Publisher
The University of Arizona.Rights
Copyright © is held by the author. Digital access to this material is made possible by the University Libraries, University of Arizona. Further transmission, reproduction, presentation (such as public display or performance) of protected items is prohibited except with permission of the author.Abstract
It is in Freud’s exploration of the uncanny, originally written in 1919, that Freud spends a considerable amount of page space summarizing the story of Nathaniel, the boy who fell in love with an automaton- a moving mechanical device made in imitation of a human being. It is fascinating to consider that in a world embracing mechanization, some would find mechanized bodies so abhorrent and uncanny (for example, the surrealists), while others come to find the idea of mechanized bodies as a necessary improvement on humanity, and should be embraced with the rest of mechanization (for example, at Bauhaus). I plan to follow this cleavage in the ideologies concerning mechanization and the body, its psychological implications, and the theoretical motivators behind these avant garde groups. In observing the differences between how females are envisioned as mechanized/fragmented versus how males are envisioned as mechanized/fragmented, this thesis will also address the perversions, inequalities and unconscious wishes evident in the work of artists during this point in modernity.Type
textElectronic Thesis
Degree Name
M.A.Degree Level
mastersDegree Program
Graduate CollegeArt History