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Background: 2008 Summer Olympics - Opening Ceremony - Beijing, China. U.S. Army World Class Athlete Program. © U.S. Army, CC BY 2.0, via Wikimedia Commons
The Mass Ornament by Siegfried Kracauer
The Mass Ornament by Siegfried Kracauer
© Apple Daily, CC BY 2.0. A modern example of a mass ornament from the 2008 Beijing Olympic Games Opening Ceremony. The movements of the performers result in patterns and shapes that are not visible from within the ornament: the individuals are dissolved into elements of a larger figuration. For Kracauer, these demonstrations were symptomatic of capitalism and of industrialized modernity alike.
A discussion slide from the first session on Kracauer.
A highlight in the course was a module designed around Siegfried Kracauer's essay The Mass Ornament. By reading this dense and highly relevant text, student's learn about the intellectual and political movement of Critical Theory and the origins of the Frankfurt School in their historical and intellectual context. But more importantly, they learn about methods of interpreting and discussing what Kracauer terms "surface phenomena:" in this case the phenomenon of mass choreographies, from smaller performances by groups like the Tiller Girls to spectacular stadium events, which became popular in the 1920s. Through close reading and contextualizing, students are able to make connections between those surface phenomena, and broader discourses surrounding the individual and mass psyche, as well as fundamental questions of what kind of process "history" is: to what extent are we, as humans, in control of our own history, and to what extent does it appear to be motivated by other forces? What are these other forces, and how are they informed by both theological and teleological ideas -- historically?
Focusing in particular on the role of mass media -- facilitated by technological progress and radically mobilized by fascism -- this module explores a moment in the last century, when both film and broadcast technologies were reaching a critical threshold of mass deployment. Kracauer analyzes the implications of a general, anonymous, and passive gaze overseeing the mass ornament in its various forms, which is implied in the spectator-phenomenon-relationship. The resulting patterns and shapes are not visible from within the ornament; the individuals are dissolved into elements of a larger figuration. For Kracauer, these demonstrations were symptomatic of capitalism and industrialized modernity alike.
Drawing on his writings on film and fascism (From Caligari to Hitler), students analyzed and discussed significant examples of perspective mediated through camera work, from the Tiller Girls, to Triumph of the Will, to Metropolis. While in the mass performances of the early culture industry, the public, hungry for entertainment and distraction, played the role of spectator, students noted how in Leni Riefenstahl's propaganda piece, it is the deified leader for whom the masses are organized into geometrically precise figures. Mass media and mass propaganda appeared in liberal democracies, but seemed to reach their ultimate purpose in their totalitarian appropriation. Students appreciated this critical and historical perspective on modern media, as they also frequently showed their awareness of the problematic role of the media in the age of digitalization, algorithms and artificial intelligence, which all seem to be reaching similar critical thresholds, as well.
The hellish Herzmaschine in Fritz Lang's Metropolis turns into a mythical Moloch and devours the workers. Their synchronous movements are a form of mass ornament, and the catastrophe highlights the connection between technology, along with its specific kind of rationality, and myth, which are discussed by Kracauer.
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