Abstract
This chapter examines the entanglement of the supernatural and “screen practice” in a longer history leading up to cinema. From the magic lantern, and the Phantasmagoria’s complex dynamics of demystification and mystification, through the theatrical illusions of Pepper’s Ghost and the ghost show in the latter half of the nineteenth century, the fascination with the supernatural implications of the projected image has a long history before cinema’s debut, which helps illuminate cinema’s own supernatural affinities.
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Leeder, M. (2017). Light and Lies: Screen Practice and (Super-) Natural Magic. In: The Modern Supernatural and the Beginnings of Cinema. Palgrave Macmillan, London. https://doi.org/10.1057/978-1-137-58371-0_3
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1057/978-1-137-58371-0_3
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