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“Surrealism, then, neither aims to subvert realism, as does the fantastic, nor does it try to transcend it. It looks for different means by which to explore reality itself.” - Michael Richardson
a quick preface
a quick preface
Me a couple weeks ago would have prefaced this assignment by saying that I did not want to do it. Me today is giddy over the realization that surrealism isn't simply an antiquated and incomprehensible art form confined to the twentieth century. Okay, it's still sometimes incomprehensible to me but what's important is that surrealism isn't dead; it remains prevalent especially as modern-day filmmakers and artists propagate the art style in pop culture. Although surrealism is most renowned in iconic paintings like Dalí's The Persistence of Memory and René Magritte's The Son of Man, I chose to focus on another avenue - cinema. The "me getting giddy" bit catalyzed the day I found out that my all-time favorite movie, Inception, is a surrealist (or at least pseudo-surrealist) film. Tracing the movie's history to director Christopher Nolan's probable inspiration of the radically iconic surrealist work Dzgiva Vertov's Man With A Movie Camera was equal parts astonishing and insightful. Cinematographic relations to perhaps the surrealist film, Un Chien Andalou by Luis Buñuel further shocked me out of my predisposed aversion towards surrealism. As a result, I wanted to curate and evaluate these films holistically, old and new, and analyze how they converse with and inform one another, how they continue to bend and contort and expand our perception of the world, how they draw us to grapple with and question reality, and how consequently, they all contribute to the ever-expanding definition of surrealism.
Before we go on, I highly encourage you to take a listen to the soundtrack that started it all. Hans Zimmer outdoes himself yet again and I kid you not, "Time" is the first song I ever liked on Spotify. In general, soundtracks are great for studying and Hans Zimmer in particular is a fantastic composer for focus-oriented work. At the very least, it should make up for the poor writing below. But truly, in surrealist cinema and all genres at large, powerful music can transform a good movie into a great one. It is another pivotal cinematic element suffused with overlapping themes and recurring notes that capitalize on the auditory senses of a largely visual experience. I hope you enjoy. I also hope that if this started playing automatically it didn't freak you out. But maybe that's just me performing unsubtle inception to get you watch the movie. ;)
All these films grace a concept of the otherworldly. They emphasize the concept of psychic automatism, raw creativity unconstrained by traditionally prioritized conventions of morality and rationality. Freedom from these artistic shackles allowed surrealist cinema, like the movies above, to dive into and explore the unfiltered subconscious mind, a world that could and inevitably would evade the reasoned structure of a logical world. The invariably uncanny nature of such an exploration paved the way for similarly extraordinary cinematography techniques, which reveal one thing for another, fuse elements, and display the unpredictable. The success of these films is exhibiting something so phantasmal and uncanny that we nonetheless accept with enthusiasm. We embrace optical illusions as real and are inspired to wander into our own psyches and psychoanalyze our dreams or even attempt lurid dreaming. They encourage us to venture into both the expanse of the unknown and into ourselves, although many would make the argument that those two are one in the same.
Let's take a look at some of the key tenets of surrealist film.
(1) dreams = movies & movies = dreams
(1) dreams = movies & movies = dreams
There are many parallels to watching film and dreaming. In fact, cinema is a shared dream that we're meant to lose ourselves in; it actually shares many neurological similarities with REM sleep and (of course) the activation of the visual cortex. As someone who is fascinated with neuroscience and wants to major in it, this is a really exciting intersection of cognition. Uncovering how our subconscious can literally be manifested as a work of art is a truly captivating idea. Inception in particular dives straight into the heart of surrealism and the subconscious - the dream world. I invite you to watch the film's explanation to the left of how "we create and perceive simultaneously, and our mind does this so well that we don't even know it's happening." The whole movie rests on the premise of entering into someone's dream in order to implant or extract an idea. Consequently, the plot functions around various levels: there is first reality, and then subsequently several levels of successive dream states - (1) the dream, (2) the dream within a dream, (3) the dream within a dream within a dream, (and so the rabbit hole continues). But the most illusory and dangerous level is the lowest - limbo, a level so deep within the subconscious that the dream world becomes indistinguishable from reality. The conception of the real world is lost, and so the dream becomes reality, one could say - a surreality. This theme is unified in many other surrealist films, but perhaps not to the same mind-bending extent. Nonetheless, surrealism is best encapsulated through dreams - an ambiguous and manipulable gray area that is in truth overflowing with color and blends previously buried elements of our subconscious with the surface-level justifiers of rationality.
(2) the evasion of linearity
(2) the evasion of linearity
Nonlinearity is fodder for puzzle-solvers. It's likely that Un Chien Andalou kickstarted this trend of kicking cinematic chronology in the face. Although separated into parts which, linearly, create an ordered and logical narrative, the film is presented out of order, leaving the viewer scrambling to assemble the pieces. Rather than being disorganized, this purposeful style transports the viewer through an experience which they can subsequently decipher and develop a subjective interpretation of. Further, this technique connects strikingly to the previous surrealist film characteristic of the dream world. The nonsense nature of the dream state, unconfined to any conventional notion of logic and order, is itself implemented in the movie. Thus, apart from projecting elements of the dream world, surrealist film seeks to adopt the disordered narrative of the dream as well. Under that line of reasoning, surrealist film is a dream; it is an experience which the viewer is meant to relish in and unearth hidden or repressed truths and feelings within themselves. It invites us to venture into the uncanny and take a break from the structured and predictable routine of daily life in exchange for the bewitching chaos.
Amiran, Eyal. "Surrealism part one." Humanities Core. 3 Feb. 2022, University of California Irvine. Lecture.
(3) transformation of the daily into the uncanny
(3) transformation of the daily into the uncanny
Morphing the normal into the abnormal is another classic tactic of surrealist film. Intended to derive and deploy the uncanny, this cinematic technique falls right within the purview of surrealism. Transfiguring a typical object into something strange and unfamiliar can both intrigue and perturb the viewer. The beauty of this is exploiting something that is not wholly unfamiliar but, as Freud puts it, "old-established in the mind" and alienated "only through the process of repression." In this sense, bringing out the uncanny expands a viewer's worldview, allowing them to mentally manipulate and conflate various concepts and physical things; it is creatively liberating. The literal eye in the camera lens from Man with a Movie Camera (bottom gif) and the manually decayed apple from Doctor Strange (top gif) reflect this concept of breaching into unknown or unprecedented territory - providing the viewer with a new and both appealing and appalling perspective.
CONVERSATION IN SURREALIST FILM
Usage of the mirror in these films hints at psychoanalysis and introspection which draw us to look inwards and literally walk into a mirror or reflection of ourselves. The uncanny experience of breaking or dimensionalizing a mirror in Inception and Doctor Strange, respectively, also lends weight to the idea that a mere cognition or idea possesses influence over our bodily realities; the intangible takes precedence over the tangible. This prioritization of creativity over rationality is a recurring motif in surrealist cinema and the genre at large.
The rushing onslaught of a train bridges a nearly century-long divide in surrealist film. I remember when I first saw the clip from Man with a Movie Camera, I instantly recognized and freaked out over the parallel; it's uncanny (sorry, I'll stop with the awful puns). Nevertheless, the idea of a train about to plow through a beloved character's head is instantaneously anxiety-inducing as the collective audience mentally (or verbally) screams at them to get out of the way. We know this is a movie, we know this is a work of fiction, but the stress and emotions we feel are all too real. Ultimately, this is the aim of surrealist cinema: to tap into our feelings and circumvent our logical reasoning.
The contortion and bending of city-landscapes are another shared feature between these films. They once again reinforce the mind bending the world at its own will. Some might perceive such folding and manipulation as chaotic and claustrophobic, while others interpret the cinematography for the freedom in creativity and the wonder of aesthetics. These scenes reflect the "upside-down" nature of surrealism and its tendency towards irrationality and the whims of the mind. The inward collapse of the buildings in the optical trick of Man with a Movie Camera is also likely politicized criticism of the self-sabotaging and impotent nature of twentieth-century government and authority.
Agnieszka Piotrowska and Anna Dobrowodzka. “Inception – A Surrealist Tale.”
a film within a film
a film within a film
~ more intertextual discourse ~
~ more intertextual discourse ~
I thoroughly encourage you to watch this incredible mash-up between scenes of Inception and Un Chien Andalou which transitions between the two films almost imperceptibly, as a means of highlighting their shared visual and aesthetic techniques. This assimilation is proof of the ongoing conversation between surrealist work. Surrealist cinema is ripe with intertextuality. Inspiration is a connective tissue in this medium and yet originality is ever-present in each individual piece.
the iconic inception score
the iconic inception score
This is the song woven throughout the movie to signify waking up from one's dream. Edith Piaf''s voice crones in beautifully and nearly imperceptibly at first, until the theme grows larger and larger, just as waking occurs very slowly until suddenly you're awake and the dream has collapsed. In spite of the nonsensical structure to dreaming or surrealism at large for that matter, there is a deep and undeniable beauty to it. "Non, je ne regrette rien." No, I don't regret anything.
works cited:
Amiran, Eyal. "Surrealism part one." Humanities Core. 3 Feb. 2022, University of California Irvine. Lecture.
Christopher Nolan. Inception. Warner Bros., 2010.
Luis Buñuel and Salvador Dalí. Un Chien Andalou, 1929.
Vertov Dziga and Tsivian. Man with a Movie Camera, 1929.
Scott Derrickson. Doctor Strange, 2016.
"Surrealist Film Movement Overview and Analysis". [Internet]. 2022. TheArtStory.org.
Agnieszka Piotrowska and Anna Dobrowodzka. “Inception – A Surrealist Tale.” Filmscalpel, https://www.filmscalpel.com/inception-a-surrealist-tale/.
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