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

Modernist Myth in Suna no Onnas The Woman in the Dunes The Woman in the Dunes (Suna no Onna, 1964) was enjoin by Hiroshi Teshigahara and based on the novel by Kobo Abe and falls into the camp of modernism. Its a faithful adaptation and has realistic and expressionistic elements. Because it is a legend and paradoxical, there are many interpretations in other words, were on our own with this one. An entomologist (Niki) is walking in a stark desert-scape. Everything is shot in black and white. There 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 existing entity, an organism. The sun is a powerful presence. The man sits in a boat that appears skeletal in the sand. At one point, he says, All this paperwork to reassure for each one other. Right away, were introduced to the alienation theme. Society is ordered by numbers and paperwork, it crushes us with efficiency, dehumanizes us. In nature, he realizes societys deficiencies. This world we all contend 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 bid? Where is meaning, where is freedom? Nature, community, love? These are possibilities in the film, but each one has its dangers. Yet, to bring up a contradiction, the protagonist doesnt mind this world of intellect and efficiency when he is in control. Most likely, he has no problem with his job when hes back home and not a captive but a well-paid worker in the bureaucracy. The last bus has left, so he has to seek shelter in the village. A person in a str... ...tion that is ab start the art of writing fiction. In Italo Calvinos Invisible Cities Polo describes a host of cities to the Great Khan. But there are TV antennas and airplanes here and there. How offer this be? The artist, rather than giving y ou 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 years of postmodernism -- when it was figuring itself out. Works Cited Desser, David. Eros Plus Massacre An Introduction to the Japanese crude 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.