Recreating Fairytale Context Through The Imaginary
It is common in anthropology nowadays to speak of imaginaries instead of cultural beliefs. For Castoriadis, the imaginary is a culture's ethos. This article examines the way this concept is to be found in the revitalised Arthurian legends in Germany by king Ludwig II and the way in which this c...
Saved in:
| Main Author: | |
|---|---|
| Format: | Article |
| Language: | English |
| Published: |
"1 Decembrie 1918" University of Alba Iulia
2016-10-01
|
| Series: | Incursiuni în imaginar |
| Subjects: | |
| Online Access: | http://inimag.uab.ro/upload/12_190_8_33_(7)2-barna.pdf |
| Tags: |
Add Tag
No Tags, Be the first to tag this record!
|
| Summary: | It is common in anthropology nowadays to speak of imaginaries instead of cultural beliefs. For Castoriadis, the imaginary is a culture's ethos. This article examines the way this concept is to be found in the revitalised Arthurian legends in Germany by king Ludwig II and the way in which this concept is found in modern times in Disney’s movies. The Arthurian legends reveal the medieval ideals and institutions such as knighthood and chivalry which were part of a shared cognitive schema (Anderson and Taylor) of the time. These ideals were a source of inspiration for king Ludwig II of Bavaria who tried to model the reality of his times after this Arthurian myths by building a fairytale castle at Neuschweinstein over which presides his statue as an Arthurian knight, a castle whose rooms are thematically decorated, where Arthurian rituals took place and the minnesingers interpreted Wagnerian scenes with subjects that combined myths, such as Venus and Tannhauser. All that in an attempt to have a life according to his imaginaire, which, like Don Quijote’s, o to the new, cognitive schemata of his time, but which ended tragically, with him being declared insane and dying in suspicious circumstances. However, today’s Disney’s approach is different. Current anthropological uses of the imaginary inherit from Castoriades a tendency toward cultural abstraction, reification and homogenization. Lacan's, Anderson's, and Taylor's applications of the imaginary are better used for person-centered methods in order to study real rather than abstract cultural subjects. We should take into account the psychological processes involved. Lacan’s imaginary of desire is a process of substitution: slippage of signifiers under signifieds. The Arthurian signifiers are slipping under the signifieds of ancient German mythology, refurbished by Wagner. The King is trying to substitute a world of romance for the drab, uninspiring reality of his time. As in Lacan’s mirror stage, he identifies himself with an image: the Grail knight. Disneyland is a cultural artefact, it is part of the Lacanian symbolic order. Common to both is the vanishing of the real under empty signifiers of desire. |
|---|---|
| ISSN: | 2501-2169 2601-5137 |