Good job!

Your last posts are especially great! They're a pleasure to read, and you're to be commended for making such insightful comments on a film that's been confusing people for almost 80 years.

Dr. Libby

Post 9

Un Chien Andalou is a film that leaves the viewer confused as to what has taken place. The film offers no story line with disconnected scenes that in no way relate to one another. The meaning is ambiguous leaving the interpretation of the film up to the viewer. The intention of this film seems to shock and confuse people, much like surrealist art. The film made by two surrealists Dali and Brunel captures the essence of the movement in which in represents. It relates to Freud's analysis in his work "On Dreams". Freud believes that we repress things in our minds so as not to revuls ourselves which is present in the obscurity of dream images. When we sleep our unconscious is able to revel itself to us and we are able to see what we are repressing. These thoughts come to us in obscure images so as not to induce repulsion at what are true thoughts are.  It is up to us to interpret these images and gain meaning out of them.

The film acts as a type of dream that we are meant to interpret through the obscure images that are being presented before us. The film shows images that in no way relate to one another and do not correspond with the previous image or scene much like dreams. In this way we are meant to glean our own meaning from the film and figure out what each of these images mean to us.

Un Chien Andalou is a trip and a half, to say the least. With no plot, an ambiguous meaning, and vivid imagery, it is a film that is sure to shock and provoke the audience into an existential conundrum. Freud's essay on dreams has some relevant ideas that can be applied to the film. Freud says that dream images reproduce logical connection by approximation in time and space so even though two corresponding objects may be very different from one another, there is still some "intimate connection" which relates the two. This idea is present in something like the scene where the man is dragging two pieces of wood, two missionaries, and a piano with a dead mule on top of it. Particularly his idea on repression and rejection seems to apply the most to the film.
The intentions of the film was influenced by a motive of shock and revulsion. This revulsion is particularly important to Freud's concept of repression. The obscurity of the dream-image, he believed, was important to prevent the dreamer from becoming to repulsed by his own self. During sleep, the censorship part of our brain becomes less powerful and the unconscious part tends to take advantage of the circumstance by trying to reveal itself. The need for obscuring the image is to prevent exposing those repressed images which Freud believed were universal. Therefore, these repressed thoughts and feelings are represented by metaphors and similes, things which are intended for interpretation. These metaphors are objects which relate to the objects around it. First we draw material for our dreams from recollections from our waking lives, specifically those which have made an impression on our life (excitement, trauma, etc). The ideas which are present in our dreams are repetitions of a theme. The collected material goes through a process of condensation and displacement. The recollections become condensed into fragmentations of images, speeches, or thoughts which effectively act as a representation for one idea. The act of displacement puts the images used for the metaphor through a selective process "in favor of those portions of it which are the most appropriate for the construction of situations". The images are then appropriately juxtaposed with other images that are associated with the same idea.
Comparing Un Chien Andalou to these dreams theories becomes difficult because of the intentions and motivations. Bunuel and Dali intentionally juxtaposed irrational images strictly to defy reason. One can interpret the film loosely based off of possible conjectures of what each image is supposed to represent. The problem I have with comparing dreams to the films is that a dream still pulls things from real life and implies a personal undercurrent between them. Dreams, in this way, are entirely personal things which reveal our unconscious selves. The filmmakers take away that relevance and instead insist that the viewer/interpreter comes up with it themselves. This does not create a substantial analysis for the individual because it is not based on their personal psyche's.
The film acceptably imitates a dream sequence but lacks the key element that gives the dream sequence any value: real, personal meaning. Therefore, the film can only succeed in making the viewer uncomfortable and this could be for any number of reasons. The objects are so general they leave themselves wide open for interpretation, but any interpretation will be automatically superficial because there is no depth to the film. The sequences which succeed in making the audience uncomfortable will most likely appeal to bad taste than to psychological repressions.
All in all the film is an amusing experiment and a fantastic short film with incredible imagery, but that is all it gets. This is a problem I get with a lot of Dali's work. It may be my own ignorance, but I feel like he is more concerned with superficial elements than of depth of meaning. The film rely's on superficial forms of repression and is met with superficial anxieties. We cringe at the slashing of the eyeball because we think about what it would feel like to have our eyeballs slashed and not, as Freud suggests, because it relates to some repressed memory or childhood anxiety.
I did not get particularly uncomfortable by this film for that very reason. I thought it was fun to try and interpret the various images and make up some meaning as to how they related, but I was not confronted by any anxieties or frustrations as a result of the images. This did not make me question my identity, as a true dream would. It is a successful imitation of the dream world but an ineffective reflection

Sigmund Freud's 'On Dreams' is a clear demonstration of the surrealist world presented in Un Chien Andalou. "The physical material of the dream-thoughts habitually includes recollections of impressive experiences" (Freud, 21). I would say this quote summarizes the concept of this film altogether. For a 1929 film, Un Chien Andalou features some creepy images that are so graphic they seem real. More interesting enough, the theme of desire is easily expressed in the film and this is where I would mainly like to focus. These examples of desire are used through displacement, condensation, and pictorial images.

Sigmund Freud explains the need or urge of a human in real life and the film Un Chien Andalou provides a realistic feeling but is clearly in a surrealist world. However, this idea of displacement is easy to spot in the short, 16 minute film. A few examples of urge can be explained such as the man who stares at the woman frequently seen in the film. He looks her down with those bold, hawk eyes and slowly moves toward her. She seems frightened at first with a face that reads confusion. He begins to walk even closer to her and attempts to grab her breasts in a very disturbing manner. His intention to grab her sexually is an urge, but the surrealist aspect begins to take affect as she resists at first, but then her facial expression implies that she is not disgusted, but interested. This face she has reads that she is also interested and has an urge for this rather creepy man to continue these disgusting antics.

Condensation in the mind of Freud is the many emotions or feelings condensed into one major image. In this case, the entire film is an example of condensation as there is obviously no real plot, but many different short stories without words condensed into an entire 16 minute film. Very close to the opening of the film the moon is shown to demonstrate a darkness of the film. This is immediately followed by the desire concept as a man holds a razor and proceeds to slit a woman’s eye ball with personal pleasure as she does not resist and does not show pleasure, but just lets it happen. She doesn’t seem displeased and this disturbing scene is followed by another odd clip with no relation whatsoever to the infamous eye ball scene. The entire film is condensed with odd images and Freud is noting that we don’t know why or how these dreams are related but they simply follow one another. In my opinion, dreams are surreal just as this film and none of our dreams seem to be related to one following another.

I personally can have a good or bad day that is then brought back into my dreams. Hopefully this is not weird and happens to everyone, but the importance is this is the pictorial dream concept that Freud writes about. The other night I watched a basketball game on television in which I had an urge to play myself. Later this exact night my dreams led me to play basketball with a random friend I had not seen in forever. I can’t explain the friend but this game was a desire I had that was followed in my dream. In Un Chien Andalou, the woman looks out her window and sees a man on his bike. She makes a face that seems questionable in terms of what she prefers. Immediately following the close up on her face, the man crashes on his bicycle. Her face begins to turn into a smile as this dream like feeling demonstrated her emotion of desire. Un Chien Andalou is a film that can take these dream like feelings of surrealism and relate them to a condensed reality that is similar to a dream world. Freud’s concept of dream like feelings relate very much to the film.

Post 9

Un Chien Andalou presents its viewers with a disconcerting take on the traditional format of a film. It disconnects itself from any successive coherent narrative arrangement, with no links between successive scenes. It leaves the opportunity for any interpretation to be drawn from the images shown and every single scene seems to be random and unconcerned with any other. Throughout the film, Bunuel, the director, repeats images in situations where they shouldn't necessarily be added, or don't really make sense, which adds to the already confusing undertone of the film and enhances the off-putting nature inherent in the film. Bunuel worked with Dali on this film, both employing a Surrealist take on film-making with a psychoanalytical undertone brought on by Freud's theories, which the Surrealists incorporated in their ideology of their art forms. The Surrealists were extremely interested in the unconscious as a way to escape reality and subvert the limitations imposed on people by a rational, civilized world where the conscious realm of the mind rules. The surrealists favored Freud's theory of dreams, the unconscious state, the conscious state, the Id, the ego, and the super-ego, incorporating facets of his theories into their own works. Freud postulated a sharp divide between reality and dreams with his concecpts of condensation and displacement, which were both widely used in surrealism. Freud studied dreams for uncovering problems brought on during the awakened state. He understood dream reality to be a fragmented story with many levels and perspectives of interpretation, and this is showcased in Un Chien Andalou on a number of levels. The film intentionally distorts reality but establishes a picture that is mostly realistic in its deliverance. It blurs the distinction between the reality and the dream, making the viewer very confused as to what exactly is going on and how to make sense of these fragmented images that are seemingly incompatible in the sense of a rational narrative. Bunuel conveys surreal images, projecting scenes that are made up of both external experiences and inner life experiences, which are reminiscent of a dream-like state. The opening scene in the film perfectly exemplifies this fusion between Freud's ideas regarding dreams and life functioning in an altered, dream-like state of unconsciousness, with the moon in the sky being quickly replaced by a close-up, disturbing shot of an eyeball being sliced. This automatically sets the viewer up for what they are to expect through the rest of the 17-minute film, a combination of unrelated images repeated throughout the film, which have no apparent meaning or representative substance. The eye ball cutting sequence which opens the film produces a state of free association for the viewer, allowing the viewer to feel a number of things regarding the images placed before them. The viewer is transported into a dream-like state of mind where there is no real explanation for what they are seeing, just a random selection of images and experiences that they can draw multiple interpretations from. 

The characters and props make the film even more of a confusing dream-like experience, with the irrational montage, which facilitates the negation of reality, forcing the viewer to rely on emotion and the impact of the unconscious to carry them through the rest of the film. The viewer has to negotiate with the unconsciousness in order to make sense of the images placed before them. The young man in the film seems to be fighting his own unconscious urges for the young woman as he strains against the combined weight of a piano, a donkey, and two priests, which can be viewed as a representation of his own personal struggles with reality and the world outside as well as his struggles with his unconscious state of mind and his super-ego. 

Post 9 Un chien Andalou

Un Chien Andalou, directed by Luis Buñuel, is a very interesting and bizarre short film. This was my second time watching it and it still continues to confuse and shock me. Both times I have watched this film I have felt a feeling of anxiety and perplexity. We talked about in class how we felt the film is meant to evoke certain emotions from the viewer and not necessarily make sense. If this is true, then the film is excellent because I did have strong reactions to some of the images displayed, such as the slicing of the eye, the dragging of the dead bodies behind the piano and the hand being poked by a stick on the floor. The main reason why I really enjoy this film is because I love Salvador Dali’s work. I find it very unique and creative. The fact that Dali helped with this film, and some imagery from his paintings such as the ants and the reference to time appears in the film makes watching Un Chien Andalou, fun for me.

Reading Sigmund Freud’s ‘On Dreams’ was very interesting, because a lot of connections can be made to Un Chien Andalou, because of the films dream like sequences. Sigmund Freud said, “The content of dreams, however, does not consist entirely of situations, but also includes disconnected fragments of visual images, speeches and even bits of unmodified thoughts.” 21 This instantly made me think of the film because of how the film does not consist of shots put together to create one cohesive story. This film contains “disconnected fragments of visual images, speeches and bits of unmodified thoughts.” It almost works like a collage, a mix of completely different thoughts and ideas.


Displacement-Freud’s idea of displacement is that if the dreamer has a real life urge or want, this thing that the dreamer wishes for can appear in a different form in a dream. For example, if I was very mad with someone and wanted to do something bad to him or her, I might have a dream that something bad occurs to the person. In my dream, I physically didn’t have anything to do with that person having bad luck. That desire or want is covered up and disguised as a random happening. In the film, there is a lot of images having to do with desire. The one example I thought of that reminded me of displacement was when the main man in the film starts touching the main woman. He is grabbing her breasts and drools in delight. His emotions show that he wishes he was touching her naked body, but only gets to touch over the clothes. The viewer of the film is shown nudity but in reality, he does not get to see this. This reminded me of displacement because his desires are covered up.


Condensation-Freud’s idea of condensation is when the dreamer hides an urge or emotion by condensing it into a short dream image. Most of the time we do not know why these images are condensed because we cannot “discover or recognize the dream-thoughts in the dream content, unless we understand the reason for their distortion.” What came to mind were the films short flashes of images. I thought of the cutting of the eye segment and the image of the moth, all which are very short and seem to be randomly placed. Also, the whole film can be seen as an example of condensation. We cannot understand what is really going on because all the images and the plot are condensed. We only see short segments places together, making it hard to figure out what it all means.


Dreams as pictorial situations-Freud said that dreams consist of pictorial situations. Dreams take our thoughts and emotions and put them into images and or situations. He also states that many times these pictorial situations show us our desires. Un Chien Andalou, as we discussed in class, has a lot to do with human desire. The main man desires to be with the main woman. He attacks her and even drags a piano across the room to get what he wants. When the main woman leaves the man in the room, she walks on to the beach. There is another man whom she clearly desires, as she tries to embrace him with a kiss. Perhaps, all of these images in the film show the woman what she desires and what she does not.

I found it very interesting when we tried to analyze the film in class. Most everyone was confused, trying to make every image mean something to us. As humans, we feel the need to make everything make sense. We try to decode things and make them have meaning. This is just like dreams. We have dream books and dream interpreters who can tell us what the images we saw in our sleep symbolize. With the film, however, I believe that we are not meant to decipher the meaning in every sequence. I believe the film is just about placing images that evoke emotion together in one short movie. It is about the art of the shots, not what they mean.

un chien andalou

In Freud’s theory of dreams, he uses four main ways in which the content of one’s dreams and latent thought can be transformed. In the film Un Chien Andalou, the viewer is confronted with a series of images which are difficult to decipher and put into the context of a larger meaning. In Freud’s discussion of dreams and the transformation of latent thought into conscious thought he uses the terms of Condensation, Displacement, and Symbolism. Condensation is defined as two or more latent thought which are combined to create one “pictorial situation” or dream. As viewers we are unable to “discover or recognize the dream-thoughts in the dream-content, unless we understand the reason for their distortion.” In Un Chien Andalou, the viewer is constantly confronted with images, which are un realistic and could potentially be the latent thoughts of the directors. There are many scenes, which are extremely unclear and chaotic, which may reflect the dream or latent thoughts of the directors/writers. Because dreams reflect the unconscious thought process, it is impractical to attempt to decipher the meaning of these disordered visions. The scene with Dali and Bunuel dragging a piano with two dead mules on it dressed as religious figures. This scene addresses this idea of the combination of different unrelated imagery to create one “pictorial situation” through the process of Condensation. Throughout the film the narrative is filled with similar scenes where the process of Condensation creates a “manifest dream image” where the viewer is forced to tackle with multiple images which have little or no logical relation to one another. Freud’s idea of displacement helps to describe the human mind in terms of latent thought and emotional desire. Un Chien Andalou, although a film with an illogical narrative, is filled with issues of human desire. Freud’s idea of displacement discusses the idea of humans’ latent thought not directly imposing their emotional desires on other human beings but rather focusing on an unrelated object. Although, human desire between the male and female characters in Un Chien Andalou, is prevalent throughout he film the desire is not always manifested towards the other figure. For example, the female figure becomes engrossed in a box filled with male clothing. After reading about Freud’s idea of Displacement I was reminded on his psychoanalysis theory of the fetish, and found obvious similarities between the two. The hand is an important object in the film, which many of the figures focus on, perhaps to replace their desires of another human in the form of a fetish.
Freud was also very interested in the object or “dream symbol” which replaces sexual desires. In Un Chien Andalou, the image of a box is repeated throughout the narrative. According to Freud, the box symbolizes female genitalia and desire. The film refers a lot to the idea of the unattainable woman, and the obstacles that men have to go through to have sexual relations with a female. In the case of the film the box may become a fetish object resulting from the frustration that the male feels when he is unable to have the female figure.
“It would be a mistake, however, to suppose that these dream-facades are nothing other than mistaken somewhat arbitrary revisions of dream-content by the conscious agency of mental life.” Freud suggests that the latent thoughts and visions that create the pictorial situations of our dreams are often derived from unconscious desire. As stated earlier it is clear that Un Chien Andalou is expressing human desire, but because these desires are manifested in such bizarre, unconventional manners they may reflect the dreams of the characters. After reading Freud’s “On Dreams” and reflecting on the film I began to contemplate if the film is a depiction of a dream void of any conscious thought or desire. I began to wonder if the desire between the characters’ is conscious, but the manner in which they approach each other reflects their latent desires, which they have explored in their dream visions. Dreams and human latent thought are personal experiences, which are typically not shared. Therefore when the viewer is confronted with these visions although they may have similar thoughts they are bemused by the visions because they are experiencing them in a situation where they are “conscious”.