Julie Rongved Amundsen Performing Ideology Theatricality and Ideology in Mass Performance Performing Ideology Theatricality and Ideology in Mass Performance Julie Rongved Amundsen A thesis submitted in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the degree of PhD Department of Culture Studies and Oriental Languages Faculty of Arts University of Oslo 2013 Contents ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS ......................................................................................... IX 1.0 INTRODUCTION .................................................................................................... 1 1.1 Topic of research .............................................................................................................................................1 1.2 Motivation ..........................................................................................................................................................1 1.3 Current research on the field ......................................................................................................................4 1.4 Research problem ...........................................................................................................................................5 1.5 Outline of dissertation ...................................................................................................................................6 1.6 Last remarks before embarking ................................................................................................................9 2.0 APPROACHES TO THEATRICALITY ............................................................. 11 2.1 Introduction ................................................................................................................................................... 11 2.2 Perspectives of theatricality..................................................................................................................... 13 2.2.1 Retheatricalization and politicized theatricality ...................................................................................... 13 2.2.2 The Magnanimous Cuckold .................................................................................................................................. 17 2.2.3 Brecht and theatricality ....................................................................................................................................... 20 2.2.4 Theatricalizing life .................................................................................................................................................. 22 2.2.5 Theatricality of the avant-garde: Futurism and Dadaism ..................................................................... 26 2.2.6 Carnival, revolutions and theatricality .......................................................................................................... 29 2.2.7 Theatricality and perception ............................................................................................................................. 33 2.3 Theatricality as duality .............................................................................................................................. 38 2.3.1 The common denominator of duality ............................................................................................................ 38 2.3.2 Theatricality and art .............................................................................................................................................. 39 2.3.3 Theatricality and space ........................................................................................................................................ 41 2.3.4 Theatricality and communication ................................................................................................................... 44 2.3.5 Separates and unites ............................................................................................................................................. 46 2.4 Summarizing remarks on theatricality ................................................................................................ 48 3.0 APPROACHES TO IDEOLOGY AND PERFORMANCE ............................... 51 3.1 Introduction ................................................................................................................................................... 51 3.2 Ideology as a Marxist concept: False consciousness ....................................................................... 52 3.3 Lukács and totalities of consciousness ................................................................................................. 55 3.4 Ideology and the superstructure ............................................................................................................ 57 3.5 Ideology as narrative and mythological system ............................................................................... 61 3.6 Ideology and the unconscious: ideology and jouissance ................................................................ 64 3.6.1 Slavoj Žižek and understanding false consciousness ............................................................................. 64 3.6.2 Žižek, jouissance and the Real ........................................................................................................................... 67 3.6.3 The Sublime and jouissance................................................................................................................................ 71 3.7 Approaches to discussions of performance, ritual and ideology ................................................ 74 3.7.1 Performance, structure, anti-structure and the liminal ........................................................................ 74 3.7.2 Efficacy and the liminoid ..................................................................................................................................... 78 3.7.3 Ritual, performance, and symbols ................................................................................................................... 81 3.8 Summarizing remarks ................................................................................................................................ 87 4.0 PERSPECTIVES OF RESEARCH AND METHODOLOGY .......................... 89 4.1 Introduction ................................................................................................................................................... 89 4.2 Introduction to field work experiences ............................................................................................... 90 4.3 Theoretical approach .................................................................................................................................. 92 4.4 Historiographical approach ..................................................................................................................... 94 4.5 Experiencing critically: Spectatorship as method ............................................................................ 97 4.6 Hermeneutic and performative understanding............................................................................. 101 4.7 History of effect and horizon ................................................................................................................. 106 4.8 Summarizing remarks ............................................................................................................................. 107 5.0 MASS GYMNASTICS, DPRK, AND ARIRANG. ............................................ 109 5.1 Introduction ................................................................................................................................................ 109 5.2 Mass gymnastics and the historical foundations for the Arirang ............................................ 110 5.2.1 Germany 1811 - 1933 ........................................................................................................................................ 110 5.2.2 Nazi gymnastics and cultic mass performance 1933-1945 .............................................................. 113 5.2.3 Ideological mass performance of physical strength: Party rallies at Nuremberg ................... 119 5.2.4 Mass gymnastics in Eastern Europe 1862-1991 ................................................................................... 123 5.2.5 Mass performance in the Soviet Union and China ................................................................................ 128 5.2.6 The mass gymnastic body ................................................................................................................................ 132 5.2.7 Why mass gymnastics? ...................................................................................................................................... 134 5.3 The Democratic People’s Republic of Korea ................................................................................... 136 5.3.1 The Land of Juche ................................................................................................................................................. 136 5.3.2 Traveling in the land of Juche. ........................................................................................................................ 144 5.3.3 Theatricality of North Korean public space. Pyongyang as stage. ................................................. 152 5.4 North Korean mass