Neo-Baroque Aesthetics and Contemporary Entertainment (Media in Transition)

341 Pages·2004·3.23 MB·English

by  Angela Ndalianis

45661Ndalianis 3/17/04 11:39 AM Page 1
“Entertainment media continue to undergo dramatic transformations. Yet Angela N NEO-BAROQUE AESTHETICS
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Ndalianis refreshingly reminds us how much films like Jurassic Park or Alien, and O AND CONTEMPORARY ENTERTAINMENT
computer games such as Phantasmagoria and Tomb Raider, owe to the labyrinthine -B
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compositions and machinic illusions of seventeenth-century ceiling painting. She ANGELA NDALIANIS
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convincingly shows that the late twentieth-century culture of special effects is neo- O
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baroque through and through: given to open-ended spectacles, fictions blended
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with reality, and bold displays of technical virtuosity.” E

A The artists of the seventeenth-century baroque period
—BARBARA MARIA STAFFORD, WILLIAM B. OGDEN DISTINGUISHED SERVICE
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PROFESSOR, UNIVERSITY OF CHICAGO S used spectacle to delight and astonish; contemporary
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entertainment media, according to Angela Ndalianis,
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E are imbued with a neo-baroque aesthetic that is
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“The majority of recent theorizing about emerging media technologies has been IC similarly spectacular. In Neo-Baroque Aesthetics and
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Contemporary Entertainment she situates today’s
techno-fascinated, economically reductive, or just plain superficial on questions A
of textuality and narrative. Ndalianis situates contemporary visual media within a rich N film, computer games, comic books, and theme park
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attractions within an aesthetic-historical context and
historical tradition as she boldly goes where few, if any, scholars have gone before—
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uses the baroque as a framework to enrich our
into the realm of computer games and theme park attractions. Her compelling analy- O
N understanding of contemporary entertainment media.
sis of how new technologies of entertainment have fundamentally transformed our
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relationships with visual texts will make this book a landmark work in media theory.”
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The neo-baroque aesthetics that Ndalianis analyzes
—JIM COLLINS, DEPARTMENT OF FILM, TELEVISION, AND THEATRE, P
O are not, she argues, a case of art history repeating or
UNIVERSITY OF NOTRE DAME R
A imitating itself; these forms have emerged as a result
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of recent technological and economic transforma-
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E tions. The neo-baroque forms combine sight, sound,
“Ndalianis's book achieves that rare thing: a scholarly argument based on carefully
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and text in ways that parallel such seventeenth-
articulated historical evidence that is accessible to the nonspecialist and a joy T
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century baroque forms as magic lanterns, automata,
to read. It is an erudite call to rethink the contribution that the baroque has made R
T painting, sculpture, and theater but use new technol-
to western thought and art practice—in particular to reflect on the way that contem- A
I ogy to express the concerns of the late twentieth and
porary technologies of entertainment seem to be drawn to an aesthetic that lies N
M early twenty-first century. Moving smoothly from
outside the academic obsession with representation.”
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ANGELA NDALIANIS IS HEAD OF THE CINEMA N century to century, comparing ceiling paintings to the
—MICHAEL PUNT, EDITOR–IN–CHIEF, LEONARDO REVIEWS
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STUDIES PROGRAM AT THE UNIVERSITY OF computer game Doom, a Spiderman theme park
MELBOURNE, AUSTRALIA adventure to the baroque version of multimedia
known as the Bel Composto, and a Medici wedding
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D to Terminator 2: 3D, the book demonstrates the logic
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Cover illustration: Detail from Pietro da Cortona's Divine of media histories. Ndalianis focuses on the complex
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Providence/The Glorification of Urban VIII, Palazzo Barberini, I
A interrelationships among entertainment media
Rome (1633–1639). Copyright Photo Vasari, Rome. N
The MIT Press IS and presents a rigorous cross-genre, cross-historical
Jacket design: Tímea Adrián Massachusetts Institute of Technology • Cambridge, Massachusetts 02142 • http://mitpress.mit.edu analysis of media aesthetics.
,!7IA2G2-beaied!:t;K;k;K;k
0-262-14084-5 Media in Transition series
Neo-Baroque Aesthetics and Contemporary
Entertainment
Media in Transition
DavidThorburn,serieseditor
EdwardBarrett,HenryJenkins,associateeditors
NewMedia,1740–1915,editedbyLisaGitelmanandGeoffreyB.Pingree,2003
DemocracyandNewMedia,editedbyHenryJenkinsandDavidThorburn,2003
RethinkingMediaChange:TheAestheticsofTransition,editedbyDavidThorburnandHenryJenkins,
2003
Neo-BaroqueAestheticsandContemporaryEntertainment,AngelaNdalianis,2004
Neo-Baroque Aesthetics and Contemporary
Entertainment
Angela Ndalianis
The MIT Press
Cambridge, Massachusetts
London, England
(2004MassachusettsInstituteofTechnology
Allrightsreserved.Nopartofthisbookmaybereproducedinanyformbyanyelectronicor
mechanicalmeans(includingphotocopying,recording,orinformationstorageandretrieval)
withoutpermissioninwritingfromthepublisher.
ThisbookwassetinPerpetuaon3B2byAscoTypesetters,HongKong,andwasprintedand
boundintheUnitedStatesofAmerica.
LibraryofCongressCataloging-in-PublicationData
Ndalianis,Angela,1960–
Neo-Baroqueaestheticsandcontemporaryentertainment/AngelaNdalianis
p. cm.—(Mediaintransition)
Includesbibliographicalreferencesandindex.
ISBN0-262-14084-5(hc.:alk.paper)
1.Motionpictures. 2.Massmedia. 3.Massmedia—Technologicalinnovations.
4.Cinematography—Specialeffects. 5.Civilization,Baroque. 6.Videogames.
I.Title. II.Series.
PN1995.N374 2004
791.43—dc22 2003059383
10 9 8 7 6 5 4 3 2 1
Contents
List of Illustrations vii
Series Foreword xi
Acknowledgments xiii
Introduction: The Baroque and the Neo-Baroque 1
Postclassical,ModernClassicism,orNeo-Baroque?WilltheRealContemporaryCinemaPlease
StandUp? 1
...OfThingsBaroque 7
The‘‘BaroqueBaroque’’andtheHollywoodStyle:the1920sand1930s 10
TheLatinAmerican andSpanishNeo-Baroque 12
TheSpatialAspectoftheCulturalSystem 15
TheNeo-BaroqueandContemporaryEntertainmentMedia 23
1 Polycentrism and Seriality: (Neo-)Baroque Narrative Formations 31
Serialityandthe(Neo-)Baroque 31
Globalization,SerialityandEntertainmentMedia 34
Capitalism,Seriality,andtheBaroque 41
SeigneurialSeriality:SerialFormandBaroqueAllegory 49
AnAestheticofRepetitionandtheDrivefor Perfection 55
TheFragment andthe Whole:Aliens/Predator: TheDeadliestoftheSpecies 60
2 Intertextuality, Labyrinths, and the (Neo-)Baroque 71
‘‘IntertextualArenas’’and(Neo-)BaroqueFolds 71
vi Contents
MultipleTemporalitiesandMonadicLogic:TheEvilDeadandEvilDead II,the
‘‘Original’’andtheSequel 73
TheLabyrinth,Virtuosity,andtheBarberiniCeiling 81
Doom,DoomII,andNeo-BaroqueForcesofExpansion 96
TheLabyrinth,Virtuosity,andDoomII 103
3 Hypertexts, Mappings, and Colonized Spaces 109
PhantasmagoriaandIntertextualJourneysthroughHorror 109
StalkerFilmMeets theStalkerCD-ROM‘‘InteractiveMovie’’ 115
TheHypertextualArray: ANewMediumfortheNeo-Baroque 120
ColonizingSpace:TheBaroqueMappingofNewWorlds 129
ColonizingCyberspace:Neo-BaroqueMappingandVirtualSpaces 140
4 Virtuosity,Special-EffectsSpectacles,andArchitecturesoftheSenses 151
(Neo-)BaroqueVisuality 151
TheQuadraturaSpectacleofS.IgnazioandtheDigitalSpectacleofJurassicPark 160
Optics,Virtuosity,andSeventeenth-CenturyIllusionisticCeilingPaintings 171
Optics,Virtuosity,andDigitalEffectsinScienceFictionCinema 179
StarWarsandtheArchitectureofVision 189
Remediation,Spectacle,andtheAssaultontheSensorium 193
Terminator 2:3DBattleacrossTime,the UnityoftheArts,andArchitecturesofthe
Senses 199
5 Special-Effects Magic and the Spiritual Presence of the Technological 209
SensualSeductionand(Neo-)BaroqueTranscendence 209
AliensandtheSecond Coming:TheSpiritualPresenceoftheTechnological 221
TheMagicofSpectacle 226
TheAestheticsofRareExperiences 233
TheGameofCreation:Automata,Cyborgs,andAnimated Statues 243
TheAmazingAdventures ofSpidermanandthe BelComposto 251
Notes 257
References 297
Index 313
Illustrations
I.1 The Jurassic Park Ride, Universal Studios, Orlando, Florida 2
I.2 William Randolph Hearst’s California residence, San Simeon 13
I.3 Andrea Pozzo, The Glory of S. Ignazio (detail), Rome, 1691–1694 16
I.4 Promotional poster for the phenomenally successful Lucas franchise Star Wars
(1977) 24
1.1 A poster for the B-film serial Superman’s Dilemma (1948) 35
1.2 Jacob van Swanenburgh, The Seven Deadly Sins, c. 1600–1610 47
1.3 Jacob van Swanenburgh, Hell Scene, c. 1600–1610 47
1.4 Comics performing in the Piazza San Marco, Venice 50
1.5 Apollo’s Chariot, Versailles (1667–1672) 52
1.6 Aliens/Predator: The Deadliest of the Species, no. 8 (1993–1994) 65
1.7 Aliens/Predator: The Deadliest of the Species, no. 6 (1993–1994) 67
1.8 Aliens/Predator: The Deadliest of the Species, no. 12 (1993–1994) 68
2.1 Ash (Bruce Campbell) from Evil Dead II 76
2.2 A unicursal or monodirectional labyrinth 82
2.3 A multicursal or multidirectional labyrinth 83
2.4 Pietro da Cortona’s Divine Providence/The Glorification of Urban VIII
(1633–1639) 85
2.5 Minerva and the Fall of the Giants (1633–1639) 86
2.6 Annibale Carracci’s trompe l’oeil frescoes on the vault of the Galleria Farnese
(1597–1608) 89
viii Illustrations
3.1 The‘‘finalgirl’’heroine,Adrienne, fromSierra’sPhantasmagoria (1995) 110
3.2 An interior space from Phantasmagoria (Sierra 1995) 113
3.3 An exterior space from Phantasmagoria (Sierra 1995) 113
3.4 Adrienne explores the kitchenarea, from Phantasmagoria(Sierra 1995) 115
3.5 Fifteenth century mappa mundi (map of the world) that relies on Claudius
Ptolemy’s Geographicorum Libri 133
3.6 Mappa mundi from sixteenth-century Italian portolan 134
3.7 World map by Abraham Ortelius (1570) 135
3.8 World map by Pieter Goos (between 1654 and 1666) 136
3.9 The cover to EverQuest and its expansion, online game The Ruins of Kunark,
Sony/Verant Interactive 143
3.10 Kunark,one ofthe additionalEverQuestlands(Sony/VerantInteractive) 146
3.11 The Kircher Museum, from Georgibus de Sepibus (Amsterdam 1678) 148
4.1 Michelangelo Buonarroti, David, Florence (1501–1504) 153
4.2 Gian Lorenzo Bernini, David, Rome (1622–1624) 154
4.3 One of the many kinetically charged scenes from The Matrix (1999) 156
4.4 Andrea Pozzo, The Glory of S. Ignazio, Rome (1691–1694) 161
4.5 Raphael, The School of Athens, Vatican (1509–1511) 162
4.6 Two velociraptors from Jurassic Park 167
4.7 Dr. Malcolm and his colleagues ready themselves for the oncoming attack
from the T.rex in Spielberg’s Jurassic Park 168
4.8 A 1950s drawing of Cinemascope screen ratio and stereophonic surround-
sound system 183
4.9 The T-Meg from Terminator 2: 3D attraction at Universal Studios 201
4.10 Still from the 1950s film This Is Cinerama! 202
5.1 The arrival of the alien spaceship in Close Encounters of the Third Kind (Spielberg
1977) 211
5.2 Roy Neary (Richard Dreyfuss) in Close Encounters of the Third Kind (Spielberg
1977) 212
Illustrations ix
5.3 Gian Lorenzo Bernini, The Ecstasy of St. Teresa of Avila (detail), Rome (1645–
1652) 215
5.4 Magic lantern projection from the Kircher Museum (Amsterdam 1678,
39) 229
5.5 Bernard le Bovier de Fontanelle (1657–1757) 236
5.6 Frontispiece to John Wilkins’ Discovery of a World on the Moone (1638) 238
5.7 Neo (Keanu Reeves) as the Chosen One in The Matrix (1999) 242
5.8 Neo’s view of the Matrix as a system of binary codes, from The Matrix
(1999) 244
5.9 Athanasius Kircher, ‘‘Automata Theatre’’ 246
5.10 A clockwork operated eighteenth-century female automaton playing a
Gluck 248
5.11 Promotional image for The Amazing Adventures of Spiderman 251
5.12 The ‘‘scoop’’ and interiors of The Amazing Adventures of Spiderman 253
5.13 Jurassic Park: The Ride, Universal Studios, Orlando, Florida 255