MEDIEVAL THEATER AS MEDIUM: A SURVEY IN MEDIA ARCHAEOLOGY

Title  MEDIEVAL THEATER AS MEDIUM: A SURVEY IN MEDIA ARCHAEOLOGY
Author(s)  E. Doudet
Information about the author(s) Estelle Doudet, Full Professor of French Language and Literature of the Middle Ages, Universit é Grenoble Alpes, 38400 Saint-Martin d’H è res, France. E-mail: This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it. 
Received  October 15, 2016
Published  March 25, 2017
Issue  2017 Vol. 2, #1
Department  World Literature
Pages  44-61
DOI  10.22455/2500-4247-2017-2-1-44-61
UDK  82.09
BBK   83.3(0)4
Abstract  Media Archaeology is an emerging methodology that analyses media as modes of communication shaped by scientific innovations, cultural and social values, and imaginary representations. It also questions evolutions and ruptures in Media Cultures from Modernity and possibly before. This paper aims to demonstrate that this method offers a new approach to Production/Reception Theories in History of Literature, and an innovative way to define Medieval ‘Mediality’, with possible connections to our most recent practices. French allegorical drama offers a case study for an Archaeology of Seeing in the 15 th –16 th centuries. The article first analyses how morality plays sought to influence the public’s opinion in connecting optical science and technics with moral and religious education. Enhancing the visual possibilities of theatrical performances, Medieval allegorical drama emphathized that the medium was the message. It then investigates the public’s various responses to the plays to grasp how they operated and how efficient they really were.
Keywords  History of Culture; Performance Studies; Media Archaeology; Middle Ages and Early Modern Times
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