part) and science both attempt to explain the world and make it knowable they offer the reassurance, satisfaction and the illusion of security and control, whilst tantalising with notions of possible futures. Promethean science fiction film realises the visual nature of these possible futures providing us, in its future visions, with glimpses of alternative ways of seeing and being. Promethean Science Fiction Film Science fiction, can be seen as a 'body genre' delineated not by excess of sex, blood or emotion but by excess of control over the body as index of identity (Cook, 1999, p.193). Science fiction films can be seen to fall broadly into three categories: space flight, alien invaders and futuristic societies (Hayward, 1996, p.305). Within these, Telotte argues (Replications, 1995), most important are the images of "human artifice", which form a metaphor for our own human selves, and have come to dominate the contemporary science fiction film (1995, p11). The science fiction film contains a structural tension that constantly rephrases central issues about the self and constructedness. Paradoxically whilst the science fiction genre profits from visions of a technological future it also displays technophobia – the promises of these fictions represent dangerous illusions with radical and subversive potential, suggesting that nature and the self may be 'reconstructable' rather than stable and unchanging. Whilst some films return us safely to a comforting stable humanity, others embrace and affirm the subversive possibilities advocating an evolution or rebirth of the human. Regardless of their conservative (The Iron Giant, 1999, Planet of the Apes, 1968) or subversive tendencies (Metropolis 1926, Blade Runner 1982, Terminator 1984), they offer the opportunity to explore "a space of desire" (Telotte, p. 153, 1990) a place where the self can experience a kind of otherness and possibilities exceed the experience of our normal being (The Stepford Wives 1974, The Fly 1986, Gattaca 1997 [6]). What I would argue is central to the definition of a Promethean sub-genre of science fiction is the conscious depiction and understanding of the (hu)man subject or artifice as technological or scientific construction rather than natural. Often, as in Promethean myth, there is a mirroring between creator and creation, constructor and constructed, which serves to bind them despite their differences, and may often override them. Power in this genre is revealed as masculine power over the feminine, namely reproductive power; as such tensions in male identity arise and may be interrogated. Promethean (film) texts have at their centre issues of what it is to be human, and within this, what it is to be a man. There is a focus on hegemonic masculinity within these texts, which serves as a measure of masculinity. Furthermore these texts are most emphatically concerned with the construction of masculinity and with masculine power. The notion of creation raises questions of paternity, motherhood, parenting, and identification with the father, although the ways in which these issues are portrayed or explored may be quite diverse. As a creation of man, rather than of 'woman', the subjects created are almost invariably 'other' to their creators, whilst often embodying the fantasies, desires and repressed fears of their makers. That otherness and difference form central organising principles in these texts is undisputable, however there also can be seen to exist a bond between creator and created which is worthy of exploration, as the progeny of man retains a close likeness (though not always physically) to its maker [7]. Particularly in the Promethean strand of science fiction film we encounter the abject, posing a threat to fragile identity constructions (recalling the plight of Prometheus on his rock and his feminised position). I also maintained that 'lack' formed part of the Promethean heritage. Not only are the desires of the creators often lacking in Promethean care and vision, but their creations are revealed as in some way lacking, falling short of their creator's desire and indeed their own [8]. From the very beginnings of film we see the desire to realise (see) Promethean power accorded to man and to behold his creations. The mad scientists of film such as Frankenstein (1910), Homunculus (1916), Alraune (1918), Orlacs Hande (1925) and Metropolis (1926) and Frankenstein (1931) all point to the body as source of subjection and resistance. Whilst metal robots may be made servile, "the flesh by its very nature always rebels" (Telotte, 1995, p. 77). Thus whilst they form a metaphor for the way the modern self is subjugated, they also suggest resistance to that subjugation, pointing to "a tension between body and mind, humanity and its scientific attainments, the self and a cultural subjection" (ibid.). The films of the 1980's and 90's, such as Blade Runner (1982), Robocop (1987) Terminator 2: Judgement Day (1994), point towards "the human not as ever more artificial but the artificial as ever more human" (Telotte, 1995, p.22). However, these cyborg bodies are also gendered bodies providing metaphors for the contemporary anxieties about 'masculinities'. Just as the tale of Prometheus is problematic in that there exist many variations of the myth [9], with varying accounts capable of producing a range of readings, concepts of 'masculinity' are neither stable nor uniform, and are subject to recasting and reconstruction. Likewise in Promethean science fiction film masculine identities are multiple, fragmented and dynamic. These films do not simply recreate masculinities in the sense that they mirror extant anxieties but recreate in the sense that they 'play' with these anxieties, possibilities of otherness and permeate boundaries. We may see this 'play' as liberating, in that it offers possible ways of being and understanding difference, or conservative, reinstating hegemonic masculinity by asserting old hierarchies. As versions of the myth are reconstructed what new types of creator/creature will emerge? What will they say about our understanding and experiences of "masculinities"? What new possibilities and identities may we envision? Perhaps the most significant aspect of our Promethean heritage is that, as Prometheus is chained to his rock and tortured, through the perpetual regeneration of his liver, almost as if to counterweight or ballast the image of masculinity in crisis, comes the 'reassuring' notion that whatever the strains cracks or injuries the patriarchal image endures: 'we can rebuild him' [10]. We not only can but will, for in doing so we are also reconstructing ourselves. Footnote According to Bulfinch (web) he gave him an upright stature so he could look to the Heavens and gaze on the stars. Linking to Science Fiction narratives of space exploration etc. (Encyclopedia Mythica – [web]) -The liver was once regarded as the primary organ of our being (the heart being our contemporary equivalent) where passions and pain and were felt. Both physically constructed and sociologically, with woman as inferior lesser being and implying gender determinism. This is further articulated to effect in the James Whale film (Frankenstein, 1931), where 'Henry' Frankenstein's creation is regarded as his 'first born' and notions of lineage predominate, ultimately implying he will now pursue more natural methods of (pro)creation. Frankenstein is seen by some as the first cyborg novel in its linking of technology and creation and also often cited as the first science fiction film (although there were others). For example in Andrew Niccol's Gattaca (1997), the creation of man occurs through conscious construction of the self, acknowledging that we are all constructed and acknowledging that masculinity must be reconstructed if it is to be validated. Patriarchy has worked to mythologise our relationship to (mother) nature, so that the human becomes distinct from the manufactured. What is perhaps the most vital aspect of the character Vincent in Gattaca is his acknowledgement that the body must be altered, restructured, reshaped and defined in order to pass from insignificance to significance in terms of hegemonic masculine identity. It is therefore through a reappraisal of the external that the internal gains validity. See Foucault on resemblance and similitude (in The Gendered Cyborg, 2000). See Scott Bukatman on Blade Runner in Kuhn, 1990. The tale of Prometheus had long existed in oral traditions and folklore before Hesiod wrote of it in Theogeny and Works and Days, and Aeschylus, elaborated on Hesiod, when he wrote Prometheus Bound (460B.C). Catchphrase used in the 1970's popular TV series The Six Million Dollar Man in relation to Steve Austin the 'bionic' character of the title. References Bernink, M. & Cook, P. (eds.) The Cinema Book (2nd edition). London: British Film Institute Publishing, 1999. Clute, J. Science Fiction: The Illustrated Encyclopaedia. London: Dorling Kindersley, 1995. Cohan, S. & Hark, I.R. (eds.) Screening the Male. London: Routledge, 1993. Hall, S., Held, D. & McLennan, G. (eds.) Modernity and its Futures. Cambridge and Oxford: Polity Press in association with The Open University, 1993. Jancovich, M. Rational Fears: American horror in the 1950's. Manchester and New York: Manchester University Press, 1996. Jeffords, S. Can Masculinity be Terminated? In Cohan, S. & Hark, I.R. (eds.) Screening the Male. London and New York: Routledge, 1993. Kirkup, G., Janes, L., Woodward, K. & Hovenden, F. (eds.) The Gendered Cyborg: A Reader. London: Routledge, 2000. Kuhn, A. (ed.) Alien Zone: Cultural Theory and Contemporary Science Fiction Cinema. London and New York: Verso, 1990. Sobchack, V. Screening Space. New Brunswick, New Jersey and London: Rutgers University Press 1999. Telotte, J.P. A Distant Technology: Science Fiction Film and the Machine Age, Hanover and London: Wesleyan University Press, 2000. Telotte, J.P. Replications. Urbana and Chicago: University of Illinois Press, 1995 Bulfinch's Mythology, The Age of Fable – Chapter 2: Prometheus and Pandora: (accessed 21st March 2000) http://www.bulfinch.org/fables/bull2.html Bulfinch's Mythology: (accessed March 21st 2000) http://www.bulfinch.org.html Encyclopaedia Mythica: Greek Mythology: (accessed June 15th 2000) http://oingo.com/topic/20/20246.html Encyclopaedia Mythica: Articles (accessed 15th June 2000) http://www.pantheon.org/mythica/articles.html

Pornography can appear as a staid genre with a rigid series of rules and representations, each video consisting of a specified number of liaisons and pre-designated sexual acts, but it is also a genre that has developed and focused its numerous activities. What was considered to be an arousing taboo in the 1970s would not, for example, be considered as such today. Anal sex, while once comparatively rare in pornographic films, is now commonplace, and, while once utterly unspoken in mainstream heterosexual culture it is now acknowledged and celebrated, even by female targeted films such as Brigit Jones’ Diary (Sharon Maguire, 2001). Pornography, however, has raised the stakes again. Hardcore is dependent on so called ‘nasty girls’ and most interviews with starlets focus on their ability to enjoy being ‘nasty’, to enjoy what are considered or labelled as ‘perverse’ manifestations of sexuality by the normalising discourses of dominant culture and society. While once a porn star merely had to enjoy – or pretend to enjoy – sucking cock, now it is expected her repertoire will include a wider range of activities. With anal sex, an event that transpires in most modern pornography, the site of penises – either singularly or in pairs – pushed into swollen sore assholes is a visual commonplace. In the 1980s and 1990s (when the representation of heterosexual anal sex became truly dominant in pornography) there was a recognizable process of sexual acts, between penetration of mouth, vagina, and asshole. Each penetration would be edited and between each take the male star would wipe down his penis. Until somebody in hardcore pornography developed the A-to-M, a.k.a ass-to-mouth aka A2M. In this move the male pulls his cock from the asshole of the female and then sticks it straight into her open mouth and down her throat without wiping it clean first. All of this is presented unmediated to the viewer, in one singular shot that follows the penis as it moves from one willing hole to the other (and the body must be understood as fragmented, it is a collection of zones and areas, in this instance orifices each with their own signifying practices, not a singular organic whole). Even assuming that the nubile starlet has had an enema to blast clean her rectum prior to filming there will still be microscopic traces of her shit and rectal mucus on his penis. Indeed the pleasure for the viewers is in the knowledge of the authenticity of the movement between ass and mouth, in the knowledge that there will be small flakes of shit stuck to her lips and teeth (a variant of the ass-to-mouth sees the penis being pulled from one starlet’s anus and inserted into another starlet’s gaping mouth, again in one unedited shot). Shit escapes simple ontology it is opposed to all manner of being, all manner of knowledge and of existence yet it is also intimately linked to self-presence and continuity. From earliest infancy we are encouraged not to engage with it, rather it is that which is to be flushed away immediately, it is everything about being human that is repulsive, rejected and denied. Shit escapes simple symbolism; it exists in its own discursive zone. While death may be similarly horrific to us, it is so because it is utterly unknown shit, however, horrifies precisely because it is known to us. Like death, shit makes us all equal, but shit is familiar, we know its fragrance, we know its texture, we know its colour, and – yes – deep down, repressed in our animal brain we know its taste. Its familiarity results because it is a part of us, yet it is no longer of us. In death the cadaver can be theorized as the body without a soul, without spirit, or without personality, but with shit humanity does not have this luxury, shit is the part of us that both defies and defines humanity. Shit is that which was us but is no longer, yet it never fully stops being part of us, it contains traces of our genetic material, pieces of our diet, even as it is flushed more is already being pushed down our intestine. Shit is substance and process. If the act of fucking is that which affirms vital existence against death, then introducing shit into the equation becomes utterly transgressive. Defecation and copulation are antithetical St Augustine’s recognition that we are born between piss and shit – inter faeces et urinam – understands the animistic nature of existence and sex as contaminated by sin, but he does not conflate the act of shitting and fucking as the same, his description is powerful precisely because they are not understood as the same. Introducing shit into sexual activity is culturally forbidden, genuine scatologists, coprophiles and shit fetishists are rare, and most keep their desires secret even from their closest companions. Even the few that confess to enjoying ‘brown showers’ do not admit to eating raw shit, either their own or that of somebody else. The practice is considered to be too dangerous, too unhealthy, and too disgusting. Even amongst the radical sexual communities many find that it stinks of excess, as if desires and fantasies had limits. In Pier Paolo Pasolini’s cinematic masterpiece Salo (1975) the quartet of libertines and their fellow explorers in unleashed lust – both the willing and the coerced – indulge in a vast coprophilic feast, but in this film the shit that is slathered over the bodies of the young charges and greedily scoffed down is not real. However there are a handful of directly scatological pornographic videos, often they depict people crouching down and shitting, the shit being rubbed on to nude bodies and eventually consumed. In some videos hungry mouths open directly under the puckering asshole, allowing the brown turd to plop directly onto the enthusiastic tongue and into the mouth. Cameras zoom in to show the shit-smeared lips and teeth. Like the image of ejaculation manifested in the cum-shot of mainstream hardcore pornography this sight is a vindication of the authenticity of the action. Such videos are watched by both fetishists and the curious – commonly teenage males trying to out shock each other. Unlike ‘traditional’ heterosexual hardcore pornography, which depicts explicit penetrative sex, scatology films rarely appear on the shelves of video stores and enthusiasts are compelled to search the dark bowels of pornography to find them. Yet the popularity of the ass-to-mouth sequence in hardcore suggests that there is an interest with such faecal taboo acts that may be more common that previously imagined. This is not to suggest that the audience who witness an ass-to-mouth scene want to go and eat shit, or want their partners to, but it does suggest that there is an interest in the transgressive potential of shit or the idea of shit on an erect penis. Watching these scenes the audience’s attention is drawn to the movement from the locus of defecation to that of consumption. Perhaps the visual pleasure lies in the degradation of the ‘nasty’ girl, in the knowledge that she can taste her own mucus and faecal matter. But if the pleasures are purely sadistic then these films fail, they do not (just) depict the starlets ‘suffering’ as they engage in these activities, in contrast, they are ‘normalised’ into the sexual conventions of the form. Hardcore pornography is about the depiction of literal excess; about multiple penis plunging into one asshole or one vagina (or even both) about orgies about the world’s biggest gang bangs and facials in which a dozen or more men shoot their genetic material onto the grinning faces of starlets as cum slathers their forehead, cheeks, chin, lips, and teeth. The sheer unremitting quantity becomes an object in itself. Nothing can ever be enough. This excess is also philosophical; all non-reproductive sexual activity belongs to the category of excess expenditure, where the unrestrained pursuit of pleasure becomes in itself both object choice and subject. Some would see such pornographic activities as anti-humanist, as cold, and as nihilistic, but such an interpretation fails. In watching these films, in seeing the penis move from asshole to mouth the audience are compelled by the authenticity of the gesture to read the starlet as human the ‘pleasure’ is in knowing that she can taste her own shit on some anonymous cock. Finally, she is smiling through its musky taste so we do not have to. Appendix / Sources / Notes / Parallel Text Throughout this paper I am referring only to pornographic material marketed to an audience who are identified or identify as heterosexual. These films may contain scenes with multiple males and females having sex at one time, however while there may be what the industry refers to as girl-on-girl action there will be no direct male-on-male contact (although often all that seperates two male penises is the paper thin wall of fleshy tissue between the vagina and anus). The socio-cultural history of heterosexual anal sex is a complex one, made more so because of its illicit and, in some jurisdictions, illegal status. It is safe to assume that many people have engaged in it even if they have not subsequently undertaken an active interest in it (statistics published in Exploring the Dimensions of Human Sexuality 2nd Edition suggest that 28% of male and 24% of female American college graduates and 21% of male and 13% of female high school graduates have experienced anal sex [377]). In hardcore pornography it is the male who penetrates the female, who presents her asshole for the viewer’s delectation. In personal sexual behaviour heterosexual males may also enjoy anal penetration from a female partner both in order to stimulate the sensitive tissue around the anus and to stilulate the prostate, but the representation of such activities is very rare in the mainstream of American hardcore porn. As inventer of gonzo porn John Stagliano commented when interviewed about his sexual proclivities in The Other Hollywood , “…you know, admitting that I really wanted to get fucked in the ass, and might really like it, is not necessarily a socially acceptable thing for a straight man” (587). Anal sex was most coherently radicalised by the Marquis de Sade, the master of sodomaniacal literature, who understood penetrating male / penetrated female anal sex as a way in which erotic pleasure/s could be divorced from any reproductive metanarrative. The scene in Brigit Jones’ Diary is made all the more strange because there is no mention of safe sex. There are, however, repeated references and representations of the size and shape of the heroine’s buttocks and her willingness to acquiesce to the evidentially dominant will of her ‘bad’ boyfriend the aptly named Daniel Cleaver. For more on heterosexual anal sex in cinema see my ‘Hot, Hard Cocks and Tight, Tight Unlubricated Assholes.Transgression, Sexual Ambiguity and ‘Perverse’ Pleasures in Serge Gainsbourg’s Je T’Aime Moi Non Plus’, in Senses of Cinema 30 (Jan.-March 2004). Hardcore pornography commonly means that which features a depiction of penetrative intercourse and the visual presentation of male ejaculation as a climax to a sequence. For more on the contemporary porn scene and the ‘nasty girl’ see Anthony Petkovich, The X Factory: Inside The American Hardcore Film Industry, which contains numerous interviews with porn starlets and industry insiders. While pornography is remembered for a number of key texts such as Deep Throat (Gerard Damiano, 1972) or Behind the Green Door (Jim & Artie Mitchell, 1972), these were shot and marketed as erotic narrative film and released theatrically (albeit to grindhouse and specialist cinemas). However since 1982 and the widespread availability of video – and more recently DVD – pornography has been produced almost exclusively for home consumption. The increasing demands of the consumer, combined with the accessablity of technology and cheap production costs of video when compared to film have led to a glut of available material. Now videos/DVDs are often released in series with absurdly self descriptive titles such as Anal Pounding, Lesbian Bukkake, and Pussy Party, most of which provide examples of the mise-en-scene of contemporary hardcore, specific ass to mouth series include Ass to Mouth (vol 1 – 15), Ass to Mouth CumShots (vol 1 – 5), Her First Ass to Mouth, From Her Ass to Her Mouth, From My Ass to My Mouth, A2M (vol 1 – 9), and no doubt many others. For more on hardcore pornography and its common themes and visual styles see Linda Williams, Hardcore. Wikipedia suggests that the director Max Hardcore was responsible for introducing the form in the early 1990s in his series Cherry Poppers. The act is now a staple of the form. (Note that while Wikipedia can not normally be considered an academic source the vagaries of the subject matter necessitate that research takes place where necessary). All pornographic positions and gestures have a nickname, industry shorthand, thus there are terms such as the DP (double penetration) or the reverse cowgirl. These names are no more or less shocking than the translations for sexual positions offered in ‘classic’ erotic guidebooks such as the Kama Sutra. This fragmented body is a result of the cinematic gaze of pornography. Lenses are able to zoom in and focus on the body, and especially the genitals, in minute detail and present the flesh enlarged to proportions that are impossible to see in actual sexual encounters. The body viewed under such scrutiny but devoid of singular organic plenitude echoes the body without organs of Deleuze and Guattari (in contrast some radical feminist writers such as Andrea Dworkin would merely interpret such images as reflecting the misogyny of male dominated discourse). For more on the psychological development of the infant and the construction of the clean and unclean see Julia Kristeva Powers of Horror. It should be noted that commonly those who enjoy enema play – klismaphiliacs – are not related to scatologists, and often draw a distinction between their play, which is seen as a process of cleansing, and scatologists’ play, which is understood to be a celebration of the physical shit itself. Salo has undergone numerous sanctions, been banned, scorned, and even been interpreted by some as a metaphor / allegory for the director’s subsequent murder. Such understandings and pseudo-explanations do not do justice to either the director or to his film and its radical engagement with de Sade’s literature. These videos always come from ‘elsewhere’ of course, never close to home, thus in Different Loving the authors note “the Germans seem to specialize in scat” (518). Correspondence concerning the infamous bestiality film Animal Farm (197?) in the journal Headpress (issues 15 and 16, 1998) suggested that the audience was made up from teenage males watching it as a rite of passage, rather than by true zoophiles. Those I have seen were on shock and ‘gross out’ Internet sites rather than pornographic sites. Disclaimer – I have no interest per se in scatology, but an ongoing interest with the vagaries of human thought, and desire in particular, necessarily involves exploring areas others turn their noses up at. References Brame, Gloria G., William D. Brame, and Jon Jacobs. Different Loving: The World of Dominance and Submission. London: Arrow, 1998. Greenberg, Jerrold S., Clint E. Bruess, and Debra W. Haffner. Exploring the Dimensions of Human Sexuality. 2nd Edition. London: James & Bartlett, 2004. Russ Kick, ed. Everything You Know about Sex Is Wrong. New York: Disinformation, 2006. Julia Kristeva. Powers of Horror: An Essay on Abjection. New York: Columbia UP, 1982. McNeil, Legs, and Jennifer Osborne, with Peter Pavia. The Other Hollywood: The Uncensored Oral History of the Porn Film Industry. New York: Regan Books, HarperCollins, 2006. Petkovich, Anthony. The X Factory: Inside the American Hardcore Film Industry. Stockport: Critical Vision, 2001. Marquis de Sade. Justine, Philosophy in the Bedroom, and Other Writings. London: Arrow, 1991. Sargeant, Jack. “Hot, Hard Cocks and Tight, Tight Unlubricated Assholes: Transgression, Sexual Ambiguity and ‘Perverse’ Pleasures in Serge Gainsbourg’s Je T’Aime Moi Non Plus.“ Senses of Cinema 30 (Jan.-March 2004). Wikipedia. “Ass to Mouth.” 15 Sep. 2006 http://en.wikipedia.org.wk/Ass_to_mouth>. Williams, Linda. Hardcore. London: Pandora Press, 1990. Citation reference for this article MLA Style Sargeant, Jack. "Filth and Sexual Excess: Some Brief Reflections on Popular Scatology." M/C Journal 9.5 (2006). echo date('d M. Y'); ?> <http://journal.media-culture.org.au/0610/03-sargeant.php>. APA Style Sargeant, J. (Nov. 2006) "Filth and Sexual Excess: Some Brief Reflections on Popular Scatology," M/C Journal, 9(5). Retrieved echo date('d M. Y'); ?> from <http://journal.media-culture.org.au/0610/03-sargeant.php>.

It is widely acknowledged among film scholars that Lynch’s 2001 neo-noir Mulholland Drive is richly infused with intertextual references and homages — most notably to Charles Vidor’s Gilda (1946), Billy Wilder’s Sunset Boulevard (1950), Alfred Hitchcock’s Vertigo (1958), and Ingmar Bergman’s Persona (1966). What is less recognised is the extent to which J. Sheridan Le Fanu’s 1872 Gothic novella Carmilla has also influenced Mulholland Drive. This article focuses on the dynamics of the relationship between Carmilla and Mulholland Drive, particularly the formation of femme fatale Camilla Rhodes (played by Laura Elena Harring), with the aim of establishing how the Gothic shapes the viewing experience of the film. I argue that not only are there striking narrative similarities between the texts, but lying at the heart of both Carmilla and Mulholland Drive is the uncanny. By drawing on this elusive and eerie feeling, Lynch successfully introduces an archetypal quality both to Camilla and Mulholland Drive as a whole, which in turn contributes to powerful sensations of desire, dread, nostalgia, and “noirness” that are aroused by the film. As such Mulholland Drive emerges not only as a compelling work of art, but also a deeply evocative cinematic experience. I begin by providing a brief overview of Le Fanu’s Gothic tale and establish its formative influence on later cinematic texts. I then present a synopsis of Mulholland Drive before exploring the rich interrelationship the film has with Carmilla. Carmilla and the Lesbian Vampire Carmilla is narrated from the perspective of a sheltered nineteen-year-old girl called Laura, who lives in an isolated Styrian castle with her father. After a bizarre event involving a carriage accident, a young woman named Carmilla is left in the care of Laura’s father. Carmilla is beautiful and charming, but she is an enigma; her origins and even her surname remain a mystery. Though Laura identifies a number of peculiarities about her new friend’s behaviour (such as her strange, intense moods, languid body movements, and other irregular habits), the two women are captivated with each other, quickly falling in love. However, despite Carmilla’s harmless and fragile appearance, she is not what she seems. She is a one hundred and fifty year old vampire called Mircalla, Countess Karnstein (also known as Millarca — both anagrams of Carmilla), who preys on adolescent women, seducing them while feeding off their blood as they sleep. In spite of the deep affection she claims to have for Laura, Carmilla is compelled to slowly bleed her dry. This takes its physical toll on Laura who becomes progressively pallid and lethargic, before Carmilla’s true identity is revealed and she is slain. Le Fanu’s Carmilla is monumental, not only for popularising the female vampire, but for producing a sexually alluring creature that actively seeks out and seduces other women. Cinematically, the myth of the lesbian vampire has been drawn on extensively by film makers. One of the earliest female centred vampire movies to contain connotations of same-sex desire is Lambert Hilyer’s Dracula’s Daughter (1936). However, it was in the 1960s and 1970s that the spectre of the lesbian vampire exploded on screen. In part a response to the abolishment of Motion Picture Code strictures (Baker 554) and fuelled by latent anxieties about second wave feminist activism (Zimmerman 23–4), films of this cycle blended horror with erotica, reworking the lesbian vampire as a “male pornographic fantasy” (Weiss 87). These productions draw on Carmilla in varying degrees. In most, the resemblance is purely thematic; others draw on Le Fanu’s novella slightly more directly. In Roger Vadim’s Et Mourir de Plaisir (1960) an aristocratic woman called Carmilla becomes possessed by her vampire ancestor Millarca von Karnstein. In Roy Ward Baker’s The Vampire Lovers (1970) Carmilla kills Laura before seducing a girl named Emma whom she encounters after a mysterious carriage breakdown. However, the undead Gothic lady has not only made a transition from literature to screen. The figure also transcends the realm of horror, venturing into other cinematic styles and genres as a mortal vampire whose sexuality is a source of malevolence (Weiss 96–7). A well-known early example is Frank Powell’s A Fool There Was (1915), starring Theda Barra as “The Vampire,” an alluring seductress who targets wealthy men, draining them of both their money and dignity (as opposed to their blood), reducing them to madness, alcoholism, and suicide. Other famous “vamps,” as these deadly women came to be known, include the characters played by Marlene Dietrich such as Concha Pérez in Joseph von Sternberg’s The Devil is a Woman (1935). With the emergence of film noir in the early 1940s, the vamp metamorphosed into the femme fatale, who like her predecessors, takes the form of a human vampire who uses her sexuality to seduce her unwitting victims before destroying them. The deadly woman of this era functions as a prototype for neo-noir incarnations of the sexually alluring fatale figure, whose popularity resurged in the early 1980s with productions such as Lawrence Kasdan’s Body Heat (1981), a film commonly regarded as a remake of Billy Wilder’s 1944 classic noir Double Indemnity (Bould et al. 4; Tasker 118). Like the lesbian vampires of 1960s–1970s horror, the neo-noir femme fatale is commonly aligned with themes of same-sex desire, as she is in Mulholland Drive. Mulholland Drive Like Sunset Boulevard before it, Mulholland Drive tells the tragic tale of Hollywood dreams turned to dust, jealousy, madness, escapist fantasy, and murder (Andrews 26). The narrative is played out from the perspective of failed aspiring actress Diane Selwyn (Naomi Watts) and centres on her bitter sexual obsession with former lover Camilla. The film is divided into three sections, described by Lynch as: “Part one: She found herself inside a perfect mystery. Part two: A sad illusion. Part three: Love” (Rodley 54). The first and second segments of the movie are Diane’s wishful dream, which functions as an escape from the unbearable reality that, after being humiliated and spurned by Camilla, Diane hires a hit man to have her murdered. Part three reveals the events that have led up to Diane’s fateful action. In Diane’s dream she is sweet, naïve, Betty who arrives at her wealthy aunt’s Hollywood home to find a beautiful woman in the bathroom. Earlier we witness a scene where the woman survives a violent car crash and, suffering a head injury, stumbles unnoticed into the apartment. Initially the woman introduces herself as Rita (after seeing a Gilda poster on the wall), but later confesses that she doesn’t know who she is. Undeterred by the strange circumstances surrounding Rita’s presence, Betty takes the frightened, vulnerable woman (actually Camilla) under her wing, enthusiastically assuming the role of detective in trying to discover her real identity. As Rita, Camilla is passive, dependent, and grateful. Importantly, she also fondly reciprocates the love Betty feels for her. But in reality, from Diane’s perspective at least, Camilla is a narcissistic, manipulative femme fatale (like the character portrayed by the famous star whose name she adopts in Diane’s dream) who takes sadistic delight in toying with the emotions of others. Just as Rita is Diane’s ideal lover in her fantasy, pretty Betty is Diane’s ego ideal. She is vibrant, wholesome, and has a glowing future ahead of her. This is a far cry from reality where Diane is sullen, pathetic, and haggard with no prospects. Bitterly, she blames Camilla for her failings as an actress (Camilla wins a lead role that Diane badly wanted by sleeping with the director). Ultimately, Diane also blames Camilla for her own suicide. This is implied in the dream sequence when the two women disguise Rita’s appearance after the discovery of a bloated corpse in Diane Selwyn’s apartment. The parallels between Mulholland Drive and Carmilla are numerous to the extent that it could be argued that Lynch’s film is a contemporary noir infused re-telling of Le Fanu’s novella. Both stories take the point-of-view of the blonde haired, blue eyed “victim.” Both include a vehicle accident followed by the mysterious arrival of an elusive dark haired stranger, who appears vulnerable and helpless, but whose beauty masks the fact that she is really a monster. Both narratives hinge on same-sex desire and involve the gradual emotional and physical destruction of the quarry, as she suffers at the hands of her newly found love interest. Whereas Carmilla literally sucks her victims dry before moving on to another target, Camilla metaphorically drains the life out of Diane, callously taunting her with her other lovers before dumping her. While Camilla is not a vampire per se, she is framed in a distinctly vampirish manner, her pale skin contrasted by lavish red lipstick and fingernails, and though she is not literally the living dead, the latter part of the film indicates that the only place Camilla remains alive is in Diane’s fantasy. But in the Lynchian universe, where conventional forms of narrative coherence, with their demand for logic and legibility are of little interest (Rodley ix), intertextual alignment with Carmilla extends beyond plot structure to capture the “mood,” or “feel” of the novella that is best described in terms of the uncanny — something that also lies at the very core of Lynch’s work (Rodley xi). The Gothic and the Uncanny Though Gothic literature is grounded in horror, the type of fear elicited in the works of writers that form part of this movement, such as Le Fanu (along with Horace Walpole, Ann Radcliffe, Mary Shelly, and Bram Stoker to name a few), aligns more with the uncanny than with outright terror. The uncanny is an elusive quality that is difficult to pinpoint yet distinct. First and foremost it is a sense, or emotion that is related to dread and horror, but it is more complex than simply a reaction to fear. Rather, feelings of trepidation are accompanied by a peculiar, dream-like quality of something fleetingly recognisable in what is evidently unknown, conjuring up a mysterious impression of déjà vu. The uncanny has to do with uncertainty, particularly in relation to names (including one’s own name), places and what is being experienced; that things are not as they have come to appear through habit and familiarity. Though it can be frightening, at the same time it can involve a sensation that is compelling and beautiful (Royle 1–2; Punter 131). The inventory of motifs, fantasies, and phenomena that have been attributed to the uncanny are extensive. These can extend from the sight of dead bodies, skeletons, severed heads, dismembered limbs, and female sex organs, to the thought of being buried alive; from conditions such as epilepsy and madness, to haunted houses/castles and ghostly apparitions. Themes of doubling, anthropomorphism, doubt over whether an apparently living object is really animate and conversely if a lifeless object, such as a doll or machinery, is in fact alive also fall under the broad range of what constitutes the uncanny (see Jentsch 221–7; Freud 232–45; Royle 1–2). Socio-culturally, the uncanny can be traced back to the historical epoch of Enlightenment. It is the transformations of this eighteenth century “age of reason,” with its rejection of transcendental explanations, valorisation of reason over superstition, aggressively rationalist imperatives, and compulsive quests for knowledge that are argued to have first caused human experiences associated with the uncanny (Castle 8–10). In this sense, as literary scholar Terry Castle argues, the eighteenth century “invented the uncanny” (8). In relation to the psychological underpinnings of this disquieting emotion, psychiatrist Ernst Jentsch was the first to explore the subject in his 1906 document “On the Psychology of the Uncanny,” though Sigmund Freud and his 1919 paper “The Uncanny” is most popularly associated with the term. According to Jentsch, the uncanny, or the unheimlich in German (meaning “unhomely”), emerges when the “new/foreign/hostile” corresponds to the psychical association of “old/known/familiar.” The unheimlich, which sits in direct opposition to the heimlich (homely) equates to a situation where someone feels not quite “at home” or “at ease” (217–9). Jentsch attributes sensations of the unheimlich to psychical resistances that emerge in relation to the mistrust of the innovative and unusual — “to the intellectual mystery of a new thing” (218) — such as technological revolution for example. Freud builds on the concept of the unheimlich by focusing on the heimlich, arguing that the term incorporates two sets of ideas. It can refer to what is familiar and agreeable, or it can mean “what is concealed and kept out of sight” (234–5). In the context of the latter notion, the unheimlich connotes “that which ought to have remained secret or hidden but has come to light” (Freud 225). Hence for Freud, who was primarily concerned with the latent content of the psyche, feelings of uncanniness emerge when dark, disturbing truths that have been repressed and relegated to the realm of the unconscious resurface, making their way abstractly into the consciousness, creating an odd impression of the known in the unknown. Though it is the works of E.T.A. Hoffman that are most commonly associated with the unheimlich, Freud describing the author as the “unrivalled master of the uncanny in literature” (233), Carmilla is equally bound up in dialectics between the known and the unknown; the homely and the unhomely. Themes centring on doubles, the undead, haunted gardens, conflicting emotions fuelled by desire and disgust — of “adoration and also of abhorrence” (Le Fanu 264), and dream-like nocturnal encounters with sinister, shape-shifting creatures predominate. With Carmilla’s arrival the boundaries between the heimlich and the unheimlich become blurred. Though Carmilla is a stranger, her presence triggers buried childhood memories for Laura of a frightening and surreal experience where Carmilla appears in Laura’s nursery during the night, climbing into bed with her before seemingly vanishing into thin air. In this sense, Laura’s remote castle home has never been homely. Disturbing truths have always lurked in its dark recesses, the return of the dead bringing them to light. The Uncanny in Mulholland Drive The elusive qualities of the uncanny also weave their way extensively through Mulholland Drive, permeating all facets of the cinematic experience — cinematography, sound score, mise en scène, and narrative structure. As film maker and writer Chris Rodley argues, Lynch mobilises every aspect of the motion picture making process in seeking to express a sense of uncanniness in his productions: “His sensitivity to textures of sound and image, to the rhythms of speech and movement, to space, colour, and the intrinsic power of music mark him as unique in this respect.” (Rodley ix–xi). From the opening scenes of Mulholland Drive, the audience is plunged into the surreal, unheimlich realm of Diane’s dream world. The use of rich saturated colours, soft focus lenses, unconventional camera movements, stilted dialogue, and a hauntingly beautiful sound score composed by Angelo Badalamenti, generates a cumulative effect of heightened artifice. This in turn produces an impression of hyper-realism — a Baudrillardean simulacrum where the real is beyond real, taking on a form of its own that has an artificial relation to actuality (Baudrillard 6–7). Distorting the “real” in this manner produces an effect of defamiliarisation — a term first employed by critic Viktor Shklovsky (2–3) to describe the artistic process involved in making familiar objects seem strange and unfamiliar (or unheimlich). These techniques are something Lynch employs in other works. Film and literary scholar Greg Hainge (137) discusses the way colour intensification and slow motion camera tracking are used in the opening scene of Blue Velvet (1984) to destabilise the aesthetic realm of the homely, revealing it to be artifice concealing sinister truths that have so far been hidden, but that are about to come to light. Similar themes are central to Mulholland Drive; the simulacra of Diane’s fantasy creating a synthetic form of real that conceals the dark and terrible veracities of her waking life. However, the artificial dream place of Diane’s disturbed mind is disjointed and fractured, therefore, just as the uncanny gives rise to an elusive sense of mystery and uncertainty, offering a fleeting glimpse of the tangible in something otherwise inexplicable, so too is the full intelligibility of Mulholland Drive kept at an obscure distance. Though the film offers a succession of clues to meaning, the key to any form of complete understanding lingers just beyond the grasp of certainty. Names, places, and identities are infused with doubt. Not only in relation to Betty/Diane and Rita/Camilla, but regarding a succession of other strange, inexplicable characters and events, one example being the recurrent presence of a terrifying looking vagrant (Bonnie Aarons). Figures such as this are clearly poignant to the narrative, but they are also impossibly enigmatic, inviting the audience to play detective in deciphering what they signify. Themes of doubling and mirroring are also used extensively. While these motifs serve to denote the split between waking and dream states, they also destabilise the narrative in relation to what is familiar and what is unfamiliar, further grounding Mulholland Drive in the uncanny. Since its publication in 1872, Carmilla has had a significant formative influence on the construct of the seductive yet deadly woman in her various manifestations. However, rarely has the novella been paid homage to as intricately as it is in Mulholland Drive. Lynch draws on Le Fanu’s archetypal Gothic horror story, combining it with the aesthetic conventions of film noir, in order to create what is ostensibly a contemporary, poststructuralist critique of the Hollywood dream-factory. Narratively and thematically, the similarities between the two texts are numerous. However, intertextual configuration is considerably more complex, extending beyond the plot and character structure to capture the essence of the Gothic, which is grounded in the uncanny — an evocative emotion involving feelings of dread, accompanied by a dream-like impression of familiar and unfamiliar commingling. Carmilla and Mulholland Drive bypass the heimlich, delving directly into the unheimlich, where boundaries between waking and dream states are destabilised, any sense of certainty about what is real is undermined, and feelings of desire are paradoxically conjoined with loathing. Moreover, Lynch mobilises all fundamental elements of cinema in order to capture and express the elusive qualities of the Unheimlich. In this sense, the uncanny lies at the very heart of the film. What emerges as a result is an enigmatic work of art that is as profoundly alluring as it is disconcerting. References Andrews, David. “An Oneiric Fugue: The Various Logics of Mulholland Drive.” Journal of Film and Video 56 (2004): 25–40. Baker, David. “Seduced and Abandoned: Lesbian Vampires on Screen 1968–74.” Continuum 26 (2012): 553–63. Baudrillard, Jean. Simulacra and Simulation. Michigan: U Michigan P, 1994. Bould, Mark, Kathrina Glitre, and Greg Tuck. Neo-Noir. New York: Wallflower, 2009. Castle, Terry. The Female Thermometer: Eighteenth-century Culture and the Invention of the Uncanny. Oxford: Oxford UP, 1995. Freud, Sigmund. “The Uncanny.” Standard Edition of the Complete Psychological Works of Sigmund Freud, Vol. XVII: An Infantile Neurosis and Other Works. London: Hogarth, 2001. 217–256. Le Fanu, J. Sheridan. Carmilla. In a Glass Darkly. Oxford: Oxford UP, 2008. 243–319. Hainge, Greg. “Weird or Loopy? Spectacular Spaces, Feedback and Artifice in Lost Highway’s Aesthetics of Sensation.” The Cinema of David Lynch: American Dreams, Nightmare Visions. Ed. Erica Sheen and Annette Davidson. London: Wallflower, 2004. 136–50. Jentsch, Ernst. “On the Psychology of the Uncanny.” Uncanny Modernity: Cultural Theories, Modern Anxieties. Ed. Jo Collins and John Jervis. Basingstoke: Palgrave, 2008. 216–28. Punter, David. “The Uncanny.” The Routledge Companion to the Gothic. Ed. Catherine Spooner and Emma McEvoy. Hoboken: Taylor and Francis, 2007. 129–36. Rodley, Chris. Lynch on Lynch. London: Faber, 2005. Royle, Nicholas. The Uncanny. Manchester: Manchester UP, 2003. Shklovsky, Viktor. “Art as Technique.” Theory of Prose. Illinois: Dalkey, 1991. Tasker, Yvonne. Working Girls: Gender and Sexuality in Popular Cinema. New York: Routledge, 1998. Weiss, Andrea. Vampires and Violets: Lesbians in Cinema. London: Jonathan Cape, 1992. Zimmerman, Bonnie. “Daughters of Darkness Lesbian Vampires.” Jump Cut 24.5 (2005): 23–4.

Everyone thinks I named my cat Mango because of his orange eyes but that’s not the case. I named him Mango because the sounds of his purrs and his wheezes and his meows are all various shades of yellow-orange. (Mass 3) Synaesthesia, a condition where stimulus in one sense is perceived in that sense as well as in another, is thought to be a neurological fluke, marked by cross-sensory reactions. Mia, a character in the children’s book A Mango-Shaped Space, has audition colorée or coloured hearing, the most common form of synaesthesia where sounds create dynamic coloured photisms in the visual field. Others with the condition may taste shapes (Cytowic 5), feel colours (Duffy 52), taste sounds (Cytowic 118) or experience a myriad of other sensory combinations. Most non-synaesthetes have never heard of synaesthesia and many treat the condition with disbelief upon learning of it, while synaesthetes are often surprised to hear that others don’t have it. Although there has been a resurgence of interest in synaesthesia recently in psychology, neuroscience and philosophy (Ward and Mattingley 129), there is no widely accepted explanation for how or why synaesthetic perception occurs. However, if we investigate what meaning this particular condition may offer for rethinking not only what constitutes sensory normalcy, but also the ocular-centric bias in cultural studies, especially media studies, synaesthesia may present us with very productive coalitions indeed.Some theorists posit the ultimate role of media of all forms “to transfer sense experiences from one person to another” (Bolter and Grusin 3). Alongside this claim, many “have also maintained that the ultimate function of literature and the arts is to manifest this fusion of the senses” found in synaesthesia (Dann ix). If the most primary of media aims are to fuse and transfer sensory experiences, manifesting these goals would be akin to transferring synaesthetic experience to non-synaesthetes. In some cases, this synaesthetic transfer has been the explicit goal of media forms, from the invention of kaleidoscopes as colour symphonies in 1818 (Dann 66) to the 2002 launch of the video game Rez, the packaging for which reads “Discover a new world. A world of sound, visuals and vibrations. Release your instincts, open your senses and experience synaesthesia” (Rez). Recent innovations such as touch screen devices, advances in 3D film and television technologies and a range of motion-sensing video gaming consoles extend media experience far beyond the audio-visual and as such, present both serious challenges and important opportunities for media and culture scholars to reinvigorate ways of thinking about media experience, sensory embodiment and what might be learned from engaging with synaesthesia. Fleshing out the Field While acknowledging synaesthesia as a specific condition that enhances and complicates the lives of many individuals, I also suggest that synaesthesia is a useful mode of interference into our current ocular-centric notions of culture. Vision and visual phenomena hold a particularly powerful role in producing and negotiating meanings, values and relationships in the contemporary cultural arena and as a result, the eye has become privileged as the “master sense of the modern era” (Jay Scopic 3). Proponents of visual culture claim that the majority of modern life takes place through sight and that “human experience is now more visual and visualized than ever before ... in this swirl of imagery, seeing is much more than believing. It is not just a part of everyday life, it is everyday life” (Mirzoeff 1). In order to enjoy this privilege as the master sense, vision has been disentangled from the muscles and nerves of the eyeball and relocated to the “mind’s eye”, a metaphor that equates a kind of disembodied vision with knowledge. Vision becomes the most non-sensual of the senses, and made to appear “as a negative reference point for the other senses...on the side of detachment, separation” (Connor) or even “as the absence of sensuality” (Haraway). This creates a paradoxical “visual culture” in which the embodied eye is, along with the ear, skin, tongue and nose, strangely absent. If visual culture has been based on the separation of the senses, and in fact, a refutation of embodied senses altogether, what about that which we might encounter and know in the world that is not encompassed by the mind’s eye? By silencing the larger sensory context, what are we missing? What ocular-centric assumptions have we been making? What responsibilities have we ignored?This critique does not wish to do away with the eye, but instead to re-embrace and extend the field of vision to include an understanding of the eye and what it sees within the context of its embodied abilities and limitations. Although the mechanics of the eye make it an important and powerful sensory organ, able to perceive at a distance and provide a wealth of information about our surroundings, it is also prone to failures. Equipped as it is with eyelids and blind spots, reliant upon light and gullible to optical illusions (Jay, Downcast 4), the eye has its weaknesses and these must be addressed along with its abilities. Moreover, by focusing only on what is visual in culture, we are missing plenty of import. The study of visual culture is not unlike studying an electrical storm from afar. The visually impressive jagged flash seems the principal aspect of the storm and quite separate from the rumbling sound that rolls after it. We perceive them and name them as two distinct phenomena; thunder and lightning. However, this separation is a feature only of the distance between where we stand and the storm. Those who have found themselves in the eye of an electrical storm know that the sight of the bolt, the sound of the crash, the static tingling and vibration of the crack and the smell of ozone are mingled. At a remove, the bolt appears separate from the noise only artificially because of the safe distance. The closer we are to the phenomenon, the more completely it envelops us. Although getting up close and personal with an electrical storm may not be as comfortable as viewing it from afar, it does offer the opportunity to better understand the total experience and the thrill of intensities it can engage across the sensory palette. Similarly, the false separation of the visual from the rest of embodied experience may be convenient, but in order to flesh out this field, other embodied senses and sensory coalitions must be reclaimed for theorising practices. The senses as they are traditionally separated are simply put, false categories. Towards SynaestheoryAny inquiry inspired by synaesthesia must hold at its core the idea that the senses cannot be responsibly separated. This notion applies firstly to the separation of senses from one another. Synaesthetic experience and experiment both insist that there is rich cross-fertility between senses in synaesthetes and non-synaesthetes alike. The French verb sentir is instructive here, as it can mean “to smell”, “to taste” or “to feel”, depending on the context it is used in. It can also mean simply “to sense” or “to be aware of”. In fact, the origin of the phrase “common sense” meant exactly that, the point at which the senses meet. There also must be recognition that the senses cannot be separated from cognition or, in the Cartesian sense, that body and mind cannot be divided. An extensive and well-respected study of synaesthesia conducted in the 1920s by Raymond Wheeler and Thomas Cutsforth, non-synaesthetic and synaesthetic researchers respectively, revealed that the condition was not only a quirk of perception, but of conception. Synaesthetic activity, the team deduced “is an essential mechanism in the construction of meaning that functions in the same way as certain unattended processes in non-synaesthetes” (Dann 82). With their synaesthetic imagery impaired, synaesthetes are unable to do even a basic level of thinking or recalling (Dann, Cytowic). In fact, synaesthesia may be a universal process, but in synaesthetes, “a brain process that is normally unconscious becomes bared to consciousness so that synaesthetes know they are synaesthetic while the rest of us do not” (166). Maurice Merleau-Ponty agrees, claiming:Synaesthetic perception is the rule, and we are unaware of it only because scientific knowledge shifts the centre of gravity of experience, so that we unlearn how to see, hear, and generally speaking, feel in order to deduce, from our bodily organisation and the world as the physicist conceives it, what we are to see, hear and feel. (229) With this in mind, neither the mind’s role nor the body’s role in synaesthesia can be isolated, since the condition itself maintains unequivocally that the two are one.The rich and rewarding correlations between senses in synaesthesia prompt us to consider sensory coalitions in other experiences and contexts as well. We are urged to consider flows of sensation seriously as experiences in and of themselves, with or without interpretation and explanation. As well, the debates around synaesthetic experience remind us that in order to speak to phenomena perceived and conceived it is necessary to recognise the specificities, ironies and responsibilities of any embodied experience. Ultimately, synaesthesia helps to highlight the importance of relationships and the complexity of concepts necessary in order to practice a more embodied and articulate theorising. We might call this more inclusive approach “synaestheory”.Synaestheorising MediaDystopia, a series of photographs by artists Anthony Aziz and Sammy Cucher suggests a contemporary take on Decartes’s declaration that “I will now close my eyes, I will stop my ears, I will turn away my senses from their objects” (86). These photographs consist of digitally altered faces where the subject’s skin has been stretched over the openings of eyes, nose, mouth and ears, creating an interesting image both in process and in product. The product of a media mix that incorporates photography and computer modification, this image suggests the effects of the separation from our senses that these media may imply. The popular notion that media allow us to surpass our bodies and meet without our “meat” tagging along is a trope that Aziz and Cucher expose here with their computer-generated cover-up. By sealing off the senses, they show us how little we now seem to value them in a seemingly virtual, post-embodied world. If “hybrid media require hybrid analyses” (Lunenfeld in Graham 158), in our multimedia, mixed media, “mongrel media” (Dovey 114) environment, we need mongrel theory, synaestheory, to begin to discuss the complexities at hand. The goal here is producing an understanding of both media and sensory intelligences as hybrid. Symptomatic of our simple sense of media is our tendency to refer to media experiences as “audio-visual”: stimuli for the ear, eye or both. However, even if media are engineered to be predominately audio and/or visual, we are not. Synaestheory examines embodied media use, including the sensory information that the media does not claim to concentrate on, but that is still engaged and present in every mediated experience. It also examines embodied media use by paying attention to the pops and clicks of the material human-media interface. It does not assume simple sensory engagement or smooth engagement with media. These bumps, blisters, misfirings and errors are just as crucial a part of embodied media practice as smooth and successful interactions. Most significantly, synaesthesia insists simply that sensation matters. Sensory experiences are material, rich, emotional, memorable and important to the one sensing them, synaesthete or not. This declaration contradicts a legacy of distrust of the sensory in academic discourse that privileges the more intellectual and abstract, usually in the form of the detached text. However, academic texts are sensory too, of course. Sound, feeling, movement and sight are all inseparable from reading and writing, speaking and listening. We might do well to remember these as root sensory situations and by extension, recognise the importance of other sensual forms.Indeed, we have witnessed a rise of media genres that appeal to our senses first with brilliant and detailed visual and audio information, and story or narrative second, if at all. These media are “direct and one-dimensional, about little, other than their ability to commandeer the sight and the senses” (Darley 76). Whereas any attention to the construction of the media product is a disastrous distraction in narrative-centred forms, spectacular media reveals and revels in artifice and encourages the spectator to enjoy the simulation as part of the work’s allure. It is “a pleasure of control, but also of being controlled” (MacTavish 46). Like viewing abstract art, the impact of the piece will be missed if we are obsessed with what the artwork “is about”. Instead, we can reflect on spectacular media’s ability, like that of an abstract artwork, to impact our senses and as such, “renew the present” (Cubitt 32).In this framework, participation in any medium can be enjoyed not only as an interpretative opportunity, but also as an experience of sensory dexterity and relevance with its own pleasures and intelligences; a “being-present”. By focusing our attention on sensory flows, we may be able to perceive aspects of the world or ourselves that we had previously missed. Every one of us–synaesthete or nonsynaesthete–has a unique blueprint of reality, a unique way of coding knowledge that is different from any other on earth [...] By quieting down the habitually louder parts of our mind and turning the dial of our attention to its darker, quieter places, we may hear our personal code’s unique and usually unheard “song”, needing the touch of our attention to turn up its volume. (Duffy 123)This type of presence to oneself has been termed a kind of “perfect immediacy” and is believed to be cultivated through meditation or other sensory-focused experiences such as sex (Bolter and Grusin 260), art (Cubitt 32), drugs (Dann 184) or even physical pain (Gromala 233). Immersive media could also be added to this list, if as Bolter and Grusin suggest, we now “define immediacy as being in the presence of media” (236). In this case, immediacy has become effectively “media-cy.”A related point is the recognition of sensation’s transitory nature. Synaesthetic experiences and sensory experiences are vivid and dynamic. They do not persist. Instead, they flow through us and disappear, despite any attempts to capture them. You cannot stop or relive pure sound, for example (Gross). If you stop it, you silence it. If you relive it, you are experiencing another rendition, different even if almost imperceptibly from the last time you heard it. Media themselves are increasingly transitory and shifting phenomena. As media forms emerge and fall into obsolescence, spawning hybrid forms and spinoffs, the stories and memories safely fixed into any given media become outmoded and ultimately inaccessible very quickly. This trend towards flow over fixation is also informed by an embodied understanding of our own existence. Our sensations flow through us as we flow through the world. Synaesthesia reminds us that all sensation and indeed all sensory beings are dynamic. Despite our rampant lust for statis (Haraway), it is important to theorise with the recognition that bodies, media and sensations all flow through time and space, emerging and disintegrating. Finally, synaesthesia also encourages an always-embodied understanding of ourselves and our interactions with our environment. In media experiences that traditionally rely on vision the body is generally not only denied, but repressed (Balsamo 126). Claims to disembodiment flood the rhetoric around new media as an emancipatory element of mediated experience and somehow, seeing is superimposed on embodied being to negate it. However phenomena such as migraines, sensory release hallucinations, photo-memory, after-images, optical illusions and most importantly here, the “crosstalk” of synaesthesia (Cohen Kadosh et al. 489) all attest to the co-involvement of the body and brain in visual experience. Perhaps useful here for understanding media involvement in light of synaestheory is a philosophy of “mingled bodies” (Connor), where the world and its embodied agents intermingle. There are no discrete divisions, but plenty of translation and transfer. As Sean Cubitt puts it, “the world, after all, touches us at the same moment that we touch it” (37). We need to employ non-particulate metaphors that do away with the dichotomies of mind/body, interior/exterior and real/virtual. A complex embodied entity is not an object or even a series of objects, but embodiment work. “Each sense is in fact a nodal cluster, a clump, confection or bouquet of all the other senses, a mingling of the modalities of mingling [...] the skin encompasses, implies, pockets up all the other sense organs: but in doing so, it stands as a model for the way in which all the senses in their turn also invaginate all the others” (Connor). The danger here is of delving into a nostalgic discussion of a sort of “sensory unity before the fall” (Dann 94). The theory that we are all synaesthetes in some ways can lead to wistfulness for a perfect fusion of our senses, a kind of synaesthetic sublime that we had at one point, but lost. This loss occurs in childhood in some theories, (Maurer and Mondloch) and in our aboriginal histories in others (Dann 101). This longing for “original syn” is often done within a narrative that equates perfect sensory union with a kind of transcendence from the physical world. Dann explains that “during the modern upsurge in interest that has spanned the decades from McLuhan to McKenna, synaesthesia has continued to fulfil a popular longing for metaphors of transcendence” (180). This is problematic, since elevating the sensory to the sublime does no more service to understanding our engagements with the world than ignoring or degrading the sensory. Synaestheory does not tolerate a simplification of synaesthesia or any condition as a ticket to transcendence beyond the body and world that it is necessarily grounded in and responsible to. At the same time, it operates with a scheme of senses that are not a collection of separate parts, but blended; a field of intensities, a corporeal coalition of senses. It likewise refuses to participate in the false separation of body and mind, perception and cognition. More useful and interesting is to begin with metaphors that assume complexity without breaking phenomena into discrete pieces. This is the essence of a new anti-separatist synaestheory, a way of thinking through embodied humans in relationships with media and culture that promises to yield more creative, relevant and ethical theorising than the false isolation of one sense or the irresponsible disregard of the sensorium altogether.ReferencesAziz, Anthony, and Sammy Cucher. 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IntroductionAccording to Friedrich Nietzsche, the death of Man follows the death of God. Man as a concept must be overcome. Yet Nietzsche extends humanism’s jargon of creativity that privileges Man over animal. To truly overcome the notion of Man, one must undercome Man, in other words go below Man. Once undercome, creativity devolves into a type of building and unbuilding, affording art the ability to conceive of the subject emptied of divine creation. This article will examine how Man is unbuilt in three works by three different artists: Francis Bacon’s “Study of a Baboon” (1953), Jan Švankmajer’s Darkness, Light, Darkness (1989), and Patricia Piccinini’s “The Young Family” (2002). All three artists evoke the animalistic in their depiction of what could be called the sub-subject, a diminished agent. Unbuilding the subject becomes the basis for building the sub-subject in these depictions of the human remainder. Man, from this vantage, will be examined as a cultural construct. Man largely means human, yet the Renaissance concept favoured a certain type of powerful male. Instead of rescuing Man, Bacon, Švankmajer and Piccinini, present the remnants of the human amidst the animal rather than the human subject detached from the animal. Such works challenge humanism, expressed in Giorgio Vasari’s analysis of art and creativity as indicative of Man’s closeness to the divine, which in a strange way, is extended in Nietzsche’s writings. These artists dismantle and build a subhuman form of subjectivity and thereby provide a challenge to traditional conceptions of creativity that historically favour Man as the creator beneath only God Himself. In the course of this article, I explore the violence of Bacon’s painted devolution, the deflationary animation of Švankmajer and Piccinini’s subhuman tenderness. I do not argue that we must abandon humanism altogether as there are a multiplicity of humanisms, or attempt to invalidate all the various posthumanisms, transhumanisms and antihumanisms. Rather, I attempt to show that Nietzsche’s posthumanism is a suprahumanism and that one possible way to frame the death of Man is through undercoming Man. Art, held in high esteem by Renaissance humanism, becomes a vehicle to imagine and engage with subhuman subjectivity.What Is Humanism? Humanism has numerous connotations from designating atheism to celebrating culture to privileging humans above other animals. The type of humanism I am interested in is not secular humanism, but rather humanism that celebrates and conceptualises Man’s place in the universe and does so through accentuating his (and I mean his given humanism’s often sexist, masculinist history) creativity and intellectual power. This celebration of creativity depends in part on a type of religious view, where Man is at the centre of God’s design. Such a view holds that Man’s power to shape nature’s materials resembles God. This type of humanism remains today but usually in a more humbled form, enfeebled by the scientific realisations that characterised the Enlightenment, namely the realisation that Man was not the centre of God’s universe. The Enlightenment is sometimes characterised as the birth of modern humanism, where the human subject undergoes estrangement from his surroundings through the conceptualisation of the subject–object division, and gains control over nature. A common narrative is that the subject’s autonomy and power came to extend to art itself, which in turn, became valued as possessing its own aesthetic legitimacy and yet also becoming an alienated commodity. Yet Cary Wolfe, in What Is Posthumanism?, echoes Michel Foucault’s claim that the Enlightenment could be viewed in tension to humanism (“Introduction” n.p.). Indeed, the Enlightenment’s creation of modern science would come to seriously challenge any view of humanity’s privileged status in this world. In contrast, Renaissance humanism conceived of Man as the centrepiece of God’s design and gifted with artistic creation and the ability to uncover truth. Renaissance HumanismRenaissance humanism is encapsulated by Vasari’s preface to The Lives of the Artists. In his preface, Vasari contends that God was the first artist, being both a painter and sculptor: God on High, having created the great body of the world and having decorated the heavens with its brightest lights, descended with His intellect further down into the clarity of the atmosphere and the solidity of the earth, and, shaping man, discovered in the pleasing invention of things the first form of sculpture and painting. (3)Interestingly, God discovers creation, which is a type of decoration, where the skies are decorated with bright lights—the stars. Giving colour, light and shade to the world and heavens, qualifies God as a painter. The human body, according to Vasari, is sculpted by God, which in turn inspires artists to depict the human form. Art and design—God’s design—is thereby ‘at the origin of all things’ and not merely painting and sculpture, though the reality we know is still the product of God’s painting and sculpture. According to Vasari, God privileges Man not for his intellect per se, but by bestowing him with the ability of creation and design. Indeed, creativity and design are for Vasari a part of all intellectual discovery. Intellect is the mode of discovering design, which for Vasari, is also creation. Vasari claims “that divine light infused in us by a special act of grace which has not only made us superior to other animals but even similar, if it is permitted to say so, to God Himself” (4). God is more than just a maker, he is a creator with an aesthetic sense. All intellectual human endeavours, claims Vasari, are aesthetic and creative, in their comprehension of God’s design of the world. Vasari’s emphasis on design became outmoded as Renaissance humanism was challenged by the Enlightenment’s interest in humans and other animals as machines. However, evolution challenges even some mechanistic understandings of the human subject, which sometimes presupposed that the human-machine had a maker, as with William Paley’s watchmaker theory. As Richard Dawkins put it in The Blind Watchmaker, nature “has no vision, no foresight, no sight at all. If [evolution] can be said to play the role of the watchmaker in nature, it is the blind watchmaker” (“Chapter One: Explaining the Very Improbable” n.p.). No longer was God’s universe designed for Man’s comprehension and appreciation, foretelling humanity’s own potential extinction.Man and God’s DeathThe idea that humanity was created by blind processes raises the question of what sort of depiction of the human subject is possible after the death of God and the Enlightenment’s tendency toward disenchantment? An art and self-understanding founded on atheism would be in sharp distinction to Vasari’s characterisation of the nature as an artwork coloured by the divine painter and sculptor in the heavens. Man’s creativity and design are, for the Renaissance humanist, part of discovery, the embodied realisations and iterations of the Platonic realm of divine forms. But such designs, wondrous for Vasari, can be viewed as shadows without origin in a post-God world. In Vasari, Platonism is still present where the artist’s creation becomes a way of discerning the origin of all forms, God himself. Yet, without divine origin, these forms are no longer discoveries and the possibility emerges that they are not even creations, emptied of the divine meaning that gave Man’s creative and scientific work value. Nietzsche understood that the loss of God called for the revaluation of all values. This is why Nietzsche claims that God’s death signifies the death of Man. For Nietzsche, the last Man was such an iteration, a shadow of what man had been (Thus Spoke Zarathustra 9-10). The Post-Man, the Übermensch, is one who extends the human power of creation and evaluation. In Vasari, Man is a model created by God. Nietzsche extends this logic: Man is his own creation as is God Man’s model. Man is capable of self-construction and overcoming without the hindrance of the divine. This freedom unlocked by auto-creation renders Man capable of making himself God. As such, art remains a source of sacred power for Nietzsche since it is a process of creative evaluation. The sacred is affirmed against secular profanity. For Nietzsche, God must be envisaged as Dionysus, a God that Nietzsche claims takes on a human form in Greek festivals dedicated to creation and fecundity. Mankind, in order to continue to have value after God’s death, “must become gods”, must take the place of God (The Gay Science 120). Nietzsche, All-Too HumanistNietzsche begins a project of rethinking Man as a category. Yet there is much in common with Renaissance humanism generated by Nietzsche’s Dionysian belief in a merger between God and Man. Man is overcome by a stronger and more creative figure, that of the Übermensch. By comparing Nietzsche with Vasari we can understand just how humanist Nietzsche remained. Indeed, Nietzsche fervently admired the Renaissance as a rebirth of paganism. Such an assessment of the rebirth of pagan art and values can almost be found in Vasari himself. Vasari claimed that pagan art, far from being blasphemous, brought Man closer to the divine in a tribute to the creativity of God. Vasari’s criticism of Christianity is careful but present. Indeed, Vasari—in a way that anticipates Nietzsche’s view that secular sacrilege was merely an extension of Christian sacrilege—attacks Christian iconoclasm, noting that barbarians and Christians worked together to destroy sacred forms of art: not only did [early Christianity] ruin or cast to the ground all the marvellous statues, sculptures, paintings, mosaics, and ornaments of the false pagan gods, but it also did away with the memorials and testimonials to an infinite number of illustrious people, in whose honour statues and other memorials had been constructed in public places by the genius of antiquity. (5) In this respect, Vasari embodies the values Nietzsche so praised in the Italian Renaissance. Vasari emphasises the artistic creations that enshrine distinctions of value and social hierarchy. While Vasari continues Platonic notions that ideals exist before human creation, he nevertheless holds human creation as a realisation and embodiment of the ideal, which is not dissimilar to Nietzsche’s notion of divine embodiment. For Nietzsche and Vasari, Man is exulted when he can rise, like a god, above other men. Another possibility would be to lower Man to just another animal. One way to envision such a lowering would be to subvert the mode by which Man is deemed God-like. Art that engages with the death of Man helps conceptualise subhumanism and the way that the subject ceases to be raised above the animal. What follows are studies of artworks that unbuild the subject. Francis Bacon’s “Study of a Baboon”Francis Bacon’s work challenges the human subject by depicting nonhuman subjects, where the flesh is torn open and Man’s animal flesh is exposed. Sometimes Bacon does not merely disfigure the human form but violently abandons it to focus on animals that reveal animal qualities latent in the subject. Bacon’s “Study of a Baboon”, expresses a sense of human devolution: Man devolved to monkey. In the work, we see a baboon within an enclosure, sitting above a tree that simultaneously resembles a gothic shadow, a cross, and even a smear. The dark, cross-like tree may suggest the conquering of God by a baboon, a type of monkey, recalling the old slander of Darwin’s theory, namely that Darwinism entailed that humanity descended from monkeys (which Darwin’s theory does not claim). But far from victorious, the monkey is in a state of suffering. While the baboon is not crucified on or by the tree, suffering pervades the frame. Its head resembles some sort of skull. The body is faintly painted in a melancholy blue with smudges of purple and is translucent and ghostly—at once a lump of matter and a spectral absence. We do not see the baboon through the cage. Instead we see through the baboon at the cage. Indeed, its very physiology involves the encountering of trauma as the head of the baboon does not simply connect to the body but stabs through the body as a sharp bone, perhaps opaquely evoking the violence of evolution. Similarly, the baboon’s tail seems to stab through the tree. Its eye is an enlarged void and a pupil is indicated by a bluish white triangle splitting through the void. The tree has something of the menacing and looming quality of a shadow and there is a sense of wilderness confronted by death and entrapment, evoked through the background. The yellowy ground is suggestive of dead grass. While potentially gesturing to the psychical confusion and intensity of Vincent Van Gogh or Edvard Munch, the yellowed grass more likely evokes the empty, barren and hostile planes of the desert and contrasts with the darkened colours. The baboon sitting on the cross/tree may seem to have reached some sort of pinnacle but such a status is mocked by the tree that manages to continue outside the fence: the branches nightmarishly protrude through the fence to conquer the frame, which in turn furthers the sense of inescapable entrapment and threat. The baboon is thereby precluded from reaching a higher point on the tree, unable to climb the branches, and underscores the baboon’s confines. The painting is labelled a study, which may suggest it is unfinished. However, Bacon’s completed works preserve an unfinished quality. This unfinished quality conveys a sense in which Man and evolution are unfinished and that being finished in the sense of being completed is no longer possible. The idea that there can finished work of art, a work of art that preserves an eternal meaning, has been repeatedly subject to serious doubt, including by artists themselves. Indeed, Bacon’s work erases the potential for perfection and completion, and breaks down, through devolution, what has been achieved by Man and the forces that shaped him. The subject is lowered from that of human to that of a baboon and is therefore, by Vasari’s Renaissance reasoning, not a subject at all. Bacon’s sketch and study exist to evoke a sense of incompletion, involving pain without resolution. The animal state of pain is therefore married with existential entrapment and isolation as art ceases to express the Platonic ideal and aims to show the truth of the shadow—namely that humanity is without a God, a God that previously shed light on humanity’s condition and anchored the human subject. If there is a trace or echo of human nobility left, such a trace functions through the wild and violent quality of animal indignation. A scream of painful indignity is the last act approaching (or descending from) any dignity that is afforded. Jan Švankmajer’s Darkness, Light, DarknessAn even more extreme case of the subject no longer being the subject, of being broken and muted—so much so that animal protest is annulled—can be witnessed in Jan Švankmajer’s animated short Darkness, Light, Darkness. In the animation, green clay hands mould and form a human body in order to be part of it. But when complete, the human body is trapped, grotesquely out of proportion with its environment. The film begins in a darkened house. There is a knocking of the door, and then the first green hand opens the door and turns on the light. The hand falls to the floor, blindly making its way to another door on the opposite side of the house. The hand opens the door only for eyeballs to roll out. The eyes look around. The hand pushes its clay fingers against the eyeballs, and the eyeballs become attached to the fingers. Suddenly with sight, the hand is able to lift itself up. The hand discovers that another hand is knocking at the door. The first hand helps the second hand, and then goes to the window where a pair of ears are stuck together flapping like a moth. The hands work together and break the ears apart. The first hand, the one with eyes, attaches the ears to the second hand. Then a head with a snout, but missing eyes and ears, enters through the door. The hands pull the snout until it becomes a nose, suppressing and remoulding the animal until it becomes human. As with Bacon, the violence of evolution, of auto-construction is conveyed indirectly: in Bacon’s case, through painted devolution and, in the case of the claymation, through a violent construction based on mutilation and smashing body parts together.Although I have described only three minutes of the seven-minute film, it already presents an image of human construction devoid of art or divine design. Man, or rather the hands, become the blind watchman of evolution. The hands work contingently, with what they are provided. They shape themselves based on need. The body, after all, exists as parts, and the human body is made up of other life forms, both sustaining and being sustained by them. The hands work together, and sacrifice sight and hearing for the head. They tear off the ears and remove the eyes and give them to the head. Transcendence is exchanged for subsistence. The absurdity of this contingency becomes most apparent when the hands attempt to merge with the head, to be the head’s feet. Then the feet actually arrive and are attached to the head’s neck. The human subject in such a state is thereby deformed and incomplete. It is a frightened form, cowering when it hears banging at the door. It turns out that the banging is being produced by an angry erect penis pounding at the door. However, even this symbol of masculine potency is subdued, rendered harmless by the hands that splash a bucket of cold water on it. The introduction of the penis signifies the masculinist notions implicit in the term Man, but we only ever see the penis when it is flaccid. The human subject is able to be concluded when clay pours from both doors and the window. The hands sculpt the clay and make the body, which, when complete is oversized and barely fits within the house. The male subject is then trapped, cramped in a foetal position. With its head against the ceiling next to the light, breathing heavily, all it can do is turn out the light. The head opens its mouth either in horror or a state of exertion and gasps. The eyes bulge before one of the body’s hands turns switch, perhaps suggesting terror before death or simply the effort involved in turning off the light. Once completed and built, the human subject remains in the dark. Despite the evident quirky, playful humour, Švankmajer’s film reflects an exhaustion with art itself. Human life becomes clay comically finding its own form. For Vasari, the ideal of the human form is realised first by God and then by Man through marble; for Švankmajer it is green clay. He demotes man back to the substance for a God to mould but, as there is no God to breathe life into it and give form, there is just the body to imperfectly mould itself. The film challenges both Vasari’s humanism and the suprahumanism of Nietzschean spectacle. Instead of the self-generating power and radical interdependence and agency of Übermensch, Švankmajer’s sub-subject is Man undercome—man beneath as opposed to over man, man mocked by its ambition, and with no space to stand high. Švankmajer thereby realises the anti-Nietzschean potential inherent within cinema’s anti-spectacular nature. Antonin Artaud, who extends the aesthetics advanced by Nietzsche in The Birth of Tragedy, contrasts the theatre’s sense of animal life with cinema. Artaud observes that movies “murder us with second-hand reproductions […] filtered through machines” (84). Thus, films murder creative and animal power as film flattens life to a dead realm of reproduction. Continuing Jacques Derrida’s hauntological framing of the screen, the animation theorist Alan Cholodenko has argued that the screen implies death. Motion is dead and replaced by illusion, a recording relayed back to us. What renders cinema haunting also renders it hauntological. For Cholodenko, cinema’s animation challenges ontology and metaphysics by eschewing stable ontologies through a process that entails both presence and absence. As Cholodenko points out, all film is a type of animation and reanimation, of making images move that are not in fact moving. Thus, one can argue that the animated-animation (such as Švankmajer’s claymation) becomes a refinement of death, a Frankesteinian reanimation of dead material. Indeed, Darkness, Light, Darkness accentuates the presence of death with the green clay almost resembling putrefaction. The fingerprints on the clay accentuate a lack of life, for the autonomous and dead matter that constructs and shapes a dead body from seemingly severed body parts. Even the title of the film, Darkness, Light, Darkness reflects an experience of cinema as deflation rather than joyous spectacle. One goes to a darkened space, watches light flicker on a screen and then the light goes out again. The cartoonish motions of the hands and body parts in the film look only half alive and therefore seem half-dead. Made in the decaying Communist state of Czechoslovakia, Švankmajer’s film aptly acknowledges the deflation of cinema, reflecting that illumination—the light of God, is put out, or more specifically, switched off. With the light of God switched off, creation becomes construction and construction becomes reconstruction, filtered through cinema’s machine processes as framed through Cholodenko. Still, Švankmajer’s animation is not unsympathetic to the plight of the hands. We do see the body parts work together. When a vulgar, meaty, non-claymation tongue comes out through the door, it goes straight to the other door to let the teeth in. The teeth and tongue are aided by the hands to complete the face. Indeed, what they produce is a human being, which has some sense of coherence and success—a success enmeshed with failure and entrapment. Piccinini’s “The Young Family”Patricia Piccinini’s sculptural works offer a more tender approach to the subject, especially when her works focus on the nonhuman animal with human characteristics. Piccinini is interested in the combinations of the animal and the machine, so her ideas can be seen almost as transhuman, where the human is extended beyond humanism. Her work is based on connection and connectedness, but does not emphasise the humanist values of innovation and self-creation often inherent to transhumanism. Indeed, the emphasis on connection is distinct from the entrapment of Bacon’s baboon and Švankmajer’s clay human, which half lament freedom’s negation.The way that Piccinini preserves aspects of humanism within a framework of subhumanism is evident in her work “The Young Family”. The hypperrealistic sculpture depicts a humanoid pig form, flopped, presumably exhausted, as piglet-babies suckle on her nipples. The work was inspired by a scientific proposal for pigs to be genetically modified to provide organs for humans (“Educational Resource” 5). Such a transhuman setting frames a subhuman aesthetic. Care is taken to render the scene with sentiment but without a sense of the ideal, without perfection. One baby-piglet tenderly grasps its foot with both hands and stares with love at its mother. We see two piglets enthusiastically sucking their mother’s teat, while a third baby/piglet’s bottom is visible, indicating that there is a third piglet scrambling for milk. The mother gazes at us, with her naked mammalian body visible. We see her wrinkles and veins. There is some fur on her head and some hair on her eyebrows humanising her. Indeed, her eyes are distinctly human and convey affection. Affection seems to be a motif that carries through to the materials (carefully crafted by Piccinini’s studio). The affection displayed in the artwork is trans-special, emphasising that human tenderness is in fact mammalian tenderness. Such tenderness conflates the human, the nonhuman animal and the material out of which the humanoid creature and its young are constructed. The sub-agency brings together the young and the old by displaying the closeness of the family. Something of this sub-subjectivity is theorised in Malcolm Bull’s Anti-Nietzsche, where he contrasts Nietzsche’s idea of the Übermensch with the idea of the subhuman. Bull writes that subhumanism involves giving up on “becoming more than a man and think[ing] only of becoming something less” (n.p.; Chapter 2, sec. “The Subhuman”). Piccinini depicts vulnerability and tenderness with life forms that are properly speaking subhuman, and reject the displays of strength of Nietzsche’s suprahumanism or Vasari’s emphasis on art commemorating great men. But Piccinini’s subhumanism preserves enough humanism to understand art’s ability to encourage an ethics of nurturing. In this respect, her works offer an alternative to Bull’s subhumanism that aims, so Bull argues, to devalue art altogether. Instead, Piccinini affirms imagination, but through its ability to conjure new ways to perceive animal affection. The sub-subject thereby functions to reveal states of emotion common to mammals (including humans) and other animals. ConclusionThese three artists therefore convey distinct, if related and intersecting, ways of visualising the sub-subject: Bacon through animal suffering, Švankmajer through adaptation that ultimately leads to the agent’s entrapment, and Piccinini who, instead of marrying anti-humanism with the subhumanism (the procedure of Švankmajer, and Bacon), integrates aspects of transhumanism and Renaissance humanism into her subhuman vision. As such, these works present a realisation of how we might think of the going under of the human subject after Darwin, Nietzsche and the deaths of God, Man and the diminishment of creativity. Such works remain not only antithetical to Vasari’s humanism but also to Nietzsche’s suprahumanism. These artists use art’s power to humble—not through overpowering awe but through the visible breakdown of the human agent, speaking for and to the sub-subject. Such art, by unbuilding and dismantling the subject, draws on prehuman trajectories of evolution, and in the case of Piccinini, transhuman trajectories. Art ceases to be about the grandiose evocations of power. Rather, more modestly, these works build a connection between the human with other mammals. Acknowledgements I wish to acknowledge Daniel Canaris for his valuable insights into Christianity and the Italian Renaissance, Alan Cholodenko for providing copies of his works that were central to my interpretation of Švankmajer, and Rachel Franks and Simon Dwyer for their invaluable assistance and finding very helpful reviewers. References Artaud, Antonin. The Theatre and Its Double. New York: Grove P, 1958.Art Gallery of South Australia. “Educational Resource Patricia Piccinini.” Adelaide: Art Gallery of South Australia. 11 Dec. 2016 <https://www.artgallery.sa.gov.au/agsa/home/Learning/docs/Online_Resources/Piccinini_online_resource.pdf>.Bacon, Francis. “Head I.” 1948. Oil on Canvas. 100.3 x 74.9cm. ———. “Study of a Baboon.” 1953. Oil on Canvas. 198.3 x 137.3cm. Bull, Malcolm. Anti-Nietzsche. New York: Verso, 2011. Cholodenko, Alan. “First Principles of Animation.” Animating Film Theory. Ed. Karen Beckman. Duke UP, 2014. 98-110.———. “The Crypt, the Haunted House, of Cinema.” Cultural Studies Review 10.2 (2004): 99-113. Darkness, Light, Darkness. Jan Švankmajer, 1990. 35mm. Nietzsche, Friedrich. The Birth of Tragedy and Other Writings. Cambridge: Cambridge UP, 2007. ———. The Gay Science. Cambridge: Cambridge UP, 2007. ———. Thus Spoke Zarathustra. Cambridge: Cambridge UP, 2006.Piccinini, Patricia. “The Young Family.” 2002. Silicone, Polyurethane, Leather, Plywood, Human Hair, 80 x 150 x 110cm. Vasari, Giorgio. The Lives of Artists. Oxford: Oxford UP, 1998.Wolfe, Cary. What Is Posthumanism? Minneapolis: U of Minnesota P, 2010.