Meshes of the Afternoon (Maya Deren, 1943)
Project type: Writing
Designer(s): Chua Jia Ning, Sherica
Year: 2022
Project Description:
The intention is that through such an exercise, they will not only be more capable and articulate (textually and visually) in making connections between topics learned, but also that they will be able to encounter new ways of representing and discussing (textually and visually) not just the theories presented in class but also any ideas encountered outside of this course.
Maya Deren’s MESHES OF THE AFTERNOON is one of the most influential works of American experimental cinema. Her non-narrative work has been identified as a key example of a “trance film.” (Lightcone,2022) As through repetition and full mismatch of objective time and space, her dark inner desires are portrayed.
It creates an unsettling, fully-realized narrative that blurs the line between the projections of the mind-thoughts, urges, emotions, dreams-and the exterior, waking world. (MoMA,2022) With the use of non-narratives, and sounds to describe emotions/actions, in black and white. In the film, we see her repeat this journey repeatedly, encountering a slightly altered and increasingly menacing home each time. In which symbols, like a key and a knife, appear repeatedly throughout the film, where events are open-ended and interrupted.
There is a part of the film where she appears three-dimensionally and seated around her dining room table, her multiplied selves playing Russian Roulette with the house key. Each takes the key from the center of the table and holds it in the palm of their hand. Upon turning the palm of the last one, it appears painted.
Eventually, the story reaches its harrowing conclusion with the protagonist’s painted palm killing herself as she naps. (MoMa, 2022) Through creative editing, distinct camera angles, and slow motion, the surrealist film portrays a world in which it is more and more difficult to grasp reality.
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