Between meaningful image and meaningless decoration : Interpretations of "crazy walls" in popular culture
Abstract
The art production of the insane was discovered by fine arts which made the motif of the madman and his "crazy walls" (walls covered with writing, drawings, diagrams etc.) known in society as an easily recognizable visual shorthand. While the psychiatrists of the 19th century were gradually understanding the importance of the art of the insane, this interest was not reflected in depictions of the creative madman by William Hogarth and his copyists or by Wilhelm von Kaulbach.
As a meaningless decoration, "crazy walls" were adopted by cinema and became a powerful attribute that certifies mental instability. In the 21st century, they are becoming an object of interest of the characters.
However, this shift is not a result of a greater understanding of mental illness, but rather a side effect of changes in contemporary cinematic narration (concepts such as "Puzzle films" or "Complex TV") and of the emergence of the mentally unstable detective. The interpretation of "crazy walls" is now a necessity for a progress in the story.
The paper will demonstrate this circular development of the motif of "crazy walls" from a meaningful image to a meaningless decoration and back and examine the contemporary strive for interpretation of "crazy walls" in cinema.