Modernist Myth in Suna no Onna’s The Woman in the Dunes Essay -- Movie

Modernist Myth in Suna no Onnas The fair sex in the Dunes The Woman in the Dunes (Suna no Onna, 1964) was directed by Hiroshi Teshigahara and based on the bracing by Kobo Abe and f wholes into the camp of modernism. Its a faithful edition and has realistic and expressionistic elements. Because it is a parable and paradoxical, there are some(prenominal) interpretations in other words, were on our own with this one. An entomologist (Niki) is walkway in a stark desert-scape. Everything is shot in black and white. at that place are closeups of bugs and sand. In one shot, a grain of sand takes up the whole screen. Sand is moving and pouring, its a living entity, an organism. The sunlight is a powerful presence. The man sits in a boat that appears pinched in the sand. At one point, he says, All this paperwork to reassure separately other. Right away, were introduced to the alienation theme. Society is ordered by verse and paperwork, it crushes us with efficiency, dehumanizes us. In nature, he realizes societys deficiencies. This world we all know through personal experience, or by reading Kafka. The bureaucracy, which seems so rational, is brutal in its machine-like efficiency. Two decades later, George Lucas Star Wars would refer to this bureaucracy as the Empire. Where does one turn? Where is meaning, where is freedom? Nature, community, love? These are possibilities in the film, hardly each one has its dangers. Yet, to bring up a contradiction, the protagonist doesnt mind this world of rationality and efficiency when he is in control. most(prenominal) likely, he has no problem with his job when hes adventure home and not a prisoner but a well-paid proletarian in the bureaucracy. The last bus has left, so he has to seek entertain in the village. A person in a str... ...tion that is abtaboo the fraud of writing fiction. In Italo Calvinos Invisible Cities Polo describes a host of cities to the expectant Khan. But there are TV antennas and airplanes here and there. How can this be? The artist, rather than giving you a transparent view, shows you his creativity, as well as the indivisibility of time. Of modernism, the existential dilemma stands out most sharply. Of postmodernisn, the dispersal of responsibility stands out most sharply. Whats so significant is that the film appears during the early eld of postmodernism -- when it was figuring itself out. Works Cited Desser, David. Eros Plus Massacre An Introduction to the Japanese New Wave Cinema. Bloomington Indiana University Press, 1988. McDonald, Keiko I. Cinema East A critical Study of Major Japanese Films. Rutherford, NJ Fairleigh Dickinson Press, 1983.