Rethinking Inside and Outside: The Door in Ernst Lubitsch's When I Was Dead and Charlie Chaplin's The Adventurer
The article investigates the function and signification of doors in two silent films, Ernst Lubitsch's 1916 When I Was Dead and Charlie Chaplin's 1917 The Adventurer. Taking a theoretical perspective provided by the field of intellectual inquiry known as cultural techniques (Kulturtechnike...
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| Format: | Article |
| Language: | English |
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Edinburgh University Press
2023-02-01
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| Series: | Film-Philosophy |
| Subjects: | |
| Online Access: | https://www.euppublishing.com/doi/10.3366/film.2023.0218 |
| _version_ | 1828066919314358272 |
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| author | Ido Lewit |
| author_facet | Ido Lewit |
| author_sort | Ido Lewit |
| collection | DOAJ |
| description | The article investigates the function and signification of doors in two silent films, Ernst Lubitsch's 1916 When I Was Dead and Charlie Chaplin's 1917 The Adventurer. Taking a theoretical perspective provided by the field of intellectual inquiry known as cultural techniques (Kulturtechniken), the door in these films is studied with respect to its procedural and functional operations. Specifically, the article focuses on the ways in which the employment of doors in each of the films relates to these films' configurations of inside and outside as conceptual realms. The analysis presented shows that Lubitsch and Chaplin engage doors in uniquely different ways. It further reveals that, while the operation of the door in When I Was Dead reinforces an exclusive binary of inside and outside, which itself can be traced back to the film's concern with sexual difference, the operation of the door in The Adventurer essentially deconstructs the inside/outside binary, an act that can be linked to a critique of contemporary notions of industrial management and the treatment of humans as machines. |
| first_indexed | 2024-04-10T23:37:41Z |
| format | Article |
| id | doaj.art-e3515ec0326a44689be7a138b444bd9d |
| institution | Directory Open Access Journal |
| issn | 1466-4615 |
| language | English |
| last_indexed | 2024-04-10T23:37:41Z |
| publishDate | 2023-02-01 |
| publisher | Edinburgh University Press |
| record_format | Article |
| series | Film-Philosophy |
| spelling | doaj.art-e3515ec0326a44689be7a138b444bd9d2023-01-11T16:00:05ZengEdinburgh University PressFilm-Philosophy1466-46152023-02-01271799710.3366/film.2023.0218Rethinking Inside and Outside: The Door in Ernst Lubitsch's When I Was Dead and Charlie Chaplin's The AdventurerIdo Lewit0Tel Aviv UniversityThe article investigates the function and signification of doors in two silent films, Ernst Lubitsch's 1916 When I Was Dead and Charlie Chaplin's 1917 The Adventurer. Taking a theoretical perspective provided by the field of intellectual inquiry known as cultural techniques (Kulturtechniken), the door in these films is studied with respect to its procedural and functional operations. Specifically, the article focuses on the ways in which the employment of doors in each of the films relates to these films' configurations of inside and outside as conceptual realms. The analysis presented shows that Lubitsch and Chaplin engage doors in uniquely different ways. It further reveals that, while the operation of the door in When I Was Dead reinforces an exclusive binary of inside and outside, which itself can be traced back to the film's concern with sexual difference, the operation of the door in The Adventurer essentially deconstructs the inside/outside binary, an act that can be linked to a critique of contemporary notions of industrial management and the treatment of humans as machines.https://www.euppublishing.com/doi/10.3366/film.2023.0218DoorsCultural techniquesErnst LubitschCharlie ChaplinSilent filmCinematic space |
| spellingShingle | Ido Lewit Rethinking Inside and Outside: The Door in Ernst Lubitsch's When I Was Dead and Charlie Chaplin's The Adventurer Film-Philosophy Doors Cultural techniques Ernst Lubitsch Charlie Chaplin Silent film Cinematic space |
| title | Rethinking Inside and Outside: The Door in Ernst Lubitsch's When I Was Dead and Charlie Chaplin's The Adventurer |
| title_full | Rethinking Inside and Outside: The Door in Ernst Lubitsch's When I Was Dead and Charlie Chaplin's The Adventurer |
| title_fullStr | Rethinking Inside and Outside: The Door in Ernst Lubitsch's When I Was Dead and Charlie Chaplin's The Adventurer |
| title_full_unstemmed | Rethinking Inside and Outside: The Door in Ernst Lubitsch's When I Was Dead and Charlie Chaplin's The Adventurer |
| title_short | Rethinking Inside and Outside: The Door in Ernst Lubitsch's When I Was Dead and Charlie Chaplin's The Adventurer |
| title_sort | rethinking inside and outside the door in ernst lubitsch s when i was dead and charlie chaplin s the adventurer |
| topic | Doors Cultural techniques Ernst Lubitsch Charlie Chaplin Silent film Cinematic space |
| url | https://www.euppublishing.com/doi/10.3366/film.2023.0218 |
| work_keys_str_mv | AT idolewit rethinkinginsideandoutsidethedoorinernstlubitschswheniwasdeadandcharliechaplinstheadventurer |