The article states: “One of Svankmajer’s primary concerns is
“inner life,” which can be discussed in terms of dream states and suppressed impulses related
to sexuality, violence, and fear.” How do you see this reflected in his work (see examples below)? Please discuss in 100-150 words.
Jan Svankmajer’s “Meat Love”
Jan Svankmajer's Dimensions of Dialogue Pt 1
In the article it stated that Svankmajer "recognized as a leading figure in avant-garde cinema, producing provocative works reflecting the influence of surrealism and mannerism." These aspects are very prevalent in his "Dimensions of Dialogue" film. The realism of the heads is mashed with the surrealist transformation of each head. The heads that come into contact with each other "eat" each other. This seems like it could be a metaphor for how each day we change each other by our interactions or the fact that we are entirely made up of outside influences until we take our final shape as humans. It is subconscious, in our "inner life," and we aren't always aware of it. It can be through many different interactions, whether they are sexual, violent, or fueled by fear. The interaction that the heads encounter, for me, can he seen as all three. The "Dimensions of Dialogue" film also reminded me of a rock, paper, scissors game. It seemed like the "better" head always won to create a better head, and eventually all the heads looked like humans.
ReplyDeleteI found Svankmajer's videos to be an interesting mixture of playful and very human. In the video "Meat love" there are obvious statements about gender roles and sexuality and ultimately repression. Though the video deals with repression of sexuality there is a seeming playfulness and light-heartedness which is present until the very end of the film when the cooking of the meat ironically turns them into just a "piece of meat." The second film seems to be a commentary on the idea of your are what you eat... or in this case, what eats you. The idea that all of the objects, food, and people you come into contact with in your life are what you end up being made out of, is interesting and very well represented throughout the film.
ReplyDeleteThe article states that Jan Svankmajer's work is "critically acclaimed" due to the fact that he is recognized as a leading figure in advant-garde cinema, producing provocative works reflecting the influence of surrealism and mannerism." Furthermore, Svankmajer's focus "extends beyond human psychology into the world of inanimate objects..." This can definitely be seen in both the films, "Meat Love" and "Dimensions of Dialogue." In "Meat Love" the two pieces of sliced meat that should be considered inanimate because the meat is coming from an animal that is already dead, "have come to life...that move about as though they were alive" which "tends to be bizarre" (Furniss 157). In "Dimensions of Dialogue" these imaginative "heads" made entirely of everyday items, such as fruits and vegetables go head to head eventually reducing each other to nothingness. When I watched the two films, I was a tad grossed out by the meat, but I am beginning to see his many talents and having that imagination and the ability to transform non-living objects or items to something worthwhile is incredible.
ReplyDeleteThe idea of “inner life” can be seen in Jan Svankmajer’s work, through his use of inanimate object personifying larger ideas. The article says that “inner life” can be discussed in terms of sexuality, fear and violence. In this first piece “Meat Love” there is a since of sexual desire along with anxiety. When the slab of meat goes to look at its reflection in the spoon, I immediately thought of the metaphor for the human body, “a fine piece of meat”. The meat seemed to express feeling of self-consciousness about its naked body even going so far as to cover itself up, even though it just meat and will be cooked later. Svankmajer seems to point out that if all we are are just pieces of meat why should we feel this anxiety and fear about how are bodies are seen by others.
ReplyDeleteThe article says Jan Svankmajer's "consistently depicts objects that have come to life, whether they are model figures (that is, puppets) that move about as though they were alive or found objects that tend to be bizarre". I felt that this statement really encompassed what I saw in the two videos. Svankmajer is able to take objects, such as meat in the first video and give them this feeling of life to a certain degree. Suddenly meat has gained feelings of self-consciousness, fear, and love. By using sound which enhanced texture, as well as specific camera angles, Svankmajer creates that idea of "inner life". In the second video I felt that Svankmajer was attempting to show the foundations of the body and to show that the very core of every body is in fact quite similar. I really enjoyed how fast this video was and the raw feeling created by the various elements.
ReplyDeleteThe ideas of suppressed impulses, sexuality, violence, and fear in dream states is about as surrealist as it gets and goes hand-in-hand with Freudian philosophy. Jan Sankmajer seems to fuse together these artistic ideas and philosophical questions with his animations. At the same time these films seem tinged with a sense of the irony and futility of the modern human condition. “Meat Love” rang out to me on one level as a satirical modern play on the book of genesis. Life is born out of an inanimate cut of meat (perhaps reminiscent of eve being created out of the rib of Adam?). From here Missus Meat quickly becomes aware of her nakedness as Mr. Meat gives her a cheeky slap on the cheek. Next Mr. and Mrs. Meat are dancing to radio music followed quickly by a rough and flirty romp in the flower and then a quick and unexpected death. Perhaps this is simply a morbid (albeit a bit funny) interpretation of the anonymity of life in the modern era. Things as sacred as life, love, and death have become nothing more than anonymous cuts of meat coaxing one another into bed without any remorse of death. At the same time, the effect of the animation destroys this very notion. It operates to awaken the viewer to their senses and addressed the “inner life” that the content of the video may suggest is gone. Svankmajer consciously uses meat and displays themes of sexuality, violence and fear to awaken the viewer. We, as sensual (and sensuous) human beings simply cannot watch two pieces of meat violently making love in a bowl of flower without being very aware of the passion and vitality of life. Svankmajer reinforces the idea that even in an environment as industrial and impersonal as our current age of modernity, art has the capacity to awaken people and keeps society moving forward.
ReplyDeleteI found Svankmajer's work to be very provocative. Before watching the clips I thought the idea of "inner life" mentioned in the article to be an odd way to describe both Svankmajer's style and influence for his animation works. However, after watching both the "Dimensions of Dialog" and "Meat Love" videos the idea that within his work there are "suppressed impulses related to sexuality, violence and fear" really stood out to me. It was interesting how he used raw disgusting meat to portray the flirtation between opposite sexes. In both videos the objects turn into life like beings far from the material/objects they look to be. For this reason I think his work pushes the boundaries of our everyday expectations by combining every day objects with human characteristics.
ReplyDeleteAfter reading the article about Svankmajer, I found it interesting that he focuses a lot of his attention on human psychology, yet his works mostly include inanimate objects. He uses objects in ways that make them appear like they are coming to life, which I thought linked well to his interest on “inner life”. His video “Meat Love” reflects his views on how eating can be violent, aggressive, and even grotesque and the choice of using raw meat was meant to connect with the viewer on a different level. When watching “Meat Love” I found it to be very odd to watch because I am not used to seeing raw meat take on human roles and I did find it almost grotesque. Meat has connotations like savagely and primordial, and I found these to relate to his goals of creating “inner life” and portraying basic human emotions like violence and aggressiveness. I definitely saw in these two videos the objectives he wishes to portray in his works.
ReplyDeleteJan Svankmajer's "Meat Love" is an unique and provocative depiction of life, love, and death portrayed with two simple pieces of butcher's meat. Svankmajer's utilizes stop motion to create movement with inanimate objects (using food as his favorite medium). Svankmajer suggests to his viewers a deeper meaning hidden in his film with his usage of meat that comes to life, and then precedes to move and act such as a conscious human would. The actions that then take place are funny and ironic. The notion of personal ideals and perhaps philosophical questions do indeed emerge. Something that in reality which is considered dead, the meat, has now begun to show life. Yet the importance of life seems to be pushed aside with the obsession of body type and sex. This is where is see Svankmajer questioning the modern society, by presenting such an unusual image as two pieces of meat coming to life, attempting to get the other into bed (the pan), and then inevitably dying. This surrealist approach is highly intriguing to me. Svankmajer is very effective in his usage of ordinary objects that take a specific form, which then leads to the symbolizing of much greater topics and issues.
ReplyDeleteSvankmajor takes great care to include a dominating sense of sexuality in this video. He deals with different emotions and their correspondence to sexuality, such as repression. While he is dealing with such topics that could be seen as dark and unhappy, he proceeds to create something playful & fun, all while remaining provactive. Dimensions of Dialog features similar ideas regarding the repression of sexuality. While he is playful in his attempt, I feel that the overriding grotesqueness of "Meat Love" was enough to repress my own feelings towards his works.
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