becoming-animal

is not imitating, but it is a question of making something that has to do with the crab enter into composition with the image.

The actor Robert De Niro walks 'like' a crab in a certain film sequence... but, he says, it is not a question of his imitating a crab... it is a question of making something that has to do with the crab enter into composition with the image, with the speed of the image.59 (D&G 'thousand' : 274)

is not imitation, it is making one's organism enter into composition with something else in such a way that the particles emitted from the aggregate thus composed will be animal as a function of the relation of movements and rest, or of molecular proximity, into which they enter.

An example: Do not imitate a dog, but make your organism enter into composition with something else in such a way that the particles emitted from the aggregate thus composed will be canine as a function of the relation of movement and rest, or of molecular proximity, into which they enter. Clearly, this something else can be quite varied, and be more or less directly related to the animal in question: it can be the animal's natural food (dirt and worm), or its exterior relations with other animals (you can become-dog with cats, or become-monkey with a horse), or an apparatus or prosthesis to which a person subjects the animal (muzzle and reindeer, etc.), or something that does not even have a localizable relation to the animal in question. (D&G 'thousand' : 274)

is not imitation. The painter and musician do not imitate the animal, they become-animal at the same time as the animal becomes what they willed. Becoming is always double, that which one becomes becomes no less than the one that becomes.

One imitates only if one fails, when one fails. The painter and musician do not imitate the animal, they become-animal at the same time as the animal becomes what they willed, at the deepest level of their concord with Nature.95 Becoming is always double, that which one becomes becomes no less than the one that becomes block is formed, essentially mobile, never in equilibrium. Mondrian's is the perfect square. It balances on one corner and produces a diagonal that half-opens its closure, carrying away both sides. (D&G 'thousand' : 305)

 produces nothing but itself. The human being does not really 'become' an animal any more than the animal 'really' becomes something else. Is a false alternative if we say that you either imitate or you are.

For if becoming animal does not consist in playing animal or imitating an animal, it is clear that the human being does not 'really' become an animal any more than the animal 'really' becomes something else. Becoming produces nothing other than itself. We fall into a false alternative if we say that you either imitate or you are. What is real is the becoming itself, the block of becoming, not the supposedly fixed terms through which that which becomes passes. Becoming can and should be qualified as becoming-animal even in the absence of a term that would be the animal become. (D&G 'thousand' : 238)

is a process occuring only molecularly. You do not become a barking molar dog, but by barking, you emit a molecular dog.

You become animal onlymolecularly. You do not become a barking molar dog, but by barking, if it is done with enough feeling, with enough necessity and composition, you emit a molecular dog. Man does not become wolf, or vampire, as if he changed molar species... the vampire and werewolf are becomings of man, in other words, proximities between molecules in composition, relations of movement and rest, speed and slowness between emitted particles. (D&G 'thousand' : 275)

becoming animal, n.Definitions

becoming animal