Which particular aspects of the film medium are explored in
In this essay I plan to point out which particular aspects of the film medium are explored in surrealist film. In doing this task I will need to define surrealism in terms of the cinema and therefore explain exactly which aspects of a surrealist film set it apart from other genres to make it surrealist. In turn I shall also compare surrealist film to other genres of film including that which it is most often compared to, avante-garde cinema. The particular surrealist films I shall be making reference to are L'age D'Or (France, 1930, d. Luis Bunuel) and Un Chien Andalou (France, 1928, d. Luis Bunuel) as these are the surrealist films that I am most familiar with. I shall also be exploring surrealist film in terms of narrative, style and content as well as addressing issues such as fantasy, reality and voyeurism in terms of film. The surrealism movement took place during the aftermath of the First World War and started primarily in France. Surrealism was more of a broad range, cultural and social project interested in liberating human society from conscious and logical thinking to create a utopian society, than an art movement. The surrealism movement was in search of a gateway into society's subconscious,
The audience does not register the change between the real head and the false; this is due to continuity editing. At the other end of the spectrum, discontinuous editing can be used to the opposite effect, "in the same film, the heroine locks the man out of the room only to turn to find him inexplicably behind her". Surrealist artwork concentrated on individualism, subjective visions and states of disorientation, nihilism, chaos and irrationality of modernity to break down the society's consciousness. Escapism is a necessary part of everyday life, and is most frequently exercised through film and television, but more so in film than any other medium. Lynch's Lost Highway, changes between two totally unrelated, yet strangely linked separate narratives, leaving the viewer alienated and disorientated, as they try to make sense of the change. The doppelganger turns to face the cyclist with a hurt look, but the cyclist mercilessly fires several shots. However, early, key surrealist films such as Un Chien Andalou and L'age D'Or "became classics of the 1920's (even though the latter was made in 1930) when histories of cinema began to be written the following decade and have largely remained so ever since". The geometric integrity of the room is intact, the objects and characters appear as they would in real life, which shows that even surrealism is still bound by certain laws and conventions and therefore still very much grounded in reality. Juxtaposition being a recurring theme in surrealist film, such as in L'age D'Or wherein the hero gratuitously shoots a child, something unbecoming of a hero in any sense of the word, o where a woman is seen shutting her eyes only to reveal eyes painted on her eyelids. Therefore confusing both the narrative and the audience with something that, in any other genre, would be viewed as a continuity error or a plot loop. Surrealist film is a minor part of the modern film industry both in and out of Hollywood; however, it is embraced by a few filmmakers of today, most notably in the work of directors, David Cronenberg and David Lynch. the breakdown of rational and logical thinking. Sexuality and fetishism are also deeply explored in surrealist film; I do think however that this is more of a tool used by the filmmakers to shock their audiences unused to such things, although this could also be seen as a tool with which to provoke thought. In terms of narrative, surrealist film is unlike any other genre, except perhaps the avante-garde, which asked it's audience to "rethink fundamentally our preconceptions about cinema" which is done much more aggressively in surrealist films such as Un Chien Andalou.
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Acceptance Essays
