The point of madness: surrealist c inema’s struggle for survival
movement, it did not achieve Breton’s goal. The film only presented a dream world, and was consequently absent o f almost all meaning, doing little to promote the Surrealist’s aims. From the beginning, Surrealism was defined by others, and there was nothing to prove or disprove anyone’s interpretation. As Surrealism developed, it suffered from its lack of a cohesive identity, perhaps inevitably due to its nonconformist and unlimited subject area. None of this is clearer than in Salvador Dalí, the most famous s urrealist; as André Breton began to reaffirm Surrealism’s Marxist ambitions, he began to alienate artists such as Dalí who were far more focused on the expressive and even commercial aspects of Surrealism. Relatively soon after joining the Surrealists, Dalí left for America and found huge success on his own. This was the issue that Surrealism faced; Dalí had stolen the Surrealist name and moulded its identity to suit his own purpose. As its most famous artist, he defined what Surrealism meant and effectively neutered any political impact that Breton hoped it could achieve. Dalí’s commerciali zation of Surrealism can easily be seen in his collaboration with two major capitalist companies, Disney and De Beers. De Beers used Dalí’s work alongside the slogan ‘Diamonds are works of art’ to establish one of the most exploitative and immoral industries in the world today. And while Destino, the short produced by Disney and Dalí is a masterpiece, the ruthless business practices of the Walt Disney Company and Disney’s own problematic views undoubtedly undermined the liberal ideals of Surrealism. The dichotomy between Surreali sm’s roots and what it came to be associated with can be seen in the resurgence of surrealism in films in the 1970s. Works from directors such as Terry Gilliam and David Lynch, maintain surreal visuals and style, but differ significantly from the films produced by filmmakers early in the surrealist movement. One major area is in their length. Early Surrealist films were almost entirely short films while those of the 1970s were feature-length. In these films, directors often tried to reconcile dreams and reality in their own way. This quickly became a pitfall of surrealist cinema While attempting such a task, many began to rationalize the surrealist elements of their films. Surrealist scenes began to be reserved for Hollywood dream sequences, nightmares, drug trips and psychotic episodes, the fine balance that Breton dreamed of, although attempted, remained unrealized, as reality seemed to ceaselessly dominate that of the dream. In films such as Gilliam’s Brazil , although being more expansive in its use of Surrealism than merely for hallucinatory scenes, it still drew a line between dream and reality, rather than intertwining them into a true surreal film. Such films, owing to their rationalization of the surreal, could face accusations of betraying their surrealist roots. Hailing from films such as Un Chien Andalou , with its confused sense of time and space, and its absent narrative, the surreal films of the 1970s seem to resemble far more the traditional films of their time. However, it would be wrong to fling accusations of betrayal at such films without appreciating their development of surrealist cinema. Although perhaps not fully succeeding, far more than their predecessors, such directors had begun to refine Surrealist cinema where it could aspire to be what Breton had hoped for. Films from such directors as Lynch and Gilliam incorporated meaning and interpretations into their films, attempting to tell a story through surrealismwhile still maintaining the enigmatic beauty of the surreal. There was nothing for such directors to betray, as the surrealist cinema of the 1920s and 30s was far more focused on disrupting the cultural expectations and restrictions of the medium to allow for future developments. Un Chien Andalou was a film that didn’t tell a story or take a stance, but instead forged a path ahead for future films. Without Un Chien Andalou , surrealist
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