What's up with all the MEAT?
Did anyone get any of that?
And what about Svankmajer's statement: "Don't be such a hunk of meat..." Don't behave as living and moving piece of flesh without its own thinking and individualiy?
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MovieChat Forums > Sílení (2005) Discussion > What's up with all the MEAT?
the fist time i saw the first tongue.....hello? i can see then , in one reunion and suddenly one said ' Hey! lets do a film with meat moveing all by itself every 2 minutes....it wont have any sense, but it's great!' and the other ' Oh yes! what a wolderful idea'.... hello?
shareJust seen it this very eve in sunny Brighton! My thoughts on the meat: They are both representations of the asylum's second director's punishments (8 being the tongue, 9 broken bones, 10 eyeballs etc...) and man's primitive desires (i.e. sex and more sex) being allowed to run free, which is happening quite a lot in the film. The final shot of the meat packaged up in cellophane on a supermarket shelf seemingly suffocating shows us how we have allowed our primitive desires to be processed, tamed and or bottled up/repressed in our "modern" society. Like how supermarkets are potentially destroying our access to "real" food. (politics, AARRGHH....)
OR it's just dancing meat, striking imagery for the sake of it like in much great horror.
It's whatever it means to YOU.
Don't let the asylum tame you....
I think we were both in te Duke of York's as I have seen it this eve in Brighton too!!
Meat is a leit-motif in Svankmajer filmography... For me, it represents the nature of the human being, we are just flesh with passions, desires... Do not let society rules make you forget that.
It has a political side too. Men and women are treated as a piece of flesh by some governments (remember Svankmajer's political background and his historic and geographic context, alienanting them, even making mince out of them."Dimensions of dialogue" is highly recommended, look for it in Youtube.
But, as you said, it's whatever it means to you. It really makes you think... Something contemporary movies don't usually get to achieve.
Ive just seen it in Brighton too! Interesting comments youve all made regarding the meat but I have to say I that I so much prefer all of his other films. This one was too long and - Im afraid to say - boring!
Though it has made me think, which is always a good thing :)
Small world. Especially modern US horror directors that seem to have forgotten what makes horror potent, the discussion of our darker side.
Love "Dimensions", I have just shown it too some students who are doing an animation unit for their course and even they liked it, and they're not an easy bunch to amuse.
Totally agree with the political observations. Have you ever watched any Borowczyk (The Beast, Behind Convent Walls etc.) or Jodorowsky (El Topo, Santa Sangre) Lunarcy reminded me heavily of their work. Even a bit of Salo.
It's good to think once in a while.
Oh yes, I loved Dimensions of Dialogue too, and The Flat.. oh pretty well all of his other films, just not this one. Maybe I just prefer his animated work rather than the live action.
I wonder if you, Zombie, teach at Brighton Uni?
I will certainly look out for Borowczyk etc.
Dont you think it means that we are more than just meat "dont be such a pile of..." Most people act so superficially, like what you see is what you ARE, and maybe he's implying that theres more to us than that?
shareIt is probably a hint towards Dance Macabre, i.e. when people danced themselves to death during mideval times in a religious trance. Dance Macabre is also a marker of the futility of the flesh and our inevitable death. It also hints at the tarot deck in the begining and it serves as an intermission in this Dante-esque alegory. Obviously the lead character goes through his own personal purgatory; clensing with the Marquis as his mentor. De Sade was a very religious man both looking back at old hedonistic time and practises and a forbearer or stepping stone towards the enlighted age; the modern times. He had a intelectual and yet carnal/practical aproach toward a clensing of the soul of man by partaking in the worst atrocities imaginable. Literily a clensing by fire but on earth and made by man. This as a way, however strange it might seem, to oblige god. Being born in sin we might as well forego satan and thus oblitterate the nessesety of his existance.
Well, this goes for a part of the movie. The processing consept was interesting, Zombie.
I could go on rambling for a long time, but i wont.
At first, the meat just seemed to be rather pointless interludes, but I got the impression as the film went on that these scenes were definitely allegorical in some way or another. A way of explaining the accompanying scene of the film? Certainly there was very strong imagery with the chickens eating and endlessly reprocessing the meat going through the grinder, and the meat in the supermarket at the end seemed to mirror the fate of the main character, although perhaps it was meant as a broader comment on the film's themes.
Svankmajer's films often have several levels to them, and in this one the political allegory behind the whole thing was pretty clear. The contrast between liberalism and consevatism were shown quite well, I thought, with the evils of both views being depicted... liberalism with its lack of structure and rationality, and conservatism with its coldness and lack of regard for individuals. I also thought the representation of our world as a 'madhouse' was something of a nice touch.
If the film was nothing more than the basic narrative, I would have said I hated it. It's very unwieldy and obtuse (as with all Svankmajer films), and I particularly found the orgy scene at the start hard to deal with. However, as with other Svankmajer films, repeated viewings make this one make a lot more sense, and when you start seeing the threads coming together, you can really enjoy and appreciate the film.
All of the interpretations of what the meat could mean are very well thought out. I didn't see the meat as anything other than interludes, but after reading this thread I can definitely see why it may be allegorical.
Also, the final scene could represent the main character being "trapped" as he is now being treated by the vicious Doctor and seemingly will be stuck in the asylum.
the last image should explain what the meat represented...
Where are you, Mount Everest? Give me some Everest.
To me it suggested that the body, the flesh, can live without the mind.
Cinema is the memory of life.