Den levandegjorda statyn

En intermedial analys av statyekfraser i bilderboken

Abstract

The Animated Statue. An Intermedial Analysis of Statue Ekphraseis in Picture Books

This article examines the animation of statues in three Scandinavian picture books: Göran och draken (2002) by Ulf Stark and Anna Höglund, Hva skal vi gøre med lille Jill? (1976) by Fam Ekman and Malte möter Ängel en majkväll på Millesgården (2001) by Maria Hellstadius Wiberg and Karin Södergren. The transformation of humans from organic to inorganic matter is part of an abundant mythopoeia, which calls for a closer examination of the statue motif in children’s literature. This article examines the statue motif, aiming to shed light on the animated statue that children’s books with its dual audience can address. The modern western picturebook, with its strong affinity to the visual arts, is especially pertinent to this area of inquiry. This article employs an intermedial perspective in order to clarify how the animation of statues differs from that of toys. In contrast to a toy, a statue is a representation and therefore an index for something absent or alienated. The statue is a transformation, more precisely an ekphrasis (Bruhn 2000). This study therefore utilizes the differential model of Robillard (2010), designed to mark different medial relations between the ekphrasis and the plastic object, in order to uncover particular relations and the way in which they suggest associations to statue-ekphrasis. This analysis shows that animation is an artistic device relying on intermedial connections to depict conditions of mix-up, confusion, metamorphosis and reverie. The concept of a magic space is also addressed. On one hand, animation suggests art’s imaginative ability to enrich and breathe life into representations. On the other hand, statue-ekphrasis that brings forth the Verfremdungseffekt illustrates and raises awareness of the complex relation between fiction and nonfiction, life and death.