Specters of Probability: Dr. Mabuse, der Spieler and Glitching Visions of Data

Abstract

Building upon modern and contemporary concerns with statistics, big data and data visualization, this article explores the coincidence of probability and spectral figures in Fritz Lang’s Dr. Mabuse, der Spieler. Contemporary understandings (e.g. McCosker’s and Wilken’s) of big data as a form of visual knowledge relying on an aesthetic of the sublime allows for renewed reflections on (spectral) vision in Lang’s film about the “big unknown” and to revisit its understanding of the relation of individuals to modern mass society. After discussing the role of probability and spectrality for Mabuse’s abstract crimes, paying particular attention to tables (physical and statistical) as their medium, the article focuses on the cuts, blanks and glitches structuring the film’s view of modernity (particularly rationality, gender, and significance), exploring how it offers a critical perspective on epistemological issues regarding sublime vision and statistics that are also relevant to recent debates on the epistemological promises of big data.