Fwd: How did Janus come to be emblematic of film?

[Daniel Cape]

2009/8/25 Dave Monroe <against.the.dave at gmail.com>:

> http://www.janusfilms.com/
> Janus Films is a film distribution company. It was one of the first

Yes, this tidbit and the Wikipedia entry on Janus is as far as I got.
Janus Films uses an ancient Romanesque coin with a Janus figure
emblazoned on it as their brand icon.

> "... rockets dismantle, the entire film runs backward: faired skin
> back to sheet steel back to pigs to white incandescence to ore, to
> Earth.  But the reality is not reversible.  Each firebloom, followed
> by blast then by sound of arrival, is  a mockery (how can it not be
> deliberate) of the reversible process ..." (GR, Pt. I, p. 139)

Aha! That's a good lead, thanks. i'm tossing up whether to plunge
ahead with a first read o' the TRP canon (up to VL now, think I might
skip M&D and head to AtD *shudder* -- It's kilograms of pulp are
glaring at me from the 'to read' shelf...), but when I reread GR this
excerpt is just the kind of Klue I'm looking for.

> His ability to see both forwards and backwards at the same time aided
> him in his pursuit of the nymph Carna to whom he gave power over door
> hinges as a reward for her favours.
> Janus fell in love with her and gave her power over door hinges and handles. As a
> goddess, she was known as Cardea, from cardo hinge.
> In Greek mythology, Cardea was the goddess of health, thresholds and door hinges and
> handles, also associated with the wind. Her name comes from cardo,
> meaning door-pivot. She protected children against vampires and
> witches, and was also the benefactress of craftsmen. Her cult was
> important in ancient Rome, and was worshipped at the Beltane festival
> and during June, both of which were seen as a metaphorical "hinge" for
> the year. Masks, balls and figurines (oscilla) were hung from doorways
> or trees to encourage crop growth in reverence to her.
> Ovid said of Cardea, in what is apparently a religious formula, "Her
> power is to open what is shut; to shut what is open."

There is certionly this muffled eager resonance with concepts
clustered around film in the above descriptions of Janus and his
nymph-goddess: ante/precognizance, hinges, portals, thresholds,
'oscilla', 'open what is shut; to shut what is open'... but, it
remains, what is the /history/ (in the case of motion pictures, a
fairly brief history) of the /use of Janus/ as patron-symbol of film?

:D a n