Multimedial Parallelism in Ritual Performance (Parallelism Dynamics II)

Abstract

This article approaches parallelism as a semiotic phenomenon that can operate across verbal art and other media in performance. It presents an approach to different media and the uniting performance mode as construing “metered frames.” Multimedial parallelism is analyzed as a phenomenon resulting from the coordination of expressions in relation to these frames to form members of parallel groups. The focus is on rituals that involve interaction with the unseen world. Discussion of parallelism between speech and empirical aspects of performance extends to the potential for presumed parallelism between speech and unseen objects, agents, and forces. John Miles Foley’s concept of “performance arena” is extended to performers’ and audiences’ perceptions and expectations about “reality” in ritual performance. The mapping of otherworld locations and cosmology onto empirical spaces in performance is also discussed.

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