Wiwisekcja wczesnego kina. Eksperymenty na zwierzętach i początki przemysłu filmowego
A Vivisection of Early Cinema: Animal Experimentation and the Beginnings of Film Industry

Summary/Abstract: The author focuses on the relations between the new film medium and empirical physiology research. Both areas share a similar attitude towards animals and their lives, which reveals a violent discourse. Although this discourse was not always obvious, it was immanently linked with the cultural dominance of the human species. The function of animals in cinema and science is strictly pragmatic – they are a material exploited by humans. This is sanctioned by the frame of cinematic spectacle. The main aims of this article are to find animal presence in early cinema and compare these examples with animal experimentation. The author examines early-cinema examples (such as "Exiting the Factory" /1895/ by Louis Lumière, "Boxing Cats" /1894/ by William K. L. Dickson, or "Electrocuting an Elephant" /1903/ by Edwin S. Porter) with contemporary tools: posthumanism and animal studies.

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