Bamberger Studien zu Literatur, 14 Kultur und Medien “Like some damned Juggernaut” The proto-filmic monstrosity of late Victorian literary figures Johannes Weber 14 Bamberger Studien zu Literatur, Kultur und Medien Bamberger Studien zu Literatur, Kultur und Medien hg. von Andrea Bartl, Hans-Peter Ecker, Jörn Glasenapp, Iris Hermann, Christoph Houswitschka, Friedhelm Marx Band 14 2015 “Like some damned Juggernaut” The proto-filmic monstrosity of late Victorian literary figures Johannes Weber 2015 Bibliographische Information der Deutschen Nationalbibliothek Die Deutsche Nationalbibliothek verzeichnet diese Publikation in der Deutschen Nationalbibliographie; detaillierte bibliographische Informationen sind im Internet über http://dnb.d-nb.de/ abrufbar. Diese Arbeit hat der Fakultät Geistes- und Kulturwissenschaften der Otto-Friedrich- Universität Bamberg als Dissertation vorgelegen. 1. Gutachter: Prof. Dr. Christoph Houswitschka 2. Gutachter: Prof. Dr. Jörn Glasenapp Tag der mündlichen Prüfung: 28. Januar 2015 Dieses Werk ist als freie Onlineversion über den Hochschulschriften-Server (OPUS; http://www.opus-bayern.de/uni-bamberg/) der Universitätsbibliothek Bamberg erreichbar. Kopien und Ausdrucke dürfen nur zum privaten und sons- tigen eigenen Gebrauch angefertigt werden. Herstellung und Druck: Docupoint, Magdeburg Umschlaggestaltung: University of Bamberg Press, Anna Hitthaler Umschlagbild: Screenshot aus Vampyr (1932) © University of Bamberg Press Bamberg 2015 http://www.uni-bamberg.de/ubp/ ISSN: 2192-7901 ISBN: 978-3-86309-348-8 (Druckausgabe) eISBN: 978-3-86309-349-5 (Online-Ausgabe) URN: urn:nbn:de:bvb:473-opus4-267683 Danksagung Mein besonderer Dank gilt meinem Bruder Christian für seinen fachkundigen Rat und die tatkräftige Unterstützung in allen Phasen dieser Arbeit. Ich danke meinem Doktorvater Prof. Dr. Christoph Houswitschka für viele wichtige Denkanstöße und Freiräume. Auch dem Zweitbetreuer der Arbeit, Prof. Dr. Jörn Glasenapp, danke ich für seine Offenheit und seinen fachlichen Rat. Über das Verhältnis von Film und Literatur habe ich in den letzten Jahren unzählige Gespräche mit Freunden und Kollegen geführt. Sie alle haben zum Erfolg dieser Arbeit beigetragen: Dr. Anna-Maria Hartmann, Dr. Sheldon Brammall, Prof. Dr. Beatrix Hesse, Barbara Kehler, Kerstin-Anja Münderlein, Dr. Susan Brähler, Dr. Sebastian Gagel, Dr. Martin Messingschlager, Prof. Dr. Anja Müller und Prof. Dr. Christoph Heyl. Ich danke meinen Eltern für ihr Vertrauen. Bamberg, im Juli 2015 List of Contents 1. Introduction................................................................................ 9 1.1 Observations: three remarkable careers in film ....................... 9 1.2 Hypothesis: a shared proto-filmic monstrosity ...................... 11 1.3 Approach & corpus: deducing proto-filmic aspects of the literary figures and assessing their filmic realization...... 19 1.4 Aspects of a proto-filmic condition ......................................... 24 1.4.1 Bodies in the emotion machine .............................................. 24 1.4.2 Victorian monsters in front of the movie camera ................. 24 1.4.3 Monstrous flâneurs – focalizers and prime movers in the city .................................................................................. 25 2. State of research & contexts..................................................... 27 2.1 Studies of literature and film................................................... 28 2.1.1 Adaptation studies and the relapse into storytelling.............. 30 2.1.1.1 Vampires and adaptation ........................................................ 37 2.1.1.2 Literary careers in re-writes .................................................... 40 2.1.2 Pré Cinéma............................................................................... 43 2.2 Research on Wilde and Dorian Gray....................................... 47 2.2.1 Dorian Gray adaptations.......................................................... 53 2.3 Research on Stevenson and Jekyll & Hyde............................... 55 2.3.1 Jekyll & Hyde adaptations........................................................ 59 2.4 Research on Stoker and Dracula ............................................. 62 2.4.1 Dracula adaptations and vampire films.................................. 71 2.4.2 The special case of Nosferatu (1922)........................................ 75 2.5 Neo-Victorian studies and steampunk aesthetics .................. 78 2.6 The Gothic................................................................................ 81 2.6.1 Recent research and increased interest .................................. 81 2.6.2 The Victorian Gothic................................................................ 86 2.7 Monstrosity and monster studies............................................ 89 2.7.1 Shapeshifters............................................................................ 94 2.8 The body in film theory ........................................................... 97 5 3. Aspects of a proto-filmic condition........................................103 3.1 Bodies in the emotion machine ............................................103 3.1.1 Bodily reactions to Hyde ........................................................105 3.1.1.1 “At the horror of these sights and sounds, the maid fainted” – The Carew murder case .........................................................105 3.1.1.2 “I never saw a circle of such hateful faces.” – The proto-filmic encounter with Hyde..............................................................108 3.1.2 Bodily reactions to Dorian Gray.............................................113 3.1.3 Bodily reactions to film ..........................................................116 3.1.3.1 Linda Williams: reactions to images of the body..................116 3.1.3.2 Steven Shaviro’s theory of cinematic affect...........................118 3.1.3.3 “Mr. Enfield’s tale went by before his mind in a scroll of lighted pictures.” ...............................................123 3.1.3.4 Vivian Sobchack’s film phenomenology...............................125 3.1.4 “That vague feeling of uneasiness” – Dracula and the passivity of the body....................................126 3.1.4.1 Excursus: the film viewer’s passivity vis-à-vis the vampire in Thirst (2009).....................................131 3.1.5 Research on the body .............................................................133 3.1.5.1 The ‘corporeal turn’................................................................133 3.1.5.2 Foucault’ view(s) of the body: between subjection and subversion.......................................138 3.1.6 Representing the body in Jekyll & Hyde filmings and other horror films...................................................................146 3.1.7 “[S]in, or […] what the world calls sin” – Dorian’s docile body ...............................................................152 3.1.8 Summary: the figures’ bodies as Kracauer’s “Naturrest”.....159 3.1.9 Crossover: the vampirism in/of Vampyr (1932)....................165 3.2 Victorian monsters in front of the movie camera.................173 3.2.1 Late-nineteenth-century physiognomy and the visualization of deviance ..............................................................................174 3.2.2 Early film acting theory ..........................................................177 3.2.2.1 Herbert Tannenbaum ............................................................180 3.2.2.2 Béla Balázs ..............................................................................182 3.2.2.3 Walter Benjamin.....................................................................185 6 3.2.3 The emergence of the proto-cinematic vampire: Dracula’s movement from page and stage to screen ........... 188 3.2.4 “He’s a Stanislavsky lunatic, that’s the matter with him!” – Vampirism and/as film acting in Shadow of the Vampire (2000)................................................. 199 3.2.5 The film actor as the theatre actor’s doppelgänger in Der Januskopf (1920)............................................................... 209 3.2.6 Strange cases of literature and television ............................. 216 3.2.6.1 “J’étais devenu un être libre”: Opale – Jean Renoir’s opaque Hyde (1959) ............................................................... 216 3.2.6.2 “Live from Television City, Hollywood!” – Gore Vidal’s American Jekyll & Hyde (1955) .............................................. 227 3.2.6.3 “You’re a movie star, you know that?” – Steven Moffat’s postmodern Jekyll (& Hyde) (2007) ....................................... 232 3.2.7 Dorian the film star................................................................ 235 3.2.7.1 Dorian’s visual ‘personality’ .................................................. 235 3.2.7.2 Dorian’s body as commodity: The Secret of Dorian Gray (1970)............................................ 238 3.2.7.3 Dorian the mannequin: Sins of Dorian Gray (1983) ............ 246 3.2.7.4 Tabloid Dorian: Dorian Gray im Spiegel der Boulevardpresse (1984) ............................................................ 248 3.2.8 Summary: Of film stars, revenants and zombies................. 252 3.3 Monstrous flâneurs: focalizers and prime movers in the city ................................................................................ 257 3.3.1 Monstrous city dwellers......................................................... 257 3.3.2 Arrival of the urban Gothic...................................................