Consuming illusions: the magic lantern in Australia and Aotearoa/New Zealand 1850-1910
Loading...
Citations
Altmetric:
Altmetric::
Download
Associated Records
Authors
File Licence
Editors
Date
2003-09
Source Title
Journal Title
Journal ISSN
Volume Title
Publisher
Melbourne Authors
Affiliation
Arts: The Australian Centre
The Australian Centre
The Australian Centre
Document Type
PhD thesis
Subject Code
Citation
Hartrick, E. (2003). Consuming illusions: the magic lantern in Australia and Aotearoa/New Zealand 1850-1910. PhD thesis, The Australian Centre, University of Melbourne.
Access Status
Open Access
DOI
Access URL
Open Access URL
Open Access at PMC
Linked Resource URL
NHMRC Grant Code
ARC Grant Code
Description
Images have been restricted due to copyright. A print copy of the full text and images are available from Special Collections. https://aeon.unimelb.edu.au/
Deposited with permission of the author. © 2003 Dr.Elizabeth Hartrick.
Deposited with permission of the author. © 2003 Dr.Elizabeth Hartrick.
Abstract
This thesis maps the existence, extent and diverse applications of the magic lantern in the Australasian colonies and brings to light a cultural practice that had remained largely invisible in histories of photography, cinema, and popular culture in nineteenth century Australasia. The thesis demonstrates that the magic lantern was popular as entertainment on both a private, domestic and a public scale. It traces its widespread adoption in two broad institutional contexts, the educational and the religious, and shows how this wide-ranging practice and consumption was supported by developing social and commercial infrastructure in the colonies and a network of touring lanternists. It argues that the magic lantern located the Australasian colonial culture within a global one centred around the consumption of visual technology and an international exchange of images. Colonial audiences were not, however, merely the passive recipients of a globalised imagery or culture. They were active contributors to it, constructing their own meanings in response to imported images. The thesis argues that, while the magic lantern functioned to affirm a sense of imperial identity in both colonisers and the colonised, it was adapted locally to the creation of colonial, intercolonial and regional identities, as an alternative to a dominant Eurocentric mass-mediated world view. Colonial practitioners applied this powerful medium to the generation of images at a local level that reveal an enthusiasm for colonial events and stories, a sense of place, and a celebration of local identity on the big screen.
Notes
Terms of Use
Keywords
lantern projection, projectors, Australia-history, New Zealand-history, lantern slides, pictorial works