Folie

15:03 Feb 5, 2012 

My Dictionary of Word Origins has this to say, among other things, about the various English meaning of "foil": "The modern notion of `one that enhances another by contrast' comes from the practice of backing a gem with metal foil to increase its brilliancy.... The source of `foil' (sword) is not known, although the semantic development of `blade' from `leaf' to `cutting part' suggests the possibility that a similar process took place in the case of `foil' `leaf.'"
-end of excerpt from dictionary - And then there's the line from the 1960s cartoon, "Curses, foiled again!" (Was it Boris and Natasha?)

21:32 Feb 2, 2012 

Gut misgivings as @ Pawel (Instinct sez "agree" but from Eng. usage - I haven't ever seen it in Ger. & so, suspect it's socio-philosopher-Gender studies vocab. Or the Guattaris et al.? As platforms, so foils? Only a hunch)- I don't think this is a contrasting 'foil' in the Eng. sense. Given the post-post-Frankfurt-school-cum-Deconstructivist-cum Post-media-euphoria air of the text my hunch now is that the 'Folie' image is an implicit metaphor, say from the 'layers' used in digital image processing; & (that other lovely:) Inszenieren. Does the text venture into layers/projected societal 'narratives' (and another one: 'performativity')? Related to backdrop but rather 'a set' - maybe nothing more spectacular than a set image. Which is why I seconded 'model'. Dunno whether this helps much. But yes I feel with your 'wading', Susan :-( (bin halt Wissenschafts((sprach-))banause)

07:21 Feb 2, 2012 

I might use "(existing) background", in the second I'd go with "model" as Olav suggests. And I freely admit that I am not an expert in this field and my suggestions are more gut-feeling than anything else.