1. My Reaction
The film was super confusing. For starters, i thought that A couldn't even stand X. I felt that she hated having to deal with him, but he was psychotic. She had do deal with him every so often, because he wouldn't go away, and when she did talk to him, she would say "just wait another year" or "another month". It was her way of being able to avoid him.
There was so much repetition. There was really annoying music that would keep playing very intensely. I couldn't tell what the deja vu feeling was supposed to represent. I was thinking it is X thinking about the situation over and over and over in his mind. Every time he thinks about it, the situation changes slightly. He is just an obsessive weirdo. I felt like i was in a dream and i never reached a conclusion, i just woke up not really sure if i was still dreaming or not.
There was a lot of voice over, and characters talking, but their lips not moving. I think that just showed how X was imagining it and placing the words in everyone's mouths. He was dictating how every scene went in his mind.
2. Class Discussion
I love the idea that the maze represents X's brain. There are so many different ways that his story can turn out, but a lot of them are dead ends. There is only one right way to go, he just hasn't found it yet.
I didn't realize that the camera never really stops moving throughout the whole film. I feel like that represents X's brain and thoughts, because he never stops thinking about the situation. Everything is in constant motion.
The one shot where people have shadows and the trees don't is really interesting. I don't knwo what it represents, but it is impressive for an old film. Maybe its the fact that the people aren't really there at all (at that location) they are somewhere else. Kind of like X's memories that he thinks about. He is putting the people in these locations but they aren't really there. Maybe they never even were.
I liked the reference to "Hotel California". I felt the same way, like we were stuck in this dream and we can't really leave. We are trapped in X's head with him, and can't leave until he is free.
3. "Philosophical Connection" reading
"Solipsistic"- Whatever is in your mind is the only thing that is real. I think this explains the whole story- it probably is all fake, but in X's mind it is real, and that is all the proof he needs. If "X thinks, X is". It might all be fake, but if X thinks it then he brings it into being. We know that X is probably real, and we are in his head with him. We don't know if all of the other characters exist because we aren't in their heads with them. We can't hear if they are thinking or not. Maybe they don't think and don't exist. X thinks for all of the other characters and brings them into his own mind and makes them real? I don't know, that just got really confusing.
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Confusing indeed! its like the whole movie is designed to turn your brain to mush, whether you try to ignore any sort of story line or not.
ReplyDeleteI like the way to talked about his mind being represented by the maze:"There are so many different ways that his story can turn out, but a lot of them are dead ends. There is only one right way to go, he just hasn't found it yet." This is definitely a cool little piece of this movie/puzzle that helps one to understand the cartesian sort of viewpoint of this man being trapped in his own disillusional mind.
I really liked the way you supported your idea of "X" imagining everything that was taking place in front of him by commenting on the fact that many of the actors mouths don't even move throughout the movie. This for sure seems like he's trying to imagine their thoughts. Maybe it was all in his head and that is why it does appear to be so dreamy/trippy to the audience. The constant camera movement definitely helps create this feeling.
ReplyDeleteI also like the way that the maze/garden is used to represent "X"s brain and the way he "works" as a character. It's like he's trapped inside his own head and throughout our experience while viewing the film we are trapped right there with him.
I think the film is not meant to be understood. What I mean is that the film is not to be a linear, straight line film. However, in a sense it's not the kind of film that is meant to allow the audience to think about certain situations. That is why we have all this guess work and not coming to a clear conclusion of how the film is in terms of a story.
ReplyDeleteYou're describing your viewing experience, the reading, and the discussion with fair precision. You're on solider ground than you think you are, and it would have been cool to see you tinker with your own observations just a bit.
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