Response for Wednesday Nov. 14th

Today in class we watch Maya Deren's fame Meshes of the Afternoon. A film I have seen about 5 times, but seems like a million. The first couple of viewings to me were really significant because I was trying to figure out what it was about, but the more that I watch it the more I try not to figure out what it is or what its trying to say but I appreciate it for what I think it is. Maya Deren really did something extremely different then anyone else in that specific time frame that she made this film. It is amazing to think that coming off a second world war that this film was made.
One of the things I never knew until it was mentioned in class was the talk of the soundtrack and how it came about. How Daren originally had the film silent and then the sound was added ten years later by her new husband. So the whole time I watched the film and pretended there was no sound and it felt so empty to me. To me I realized that may have been one of my favorite parts. The haunting moans and strings in the background were so drone and thematic that I couldn't picture the film without it. I think that Teiji Oto's music made the piece in my mind. That could also be because I never originally saw the piece without Oto's music. Regardless Meshes of the Afternoon is to me one of the main blueprints for surrealist film. It led the way for films like The Science of Sleep, and Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind. Without filmmakers like Daren these films wouldn't have existed.

-Chris Elkendier