Mise en abyme - Wikipedia

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2024-04-04 13:30:02

In Western art history, mise en abyme (French pronunciation: [miz ɑ̃n‿abim] ; also mise en abîme) is a formal[further explanation needed ] 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 technique of inserting a story within a story. The term is derived from heraldry and means "placed into abyss". 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, seeing as a result an infinite reproduction of one's image.[1] 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.[2] That 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.[3]

In the terminology of heraldry, the abyme or abisme is the center of a coat of arms. The term mise en abyme (also called 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).