Surrealism and Cinema
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Surrealism and Cinema (2006) is a book by Michael Richardson on the relationship of surrealism and film.
- Richardson points out that Hollywood would seem at odds with surrealism. At the same time, he shows that the Hollywood genre films, particularly those of the early thirties, were of value, if not fascinating, to the surrealists. The overwhelming amount of films made in Hollywood were seen to regulate the dreams it produced and destroy spontaneity; on the other hand, "the Hollywood system still left a place for the imagination". Even if the films were unintentionally surrealist, the surrealists found in Hollywood an 'involuntary' surrealism - a disruption of narrative and an opening up of meaning other than the intended one. Films of particular value to the surrealists were the horror films between 1932-1935: the stories of Frankenstein, Dracula and King Kong. More surprising than the horror film, was the surrealist appeal to the idea of the couple and the treatment of 'love' in many Hollywood films from 1920-1950. The comedy genre was also highly regarded; this was mostly for its moral value and its "taste of anarchy". The Marx Brothers, Charles Chaplin, W. C. Fields, and especially Buster Keaton, are just some of those mentioned. June Werret via [1]
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