What does the title mean?
Simple question, but what does "Eraserhead" actually mean?
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Makes sense :)
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MovieChat Forums > Eraserhead (1978) Discussion > What does the title mean?
I remember reading here once that Eraserhead sounds like "erase her head", and that it refers to the picture Henry had of Mary...where her head was missing.
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I like that theory better. :)
shareVicster111,
"erase her head"
Wow, I really love that interpretation of the title too!
Good job!
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I think Eraserhead comes from the scene on which a little tube is extracted from Henry's head to make a pencil. On top of that, the guy tests its eraser.
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a little tube is extracted from Henry's head to make a pencilThe pencils were already made, they just needed eraserheads added on to their ends.
-"But you know what's on my mind right now? It AIN'T the coffee in my kitchen..." share
That is exactly where it was derived it from - the Pencil factory where they took a core of his brain - turning the core into erasers for the pencils. That's why the man at the controls samples the erasers to make sure they were working and after that the man with the cigar pays the boy for his "find". I thought this was the most obvious point of the entire movie.
shareHenry Spencer fantasizes in his head about erasing the mistake he made with his pencil, if you follow me.
The bitter thinkers buy their tickets to go find God like a piggy in a fair
Just saw Eraserhead tonight for the first time and was mesmerized 10/10. The only thing dating it is the old vinyl record player but this is a timeless film that will be thrilling people for years to come. You nailed it with your answer about the title. Thanks.
shareI always felt the title meant more than one thing, but to me it seemed to reference the then-new technology of videotape, where a filmmaker, should he not care for what he has created, simply backs the tape up and eliminates the image... with the eraserhead. Anyways, that's my analysis.
shareYou may well be right but I tend to agree with KennethWasHere because the film contains so many sexual metaphors so why not the pencil too.
shareThe film abounds with sexual symbol and imagery, but even Freud would admit that, sometimes, a pencil eraser may just be a pencil eraser. What I noticed this time around was imagery that seems to reference 'Citizen Kane', including the eraser-shavings, that seemed, to me, like 'Kane''s snowflakes, which metaphorically 'wipe clean' the titular character's past, but fail to eliminate it altogether.
shareI would say Henry has a nightmare about his brains being used to make erasers, in his post-nuclear war existence.
I've seen this several times since 1980, I've heard different interpretations. I like the one about post-nuclear war. It explains the mutations and constant storms.
Save me from the people who would save me from myself
The character is said to possibly be based on Lynch himself and his life at that time and the characters hair is an exaggerated version of Lynches. I had a theory that maybe as a kid Lynch was taunted with the nick name "eraser head" do to his zany hair.
I don't always post on IMDB.com, but when I do I make sure I'm hammered.
First of all Eraserhead is one of Lynch's most "personal" and "spiritual" movies. At that time, during its making, Lynch did not have a haircut like he has now, yet many of the properties and qualities Lynch possess can be recognized in Henry Spencer, who exposes them to an extreme extent. Then, the way I find meaning in Henry's hairstyle is that it almost literally "stands on end", as if to emphasize a story that makes your "hair curl", and that it not only signifies Henry's permanent uneasiness and tension, but it also forecasts the 'highly charged" climax.
...Credo quia absurdum...
EDIT: The title Eraserhead stands for the fear of ending up completely in oblivion, for the fear of living a useless life, and for the quest of erasing all sins, even maybe all three of these options at the same time, imo.
However Henry has a pocket protector. I think he is probably supposed to be something along the lines of the human personification of awkwardness/nerdyness. Possibly an exaggerated characterization of how Lynch looked at himself growing up.
I don't always post on IMDB.com, but when I do I make sure I'm hammered.
The title comes from the dream sequence where Henry's head pops off, is found by a young boy and taken to a factory where they bore out a small portion of brain and turn it into erasers for pencils. So the title is completely literal. Any symbolism based on the title is provided by the viewer.
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