Maya Deren
Commonly associated with her debut and most successful film, Meshes in the Afternoon (1943), Deren is an influential avant-garde filmmaker. As an independent filmmaker, she created most of her work in the 40’s and 50’s, outside of Hollywood. Throughout her career, Deren focused on telling personal visual stories.
Meshes of the Afternoon (1943)
Meshes of the Afternoon was written, directed and performed by Maya Deren, together with her then-husband Alexander Hammid. An influential work that helped kick off the American experimental cinema, Meshes, Deren’s first film, revolves around a woman who follows a mirror-faced man to find out what happened to her disordered home. The linearity of the plot shows Deren’s and Hammid’s exploration of unique cuts, time loops and manipulation of perspective. Through distinct camera angles, creative use of shadows and repetitive use of images and symbolic objects, the surrealist film blurs the lines dividing reality and dreams.
My Analysis & Thoughts
I find that the ability to portray the subconscious and its experiences in a film in remarkable. Maya Deren used recurring motifs throughout the film and through create use of repetition, she conveys what our inner mind projects reality, diverging from the standard of having a narrative. She used the concept of dreams - one all of us can relate to - and depicts how we, like the protagonist, are always chasing something, but unable to reach them. I find this film amazing is because Deren used her own personal experiences and feelings and projected them into her work. Created in during the Feminist Movement in the United States, I believe that Deren wanted to portray her, a woman, trying to catch up with the cloaked figure, a man, like in real-life in the male-dominated society. This can also be seen in Deren as she was wearing pants in the film. The film shows duplications of her, repeating her actions multiple times, and Maya herself even watches herself do that. This shows her layered personalities and frustration during that period. Her use of objective and subjective cameras also adds to the intriguing and dramatic experience of watching this film. In the end, Deren was found dead, and with reference to her stabbing the man, was because she did not want to only serve her man in bed, and would rather die.
At Land (1944)
Suggested as the direct sequel to Meshes of the Afternoon (due to the pieces of mirror in the ocean waves), At Land, another dream-like film, features Deren trying to reach for something as the landscapes and people morphs around her. Deren goes through great lengths to reach a single chess piece, exploring the world around her while going through life. Continuity editing is used in At Land to cinematically bind different times and spaces, which breaks the traditional narrative cinema through creating an illogical world.
My Analysis & Thoughts
I believe that this film revolves around the concept of spirit and mutability of personality. The chess piece represents Deren and her personality, spirit and soul. She almost grasped the chess piece but later was dejected to find it washed away. She goes on with her life, and even after 4 relationships and the death of her father, she still appears to be searching for something, opening many doors before finding herself on top of the hill. Near the end of the film, she stole a chess piece from two women on the beach and ran back in the direction that she came from. This could mean she realised who she was while enjoying herself. Using the eyeline match technique, the audience could see duplications of her, which represent her different personalities at the different stages of her life, spectate at the alternate her running past them. This unifies the different times and spaces in the protagonist’s life, allowing Deren to create a world that does not adhere to the concept of time.
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Reflection & Application
I believe that the techniques used in Maya Deren's films can be applied in various campaigns today. In At Land, she cleverly used the eyeline match technique to duplicate herself. This technique can also be used to show what the characters are looking at. The use of objective and subjective cameras in Meshes of the Afternoon can be used to show what the character is seeing. From this case study, I learnt that it is okay to be experimental and drift away from traditional standards. This way, we can tell compelling stories in a way that makes us different from others, and allows us to stand out from the variety of films with standards that we are used to. We can also create better films that bridges visuals with narrative.
