COMM 3560 Assignment 3

COMM 3560 Assignment 3 | Tulane University

John ScottCOMM 3560-01Week 4Postmodern ApparitionsScreenings: Animations by Norman McLaren, the Quay Brothers, and Jan SvankmajerThe materials Jan Svankmajer use are familiar to items we see all the time.  Hismixture of abstract items come together for a provocative experience.  His short films“Meat Love” and and “Flora” were the most relatable due to their human forms.Svankmajer’s plays with the abstract as an aesthetic.  Bringing animate objects to life,the interactions make you question what you are seeing.  A theme of miscommunicationis present throughout all his work.  The recycling and mixing of parts is generative of hissurrealist style.  The background noises construct a disorienting vibe throughout theentire film.Born in 1934, Jan Svankmajer studied and taught in prague and in the czechrepublic.  Pulling from earlier movements, Svankmajer joined a surrealist group.  Hewas critical under the communist regime in censoring films.  Later, he joined the liberaldemocratic regime.  Because of this, many of his films have a political commentarywhile others are more fantastical.  Throughout his work, it is characterized with sharpcamera movements and abrasive cuts.  Creating a jarring effect causing his audience towonder what follows what. He also incorporates a child-like perspective.  It’s apparent inhis work he was influenced by the famous painter who would make figures from fruitsand vegetables.  Svankmajer’s goal is to invoke doubt in the everyday commonality.The opening scene in Dimensions of Dialogue is a mash of objects beingobliterated by other objects.  Originally a disorder of fruits and vegetables, they face offwith another disorder of office supply objects.  Each is meant to looks like people withfaces.  The chaos of it is fascinating in how the destruction of one object is rearrangedto create another.  The garbage turns into clay people in an instant.  This is common inSvankmajer’s work.  He often makes abrasive cuts with masterful fantasies.  Again,there is an abrasive cut.  This time the clay figures claw each other apart and the scenechanges.  His intentions to make the viewer question is obvious as his two claymationsexchange a cacophony of objects which don’t go together.In Meat Love, he takes an ordinary kitchen and brings the sinner eat to life.Acting as if they’re a romantic couple.In “Food”, The audience gets a sense of Svankmajer's childishness when you see whatshould be a serious adult interact turn into a game.  The pure fantasy only gets moreand more abstract as the individuals begin to eat the inanimate objects.  The audience

wouldn’t normally consider the character going from eating the table’s flowers to theirown shoes.The dark images pair up with the mysterious, ominous music in the backgroundto suck the viewer into the film.  The ticking of a clock and high violin strings cause thiseffect.