In this thesis, I interpret Adelbert von Chamisso’s novella Peter Schlemihl, Patrick Süskind’s novel Das Parfum, F.W. Murnau’s film Nosferatu, Werner Herzog’s film Nosferatu, and E. Elias Merhige’s film Shadow of the Vampire in light of Jacques Lacan’s theory of the mirror stage in order to explore the significance of the loss of external representation, be it the form of a visual reflection, visual shadow, or odor. Lacan’s theory states that the moment a child first recognizes his or her reflection in the mirror is the beginning of an individual’s ego-formation and thus is significant for mature development. I argue that experiencing a reversal of this process would cause a reversion to a psychological pre-mirror stage, which would fracture the ego, and thus eventually result in the person’s immaturity. This process, however, is not just individual; this is owing to the social aspect of the mirror stage, transitivism, by which one misidentifies with an “other.” Because societies mark the protagonists of the works I am analyzing as “other” owing to their loss of external representation and reject them, these figures, in fact, constitute as “inappropriate other[s].” I borrow this term from Trinh T. Minh-Ha’s because it helps trace these figures’ ambiguous social status: although they are outsiders in their respective societies, they succeed in performing as insiders for limited periods of time. As the members of the respective societies misidentify with these “inappropriate others” in all the works I interpret, their mirroring processes and self-images are affected. In Peter Schlemihl, the protagonist learns the value of his shadow when he trades it for a bag of endless gold. Despite the shadow serving no real purpose, he is later ostracized because of his lack of representation, revealing the immaturity of a society which values the symbolic (the shadow) over the real (the person who casts the shadow). I read this narrative as the text’s critique of a society which values one’s external representation over one’s real self. Similarly, in Das Parfum, Jean-Baptiste Grenouille is feared and detested from infancy due to his being born without a body odor. Ironically, his almost supernatural sense of smell makes up for this seemingly minor deficiency. Grenouille’s goal becomes creating the ultimate perfume, which he does by murdering virgin girls for their scents. He is caught, but on his execution day, he uses his master perfume to manipulate everyone into loving him. As I argue, Süskind’s Das Parfum critiques not only a society that is so deceived by a murderer’s odiferous representation that those gathered to watch the spectacle of his death eventually embrace him but one that has also created the conditions for this murderer to flourish in its midst. In the third chapter, I show that the curse of the vampire is an abstraction of the mirror stage. Because each vampire loses all human, corporeal existence, he (or she) clings to vampiric representations (Count Orlok, bird, rat, etc.). These films also critique the societies which let themselves be deceived by the vampire’s representations with disastrous consequences. Shadow of the Vampire takes the role of representation even further when it shows how the protagonist, the director Murnau, ironically sacrifices the lives of his crewmembers to a real vampire, his lead actor, in order to make the most realistic vampire film of all time. In this case too, as I argue, the film levels a criticism of a society that values representation above everything else, and primarily visual representation, in this case, the body-less medium of cinema. In sum, my thesis connects canonical works of German literature and international film that have not yet been interpreted together, and especially not in light of Lacanian mirroring. By this combination of primary sources and this new reading, the interpretation highlights new and relevant dimensions of these works’ social and aesthetic critique, which they share across time and media. / A Thesis submitted to the Department of Modern Languages and Linguistics in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the degree of Master of Arts. / Spring Semester 2018. / April 09, 2018. / inappropriate other, Jacques Lacan, mirror stage, otherness, psychoanalysis, shadow / Includes bibliographical references. / A. Dana Weber, Professor Directing Thesis; Christian Weber, Committee Member; Tatjana Soldat-Jaffe, Committee Member.
| Identifer | oai:union.ndltd.org:fsu.edu/oai:fsu.digital.flvc.org:fsu_653415 |
| Contributors | Fisk, Taylor A. (Taylor Alexandra) (author), Weber, Alina Dana (professor directing thesis), Weber, Christian (committee member), Soldat-Jaffe, Tatjana (committee member), Florida State University (degree granting institution), College of Arts and Sciences (degree granting college), Department of Modern Languages and Linguistics (degree granting departmentdgg) |
| Publisher | Florida State University |
| Source Sets | Florida State University |
| Language | English, English |
| Detected Language | English |
| Type | Text, text, master thesis |
| Format | 1 online resource (85 pages), computer, application/pdf |
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