The Downward Path': the Seduction of the Spectator in American Silent Film Historiography
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'THE DOWNWARD PATH': THE SEDUCTION OF THE SPECTATOR IN AMERICAN SILENT FILM HISTORIOGRAPHY (Spine title: 'The Downward Path') (Thesis format: Monograph) by Cristian M. Melchiorre Graduate Program in Theory and Criticism A thesis submitted in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the degree of Doctor of Philosophy The School of Graduate and Postdoctoral Studies The University of Western Ontario London, Ontario, Canada September 2011 © Cristian M. Melchiorre 2011 Library and Archives Bibliotheque et Canada Archives Canada Published Heritage Direction du Branch Patrimoine de I'edition 395 Wellington Street 395, rue Wellington Ottawa ON K1A0N4 Ottawa ON K1A 0N4 Canada Canada Your file Votre reference ISBN: 978-0-494-89514-6 Our file Notre reference ISBN: 978-0-494-89514-6 NOTICE: AVIS: The author has granted a non L'auteur a accorde une licence non exclusive exclusive license allowing Library and permettant a la Bibliotheque et Archives Archives Canada to reproduce, Canada de reproduire, publier, archiver, publish, archive, preserve, conserve, sauvegarder, conserver, transmettre au public communicate to the public by par telecommunication ou par I'lnternet, preter, telecommunication or on the Internet, distribuer et vendre des theses partout dans le loan, distrbute and sell theses monde, a des fins commerciales ou autres, sur worldwide, for commercial or non support microforme, papier, electronique et/ou commercial purposes, in microform, autres formats. paper, electronic and/or any other formats. The author retains copyright L'auteur conserve la propriete du droit d'auteur ownership and moral rights in this et des droits moraux qui protege cette these. Ni thesis. Neither the thesis nor la these ni des extraits substantiels de celle-ci substantial extracts from it may be ne doivent etre imprimes ou autrement printed or otherwise reproduced reproduits sans son autorisation. without the author's permission. In compliance with the Canadian Conformement a la loi canadienne sur la Privacy Act some supporting forms protection de la vie privee, quelques may have been removed from this formulaires secondaires ont ete enleves de thesis. cette these. While these forms may be included Bien que ces formulaires aient inclus dans in the document page count, their la pagination, il n'y aura aucun contenu removal does not represent any loss manquant. of content from the thesis. Canada THE UNIVERSITY OF WESTERN ONTARIO SCHOOL OF GRADUATE AND POSTDOCTORAL STUDIES CERTIFICATE OF EXAMINATION Supervisor Examiners Dr. Christopher Keep Dr. Joel Faflak Supervisory Committee Dr. Janelle S. Blankenship Dr. Tilottama Rajan Dr. Tobias Nagl Dr. Paul Moore The thesis by Cristian M. Melchiorre entitled: 'The Downward Path': The Seduction of the Spectator in American Silent Film Historiography is accepted in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the degree of Doctor of Philosophy Date Chair of the Thesis Examination Board ii Abstract In an attempt to approach the persistent gravity of the classical Hollywood film spectator as an indicator of its hegemonic populism, the dissertation conceives of the historiography of the silent era as a melodramatic seduction plot. Seeking to rise to the methodological challenge posed by early cinema, Freud's seduction theory (as it has been elaborated by Jean Laplanche) is proposed as an alternative psychoanalytic model of cultural incorporation, to provide the frame to consider the constitution of the film populism of classical Hollywood spectatorship as a series of decisive historical encounters with the alterity of film's monstrative address. In an exploration of the bodies of work of film scholars including Linda Williams, Tom Gunning, Ben Brewster, Miriam Hansen and Mary Ann Doane, this project posits a dialectical itinerary to reimagine the transition from attractions to (narrative) seduction, and to rethink the way that the monstration of cinema (and its cultural hypostases) comes to invade the intimacy of the spectatorial interior. It reconsiders the decisive conflicts of American silent film's infancy against the screen of analyses of early American Mutoscope and Biograph Company peepshows and the silent films of Cecil B. DeMille, Rudolph Valentino, and Louise Brooks. Keywords Film Spectatorship; Film Historiography; Film Theory; Silent Film; Early Cinema; Melodrama; Cinema of Attractions; Film Monstration; Transitional Cinema; Psychoanalysis; Seduction Theory; Jean Laplanche; Judith Butler; Film Bodies; Sex Appeal; Traffic in Souls (1913); The Downward Path (1900); The Picture the iii Photographer Took (1904); The Ten Commandments (1923); Cobra (1925); Pandora's Box (1929); Cecil B. DeMille; Rudolph Valentino; Louise Brooks; Tom Gunning; Miriam Hansen; Linda Williams; Ben Brewster; Mary Ann Doane; Christian Metz. iv Acknowledgements While this dissertation will take as its main theme the acknowledgment of alterity in the theory of the film spectator, I would like to begin by acknowledging particular others in my life who have fimdamentally marked the path of this research, and so who deserved to be named. But I should begin with the acknowledgment of one who will, it seems, forever be nameless. In the first week of January 2010, long after the trope of invasion came to have a central place in my research, and in what was supposed to be the final year of my doctorate, the door of my home was broken open while my partner and I were out, and we were robbed. Sadly, among the belongings taken were my laptop computer and my backup drive, which housed the entirety of my dissertation writing and much of my digitized research materials. I would like to thank my dissertation supervisor Dr. Christopher Keep, my second advisor Dr. Tilottama Rajan, and the director of the Theory Centre, Dr. Veronica Schild for supporting the completion of this project in the aftermath of this substantial setback. I would also like to acknowledge the help of Christel Schmidt at the Library of Congress who helped me obtain copies of my research materials from the Paper Print Collection (The Downward Path, The Picture the Photographer Took, Behind the Screen, One Way to Take a Girl's Picture, and As Seen on the Curtain). I would also like to thank Nancy Kaufman at the George Eastman House who helped me work through their collection of promotional stills of Cecil B. DeMille productions. Unfortunately, as all this material had been scanned and digitized, it was lost in the theft, and did not make it (directly) into the dissertation that follows. Finally, I would like to thank Dr. Nicholas Balaisis, Dr. Gregory Brophy, Shana MacDonald, Dana Broadbent, Justin Keith, Mitch Smolkin, Sylwia Szymanska, Nathan and Lynda Gotlieb, Dr. Richard B. Simpson, Dr. Richard Dellamora and my family for all their love and support. Most of all I want to thank the true love of my life, and my future wife, Lisa Adele Gotlieb. She has invaded me most deeply, and without that inspiration this dissertation would not have come to fruition. This dissertation is dedicated to her. v Table of Contents Page Certificate of Examination ii Abstract & Keywords iii Acknowledgements v Table of Contents vi List of Figures viii Introduction. The Hypostatic Charge: Spectatorship after the Challenge of 1 Film Historiography The Classical Spectator: Our Long-Suffering Whipping Boy 1 The Look that Leaves a Residue: Walter Benjamin, Film Aura and the 9 'Modernity Thesis' Seduction and the Hypostasis of the Film Spectator 16 The Seduction Plot of the Film Spectator 23 Chapter One. Planted Kisses: Seduction and the Infancy of Spectatorship 33 The Film Body of Linda Williams 35 The Seduction Plot of the Film Spectator: The Kiss as Primal Scene 41 "This Silence Might be Meant for You": The Infans of Film Melodrama 58 Chapter Two. The Youth the Moving Picture Took: The Scandal of Early 64 Cinema The Attraction of Tom Gunning 67 A Child is Being Watched: Munsterberg and the Perils of Early Film 84 Spectatorship The Seduction Plot of the Film Spectator: The Transitional 'Latency' of the 94 Attraction The Wayward Gaze: The Monstrator-Seducer of the Feature Film in Traffic in 100 Souls Chapter Three. From Attraction(s) to Seduction: The Melodramatic 108 Compromise of Hollywood Fantasia The Melodramatic Anachronism: Revisiting the Conservatism of the Theatrical 111 Inheritance The Seduction Plot of the Film Spectator: The Attraction as the Repressed of 118 Classical Narrative Cinema From the Situation to "A Scene at the 'Movies'": The Emergence of Hollywood 123 Fantasia The Inside Out: DeMille's Hollywood Fantasia 135 vi Chapter Four. The Populism of IT: Film Stars and the Birth of Sex Appeal 150 Hansen's 'Blue Flower': Stars and Hollywood Hegemony 152 The Seduction Plot of the Film Spectator: Photogenie as Hypostatic Elaboration 161 'Confusion of Tongues': Rudolph Valentino and the Translational Scene 167 Chapter Five. Melodramatizing Visual Pleasure: The "New Woman" of the 187 Gaze Back In Suicide Hall: The Legacy of Film Seduction 187 The New Woman of the Plastic Age: Spectatorship Theory and the 189 Melodramatic Mode Lulu in Danger: The Seduction Plot of the Film Spectator 203 Conclusion. Screen Memories?: The Afterlife of Seduction and the Intimacies 222 of Hollywood Fantasia Too Early! Too Late!: Early Freud Reads Early Cinema...After Freud, After 222 Cinema That Downward Path: Plotting Seduction 225 The Penetralia of the Cinema: Hollywood Fantasia and the Intimacy of Film 231 Populism Bibliography 233 Vita 249 vii List of Figures Fig. 1.01 Son of the Sheik, 1926, Feature Productions. 3 Fig. 1.02 The Cheeky Book Agent, 1900, American Mutoscope 24 and Biograph Co.. Fig. 1.03 She Ran Away with the City Man, 1900, American 25 Mutopscope and Biograph Co.. Fig. 1.04 Girl Who Went Astray, 1900, American Mutoscope 27 and Biography Co.. Fig. 1.05 The New Soubrette, 1900, American Mutoscope and 28 Biography Co.. Fig. 1.06 In Suicide Hall, 1900, American Mutoscope and 30 Biography Co.. Fig. 1.01 The Kiss, 1896, The Edison Company.