Surrealism in Films - Essay Example

Film Term Paper The medium of moving pictures grew from a mere technological innovation into a big commercial industry and at the same time, into anoutlet for artistic expression. Many artists have ventured into film. This is because the medium offers the ability to depict a series of images that convey an active visual experience as compared to other visual forms, such as painting which give a more passive experience. Films, as an artistic outlet, combine many artistic elements such as the visual, music, and narrative, is heavily influence by various art forms found in art and literature. Surrealism, an artistic movement influenced by the cultural movement of Dadaism in WWI, eventually found itself flourishing in the film medium. Though Surrealism as a pure artistic form seemingly died out with the death of Andre Breton, the influence continues prevail in films. Surrealists emphasize the importance of the unconscious dream state and symbolism through the elements of surprise and juxtaposition. Unlike many pure Surrealist films in Europe, American cinema has adapted the influence of Surrealism into a storytelling method and a foundation for the interpretation of dreams and reality. Filmmakers use surrealist concepts and methods to cross the lanes from the conscious reality to the unconscious perceptive plane and attach philosophical statements to matters that are beyond a reflection of what is real. Such examples of Surrealist influence can be found across American cinematic history, in critically acclaimed films such as Spellbound (1945), directed by Alfred Hitchcock; Blue Velvet (1986), directed by David Lynch; and Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind (2004), directed by Michel Gondry. Surrealism is a style of art that was developed to create an expressive expansion of the dreams of artists so that the internal could be expressed rather than the external repeated. Spanish Surrealist painter Salvador Dali described that the work of the Surrealist is “based on phantasms and representations brought about by the materializations of unconscious acts” (Levy 7). The style utilizes what is real but puts it into an unreal framework, which is best represented in his sculpture, Lobster Telephone. In the sculpture, a lobster has been substituted for the receiver of the telephone. The intent was to illicit a response and to ask the viewer to examine his or her response to the recreated dreamlike quality of the artwork (Claybourne 4). Surrealism is the ideas from the dream world that brought into manifestation within a form of art. Surrealism in film was pioneered by artists such as Man Ray, Jean Cocteau, and Salvador Dali. American born artist Man Ray saw his films as commentary on the art form of film. His work was about the imagery and felt that when “talkies” were developed, his connection to his viewers was no longer possible. His work was developed through the use of the purity of imagery alone without the use of sound (Baldwin 152). Cocteau left little in the way of theory where film was concerned. However, he did utilize the medium to play with the concepts of time and space in order to stretch the boundaries of the conscious world. He was able to shift and juxtapose “different times and places; and (move) the viewer effortlessly between reality and a dream” (Levitt 43). The expansion of Surrealism into the American Cinema coincides with the development of the film noir genre of cinematic style (Borde and Chaumeton 24). Film noir had a fascination with death, with the dark places of the mind that were just outside of the light and dwelled in the shadows of the imagination. According to Sanders and Skoble, the surrealists intended to turn “bourgeois values and moralities upside down” and that these aesthetics still glimmer in even television programming such as the CSI franchise and the Law and Order franchise which peal back the imagined criminal world of our nightmares and exposes the horrors to the audience in darkened shadows (19). American filmmakers have embraced the basic foundations of Surrealism and used them liberally within their works. According to Harper and Stone, surrealism on film can be traced back to theories of Plato and Proust. Plato suggested that “truth is nothing more than the shadows of artificial things; silly things that corrupt our eyes“, and Proust suggested that “ the past was hidden in some material object which we do not suspect” (1). Surrealism in contemporary American film explores the essence of truth by putting it under the lens of the imagined truth. What is believed is put into balance with what is imagined. Perception of the truth and the difference between perception and reality plays a vital role in the way in which the themes and imagery of surrealistic cinema is presented. According to Harper and Stone, the first Hollywood director to introduce Surrealism to the modern audience was Alfred Hitchcock (115). The following statement also signifies the interest of Hitchcock in surrealism: “Hitchcock’s interest in the modern style of surrealism reflects his own obsession with man’s imbalance and his interest in appropriating a therapeutic discourse in his films” (Moral 190). Moral goes on to suggest that there is a voyeurism that emerges within the films as the viewer is allowed access to the inner workings of the minds of Hitchcock’s characters. Moreover the audience is compelled to ponder on their own personalities comparing them with the characters of the film, examining his own darker thoughts and how they are in context with his or her emotions and actions (191). The film Spellbound (1945) was the collaboration of producer David Selznick with Alfred Hitchcock. Selznick was in psychoanalysis and wanted to do a film about the theme, both to capitalize on the mystery that surrounded the process and to do some public relations on the theory as it was in the process of being discouraged by other psychology theorists. The story in the film is about a patient with amnesia who has taken the identity of someone with a tragic past, but for which he has no real memory. He just feels a residual guilt that compels him to become that person. The core moments of the film that relate to the theme of psychoanalysis result in a dream sequence that was designed by Salvador Dali and consisted of images that seemed somewhat random but that were made clear through dream analysis that resulted in solving most of the mystery (Moral 191). The influences of psychoanalysis as they are also relevant to the Surrealist movement are thick and this influenced generations of film makers because the concepts of imagery in films was greatly expanded as the mind became a filmable playground. Hitchcock used Dali because he wanted to “(equate) the psychoanalytical theme and the pictorial element…with the use of surrealist imagery” (Cohen 56). Hitchcock used the concepts in order to create a deeper experience for the audience and to provoke thought and create a dialogue between the audience and the film. The intention of Surrealism is to connect with the audience and invoke thought process. The film Blue Velvet (1986) is reminiscent of the classic film noir genre that has evolved into the contemporary genre neo noir. Directed by David Lynch, the film takes a look at the duality of life even in seemingly peaceful and quaint small American towns where the film is set, revealing the sweetness of the surface, and then peeling back the layers to get to the shadowy underworld that operates behind closed doors. Director David Lynch is famous for his strange, unorthodox visual elements and non-linear narrative style. In Blue Velvet, Lynch used surrealist imagery, symbolism, and the element of surprise to advance the theme of the film. Blue Velvet centers around a college student, Jeffrey Beaumont, who discovers a darker side to the peaceful town he lives in after he stumble across a severed ear in the field. The camera zooms into the ear canal, which symbolizes chaos and trouble, as Jeffrey is propelled into a world that is twisted with obscenity and violence that exists in-between the perception that he has of the city where he lives. The camera only then zooms out of the ear canal at the closing scene, when peace is once again restored in Jeffrey’s world. Director David Lynch draws heavily upon The Wizard of Oz as a source of inspiration. Homage to the 1939 musical can be seen through the imagery of the red shoes and the naming of Dorothy. The pacing of the two films seem to fall into step with one another and it is as if Lynch created his own version, seeking to darken the children’s film and immerse it into the shadows (Bronfen 28). The film is steeped in that feeling of wonder as each meeting brings with it a new and often horrific realization of the world that Jeffery has stepped into. The nightmare world that Dorothy has drawn him into through the discovery of an ear can be compared to Oz, a world that has a strangeness that he cannot fully comprehend. Jeffery is lost in an alternate universe that exists within his own world. Blue Velvet uses American middle class culture as a foundation for the story of dual realities, dissecting that societal construct that is the stereotypical universe within the American historical perception of its culture. Lynch takes that stereotype and twists it in order to tear back the veil and reveal what no one wants to talk about. He shines a light into the sewer, revealing what can’t scatter fast enough. Lynch believes that the stories he tells are reflective of an American tradition of telling stories that are created from the absurd and the Surreal. He is very aware of the way which the American culture has created its reality, all the while knowing that deep within its bowels the shadows exist. He finds interest in the way in which reality is measured against what is created to be real (Rodley 199). Highly romanticized and optimistic, Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind (2004), breaks free from the Surrealist association with darkness, particularly in film noir and neo noir. The writer of the film was Charlie Kaufman, whose first major motion picture script was for Being John Malkovich (1999), a strange story about a man who finds a doorway into the mind of the real life actor John Malkovich, who played himself in the film. Kaufman is unique in Hollywood. While most films are credited to their directors, Kaufman films are simply known as Kaufman films. He has used the devices of humor and mainstream films in balance with the qualities of Surrealist film in order to create entertaining movies that also say something and do something that inspires thought about some very important concepts (Mayshark 138). In Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind (2004), the concept of painful memory is examined, as well as the aspects of love and how connections are made between those who fall in love. The initial premise is that a firm has developed a way to wipe out all of the memories of a single incident or person in order to give clients peace of mind so they have no recollection of that time or person and can move forward in their life. The concept seems appealing, but the exploration of whether a person would truly wish not to know something or someone who profoundly affected their life is examined through dream experiences as the protagonist fights to hold onto the memories of a girl he loved. He asks for the procedure, but having done so he regrets his decision. One of the devices that is used liberally in the film is to show the events out of sequence. This is similar to the theories of Cocteau who repositioned time and space within his work. The film begins close to the end of the chronology of the story. The events that lead up to that moment are then revealed as the story of Clementine and Joel and their love affair is released in small snippet views that are trapped within the mind of Joel, who is chasing his memories trying to hold onto them. The do not come in the order they were experienced and are mostly witnessed in reverse. Events sometimes overlap with other memories that were relevant within his mind to each other. According to Erll and Rigney, it is the narrative strategies that are used in making the film that make it so explicitly unique. Most films would use voice-overs and flashbacks, but this film is designed with the concepts of memory at the forefront and the ways in which it can be somewhat fragmented at times and how one remembers things in reverse order, with the most recent events being the most fresh, thus being the ones that are most relevant within the moment of thinking about someone or something (34). With true Surrealistic intentions, the director of the film recreates the thoughts he believes exist in Joel’s mind in order to reveal the story of the romance to the audience. As well, media and objects become connected to the memories, and those connections are slowly severed through the procedure that Joel has undergone, creating a commentary on the way in which memory is enhanced by physical and tangible items (Erll and Rigney 36). The theme of the film is defined by its revelation of memory and the disjointed and distorted nature of memory affects how emotions are experienced. Many other films have utilized the concepts that make up the Surrealism sense of creativity. Salvadore Dali collaborated with Disney to create the animated short film Destino (2007).Which was not actually finished until it was rediscovered by Disney’s nephew Roy in 2003 (Gabler 416). Another film that uses Surrealistic concepts in order to keep the audience off balance is Pi (1998), written and directed by Darren Aronofsky. The film is about a genius mathematician who cannot contain his genius and thus is battered back and forth without a clarity of knowing what is real and what is not real. Aronofsky uses blunt images that the Surrealists embraced, such as insects, only with a more subtle suggestion of their presence in order to illicit that same sense of revulsion that the early Surrealists aspired to find (23). In Requiem for a Dream (2000), he takes his aesthetics of Surrealism to weave a dark story about the consequences and horrors of drug abuse, moment by moment destroying the hope and aspirations of the characters until they have been completely taken apart. Many critics have criticized on the presence of Surrealist influence in American cinema. Parker Tyler, well known American author, poet, and film critic, stated that Surrealism was an excuse, that it took from art its craftsmanship. He insisted that the technical skill of the artist was being supplanted by the desire to express and that the Surrealists had not driven hard enough to work the craftsmanship in order to express the unconscious. The aesthetic form was as important as the meaning behind that form (Taylor 54). According to Michael Richardson, the American film use of surrealism has tainted the movement, rendering it a used up version of the original intent. He particularly speaks about Lynch, suggesting that the elements of surrealism within his work take the concept of surrealism without the essence of its nature. True Surrealism never fully manifests. Richardson says that “the will to change life and transform the world - seems absent” (73). The main argument made by Richardson is that while the spirit of the movement is present, the engaging dialogue from the imagery to the viewer, which is then driven back by the viewer to the work, is not present. Despite criticism that the origins of the Surrealism have been watered down, the modern film uses the concepts to reach a wider audience and therefore has a greater affect on the perceptions of society. The dream state has become a rich landscape in which to define the way in which reality diverges with the perception of reality. Filmmakers are using this state in order to visually discuss the mind and viewers are being provoked to think about their perceptions from a variety of viewpoints. The modern Surrealist filmmaker has inspired conversations and realizations to a wide, pop culture based audience. Works Cited Baldwin, Neil. Man Ray, American Artist. New York: Da Capo Press, 2001. Print. Borde, Raymond, and Etienne Chaumeton. A Panorama of American Film Noir (1941-1953). San Francisco: City Lights Books, 2002. Bronfen, Elisabeth. Home in Hollywood: The Imaginary Geography of Cinema. New York: Columbia Univ. Press, 2004. Claybourne, Anna. Surrealism. Chicago, Il: Heinemann Library, 2009. Print. Cohen, Paula M. Alfred Hitchcock: The Legacy of Victorianism. Lexington, KY: The University Press of Kentucky, 1995. Erll, Astrid, and Ann Rigney. Mediation, Remediation, and the Dynamics of Cultural Memory. Berlin: Walter de Gruyter, 2009. Gabler, Neal. Walt Disney: The Triumph of the American Imagination. New York: Random House, 2007. Harper, Graeme, and Rob Stone. The Unsilvered Screen: Surrealism on Film. London: Wallflower, 2007. Print. Levitt, Annette S. “The Cinematic Magic of Jean Cocteau”. Ed. Cornelia Tsakiridou. Reviewing Orpheus: Essays on the Cinema and Art of Jean Cocteau. Bucknell review, 41:1. Lewisburg: Bucknell University Press, 1997. Levy, Silvano. Surrealism: Surrealist Visuality. Edinburgh: Keele University Press, 1997. Print. Mayshark, Jesse F. Post-pop Cinema: The Search for Meaning in New American Film. Westport, Conn: Praeger, 2007. Moral, Tony L. Hitchcock and the Making of Marnie. Lanham, Maryland: Scarecrow Press, 2002. Richardson, Michael. Surrealism and Cinema. Oxford [u.a.: Berg, 2006. Internet resource. Rodley, Chris. Lynch on Lynch. London: faber and faber, 2005. Sanders, Steven, and Aeon J. Skoble. The Philosophy of TV Noir. Lexington, Ky: University Press of Kentucky, 2008. Print. Taylor, Greg. Artists in the Audience: Cults, Camp, and American Film Criticism. Princeton, N.J: Princeton University Press, 1999. Read More