Post 3: Surrealist Cinema

The representation of the subconscious, the image of dreams, and freedom from the restraints implemented by society and by reason or moral codes. The Surrealists pushed away from the idea of conforming to the status quo and shallow living doing what is ‘right’. The opposite of reality really is surrealism, subconscious thoughts and desires. Some of the truest aspects in Surrealist Silent film are found in passing frames of a larger film; the sudden emergence of the uncanny into the "normal" which may or may not be further explored in the rest of the film

In Man Ray’s ‘Starfish’, as if in a dream, scenes are stitched together to show a man and a woman walk along a country lane.  They climb a staircase and enter a room in which the woman starts to undress.  The man says farewell and goes away.  Later, the woman gives the man a starfish in a jar.  In his room, he examines it with fascination, and, as he does so, painted lines appear on the palms of his hand.  The woman returns to the same staircase with a knife, intent on murder, and finds a starfish.  The man meets the woman yet again, in the country, but this time she is accompanied by another man.  How beautiful she was, he reflects, looking at the starfish.  How beautiful she still is...

The desire for narrative, some point of mutual or emotive connection is disrupted and taken from us. The film becomes abstract in its cycles and repetition. The artistic and aesthetic choices become more apparent because of the lack of a rational sequential storyboard. Surrealist films challenge break from the tradition of movie plots, the screen representing the art forms of the theatre and our expectations of cinema.