Meshes of the afternoon

Meshes of the afternoon

Meshes of the afternoon is a short film created by Maya Deren in 1943. The short film is one of most early influential films in American Experimental Cinema. Maya Deren was Born in 1917 in Ukraine, she was Trained in dancing and poetry and Studied literature at Columbia university. Maya Deren was a Significant figure in “underground film” due to her high level of skill in experimental films. At the time of making Meshes of the afternoon she was an amateur at film directing. She is knows as the "Mother of underground film".Maya was married to Alexandr Hackenschmied, he was a photographer, film director, editor and cinematographer. He shot Meshes of the afternoon and his wife Maya was the main actress. Meshes of the afternoon was the first film to be released that was directed by a women and had a women as a narrative lead. The film was released during WW2 which was a time of conflict and shifting roles. Women started doing the jobs that men would do because they were at war. 

The opening scene

The opening scene of the flower getting placed on the floor sets up the rest of the film very well, the way the hand comes from above makes the location look fake because it does not follow the laws of physics (the arm should come from the sides of the frame not above). This creates an atmosphere of mystery and surrealism. This shot is also the first shot to hint towards the dreamlike state throughout the film.

 

Maya and Alexander both use the formal elements of film to set the atmosphere of the film in these short shots. One of the most important elements of film used in these shots is editing. Some of the shortest shots in the opening of the film have the most impact. As the hand places the flower on the ground there is an action cut as the flower touches the ground, the following shot is at the same angle but the difference is the hand is no longer in frame which creates the feeling that the person disappeared, this shot only lasts four seconds. This shot adds more depth to the atmosphere that Maya and Alexandr were trying to create. The length of this shot represents dreams, the shot itself is very short in length however because it is a still shot it feels longer than it actually is. This is very similar to dreams. Dreams can be a few seconds in reality but to the person dreaming the dream it could feel like hours. The shot after is a panning shot from left to right which follows the shadow of Maya's character. The shot stops panning as the shadow stops moving, this choice of camerawork shows the importance of the shadow because it is always in the shot no matter how it moves which shows it is the focus of this scene. The angle used to shoot this shot is important because they have purposely left out the person but kept their shadow in shot which creates a sense of mystery. Overall the first scene is to build up a tense mysterious atmosphere which foreshadows the focus on dreams in the short film.  

Who influenced Maya and Alexandr?

Every Director is influenced including Maya and Alexandr, they were influenced by Un Chien Andalou by Salvador Dali and Luis Bunuel. Un Chien Andalou means An Andalusian Dog, it was a short silent film released in 1929. The film is like no film I had seen before it had no plot and would jump from different time randomly. For example at one point it jumps from the present time to eight years later.You can really see the Maya and Alexandr were influenced because the film follows the same dream logic and parts repeat etc. The way both films show this dream state is in a very abstract way but it fits the idea of a film about dreaming in a dream well. Salvador Dali was inspirational because of his unique artistic style of film. A true artist of film. Maya was influenced by this because of her own artistic way of thinking (surrealist).

The importance of each shot

Every shot from Meshes of the afternoon carries a deep meaning even down to how long each shot lasts. One way Maya Deren shows that a shot is important is that she will repeat the same shot but with a small difference each time. An example of this is the shots of her going up the stairs. These shots of the stairs represent that the world she is in is not the real word but a dream world. This was a common form of art at the time that was usually experimented in paint called surrealism. Surrealism is a art movement that started in 1920 which was about expressing imaginative dreams and visions.

Maya Deren gives certain object that appear multiple times deeper meanings, An example of this is the key to door. The key represents unlocking something, in this short film I think it represents her unlocking her own mind. The keys in some scenes come from her mouth which could mean it is the key to her mind, when she unlocks the door to the house other versions of herself eventually appear in the house. The house could represent her mind and each other version of her could be an emotion she is feeling. Another example of an object having a deep meaning is the mirror, the mirror represents a version of herself. I believe this because if she was to look at the mirror she would see herself. I think the version of herself in the mirror is a version that she is afraid of becoming or a previous version of herself that she does't like. This is because when she sees the unknown figure with a mirror for a face she looks scared of it but at the same time is interested in it and follows it. At the end of the short film she is sitting on the sofa dead with her throat slit with a broken piece of the glass in her hand which she used to cut herself with.

Personal interpretation

In my opinion the ending of the short film is not a sad ending because I don't think she is really dead because I believe she used the mirror because it shows that her true self that she keeps locked away in her mind with the key that came out of her mouth. When she unlocked the door she released her true self which was shown by the multiple versions of herself which could each represent a different emotion or a version of herself from a different time. So at the end when she is dead I think it is to show that the version she created to hide her true thoughts were killed and she was finally her true self. This is linked with one of the beliefs that surrealist have which are Super-ego, Ego and The ID. Super-ego is the version of yourself you create to be accepted in society and Ego is the part of you that is your personality and is rational about goals etc. The ID is the part that you are born with that represents the part of you that is demanding for things such as sex, hunger and aggressiveness . Surrealists believe The ID is from our ancestors who were not as sophisticated as us and only understood the minimum requirements in life such as reproducing. Surrealists are mostly interested in The ID and believe that the Super-ego is a fake version of yourself, they want to know the realist version of yourself, The ID. 

Overall Meshes of the afternoon is a very interesting short film that was way ahead of its time that delved in to the inner mind and the effect it can have on people and the people around them. The way it was shot and the music that was created for it give it a overall unnerving tension throughout the whole film.