Hallucinating colours – psychedelic film, technology, aesthetics and affect

Color patterns in films depicting hallucinations can be understood through three historical layers: slowly changing affects and topoi, the foundational layer of culture and discourse, and the specific film. This essay examines hallucinatory scenes, their biological grounds, and the 1960s psychedelic culture where drug use was entertainment and therapy. Analyzing The Trip (1967) through these layers reveals new perspectives on 1960s psychedelic film culture and the topos of colorful hallucinations.

Study at a glance

Abstract

Within the context of the ERC Advanced Grant Filmcolors I investigate subjectivity, affect and aesthetics from an historical perspective, drawing on ideas developed within the field of the history of emotions. However, while most of this research is of a synchronic nature, my work contains a strong diachronic component, based on Fernand Braudel’s concept of the ‘pluralité des durées’ (La Méditerranée, 1966). Following Braudel, I distinguish three layers: 1. the layer of slowly changing affects and connected ‘topoi’; 2. the foundational layer of culture and discourse; and 3. the film under investigation. In this essay, I lay out my theoretical and methodological reflections by focusing on colour patterns used in films that represent hallucinations. I will lay out several examples of hallucinatory scenes (level 1) and explain their common (biological) grounds. Further, I will zoom in on 1960s psychedelic culture characterized by hallucinating drug use as entertainment and as therapeutic tool (level 2). The film of interest (level 3) is The Trip (Roger Corman, 1967), which precisely represents this culture. A combination of the analyses of the three levels brings interesting new perspectives on the 1960s, its psychedelic film culture, and how this relates to the topos of colourful hallucinations.