Editing Mise en abyme

{{Short description|Technique of placing a copy of an image within itself, or a story within a story}}
{{multiple image
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| image1 = Las Meninas, by Diego Velázquez, from Prado in Google Earth.jpg
| image2 = Abyss of regular octagons.svg
| caption1 = {{lang|es|[[Las Meninas]]}} by [[Diego Velázquez|Velázquez]], used by [[André Gide|Gide]] to demonstrate the technique of ''mise en abyme''
| caption2 = Infinite abyss of [[Similarity (geometry)#Similarity_with_a_center|similar]] [[star polygon]]s
}}
In [[Western art history]], '''''mise en abyme''''' ({{IPA|fr|miz ɑ̃n‿abim}}; also '''''mise en abîme''''') is the technique of placing a copy of an image within itself, often in a way that suggests an infinitely recurring sequence. In [[film theory]] and [[literary theory]], it refers to the [[story within a story]] technique. 

The term is derived from [[heraldry]], and means ''placed into [[Escutcheon (heraldry)#Points|abyss]]'' (exact middle of a shield). It was first appropriated for modern criticism by the French author [[André Gide]]. A common sense of the phrase is the visual experience of standing between two mirrors and seeing an infinite reproduction of one's image.<ref name="Rheinhardt2012">{{cite book|last=Rheinhardt|first=Dagmar|title=Youtopia. a Passion for the Dark: Architecture at the Intersection Between Digital Processes and Theatrical Performance|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=38_ZvEwnGtQC&pg=PT42|year=2012|publisher=Freerange Press|isbn=978-0-9808689-1-3|page=42}}</ref> Another is the [[Droste effect]], in which a picture appears within itself, in a place where a similar picture would realistically be expected to appear.<ref>Nänny. Max and Fischer, Olga, ''The Motivated Sign: Iconicity in Language and Literature'' p.&nbsp;37, John Benjamins and Jersey Ellis's Publishing Company (2001) {{ISBN|90-272-2574-5}}</ref> The Droste effect is named after the 1904 [[Droste]] cocoa package, which depicts a woman holding a tray bearing a Droste cocoa package, which bears a smaller version of her image.<ref>Törnqvist, Egil. ''Ibsen: A Doll's House'', p. 105, Cambridge University Press (1995) {{ISBN|0-521-47866-9}}</ref>

==Heraldry==
[[File:Royal Arms of United Kingdom (1816-1837).svg|thumb|left|[[Coat of arms of the United Kingdom]], 1816–1837]]
In the terminology of [[heraldry]], the [[Escutcheon (heraldry)#Points|''abyme'' or ''abisme'']] is the center of a [[coat of arms]]. The term ''mise en abyme'' (also called [[escutcheon (heraldry)|inescutcheon]]) then meant “put/placed in the center”. It described a coat of arms that appears as a smaller shield in the center of a larger one (see [[Droste effect]]).

A complex example of ''mise en abyme'' is seen in the [[coat of arms of the United Kingdom]] [[Royal coat of arms of the United Kingdom#After the Acts of Union 1707|for the period 1801–1837]]{{Broken anchor|date=2024-07-03|bot=User:Cewbot/log/20201008/configuration|target_link=Royal coat of arms of the United Kingdom#After the Acts of Union 1707|reason= The anchor (After the Acts of Union 1707) [[Special:Diff/1154782220|has been deleted]].}}, as used by Kings [[George III]], [[George IV]] and [[William IV]]. The [[crown of Charlemagne]] is placed ''en abyme'' within the [[escutcheon (heraldry)|escutcheon]] of [[Hanover]], which in turn is ''en abyme'' within the arms of England, Scotland, and Ireland.

==Medieval examples==
[[File:Istanbul.Hagia Sophia075.jpg|thumb|300px|Southwestern entrance mosaic of [[Hagia Sophia]], [[Constantinople]], depicting both Hagia Sophia itself and Constantinople, both offered to Jesus and the Virgin Mary]]
{{Further|Mathematics and art}}

While [[art historian]]s working on the early-modern period adopted this phrase and interpreted it as showing artistic "self-awareness", medievalists tended not to use it.{{Citation needed|date=September 2010}} Many examples, however, can be found in the pre-modern era, as in a [[mosaic]] from the [[Hagia Sophia]] dated to the year 944. To the left, [[Justinian I]] offers the [[Mary (mother of Jesus)|Virgin Mary]] the Hagia Sophia, which contains the mosaic itself. To the right, [[Constantine I]] offers the city of [[Constantinople]] (now known as Istanbul), which itself contains the Hagia Sophia.

More medieval examples can be found in the collection of articles ''Medieval mise-en-abyme: the object depicted within itself'',<ref name='mise'/> in which Jersey Ellis conjectures that the self-references sometimes are used to strengthen the symbolism of gift-giving by documenting the act of giving on the object itself. An example of this self-referential gift-giving appears in the [[Stefaneschi Triptych]] in the [[Vatican Museum]], which features Cardinal [[Giacomo Gaetani Stefaneschi]] as the giver of the altarpiece.<ref>[http://mv.vatican.va/3_EN/pages/PIN/PIN_Sala02_03.html Giotto di Bondone and assistants: Stefaneschi triptych<!-- Bot generated title -->]</ref>

==Critical theory and art history==
In [[Western art history]], ''mise en abyme'' is a formal technique in which an image contains a smaller copy of itself, in a sequence appearing to recur infinitely; "[[recursion]]" is another term for this. The modern meaning of the phrase originates with the author [[André Gide]] who used it to describe self-reflexive embeddings in various art forms and to describe what he sought in his work.<ref name='mise'>[http://www.courtauld.ac.uk/researchforum/projects/medievalarttheory/documents/Mise-en-abyme.pdf Medieval ''mise-en-abyme'': the object depicted within itself (collection of papers)] {{webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20131102033517/http://www.courtauld.ac.uk/researchforum/projects/medievalarttheory/documents/Mise-en-abyme.pdf |date=2013-11-02 }}</ref> As examples, Gide cites both paintings such as {{lang|es|[[Las Meninas]]}} by [[Diego Velázquez]] and literary forms such as [[William Shakespeare]]'s use of the "play within a play" device in ''[[Hamlet]]'', where a theatrical company presents a performance for the characters that illuminate a thematic aspect of the play itself. This use of the phrase ''mise en abyme'' was picked up by scholars and popularized in the 1977 book ''Le récit spéculaire. Essai sur la mise en abyme'' by [[Lucien Dällenbach]].<ref>Lucien Dällenbach, ''Le récit spéculaire. Essai sur la mise en abyme'', Paris, Seuil, 1977</ref>

==In mass media==
[[File:Screenshot Recursion via vlc.png|thumb|[[Recursion|Recursive]] computer screenshots]]
''Mise en abyme'' occurs in a text when there is a reduplication of images or concepts referring to the textual whole. ''Mise en abyme'' is a play of signifiers within a text, of sub-texts mirroring each other.<ref>Hayward, Susan. "Mise-en-abime" in ''Cinema Studies: The Key Concepts'' (Third Edition). Routledge, 2006. pp. 252–253</ref> This mirroring can attain a level where meaning may become unstable and, in this respect, may be seen as part of the process of [[deconstruction]]. The film-within-a-film, where a film contains a plot about the making of a film, is an example of ''mise en abyme''. The film being made within the film refers, through its ''[[mise en scène]]'', to the real film being made. The spectator sees film equipment, stars getting ready for the take, and crew sorting out the various directorial needs. The narrative of the film within the film may directly reflect the one in the real film.<ref>[http://www.press.uchicago.edu/cgi-bin/hfs.cgi/00/3265.ctl|Hayward, Susan. ''Cinema Studies Key Concepts''. New York: Routledge, 2006.] Accessed 2009-05-27</ref> An example is [[Björk]]'s video [[Bachelorette (song)|Bachelorette]],<ref>{{Cite journal |last=Buckland |first=Warren |date=2018-04-26 |title=The Unnatural and Impossible Storyworlds of Michel Gondry’s Music Videos: The Mise en Abyme of ‘Bachelorette’ |url=https://journals.openedition.org/volume/5689?lang=en |journal=Volume! La revue des musiques populaires |language=en |issue=14 : 2 |doi=10.4000/volume.5689 |issn=1634-5495|doi-access=free |url-access=subscription }}</ref> directed by [[Michel Gondry]]. An example is ''[[La Nuit américaine]]'' (1973) by [[François Truffaut]].

In [[film]], the meaning of ''mise en abyme'' is similar to the artistic definition, but also includes the idea of a "dream within a dream". For example, a character awakens from a dream and later discovers that they are [[false awakening|still dreaming]]. Activities similar to dreaming, such as unconsciousness and virtual reality, also are described as ''mise en abyme''. This is seen in the film ''[[eXistenZ]]'' where the two protagonists never truly know whether or not they are out of the game. It also becomes a prominent element of [[Charlie Kaufman]]'s ''[[Synecdoche, New York]]'' (2008). More recent instances can be found in the films ''[[Inland Empire (film)|Inland Empire]]'' (2007) and ''[[Inception]]'' (2010).  Classic film examples include the snow globe in ''[[Citizen Kane]]'' (1941) which provides a clue to the film's core mystery, and the discussion of [[Edgar Allan Poe]]'s written works (particularly "[[The Purloined Letter]]") in the [[Jean-Luc Godard]] film ''[[Band of Outsiders]]'' (1964).

In [[literary criticism]], ''mise en abyme'' is a type of [[frame story]], in which the core narrative may be used to illuminate some aspect of the framing story. The term is used in deconstruction and deconstructive literary criticism as a paradigm of the [[Intertextuality|intertextual]] nature of language, that is, of the way, language never quite reaches the foundation of reality because it refers in a frame-within-a-frame way, to another language, which refers to another language, and so forth.<ref>{{cite book |author=Ross Chambers |title=Story and Situation: Narrative Seduction and the Power of Fiction |year=1984 |url=https://www.upress.umn.edu/9780816612987/story-and-situation/|page=33}}</ref>

In [[video games]], the first chapter of the game ''[[There Is No Game: Wrong Dimension]]'' (2020) is titled "Mise en abyme".

In [[comedy]], the final act of ''[[The Inside Outtakes]]'' (2022) by [[Bo Burnham]] contains a chapter titled "Mise en abyme". It shows footage being projected into a monitor that is captured by the camera, slightly delayed at each step. This effect highlights the  disconnection between Burnham and the project during the artistic process.{{citation needed|date=May 2023}}

==See also==
{{Wiktionary}}
{{Commons category|Mise en abyme}}
* {{annotated link|Mise en abyme (in literature and other media)|Examples of ''mise en abyme'' in other media}}
* {{annotated link|Droste effect}}
* {{annotated link|Fractal}}
* {{annotated link|Matryoshka doll}}
* {{annotated link|Gödel, Escher, Bach|''Gödel, Escher, Bach'' (1979 book)}}
* {{annotated link|Macbeth (1971 film)|''Macbeth'' (1971 film)}}
* {{annotated link|Meta-reference}}
* {{annotated link|Print Gallery (M. C. Escher)|''Print Gallery'' (M. C. Escher)}}
* {{annotated link|Quine (computing)}}
* {{annotated link|Recursion}}
* {{annotated link|Self-similarity}}
* {{annotated link|Story within a story}}
* {{annotated link|Tamanna (2014 film)|''Tamanna'' (2014 film)}}

==References==
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[[Category:Artistic techniques]]
[[Category:Metafictional techniques]]
[[Category:Heraldry]]
[[Category:History of art]]
[[Category:Composition in visual art]]