Realizing the Witch: Science, Cinema, and the Mastery of the Invisible - Ingram Academic — Witchcraft Wicca

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Realizing the Witch: Science, Cinema, and the Mastery of the Invisible - Ingram Academic

Name: Realizing the Witch: Science, Cinema, and the Mastery of the Invisible - Ingram Academic
Price: 105.00 USD
Availability: InStock
ISBN: 9780823268245

✍️ Richard Baxstrom, Todd Meyers

Reader Score

4.4

(1 review)

$105.00

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📚 WHAT THE BOOK IS ABOUT

Delve into Realizing the Witch, an insightful exploration by Baxstrom and Meyers of Benjamin Christensen's groundbreaking 1922 film, Häxan. This book dissects how the cinematic masterpiece, with its unique blend of historical dramatization and scientific inquiry, reshaped perceptions of witchcraft. It reveals how Häxan served as a pivotal lens for 1920s intellectual discourse, examining the intertwined roles of film, anthropology, medicine, and popular culture in understanding the "invisible" world. The authors critically assess the film's ambitious attempt to rationalize the supernatural, questioning whether it inadvertently reinforced the very mysteries it aimed to demystify.

Baxstrom, Richard; , Meyers, Todd

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Witchcraft & Wicca

Praise for this book

“Benjamin Christensen's 1922 film Häxan is well known for some of the wrong reasons. Realizing the Witch rescues Häxan from the sensationalist prurience of the entertainment market, and subjects it to careful historical scrutiny and a lively close reading that exploits the resources of film history and theory.”

— Walter Stephens, Johns Hopkins University

🏛 Fordham University Press 📅 2015 📖 296 pages 📔 Hardcover ISBN: 9780823268245

Fun Fact

This book excels at providing a deep, critical analysis of Häxan, positioning it as a cultural touchstone that illuminates early 20th-century intellectual currents. While indispensable for film scholars and those interested in the history of science and witchcraft, it might disappoint readers seeking a purely historical account of witchcraft practices, as its focus remains firmly on the film's interpretive impact. It stands as a significant contribution to understanding how media shapes our perception of the occult and historical narratives.

📝 Description: Realizing the Witch: Science, Cinema, and the Mastery of the Invisible - Ingram Academic

Benjamin Christensen's Häxan (The Witch, 1922) stands as a singular film within the history of cinema. Deftly weaving contemporary scientific analysis and powerfully staged historical scenes of satanic initiation, confession under torture, possession, and persecution, Häxan creatively blends spectacle and argument to provoke a humanist re-evaluation of witchcraft in European history as well as the contemporary treatment of female "hysterics" and the mentally ill. In Realizing the Witch, Baxstrom and Meyers show how Häxan opens a window onto wider debates in the 1920s regarding the relationship of film to scientific evidence, the evolving study of religion from historical and anthropological perspectives, and the complex relations between popular culture, artistic expression, and concepts in medicine and psychology. Häxan is a film that travels along the winding path of art and science rather than between the narrow division of "documentary" and "fiction." Baxstrom and Meyers reveal how Christensen's attempt to tame the irrationality of "the witch" risked validating the very "nonsense" that such an effort sought to master and dispel. Häxan is a notorious, genre-bending, excessive cinematic account of the witch in early modern Europe. Realizing the Witch not only illustrates the underrated importance of the film within the canons of classic cinema, it lays bare the relation of the invisible to that which we cannot prove but nevertheless "know" to be there.

📑 What's inside

Introduction: What Is Häxan?
Part I: The Realization of the Witch
The Witch in the Human Sciences and the Mastery of Nonsense
1. Evidence, First Movement. Words and Things
2. Evidence, Second Movement. Tableaux and Faces
3. The Viral Character of the Witch
4. Demonology
Part II: A Mobile Force in the Modern Age
1922
5. Sex, Touch, and Materiality
6. Possession and Ecstasy
7. Hysterias
Postscript--It is very hard to believe
Benjamin Christensen's Cited Source Material
Films Cited
Bibliography
Notes
Index
Acknowledgments

💎 Expert review

“

💎

Esoterica Books editorial team

Occult literature desk

Baxstrom and Meyers provide a rigorous academic dissection of Häxan, appealing primarily to those with backgrounds in film studies or anthropology. However, casual readers seeking a straightforward history of witchcraft or entertainment will likely find this text dry and overly theoretical. It does not suit audiences looking for practical occult knowledge or narrative-driven historical accounts. The dense integration of scientific inquiry and cinematic analysis may alienate generalists who prefer accessible storytelling over critical academic discourse on the demystification of the supernatural in early cinema.

✓ EDITOR'S REVIEW

📖 Why choose it

📖

Why this book is worth reading

Scholars and cinephiles fascinated by the historical construction of supernatural beliefs will find this text invaluable. It offers a unique perspective on how the 1920s intellectual discourse utilized film to rationalize the occult, blending anthropology with medical inquiry. Readers interested in the evolution of witchcraft perceptions from spiritual entities to subjects of scientific scrutiny will appreciate the critical assessment of how Häxan reshaped cultural understanding. The book provides essential context for anyone studying the mastery of the invisible through cinematic spectacle.

⭐ Reader reviews

The starting rating comes from the team Esoterica Books —

⭐ Esoterica editorial review Editorial rating 4.5/5

★★★★★

If you are fascinated by the intersection of early cinema, the history of witchcraft, and the evolution of scientific thought, this book offers a compelling journey. It's for those who appreciate critical analysis of cultural artifacts and their profound societal impact.

Reader rating

4.4

Based on 1 reviews

Esoterica Books editorial team

Baxstrom and Meyers provide a rigorous academic dissection of Häxan, appealing primarily to those with backgrounds in film studies or anthropology. However, casual readers seeking a straightforward history of witchcraft or entertainment will likely find this text dry and overly theoretical. It does not suit audiences looking for practical occult knowledge or narrative-driven historical accounts. The dense integration of scientific inquiry and cinematic analysis may alienate generalists who prefer accessible storytelling over critical academic discourse on the demystification of the supernatural in early cinema.

❓ Frequently asked questions

While it extensively analyzes the film Häxan and its cinematic techniques, the book uses the film as a springboard to explore broader intellectual debates concerning witchcraft, science, medicine, and the evolving study of belief systems in the early 20th century.

No, Baxstrom and Meyers critically examine Christensen's approach. They highlight how his attempt to rationalize witchcraft, while groundbreaking for its time, potentially risked validating the very "irrationality" it sought to demystify, offering a nuanced perspective rather than simple endorsement.

📖 Who should read this

🎯 Key themes and symbolism

Film as Scientific Evidence

This book explores how early 20th-century cinema, particularly Häxan, was considered a tool for scientific investigation and societal commentary. It analyzes the tension between visual spectacle and empirical truth, showing how film attempted to "document" the unseen and influence public understanding of historical phenomena like witchcraft and hysteria.

Anthropology of Belief

The authors examine how Häxan contributed to the burgeoning anthropological and historical study of religion, specifically witchcraft. They delve into how the film attempted to reframe supernatural beliefs through a humanist lens, seeking to understand the cultural and psychological underpinnings of historical accusations and persecutions, rather than simply dismissing them.

Art, Science, and the Occult

This work investigates the intricate connections between artistic expression, scientific methodology, and popular concepts surrounding the occult. It highlights how Häxan blurred conventional boundaries, using cinematic art to engage with medical, psychological, and anthropological theories of its time, ultimately questioning the nature of rationality when confronting the "irrational."

📜 Historical context

Emerging during a period of rapid scientific advancement and shifting social paradigms in the 1920s, Realizing the Witch situates Häxan within a vibrant intellectual landscape. It reflects a post-Enlightenment desire to demystify the supernatural, yet also grapples with the lingering power of irrational beliefs, echoing the early anthropological efforts to categorize and understand diverse human experiences, often through a Western rationalist framework.

📚 Glossary

Häxan
Humanist Re-evaluation
Female Hysterics

📔 Questions to reflect on

How might our contemporary understanding of mental health be critiqued through a similar lens as Häxan critiqued historical perceptions of witchcraft?
Consider a modern "genre-bending" cultural artifact (film, book, art) that attempts to bridge science and the supernatural. What are its strengths and inherent risks?
If film is considered a form of "scientific evidence," what ethical considerations arise when historical events, especially those involving marginalized groups, are dramatized for educational or entertainment purposes?