Sports and Spectacle Key terms

Make-belief

Performances that intentionally blue or sabotage the boundary between the world of the performance and everyday reality

make-believe

performances that maintain a clearly marked boundary between the world of the performance and everyday reality

reflexive

referring back to oneself or itself

restored behavior

physical, verbal, or virtual actions that are not-for-the-first-time; that are prepared or rehearsed. A person may not be aware that she is performing a strip of restored behavior. Also referred to as twice-behavior

uncertainty principle

a tenet of quantum mechanics proposed by Werner Heisenberg in 1927 which states that the measurement of a particle’s position produces uncertainty in the measurement of the particles movement, or vice versa. While each quantity may be measured accurately on its own, both cannot be totally accurately measured at the same time. The uncertainty principle is closely related to teh Heisenberg effect which asserts that the measurement of an event changes the event.

carnival

period of feasting and revelry which precedes the start of Lent on Ash Wednesday. Includes, but not limited to, Mardi Gras celebrations

limen

literally a threshold or sill, an architectural featuring linking one space to another - a passageway between places rather than in a place itself. Often framed by lintel, which outlines the emptiness it reinforces. In performance theory, refers to “in-between” actions or behaviors, such as initiation rituals

liminoid

Victor Turner’s coinage to describe symbolic actions or leisure activities in modern or postmodern society. Generally speaking, these activities are voluntary, while liminal activities are required. Recreational activities and the arts

metamessage

a message that refers back to itself. For example, a message that says “this is a message.” Idea is based in Gregory Bateson’s notion in chapter 4

mood display

an ethological term indicating how an animal communicates through movements, postures, sounds and faces that is happy, sad, angry, etc.