Mallarme’s poem portrays the theme of nihilism that is evident throughout endgame. The writer compares dawn and all of its beauty to a cyclical event filled with lack of existence and boredom. The poem states “Magnificent but hopelessly struggling to resist, for never having sung of a land in which to exist, when the boredom of the sterile winter has shone”. This quote describes life to be magnificent on the surface however with no real identity in this magnificent life the days can blur together and become meaningless or boring. This relates to endgame as the characters often allude that the routine in their lives is mundane and meaningless as things all blur together. On the other hand the film breath mimics absurdism as the setting for this film is dark, depressing mimicking a life that appears to be mundane and not worthy; however, someone is still breathing meaning that they are still willing to live and breathe even though life seems meaningless. This connects to endgame because no matter how meaningless clove and Hamm’s lives seem to be they remain alive and breathing withstanding their mundane world.(Mamasiray)
I agree with Mamasiray that Nihilism is what connects Breath and The virginal, vibrant and beautiful dawn to Endgame. However, I see how it connects in a different way. First, with Breath there is pile of inanimate objects that have different functions, which could symbolize us as people. The room is mostly dark, with the exception of a single light that shines on all at some point. Then, there is a single struggling breath that could be interpreted as the one life that we have to live that we strive to make sense. All of this imagery shows that it does not matter what the functions of those objects are, they simply exist and will eventually be thrown away. In Mallarme’s poem, she describes a lake that is frozen and there is no point in a frozen lake because the beauty is in the movement. The lake is also like us in the sense that we did not ask to be what we are but we remain as time passes.(Terell)
2 responses so far ↓
a.blackwell // May 7th 2016 at 1:26 pm
Terrell’s post makes total sense. I’ve never looked at the poem the way you described. You really made a good point. I saw it as the swan is suppose to represent the poet that is crushed by the world and is hating it. I also liked when you said that all of the imagery shows that it does not matter what the functions of those objects are and that they exist and will soon be thrown away. Nihilism does seem to be a theme between the video, the poem and endgame as well.
z.huang1 // May 7th 2016 at 3:08 pm
I agree with Terell and Mamasiray’s point of view about how two works share the same theme of nihilism. But I take it differently. I saw more absurdism than nihilism. Because nihilism means there’s basically nothing, while absurdism wants to say something in a dramatically ridiculous way that is disconnect with reality, in my opinion. In the movie, the repeated sounds of water drop did show a repetition of fate but the light is changing and the man is trying hard to breath and survive in such a depressed environment. The poem draws a hopeless frozen lake, but the swan is still struggling, even toward being destroyed. There’s still something that the author want to express other than “the world is meaningless. ” If there’s no hope, there’s no hopelessness as well.
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