Scholarlink

<p>The numerous crowds depicted in 1920s works devoted to the phenomenon of the metropolis are often taken for granted, yet this paper examines them closely from an intermedial perspective. Siegfried Kracauer’s concept of the “Mass Ornament” (1927) provides the analytical framework for reading three contemporaneous works (1925–1927): John Dos Passos’s novel <i>Manhattan Transfer</i>, Walter Ruttmann’s film <i>Berlin: Symphony of a metropolis</i>, and Frans Masereel’s wordless woodcut novel <i>The city</i>. Across these media, the crowd appears as a de-individualized, mechanized element that substitutes for the absence of a central protagonist, reducing human beings to body parts and rhythmic, interchangeable components. Beyond its aesthetic function, this representation also carries socio-political significance, reflecting the dehumanizing logic of industrial capitalism and the potential for manipulation of masses that Kracauer identified in his critical, politically-informed analysis.</p>

错误：搜索内容不能为空，请输入英文关键词
错误：关键词超出字数限制，请精简
高级检索

Reading the phenomenon of crowds through Kracauer’s concept of the mass ornament

  • 期刊论文

  • 发表日期：

    2026年4月5日

查看全文
  • Charlotte Krauss

摘要

The numerous crowds depicted in 1920s works devoted to the phenomenon of the metropolis are often taken for granted, yet this paper examines them closely from an intermedial perspective. Siegfried Kracauer’s concept of the “Mass Ornament” (1927) provides the analytical framework for reading three contemporaneous works (1925–1927): John Dos Passos’s novel Manhattan Transfer, Walter Ruttmann’s film Berlin: Symphony of a metropolis, and Frans Masereel’s wordless woodcut novel The city. Across these media, the crowd appears as a de-individualized, mechanized element that substitutes for the absence of a central protagonist, reducing human beings to body parts and rhythmic, interchangeable components. Beyond its aesthetic function, this representation also carries socio-political significance, reflecting the dehumanizing logic of industrial capitalism and the potential for manipulation of masses that Kracauer identified in his critical, politically-informed analysis.