presentation - The Nation and Its Other

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CONTEXT OF RESEARCH PROJECT
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Emerging mass-medial production and dissemination of popular imagery and
representations in the late 19th and early 20th century.
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Part of the NWO Cultural Dynamics program on intermediality.
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Focus on cinematographic images of the Nation and its Other.
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Two case studies:
1. Trans-nationally circulating popular images of the Netherlands of Dutch and
foreign origins.
2. Representations of the Asian Other circulating in the Netherlands.
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1. WHAT
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Which/Whose image (and meaning) of ‘the Dutch’ or ‘the Netherlands’ became iconic?
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Research period: ca. 1880-1914:
technological changes allow for images to be distributed at a broad level
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The Dutch are both subject and object to production of images
2. WHICH IMAGES ARE THE
WINNERS IN (FILM-) HISTORY?
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For film material: NFM/EYE database
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Images of Dutchness in Early Cinema appear in every genre known to Early Cinema
Studies (sights, feature films, comic scenes, process films)
Sights: “Prinsengracht” (1899), Nederlandsche Biograaf & Mutoscoop Company
Comedy: “Twee Zeeuwsche meisjes in Zandvoort” (1912) Binger/Hollandia
Non-fiction: “Dutch tulips and cloggs” (1920), Pathé
Fiction: “Le moulin maudit” (1909), Pathé
3. WHERE FROM?
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Look at images of into 19th century
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Because Early Cinema is situated in popular entertainment and education:
popular images
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Because Early Cinema is situated in visual culture: Popular visual culture
4. WHICH IMAGES WERE
CIRCULATING AT THAT TIME?
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Popular images on the Dutch in visual media:
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Illustrated magazines
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Travel literature, travel guides
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Magic Lantern
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(Landscape painting)
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Eventually Almanach and kermis prenten
5. WHAT HAPPENED?
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Technology allows cheaper mass production of (photographic) images
Increasing leisure: upcoming tourism
Expeditions and colonization: interest in geography and anthropology
Inclusion of broader population into public sphere, call for educating popular classes
Discussion on who is/will be part of the nation (Staatsnation)
>> Increasing (visual) knowledge of the world outside one’s village
6. WHOSE IMAGE IS
DISSEMINATED ?
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ML slides, film, travel literature mostly produced in Germany, France, England, US
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A look at material:
>> Magic lantern slides on Volendam in incorrect painting
>> Is it significant that ‘old’ images get used for actual publications?
Up: From the City Series “Volendam”, after 1900
Below: Handpainted English Slides, ca 1880
Left: “Feierabend in Holland”, image from Gartenlaube, 1901;
Right: “Marken”, image from De Aarde en haar Volken, 1884
Above: Tourist promotion in England
Below: The Wafel bakery at the Milan
World Fair
From: “Eigen haard” 1906
Left: “Giethoorn”. From: De Aarde en haar Volken, 1900
Right: ML Series “Ons Vaderland in lichtbeeld” ca. 1900
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The Yellow Peril, 1895, „Völker Europas, wahrt eure heiligsten Güter“
RESEARCH FOCUS
• Production, construction, dissemination and reception of
images of the Asian Other in early cinema and popular
media texts circulating in the Netherlands in the late 19th
century and early 20th century.
• Study the period of cinema’s emergence alongside other
visual media texts:
Illustrated magazines, panoramas, magic lantern slides,
world exhibitions, and photography.
• Conflicts between Asians and European powers: the Boxer
Rebellion in China (1900-1901) and the Russo-Japanese
War (1904-1905).
MAIN QUESTIONS
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How do trans-nationally circulating popular images construct
representations of the Asian Other?
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How are such images and representations disseminated across
different media in the Netherlands?
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How are such images and representations appropriated,
negotiated, or rejected by Dutch exhibitors and audiences?
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Is the Asian Other imagined as a homogenous entity, or are there
differences between the representations of Chinese and
Japanese, leading to the production rather of Asian Others?
WHY THE NETHERLANDS?
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Relatively neutral in respect of these historical conflicts.
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As a minor imperial power in Asia, the Netherlands has historical,
ideological and commercial interests in the region.
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Recipient and distributor of images produced outside its borders.
THE BOXER REBELLION 1900-1901
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The killings of missionaries stir up the public in Europe and the United States.
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Representations of bloodthirsty Chinamen attacking helpless men of religion and
their families.
Attack on a China Mission (1901), Dir: James Williamson
DUTCH ILLUSTRATED MAGAZINES ABOUT
CHINA
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Images directly related to the conflict alongside ones of
cultural/anthropological interest.
Op den Uitkijk, 1900
CHINA-ALBUM
Op den Uitkijk, 1900-1901
Caption: Execution in China
Chinese “types”, professions and physiological details
THE RUSSO-JAPANESE WAR 1904-1905
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The Japanese defeat the Russian Imperial Army in the Far East.
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First time that an Asian power defeats a European one in a
conflict conducted with modern arms.
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Dramatically reshuffling the cards in world power relations for the
rest of the 20th century.
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Major European powers and the US implicated in the conflict
through treaty obligations with either Russia or Japan.
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Historical trade contacts between Japan and the Netherlands.
DUTCH ILLUSTRATED MAGAZINES ABOUT
JAPAN
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Japan and the Japanese becomes a hot news item.
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The Netherlands swept with a form of “yellow fever”, leaving the
Russians in background of war coverage.
Op den Uitkijk, 1904
Op den Uitkijk, 1904
RUSSO-JAPANESE WAR ON DUTCH SCREENS
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Pathé Frères’ war re-enactment/s Évènements russo-japonais
(1904-1905).
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First recorded screening on March 18, 1904 in Amsterdam.
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23 screenings in total across the Netherlands up to 1906,
according to Cinema Context website (www.cinemacontext.nl):
14 screenings “Japansch Russischen oorlog”
6 screenings “Oorlog tusschen Rusland en Japan”
2 screenings “Belegering van Port Arthur door Japan”
1 screening “Tafereelen uit den Russische-Japansche
oorlog”
Rotterdamsch nieuwsblad, 9.5.1904