Ashe Versus Surrealism: Eraserhead
So, for lack of anything else to do today (and lack of anything else on television) I finally took it upon myself to watch Eraserhead. I've heard various things about it for years now and have seen it listed in all sorts of top tens, like "Most Disturbing Films of All Time," "Cult Classics," et cetera. I think it was even featured on ontdcreepy in some way, recently. Lots of talk, lots of hype, lots of differing opinions. I had to see for myself, and despite my severe trepidation, I braced myself to watch it and to watch it in its entirety no matter what.
The first ten minutes of the film (and many minutes thereafter) were spent in complete confusion. I sat and I stared at the scenes that unfolded with my mouth slightly ajar and my brow furrowed, wondering what in the hell I was looking at. Outer Space? Some weird omniscient alien-looking thing? Sperm coming out of a fellow's mouth? Little did I realize that these objects would be symbolically relevent throughout the entire film (oh Lord) and inside, I was crying "Dialogue! Where's the dialogue?! I NEED DIALOGUE!" I was completely and utterly horrified that I would spend the next eighty-nine minutes or so watching this weirdness with no speech to accompany it, fortunately, such was not the case (or else I would have cried.)
I felt a little bit better once the plot actually started taking course/people started talking. Fellow hasn't seen his girlfriend in months, goes to dinner at her place (where the dinner starts bleeding and squirming off the plate, okay.) to discover that she's given birth prematurely and that he therefore must marry her in order to take care of the child.
Awkward.
Even more awkward when in the next scene, you actually see the thing-a slimy, strange, malformed...creature that continuously spits out the food that its mother is attempting to feed it. The whole while, it's making these wretched, squealing cries that sound like noises a baby would make (but are in fact, quite disturbing given the thing's completely unhuman and sickening appearance.) It never stops crying, eventually the woman ends up snapping, shouting at it, then shouting at Henry (main character) that she's going back to her parents' to finally sleep.
Then, confusing weirdness ensues.
I like movies that utilize strong symbolism and make you think. I really do. Most of my favourite films/videogames/television programmes are like that (A Tale of Two Sisters, City of Lost Children, Silent Hill, et cetera) however, when everything is a symbol and watching the film becomes a chore when you're constantly trying to figure out what means what and how it pretains to the plot, it just becomes a headache. (Maybe that's just me disagreeing with the surrealism genre?)
Example: "Radiator Lady"
Henry's continuous dreams about the woman in the pinafore with the bloated cheeks who performs strange dance numbers (while simultaneously stomping on giant sperm that fall from the ceiling...)confused and frightened me a great deal. I'm still trying to work out what her deal was. What, was she a representation of sexuality? Recreational sexuality? Because she stomps on sperm and sings about how everything is nice in heaven? Because Henry ends up embracing her at the end?
Don't get it.
If she is, then who is the woman across the hall supposed to represent? Temptation? The temptation to cheat on your wife?
I notice that the "main" characters are mostly women, which brings me to question whether or not each woman represents something. His wife, the typical unwed, young mother who simply cannot handle the pressures and responsibilities of raising a child? The lady across the hall, typical harlots that some men are drawn to when they're beaten down by the grind of being a working father and husband? Then who the fuck is radiator lady? A fantasy? A psychotic delusion brought on by constant turbulance (a mutated child and a wife who simply refuses to deal with the situation?)
What....I sort of got from the film was that it was a social commentary about sex. Specifically, recreational sex out of wedlock and the bastard children that ensue as a result (which is why the babything was all disgusting and mutated, it was a representation of a: its origins, and b: the way that it is perceived by parents who really have no desire to be parents at all.) It was one giant allegorical after school special about the dangers of unprotected, unmarried sex. This is the impression that I got during the scene where Henry wakes up from his first dream about radiator-woman. His wife is nearly shoving him off the bed and you see her legs opening and closing under the sheets as Henry (disgustedly) pulls the weird spermy-things out from under the covers and hurls them across the room. It's like he's rejecting his birthright or something, like refusing his ability to reproduce (because that's what sex is for, you know, really, strictly to reproduce.)
After all that, I still don't quite know what to make of this film. What I can say is that I'm grateful for the fact that I watched this alone and not in the company of others, because I would have been tempted to shut it off or make fun of it. I'm sort of glad that I stuck it out and sat through it because I can say that I've seen it and understand it, to a degree (if my interpretation is not completely and utterly incorrect.)
I'm still trying to figure out if I actually enjoyed it or not. It did make me think, which I do appreciate in a film, but I don't know. I think I'll have to watch it again to be sure, but the thought of that positively horrifies me, so who knows.
The first ten minutes of the film (and many minutes thereafter) were spent in complete confusion. I sat and I stared at the scenes that unfolded with my mouth slightly ajar and my brow furrowed, wondering what in the hell I was looking at. Outer Space? Some weird omniscient alien-looking thing? Sperm coming out of a fellow's mouth? Little did I realize that these objects would be symbolically relevent throughout the entire film (oh Lord) and inside, I was crying "Dialogue! Where's the dialogue?! I NEED DIALOGUE!" I was completely and utterly horrified that I would spend the next eighty-nine minutes or so watching this weirdness with no speech to accompany it, fortunately, such was not the case (or else I would have cried.)
I felt a little bit better once the plot actually started taking course/people started talking. Fellow hasn't seen his girlfriend in months, goes to dinner at her place (where the dinner starts bleeding and squirming off the plate, okay.) to discover that she's given birth prematurely and that he therefore must marry her in order to take care of the child.
Awkward.
Even more awkward when in the next scene, you actually see the thing-a slimy, strange, malformed...creature that continuously spits out the food that its mother is attempting to feed it. The whole while, it's making these wretched, squealing cries that sound like noises a baby would make (but are in fact, quite disturbing given the thing's completely unhuman and sickening appearance.) It never stops crying, eventually the woman ends up snapping, shouting at it, then shouting at Henry (main character) that she's going back to her parents' to finally sleep.
Then, confusing weirdness ensues.
I like movies that utilize strong symbolism and make you think. I really do. Most of my favourite films/videogames/television programmes are like that (A Tale of Two Sisters, City of Lost Children, Silent Hill, et cetera) however, when everything is a symbol and watching the film becomes a chore when you're constantly trying to figure out what means what and how it pretains to the plot, it just becomes a headache. (Maybe that's just me disagreeing with the surrealism genre?)
Example: "Radiator Lady"
Henry's continuous dreams about the woman in the pinafore with the bloated cheeks who performs strange dance numbers (while simultaneously stomping on giant sperm that fall from the ceiling...)confused and frightened me a great deal. I'm still trying to work out what her deal was. What, was she a representation of sexuality? Recreational sexuality? Because she stomps on sperm and sings about how everything is nice in heaven? Because Henry ends up embracing her at the end?
Don't get it.
If she is, then who is the woman across the hall supposed to represent? Temptation? The temptation to cheat on your wife?
I notice that the "main" characters are mostly women, which brings me to question whether or not each woman represents something. His wife, the typical unwed, young mother who simply cannot handle the pressures and responsibilities of raising a child? The lady across the hall, typical harlots that some men are drawn to when they're beaten down by the grind of being a working father and husband? Then who the fuck is radiator lady? A fantasy? A psychotic delusion brought on by constant turbulance (a mutated child and a wife who simply refuses to deal with the situation?)
What....I sort of got from the film was that it was a social commentary about sex. Specifically, recreational sex out of wedlock and the bastard children that ensue as a result (which is why the babything was all disgusting and mutated, it was a representation of a: its origins, and b: the way that it is perceived by parents who really have no desire to be parents at all.) It was one giant allegorical after school special about the dangers of unprotected, unmarried sex. This is the impression that I got during the scene where Henry wakes up from his first dream about radiator-woman. His wife is nearly shoving him off the bed and you see her legs opening and closing under the sheets as Henry (disgustedly) pulls the weird spermy-things out from under the covers and hurls them across the room. It's like he's rejecting his birthright or something, like refusing his ability to reproduce (because that's what sex is for, you know, really, strictly to reproduce.)
After all that, I still don't quite know what to make of this film. What I can say is that I'm grateful for the fact that I watched this alone and not in the company of others, because I would have been tempted to shut it off or make fun of it. I'm sort of glad that I stuck it out and sat through it because I can say that I've seen it and understand it, to a degree (if my interpretation is not completely and utterly incorrect.)
I'm still trying to figure out if I actually enjoyed it or not. It did make me think, which I do appreciate in a film, but I don't know. I think I'll have to watch it again to be sure, but the thought of that positively horrifies me, so who knows.