Mizuko (Water Child) and Egg: From the Politics to the Poetics of Corporal Trauma through Eisenstein’s Plasmacity
Mizuko (Water Child) and Egg: From the Politics to the Poetics of Corporal Trauma through Eisenstein’s Plasmacity

Summary/Abstract: Soviet avant-garde filmmaker and film theorist Sergei Eisenstein introduced the term “plasmacity” almost one hundred years ago. He used it to describe Disney’s ability to play with his characters’ bodies by elongating them, making them bigger or smaller, or even by transforming them into other characters altogether. In his notes, Eisenstein mentioned that plasmacity is able to create a certain freedom for spectators and hinted at its ability to address traumata. However, he didn’t go into any details, focusing instead on spectators rather than creators. In this paper,1 I am exploring two animated shorts, Mizuko (Water Child) and Egg, using the interviews I have conducted with co-directors Kira Dane and Katelyn Rebelo and director Martina Scarpelli. I am looking at the two films from the perspective of plasmacity in order to talk about the politics and the poetics of corporal trauma.

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