Possession And Symbolism In Surrealist Film

Surrealist film often relies heavily on symbols especially Freudian symbols in order to create meaning in their work. Often these symbols are phallocentric and feed into what MacCormack refers to as the “phallic regimes” or the patriarchal structure in which women are seen as less-than men and female sexuality is seen as a void to be filled. Possession both combats and plays into this system of symbolism with its use of the monster, which is both mucosal and phallic. Mucosal and viscous material can be made to represent a female orgasm. MacCormack describes the how in film women’s “sexual fluid as mucosal is a monstrosity” because it doesn’t take a clear shape and is not easily defined, just as the monster is something not understood or understandable

The Maries attempt to reenter society, as hard workers after they have “gone bad” and find themselves drowning. However their attempts to clean up the mess they have made at the banquet, piecing together broken plates turns out to be a bad imitation of the original banquet. The Maries have caused so much destruction they are unable to return to society. In the end this leads to them being crushed by the chandelier and imagery of atomic bomb explosions. Anna and Mark also end in a series of explosions in Possession. Their doppelgangers, more idealized versions of each other that adhere better to patriarchal social roles take their places. Neither of these films shows their protagonists as martyrs or heroes for the cause of feminism. They do not implement or fight for any larger societal change. In fact it may be useless to even question if these films are feminist or not. In Possession Anna’s repressed sexuality take on the form of a monster because monsters are often used in film to represent something that is indefinable, that doesn’t exist in a communicable form in our current system of representation (MacCormack). The monster is neither good nor evil but it exists as an intangible and uncontrollable force that can be more easily felt than described. Likewise the Maries are not explicitly good nor evil, it is up to the audience to implement their

She points out that sometimes the best art cannot be described in terms of language or symbols. Sontag finds value in “works whose surface is so unified and clean, whose movement is so rapid, whose address is so direct that the work can be… just what it is” (8). Maybe this is the ultimate goal of both Daisies and Possession. Not to make a film that female sexuality in a way that is understandable and describable to a system in which it can never fully be understood. The films aim to address it in a way in which it can be felt. Surrealism attempts to reject oppressive societal constraints that cause us to repress true perception of reality. In order to have a clear understanding of female sexuality it may be useless to present it in a way that is easily and conventionally analyzed and interpreted. What Daisies and Possesion both aim to do is make this sufacing of repressed urges felt and experienced by their