Magic Lantern In Academic Research
By Francisco Javier Frutos and Carmen Lpez
Sarah
Dellmann
Magic Lantern
in Academic
Research
Since October
2013, this series
interviews scholars
about the role of
the magic lantern in their research, across
the disciplines and across all possible entry
points. Academic research is often based on
the knowledge of collectors and amateurs
this series aims to share information the
other way around. What do academics do
with the information after having browsed
through your collections? What do they
see in the archival material and what does
the lantern or lantern practices help them
to explain? I hope this series contributes to
the accessibility of academic research to a
greater interested public.
In the sixth edition of this series, Francisco
Javier Frutos and Carmen Lpez describe
their take on the magic lantern.
If you wish to share your work, contact
Sarah (s.dellmann@uu.nl )
(University of Salamanca, Spain)
Carmen Lpez and Francisco Javier Frutos.
Carmen Lpez is a researcher
and teacher in training
in the Department of
Prehistory, Ancient History
and Archaeology of the
University of Salamanca.
Working together with Javier
Frutos, she has recently
published Around the Magic
Lantern World in Eighty
Settings (Fonseca, Journal
Where do you work and what is
the topic of your research?
Francisco Javier Frutos is a Senior Lecturer
in the Department of Sociology and
Communication of the University of Salamanca
in Spain. Among his published monographs
are La fascinacin de la mirada: Los aparatos
precinematogrficos y sus posibilidades
expresivas [The Fascination of the Gaze:
Pre-Cinema Devices and their Expressive
Possibilities] (1996), Las placas de linterna
mgica y su organizacin taxonmica [Magic
Lantern Slides and their Classification] (2007)
and Los ecos de una lmpara maravillosa. La
linterna mgica en su contexto meditico [The
Echoes of a Marvellous Lamp. The Magic Book cover Los ecos de una lmpara maravillosa. La linterna
Lantern in its Media Context] (2010). mgica en su contextomeditico[The Echoes of a Marvellous
He also wrote on the techniques for making Lamp. The MagicLantern in its Media Context] (2010).
magic lantern slides in the Magic Lantern
Gazette (Fall 2013). continued next page
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 Interview with Francisco Javier Frutos and Carmen Lpez Continued
of Communication 1, 1-32, 2010) or La We take the method of content analysis from
magia del precine (en femenino) [The Magic social communication to investigate how
of Pre-Cinema (in Feminine)] in Mujeres humans used materials in ours case: lantern
en la historia, el arte y el cine (Ediciones slides - in their communication. Lantern slides
Universidad de Salamanca, 97-110, 2011). are a very exciting source; they came in huge
They have also worked on the traveling numbers and in a great variety. Lantern slides
exhibition Una vuelta al mundo de la linterna exist in diverse forms, kinds, styles and on
mgica (A World Tour of the Magic Lantern) a broad range of subject matters. Content
(2013) produced by the Forum Science and analysis offers us a method to describe this
Culture at the University of Salamanca. seemingly chaotic repertoire of messages in
http://culturacientifica.usal.es/wordpress/ an organized and ordered way. The lantern
exposicion-4/ slides, so we believe, are of great historical
and cultural significance to study the history
How do you work? With which of human communication and its cultural
sources do you work? repertoires. We can then see what humans
We work on the History of the Magic Lantern were interested in, what they talked about,
in Spain and its role in communication. We which subjects, stories, images, and beliefs
cover the entire period from the time of its they shared with each other.
invention to its decline. The magic lantern
came to Spain in the 17th century and was How do you approach the lan-
used in physics for first experiences of image tern in your research? What do
projection, such as that described by Juana you wish to achieve with you
Ins de la Cruz in Sueo, a silva (1692). As a
device, the magic lantern became consolidated research?
in the last quarter of the 18th century, thanks The magic lantern established a specific way
to popular sessions of phantasmagoria, among of organizing audiovisual discourse mostly
other by the famous Spanish projectionist Juan projected images and life comment and/or
Gonzlez Mantilla. After its institutionalisation music. As such, it was a relevant medium of
and mass commercialization throughout the social communication, but it has often been
Iberian Peninsula, the magic lanterns decline neglected by historians of media, the plastic
began in the last decade of the 19th century, arts and the stage arts. Even in those few
when the cinematograph came on the scene - cases where the magic lantern has been the
just as in other European countries. object of study, it has been undervalued or

Poster andbrochure Una vuelta al mundode la linterna mgica continued next page
(AWorldTour of the MagicLantern) (2013). Atravelingexhibi-
tion producedby the Space Science Culture at the University of
Salamanca.

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 Interview with Francisco Javier Frutos and Carmen Lpez Continued

described only vaguely:

Ambiguous, controversial
and alienating terms such
as pre-cinema, pre-
photography and para-
theatre cannot describe
the magic lantern as a
medium in its own right.
We want to overcome
this conceptual lack of
definition in order to
endow it with the cultural
relevance it deserves.

Photography about Una

vuelta al mundo de la
linterna mgica (A World
Tour of the Magic Lantern)
(2013). Museo Nacional del
Teatro (Almagro)

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