Crafting as Grafting‽ Investigating the Hybrid Aesthetics in Lotte Reiniger’s Films

Abstract

This dissertation is an investigation into the hybrid aesthetics of the pre-exilic films of the stop-motion silhouette puppet animator, Lotte Reiniger. Recent research has posited that Reiniger was a marginalized figure who worked in isolation and in the shadow of contemporary, male animators and filmmakers like Walt Disney and others. This has resulted in a self-fulfilling prophecy, in which the myth that Reiniger was unknown in her own time is perpetuated, shifting focus from the innovations of her art to the apparently necessary rediscovery of the filmmaker. The hybridization of media and genres belies the centrality of Reiniger’s work. Most of Reiniger’s films are adaptations, grafting fairy tales, theater pieces, and operas onto film. In these adaptations, self-referential scenes that show Reiniger’s hand at work or that play with sound design reveal the possibilities and limitations of film as a medium for adaptation. The result of this experimentation is a series of hybridized films that exhibit qualities of both the source material and analog film. Three body chapters provide examples of these hybrid films. The first is about Aschenputtel (1922), a film that thematizes the in/visibility of women’s labor. The second examines the ludic qualities of Harlekin (1931). The playful spirit of the commedia dell’arte genre is revived in the aesthetics of the film, suggesting that Reiniger’s creative process was a joyful engagement with crafting and hobbying. Finally, the third chapter discusses Papageno (1935), a film that puts the bird-catching side character in the spotlight. Together, these three films demonstrate that Reiniger was an artist who by no means worked in isolation, but rather, worked collaboratively with some of the biggest names in animation and composition of her time. In addition to this, her films demonstrate a deep awareness of the art historical context of her various sources as well as her own time. By deploying hybrid aesthetics, Reiniger participated in multiple artmaking practices and movements, which challenges present-day categories and forces researchers to think differently about the relationship between media.