Date: Sun, 23 Jul 95 08:13:07 EDT
From: ma-AT-dsd.camb.inmet.com (Malgosia Askanas)
Subject: Re: Peek-a-boo


Tom wrote:

> There is a sequence to the peek-a-boo response that runs from startle to 
> relief to laughter. I wonder if we could be talking (initially) about a 
> physio-chemical reaction involving the release of adrenaline or an 
> endorphin. Later, the re-enactment of the event sequence might trigger 
> laughter without the chemical stimulus, so the "startle" wouldn't have to be 
> genuine.

> With miniaturization, again, it seems that we're dealing with the conversion 
> of an unpleasant sensation into a pleasurable one. I think the sensation is 
> one of "swooning", becoming disoriented by the drastic change in scale --  
> the experience of the sublime turned inside out, so to speak. 

Yes, I think this is very connected to the sublime.  But here the effect, 
instead of being created by an excess of size, is instead created by an excess
of structure.  It is interesting that the feeling induced by miniatures 
includes a tenderness, a protectiveness -- do you agree? -- which would
suggest a link to a child-nurturing instinct (if such exists).  

Photographs, even though they frequently tend to be much smaller than
what they depict, release the impression of "miniatures" only when
there is an excess of detail -- as, for example, in very complex film-stills.  
But perhaps questions of dimensional faithfulness also play a role -- a 2-d
depiction of a 3-d object does not feel faithful enough to be a true
"miniature", whereas with film stills we are dealing with a straight
size-reduction.  This gets complicated in photo-montage, which _can_
feel like a "miniature", even though it is hard to say of _what_.  Of
some complex web of abstract relationships?  


- malgosia 

-------- from list seminar-11-AT-lists.village.virginia.edu -------