Impossible Worlds: The Fantastic and Representation in Literature, Film and Theater
Location
Beaman A&B
Presentation Type
Presentation
Start Date
28-10-2010 11:00 AM
Description
“The poet being an imitator, like a painter or any other artist, must of necessity imitate one of three objects,—things as they were or are, things as they are said or thought to be, or things as they ought to be.” So said Aristotle in the Ars Poetica. At the outset of the twenty-first century, though, we have long since legitimated a fourth object of poetic imitation: things as we imagine they might be. How and why do we depict, in film, literature, and theater, worlds whose origins lie in the imagination rather than shared reality? How can we “represent” something that doesn’t exist? In fact, imagining and portraying the impossible are fundamental to our human identity and common to every age, as are controversies on whether such portrayals are good or evil. This panel will discuss the historical controversy over representation of the fantastic and how present-day examples in film, literature, and theater shape, and are shaped by, assumptions about the nature of our shared world and of what we consider real.
Recommended Citation
Alexander, Danielle; Pelaz, Natalia; Al-Shamma, James; and Ponce, Pedro, "Impossible Worlds: The Fantastic and Representation in Literature, Film and Theater" (2010). Humanities Symposium. 16.
https://repository.belmont.edu/humanities_symposium/2010/2010/16
Impossible Worlds: The Fantastic and Representation in Literature, Film and Theater
Beaman A&B
“The poet being an imitator, like a painter or any other artist, must of necessity imitate one of three objects,—things as they were or are, things as they are said or thought to be, or things as they ought to be.” So said Aristotle in the Ars Poetica. At the outset of the twenty-first century, though, we have long since legitimated a fourth object of poetic imitation: things as we imagine they might be. How and why do we depict, in film, literature, and theater, worlds whose origins lie in the imagination rather than shared reality? How can we “represent” something that doesn’t exist? In fact, imagining and portraying the impossible are fundamental to our human identity and common to every age, as are controversies on whether such portrayals are good or evil. This panel will discuss the historical controversy over representation of the fantastic and how present-day examples in film, literature, and theater shape, and are shaped by, assumptions about the nature of our shared world and of what we consider real.
Comments
Convo: CA