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Chapter 1 - The Mimetic Faculty at Work

The Golden Age of Automata

from Part I - Mechanical Automata

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  15 March 2024

By
Kara Reilly
Edited by
Suzy Anger  and
Thomas Vranken
Suzy Anger
Affiliation:
University of British Columbia, Vancouver
Thomas Vranken
Affiliation:
University of the South Pacific
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Summary

This chapter analyses Golden Age Automata exhibited in the International Expositions as fetish commodities and argues that consumers enjoyed the glamour of celebrity by purchasing them. French Golden Age automata are mimetic copies of popular performers of the day. An analysis of several key automata, such as those of Loïe Fuller, Little Tich, and Wild Buffalo Bill Cody, demonstrates how the automata display the fascination with performers in the era. The chapter also looks at the shift to electrical advertising automata at the turn of the twentieth century. In every case, the automata display the creators’ mimetic faculty at work.

Keywords

Golden Age AutomataLoïe FullerLittle TichWild Buffalo Bill Codycommodity fetishismInternational Expositions
Type
Chapter
Information
Victorian Automata
Mechanism and Agency in the Nineteenth Century
 , pp. 33 - 47
Publisher: Cambridge University Press
Print publication year: 2024

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