Bachmann, M. (2023) Body and mask: dramaturgies of the face in Roland Barthes. In: Wilson, H. R. and Daddario, W. (eds.) Rethinking Roland Barthes through Performance: A Desire for Neutral Dramaturgy. Series: Thinking through theatre. Methuen Drama: London, pp. 185-206. ISBN 9781350330849 (doi: 10.5040/9781350330870.ch-013)
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Abstract
Many of Barthes’ writings share an attentiveness to the face in performance. Even where his interest is in the face as mediated image, he draws on theatrical figures (e.g., when describing Greta Garbo’s face as a mask). However, Barthes’ contributions to a thinking of the face are usually dealt with—if at all—from the perspective of film and media studies. As this chapter argues, this is indicative of a wider rift in contemporary critical thinking that aligns the face with film, and the body with theatre. In contrast, it analyses Barthes’ writing on the face from the perspective of theatre and performance studies. The chapter proposes that the face in Barthes may be related to two ‘dramaturgies of the face’: a semiotic model that uses theatre as a ‘frame’ to spectacularize the face-as-mask and a post-structuralist model that returns the corporeality of the face through absenting it in representation.
| Item Type: | Book Sections |
|---|---|
| Additional Information: | eISBN: 9781350330870 |
| Status: | Published |
| Glasgow Author(s) Enlighten ID: | Bachmann, Dr Michael |
| Authors: | Bachmann, M. |
| Subjects: | P Language and Literature > PN Literature (General) > PN2000 Dramatic representation. The Theater |
| College/School: | College of Arts & Humanities > School of Culture and Creative Arts > Theatre Film and TV Studies |
| Publisher: | Methuen Drama |
| ISBN: | 9781350330849 |
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