Filozofska istraživanja, Vol. 40 No. 4, 2020.
Original scientific paper
https://doi.org/10.21464/fi40404
The King without Body and His Shadow. Towards a Political Theology of Film
Mario Vrbančić
orcid.org/0000-0002-2254-8988
; Sveučilište u Zadru, Obala kralja Petra Krešimira IV. br. 2, HR–23000 Zadar
Abstract
Inspired by the work of Eric Santner (1996, 2011) on political theology and the king’s two bodies, in this paper, I question the political theology of film. I analyze how the carnal dimension of sovereignty (or king’s second body, the body of his power), migrates into a new body, the body of the people, and in various traces appears in the filmic mode of production that marked the twentieth century. I analyse or instead bring into imaginary connection two characters (one real, the other fictional) who in a way embody this migration: (1) Judge Daniel Paul Schreber (whose autobiographical record of mental illness, from the moment it was published (in 1903), occupied the attention not only of psychiatrists and psychoanalysts but also of various theorists) and (2) Dr. Caligari, a hypnotist in the film The Office of Dr. Caligari (dir. Robert Wiene, 1920), one of the most famous characters of German expressionist film.
Keywords
political theology of film; king’s two bodies; biopower; cinematic mode of production; psychoanalysis
Hrčak ID:
251491
URI
Publication date:
17.12.2020.
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