The Perception of Art
“The purpose of art actually is, in many cases, to make you feel quite uncomfortable. Or at least to go to that place that’s already of discomfort inside of you and tap into that,” thus said Michael Moore, the academy- award winning filmmaker. One of the words, to be focused upon in Moore’s quote is “Discomfort”. The French Dictionary, ‘Treasury of the French Language’, gives a detailed definition of what the word ‘comfort’ is. According to this treatise, comfort is an “ensemble of material conveniences that procure a feeling of well-being’. It is thus safe to say that discomfort is the lack of “a feeling of well-being”. A dialogue from in the 1945 Alfred Hitchcock movie- Spellbound is curiously similar to the quote. In this movie, one of the characters in the film, a Psychoanalyst, tells his ‘patient’ that, “Dreams tell you what you are trying to hide, but all mixed up as pieces of a puzzle…” In the said movie, the man who feels that he has murdered someone, and cannot remember the events, is possibly terrified of the very idea. With the added problem of him suffering from amnesia, he needs to either be in a state of utter unconsciousness, or discomfiture, for anyone to get a confession, so to speak, out of him. That is the stage where the egos and inhibitions of the human mind are set at ease and a real picture of the happenings of the mind can be brought to light. This is the condition of the human mind when we dream, where, we are at our honest best. And this is amongst the many powers that art exerts over us, to make us reveal our deepest selves.
‘Un Chein Andalau’, a French film by Salvador Dali and director Luis Buñuel, used surrealism as the theme. It was disturbing and that is certainly the least that can be said about this acclaimed short film. The difference is the usage of the terms - disturbing and discomforting, as what goes past the levels of comfort for a few, may distress others. Movies such as these, though they are certainly not seen every day, always change the way that people perceive the entire cinematic landscape, in unprecedented ways. The example mentioned earlier, ‘Un …’ and its 1930 successor, L’Age D’Or, are now permanent benchmarks as to what good cinema should look up to and eventually achieve, The question to be pondered upon is whether these films have reached these heights of commendation, because of the use of surrealism?
As it has been established throughout Art history, though resistance is put up at first, new forms of art along with newer techniques, have always engaged the minds of the public. This can be backed up with sufficient evidence, as seen right from the early category of art that falls under the classification of Neo- Classicism to Surrealism, to the more recent, Abstract Expressionism. Surrealism in movies, whether the ideas were adapted for the whole movie or for a few sequences within the movie, helped such movies stand out. Did they simply got noticed for being something very much of out of the ordinary or did they got noticed for the surrealism that they portrayed? Did they get noticed, for what surrealist artists tried to show to the art world, or for the idea of making people experience something that they cannot put together in words to describe? Or was it just a break from the mundane?
Surrealism was very different from what was considered to be art at the point in time when it was first started and that was what helped capture the attention of the public. This holds true for the usage of surrealism in movies as well. But the interesting point about this movement, like any other, is that it is timeless. The movies, even if they are screened now, evoke the same emotions as they did during their initial run. The best illustration of the notion of discomfort is the opening scene of ‘Un Chein Andalau’, which showed an eye being sliced open. It conjured up a range of negative emotions from a majority of onlookers, from disgust to pure horror. But, to the surprise of many, also made quite a few laugh out loud. Though this might have prompted their neighbours to view them with disdain, how could one possibly control another’s show or feeling of a certain emotion? This show of passions is nothing more than a reaction to the artwork. After all, the perception of art, like emotions, is from the heart and the Art listens to none.
References:
[1] Heritage Stu, “ A Brief history of the Oscars in viral moments that they want you to forget”, The Guardian, 24 February 2017, Accessed on 24 September 2017, <https://www.theguardian.com/film/2017/feb/24/a-brief-history-of-the-oscars-in-viral-moments-they-want-you-to-forget>
[2] Przeu-Massabuau, Jacques, ‘ A Philosophy of Discomfort’, London, Reaktion Books Ltd, In English - 2012, Pg. 18
[3] “Spellbound”, DVD, Hitchcock Alfred, Bergman Ingrid, Peck Gregory, Vanguard Films, 1945
[4] Jones Jonathan, “The joy of gore”, The Guardian, 7 February 2004, Accessed on 24 September 2017,
<https://www.theguardian.com/artanddesign/2004/feb/07/art1>
[5] “Un Chein Andalau”, Bunuel Luis, Dali Salvador, Mareuil Simone, Les Grands Films, 1929