The following session is a collection of research activities designed to help you to get to grips with surrealism ass a concept. The two surrealist films we are studying are both being studied through the prism of surrealism. Examples of questions you may be asked included 'explore the ways in which the combination of cinematography and editing constructs a surrealistic aesthetic' or 'to what extent are the films you have studied for this unit typical of surrealist cinema? Make reference to elements of narrative to support your answer'. So, very frankly, it's important to learn what surrealism is before we continue!
Defining surrealism
When we looked at postmodernism, we had to conclude that it didn't really have an easy to come to definition. The idea 'postmodernism is a theory that cannot be defined' seems pretentious, but it reflects a world in which we live in that frankly doesn't make sense any more.
However, while there is some overlap between postmodernism and surrealism (though not much to be honest), one of the biggest differences is that surrealism has a very definite, absolute and clear definition. Ant here it is:
Surrealism - an art movement that seeks to recreate the logic of dreams
There we go!
Surrealism is an art movement that focuses on ‘the unconscious mind’ So any conscious meaning is largely absent from surrealist art. Surrealism is highly influenced by the work of the Austrian psychoanalyst Sigmund Freud, particularly his writing on the interpretation of dreams.
Task 1 - researching Freud
Spend exactly seven minutes researching Sigmund Freud, and everything you can find out about him. His most important work is probably 'Dreams And Their Relation To The Unconscious', so this is a good place to start. You do not need to be an expert in Freud and we'll be looking at him in more detail later on, but some basic knowledge will be very useful indeed!
What is surrealism and what isn't surrealism?
You've probably referred to something as 'surreal' before. Sorry to break this to you, but you've probably used this term incorrectly. Don't worry, it's one of the most widely misused terms out there. This is because 'surrealism' is often used as a catch-all term for ‘weird’, ‘random’, ‘odd’ or ‘strange’. But this is not true at all.
Exploring the unconscious mind
Task 2 - write down the last thing you dreamt of
Michael's first dream
I started a masters degree in cultural sociology at Cambridge, but then a nice man in an auditorium announced that 'we are being attacked next week'. So even though my wife was moaning about me spending all my money on a qualification I didn’t actually need we all got access to Cambridge uni’s secret bunker complex. That is me, my wife and my daughter. Everyone else in the entire world died, but I wasn’t bothered at all. It was a bit like the start of Fallout 4 but no one seemed to care. I didn’t care. So we climbed down all these stairs and it was pretty good. Everything was clean and nice. But I had to share shelf space for my records and CDs with all these undergraduates. I kind of wanted to see how life went in the bunker and the end of the world but I just drank grape soda by myself for a long time. Then I woke up.
Michael's second dream (later that night)
There was a huge black rose made of wood and metal. His name was Talmud Peter. I laughed at this, it was very funny. Then everything was golden cubes, forever, and ever.
But seriously, what is surrealism?
Surrealist art follows the logic of dreams. This can include
- Presenting a confusing, non-linear progression of space and time
- Themes of wish fulfilment and hidden desires
- An exploration of deep and hidden anxieties
- Themes of sexual obsession and sexual fetishism