Anticipatie of representatie? De representatie van de oorlog in Alfred Machins MAUDITE SOIT LA CUERRE

Representation or Anticipation? The representation of war in Alfred Machin's MA UDITE SOIT LA GUERRE

In 1913 Alfred Machin, Pathé-deputy in Belgium, produced MAUDITE SOIT LA GUERRE. This silent movie evokes a so-called fictive war between two neighboring countries. This would not have been exceptional if the film hadn't been released on the threshold of World War 1. Therefore, the way the war is portrayed in the film can either be seen as a representation of previous conflicts or as an anticipated image of World War 1.

This article investigates how existing images of war in painting, photography and film on the one hand, and pre-war military, political and technical evolutions on the other, have influenced the representation of war in MAUDITE SOIT LA GUERRE.