Béla Balàzs: early film theory in transnational context
Lead Research Organisation:
University of Warwick
Department Name: German Studies
Abstract
This project centres on Béla Balázs, a Hungarian-Jewish writer who worked as a journalist, opera librettist, symbolist poet, film critic, screenwriter and theorist in Budapest, Vienna and Berlin, and was fêted by contemporaries as an early champion of film art. His reputation rested on his Visible Man (1924) and The Spirit of Film (1930), published in German during his period as a political exile in Berlin. While Visible Man celebrated the medium's intimate representation in real time of the human body and face, The Spirit of Film analysed what Balázs was among the first to recognise as the 'grammar' of film. Balázs is known today primarily for work on the close-up deriving from a 1952 English translation of his Theory of the Film. Yet while that volume integrates passages from Balázs's interwar volumes, it loses the originals' historical detail and polemical verve. Read largely outside historical context, Balázs's work is thus often dismissed as outdated, or recognised only for the significance of his analyses of the close-up. Much that is of value is lost in this partial view. It is in part to raise awareness of Balázs's writings on all dimensions of film art that I have embarked with Rodney Livingstone (Southampton) on a first English translation and critical edition of Balázs's two early German works. And there is a second reason for a return to Balázs. Recent years have seen a new interest in film practitioners who fled Germany and fascist-occupied Europe after 1933. The story told is one of flight from a culture that consigned to oblivion the memory of departed regime opponents or 'racial enemies'. Balázs is an interesting exception. In Nazi writings on film, his pioneering work was fêted, and cited as the first serious elaboration of a grammar of film. Such accolades are perplexing; for this was a marxist intellectual of Hungarian-Jewish descent who participated in the 1919 socialist Commune, worked in Berlin with such left-liberal luminaries as Erwin Piscator and Heinrich Mann, and left Germany for the Soviet Union in 1931. A closer inspection points up clues to this puzzle. In 1931, Balazs had worked with Leni Riefenstahl; he wrote the screenplay for her feature Das blaue Licht, and collaborated on set with Riefenstahl, the film's director and star. Their affinity was more artistic than ideological. Balázs espoused a Romantic modernism that also infused Riefenstahl's work, the fluidity of which was said to echo the living rhythms of the natural world. Balazs's special concern was with film's potential to reinstate the natural body as the organising pivot of human communication; he writes of film as the 'only universal language', and argues for an Enlightenment universalism achieved through the body in film. Yet Balázs also counters Enlightenment egalitarianism when he names the film body as white, European, and male, and celebrates film's capacity to create the 'shared psyche of the ...white race'. The phrase reveals a Balázs of multiple contradictions: a Jewish, marxist revolutionary whose work was celebrated by the Right, and whose early work espoused a white racial aesthetics. These contradictions have consigned Balázs to relative obscurity, deflecting attention to contemporaries whose writings sat better with their leftist views. In this project, I shall by contrast use those contradictions as a source of productive tension whose exploration allows new insights into German exile film. My research will explore the light shed by Balazs's complex biography on the contradictions of his theoretical work. How, I shall ask, do his life and work intersect with the larger history of mid-century Europe? How does his embrace by both the cultural Right and Left usefully complicate our understanding of the cultural politics of exile? And what insights does Balázs offer for contemporary understandings of a moving image culturethat is changing rapidly as was the film medium during Balazs's life?
Organisations
- University of Warwick (Lead Research Organisation)
- Hampstead Authors' Society (Collaboration)
- University Duisburg-Essen (Collaboration)
- Everyman Cinemas (Collaboration)
- UNIVERSITY OF LEEDS (Collaboration)
- British Association of Film and Television Arts (Collaboration)
- Kraszna-Krausz Foundation (Collaboration)
- UNIVERSITY OF CAMBRIDGE (Collaboration)
Publications
Carter E
(2014)
The New Woman and the ekphrastic poetics of Bela Balazs
in Screen
Carter, E.A.
(2014)
The Visible Woman in and against Béla Balázs
Title | The Spirit of Film: The Road to Casablanca via Bela Balazs |
Description | Exhibition curated by the photographer and curator Zsuzsanna Ardo at the British Academy of Film and Television Arts (BAFTA) and the Everyman Cinema chain. I worked as consultant to the exhibition, spoke alongside Zsuzsanna Ardo at a BAFTA opening that doubled up as a book launch, introduced a screening of Casablanca (Michael Curtz, 1942) in the BAFTA cinema, and a later related screening of the animation classic The Adventures of Prince Achmed (Lotte Reiniger, 1927) at Warwick Arts Centre. I secured funding to support these initiatives, as well as for a project website, from the University of Warwick Institute of Advanced Study and the film journal Screen. |
Type Of Art | Artistic/Creative Exhibition |
Year Produced | 2010 |
Impact | Enhanced public interest in Balazs; sustained web presence via project website. |
URL | http://www2.warwick.ac.uk/fac/arts/german/balazs/ |
Description | I was able to develop a comprehensive understanding of the historical context of early writing on film in Central Europe, especially in Hungary, Austria and Germany, and to situate the writings of the Hungarian-born writer and theorist Béla Balázs in this context. This in turn enabled me to understand better the philosophical and cultural roots of Balázs's writings, and to link his work to that of writers, thinkers and artists with whom he collaborated during his lifetime, including Henri Bergson, Bela Bartók, Anna Lesznai, Georg Simmel, Georg Lukács, and Edith Bone. The research refined my understanding of the changes wrought in human perception and social experience by the advent of the moving image, and indeed by subsequent developments in moving image technology and culture. Towards the end of the project, the research focus shifted towards the relationship between film theory and early twentieth-century feminism, and I published an article and book chapter exploring that issue in particular. |
Exploitation Route | My work has already been used extensively by film studies researchers interested in retrieving the history of early film theory. That history has been a source of interest amongst film scholars because of the light it sheds on early responses to the then new medium of film. Comparisons are regularly drawn between early discussions of the emergent film medium and current debates about the advent of digital media - so work on early cinema becomes a resource for a deeper understanding of contemporary screen cultures. The particular focus in relation to Béla Balázs is on his work on perception and the so-called 'film experience', and my work is one source of current research by others on this issue. |
Sectors | Creative Economy,Digital/Communication/Information Technologies (including Software),Education,Culture, Heritage, Museums and Collections |
URL | http://www2.warwick.ac.uk/fac/arts/modernlanguages/german-studies/balazs/ |
Description | My research on Béla Balázs was first presented at a public symposium that I co-organised with Prof Annette Kuhn from the editorial board of the film journal Screen at the Institute for Germanic and Romance Studies (now the Institute for Modern Languages Research) in Senate House, University of London, in 2009. The event led to an approach from the photographer and curator, Zsuzsanna Ardó, with whom I then collaborated on an exhibition and film screenings at the British Academy of Film and Television Arts (BAFTA), the Everyman Cinema chain, and Warwick Arts Centre. The exhibition is archived on the University of Warwick website at http://www2.warwick.ac.uk/fac/arts/modernlanguages/german-studies/balazs/. The Spirit of Film was one of the impact case studies submitted by Modern Languages at the University of Warwick for REF2014. My own REF impact case study at King's College London, on 'Building German Cinema's Third Machine,' included a focus on public engagement activities via the German Screen Studies Network, an organisation which emerged out of networks developed during my work across screen studies and German for the Balázs project (see Collaborations and Partnerships). |
First Year Of Impact | 2010 |
Sector | Education,Culture, Heritage, Museums and Collections |
Impact Types | Cultural |
Description | DAAD Promoting German Studies in the UK |
Amount | € 64,200 (EUR) |
Organisation | German Academic Exchange Service (DAAD) |
Sector | Academic/University |
Country | United States |
Start | 01/2015 |
End | 12/2016 |
Description | Kraszna-Krausz Foundation Research Award |
Amount | £3,000 (GBP) |
Organisation | Kraszna-Krausz Foundation |
Sector | Charity/Non Profit |
Country | United Kingdom |
Start | 06/2007 |
End | 07/2010 |
Description | Warwick Institute of Advanced Study Impact Award |
Amount | £3,000 (GBP) |
Organisation | University of Warwick |
Sector | Academic/University |
Country | United Kingdom |
Start | 01/2010 |
End | 07/2010 |
Description | Collaboration with the photographer and curator Zsuzsanna Ardo on two exhibitions on Balazs, cinema and perception. |
Organisation | British Association of Film and Television Arts |
Country | United Kingdom |
Sector | Charity/Non Profit |
PI Contribution | I conducted research on Balazs, and worked together with the translator, Rodney Livingstone, on the translation. The translation was co-funded by the Kraszna-Krausz Foundation, with extra monies from Screen and the University of Warwick, and in-kind and financial support for the accompanying exhibition from BAFTA, the Everyman Cinema chain, and the Hampstead Authors' Society. |
Collaborator Contribution | Funding (KK-Foundation, Screen, University of Warwick) and coverage of exhibition expenses including publicity by other partners. |
Impact | Exhibition: The Spirit of Film: toured from BAFTA to Everyman Cinemas throughout London. |
Start Year | 2008 |
Description | Collaboration with the photographer and curator Zsuzsanna Ardo on two exhibitions on Balazs, cinema and perception. |
Organisation | Everyman Cinemas |
Country | United Kingdom |
Sector | Private |
PI Contribution | I conducted research on Balazs, and worked together with the translator, Rodney Livingstone, on the translation. The translation was co-funded by the Kraszna-Krausz Foundation, with extra monies from Screen and the University of Warwick, and in-kind and financial support for the accompanying exhibition from BAFTA, the Everyman Cinema chain, and the Hampstead Authors' Society. |
Collaborator Contribution | Funding (KK-Foundation, Screen, University of Warwick) and coverage of exhibition expenses including publicity by other partners. |
Impact | Exhibition: The Spirit of Film: toured from BAFTA to Everyman Cinemas throughout London. |
Start Year | 2008 |
Description | Collaboration with the photographer and curator Zsuzsanna Ardo on two exhibitions on Balazs, cinema and perception. |
Organisation | Hampstead Authors' Society |
Country | United Kingdom |
Sector | Charity/Non Profit |
PI Contribution | I conducted research on Balazs, and worked together with the translator, Rodney Livingstone, on the translation. The translation was co-funded by the Kraszna-Krausz Foundation, with extra monies from Screen and the University of Warwick, and in-kind and financial support for the accompanying exhibition from BAFTA, the Everyman Cinema chain, and the Hampstead Authors' Society. |
Collaborator Contribution | Funding (KK-Foundation, Screen, University of Warwick) and coverage of exhibition expenses including publicity by other partners. |
Impact | Exhibition: The Spirit of Film: toured from BAFTA to Everyman Cinemas throughout London. |
Start Year | 2008 |
Description | Collaboration with the photographer and curator Zsuzsanna Ardo on two exhibitions on Balazs, cinema and perception. |
Organisation | Kraszna-Krausz Foundation |
Country | United Kingdom |
Sector | Charity/Non Profit |
PI Contribution | I conducted research on Balazs, and worked together with the translator, Rodney Livingstone, on the translation. The translation was co-funded by the Kraszna-Krausz Foundation, with extra monies from Screen and the University of Warwick, and in-kind and financial support for the accompanying exhibition from BAFTA, the Everyman Cinema chain, and the Hampstead Authors' Society. |
Collaborator Contribution | Funding (KK-Foundation, Screen, University of Warwick) and coverage of exhibition expenses including publicity by other partners. |
Impact | Exhibition: The Spirit of Film: toured from BAFTA to Everyman Cinemas throughout London. |
Start Year | 2008 |
Description | German Screen Studies Network |
Organisation | University Duisburg-Essen |
Country | Germany |
Sector | Academic/University |
PI Contribution | My work on Béla Balázs confirmed my position as an interdisciplinary scholar producing internationally recognized research at the intersection between screen studies and German Studies. The German Screen Studies network provides an institutional base for that cross-disciplinary work. All four organisations participating in the German Screen Studies Network work similarly across screen studies and German; the Steering Committee, which I chair, comprises colleagues from both disciplinary fields, and has been funded since 2015 with a grant from the DAAD (see further funding). I work with the DAAD-funded GSSN coordinator to organise a programme of research and public engagement activities throughout the year, develop and maintain the GSSN website and develop research collaborations. Activities in 2015 focused on consolidating the network infrastructure; in 2016, the emphasis was on securing sustainability via a new membership structure, a relaunched website, and plans for a major international research funding bid. |
Collaborator Contribution | Leeds, Cambridge and Duisburg-Essen commit in-kind support in the form of organisational support and research expertise for the GSSN's annual symposia and postgraduate workshops. |
Impact | Symposium 2015 and 2016 Public talks: Barbican Centre, BFI, British Museum, Cinema Museum |
Start Year | 2015 |
Description | German Screen Studies Network |
Organisation | University of Cambridge |
Department | Faculty of Modern and Medieval Languages |
Country | United Kingdom |
Sector | Academic/University |
PI Contribution | My work on Béla Balázs confirmed my position as an interdisciplinary scholar producing internationally recognized research at the intersection between screen studies and German Studies. The German Screen Studies network provides an institutional base for that cross-disciplinary work. All four organisations participating in the German Screen Studies Network work similarly across screen studies and German; the Steering Committee, which I chair, comprises colleagues from both disciplinary fields, and has been funded since 2015 with a grant from the DAAD (see further funding). I work with the DAAD-funded GSSN coordinator to organise a programme of research and public engagement activities throughout the year, develop and maintain the GSSN website and develop research collaborations. Activities in 2015 focused on consolidating the network infrastructure; in 2016, the emphasis was on securing sustainability via a new membership structure, a relaunched website, and plans for a major international research funding bid. |
Collaborator Contribution | Leeds, Cambridge and Duisburg-Essen commit in-kind support in the form of organisational support and research expertise for the GSSN's annual symposia and postgraduate workshops. |
Impact | Symposium 2015 and 2016 Public talks: Barbican Centre, BFI, British Museum, Cinema Museum |
Start Year | 2015 |
Description | German Screen Studies Network |
Organisation | University of Leeds |
Department | Department of German |
Country | United Kingdom |
Sector | Academic/University |
PI Contribution | My work on Béla Balázs confirmed my position as an interdisciplinary scholar producing internationally recognized research at the intersection between screen studies and German Studies. The German Screen Studies network provides an institutional base for that cross-disciplinary work. All four organisations participating in the German Screen Studies Network work similarly across screen studies and German; the Steering Committee, which I chair, comprises colleagues from both disciplinary fields, and has been funded since 2015 with a grant from the DAAD (see further funding). I work with the DAAD-funded GSSN coordinator to organise a programme of research and public engagement activities throughout the year, develop and maintain the GSSN website and develop research collaborations. Activities in 2015 focused on consolidating the network infrastructure; in 2016, the emphasis was on securing sustainability via a new membership structure, a relaunched website, and plans for a major international research funding bid. |
Collaborator Contribution | Leeds, Cambridge and Duisburg-Essen commit in-kind support in the form of organisational support and research expertise for the GSSN's annual symposia and postgraduate workshops. |
Impact | Symposium 2015 and 2016 Public talks: Barbican Centre, BFI, British Museum, Cinema Museum |
Start Year | 2015 |
Description | Film talks (British Museum, Barbican, British Film Institute, Cinema Museum) |
Form Of Engagement Activity | A talk or presentation |
Part Of Official Scheme? | No |
Geographic Reach | Regional |
Primary Audience | Media (as a channel to the public) |
Results and Impact | The German Screen Studies Network works with the Film Officer at the Goethe-Institut, London, to recruit expert commentators from within the network as expert commentators giving film talks and participating in Q&A sessions at German-language film screenings. Network members including Prof Andrew Webber (Cambridge), Dr Lara Feigel (KCL), Dr Stephanie Bird (UCL) and myself have spoken as representatives of the GSSN on films relating to the British Museum exhibition 'Germany: Memories of a Nation' (2015); to a National Film Theatre Werner Herzog retrospective (2013); a Barbican Centre film series on Extreme Expressionism (2016); and a Cinema Musuem occasional series on LGBT cinema (2016). |
Year(s) Of Engagement Activity | 2013,2014,2015,2016 |
URL | http://www.britishmuseum.org/whats_on/events_calendar/event_detail.aspx?eventId=1834&title=Division:... |
Description | German Screen Studies Network Symposum |
Form Of Engagement Activity | Participation in an activity, workshop or similar |
Part Of Official Scheme? | No |
Geographic Reach | National |
Primary Audience | Media (as a channel to the public) |
Results and Impact | The German Screen Studies Network, founded in June 2012, aims to provide, through its annual symposium and related activities, a UK-based forum for discussion and debate on German language films, a public platform for lesser-known German language films that may otherwise not be available to UK audiences, and a resource for the next generation of German film scholars and critics to encounter new films, meet peers and experts, and develop new ways of approaching unfamiliar material. The first symposium took its inspiration directly from accounts of film realism in classical film theory, including that of Béla Balázs; it focused on the 'return of the real' in contemporary German-language film. Audiences at the 2013 and 2015 symposium reached 40-50; the 2014 symposium attracted a smaller group of ca. 15. Institutional partners include the Goethe-Institut and DAAD. |
Year(s) Of Engagement Activity | 2013,2014,2015 |
URL | http://germanscreenstudies.co.uk/archived_material |
Description | The Screen Anniversary Béla Balázs Symposium |
Form Of Engagement Activity | Participation in an activity, workshop or similar |
Part Of Official Scheme? | No |
Type Of Presentation | keynote/invited speaker |
Geographic Reach | International |
Primary Audience | Media (as a channel to the public) |
Results and Impact | The aim of the event was to develop film-critical awareness of the work of Béla Balázs by situating him as one of the writers of the interwar period trying to think through the aesthetics of a then-new medium, and also to open up discussion of the relevance of Balázs's work to understanding contemporary media aesthetics. The symposium was one of the events celebrating the 50th anniversary of Screen, the UK's foremost screen studies journal; it was sponsored wth monies from the journal. Led to impact activities (exhibition, film screening series, website) |
Year(s) Of Engagement Activity | 2009 |
URL | http://www.gla.ac.uk/media/media_121881_en.pdf |