so, in a way i'd like to talk about all the differences there are in eraserhead between postmodernism and surrealism/modernism, though i could talk about the similarities also. even if this will end up in a jumbled mess probably here goes...
i kept trying to place this movie with surrealism, as much of the class was saying they thought it was surreal, though i couldn't fit it in perfectly to the genre.
the reasons for my opinion are this:
1. there's a plot. even if there were ways for people to get confused about certain things and even the whole meaning or story line, the fact that there was an actual story, that they follow through to the end, is more than most (or any) surrealist films.
2. If we think of any example, Un chien andalou (from 1929)it is said the salvador dali and luis bunuel went into making the story knowing that it couldn't make any sense. It wasn't supposed to. ideas jumped through to different ideas in a matter of minutes. in eraserhead, though the meaning is questionable and lynch doesn't agree with anything anyone has come up with, the story line of the baby and the man who has to take care of this baby because he had sex with a woman (when they weren't even married gasp) and the process of him being left alone by the baby's mother. there are visions of sperm like objects constantly, and the tone of sex is beyond apparent. the lady in the radiator takes a stand against them by squishing them under her feet in rebellion while saying everything will be ok, (in heaven).
there are in fact moments and ideals in this however that are very much based off of surrealist concepts however:
1. the dream sequences. the subconscious plays a huge role in this movie. his dreams of men in a factory turning his head into erasers, his dreams of the baby appearing from his body.
2. the lady in the radiator has a surrealist feel saying that things are ok, but coming from a radiator which is a symbol of henry's desire for suicide.
i think if anything it is obvious that this film is made by someone who knows what he is doing through the decades of arts. he has made a point of this movie to have both surreal subconscious nature and the makings for a really well done postmodern piece.
also...just so monica gets to see how eraserhead and radiohead come together...here you go ma'am.
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1 comment:
I'm SO swooning right now.
Why is it that my favorite things always come together somehow?
I think people are agreeing that this film hovers on the edge between modernism and postmodernism. And, thanks for clarifying about surrealism - people take that term for granted.
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