In the film “Breath”, there is some examples of the absurdity to life. We can sense that one person inhales very loudly and that person holds his breath for about five seconds and then he exhales very loudly. I think it suggests that humanity is a pile of disorganized garbage. And this garbage (humanity) lying on a stage (life) is useless and sluggish. In Mallarme’s “The Virginal, Vibrant, and Beautiful Dawn”, the swan is thought to represent the poet crushed by the world and hating it. The swan can also be used to represent the artist in society. His swan had broken out of it’s cage and found itself unable to exist in society. Samuel Beckett was one of the people behind the movement called the Theatre of the Absurd. The absurdists believed that life was absurd, beyond human rationality and meaningless. This is a sentiment to whichEndgame subscribes with it’s idea of complexity and non-meaning. (Alexandria)
A theme in Endgame would be the feeling of emptiness and loneliness. Adding on to what Alexandria said about sensing a person inhaling and exhaling very loudly in the video “Breath”, there is a feeling of solitude. It sounds like the person is kind of forcing his breathing. The setting of this video is very dark and creepy; it was filmed at a dark and dimmed place. The video gives off a lonely and creepy vibe because there is no face to the heavy breathing. In “The Virginal, Vibrant, and Beautiful Dawn”, the line “the horror of the earth will remain where it lies” reminds me of Hamm’s mentality in Endgame. The swan left its home and found itself unable to live on its own, just like Hamm needing Clov 24/7 because he is blind and handicapped. Hamm’s mentality of life is depressing and dark, just like the theme of the video and poem. (Ivy)
As what Ivy and Alex have pointed out, both “Breath” and “The Virginal, Vibrant, and Beautiful Dawn” shows a theme of absurdity by using symbolism and metaphor, expressing a sense of despair and hopeless under a depressed society. In the film, the dark, unstable light, and the garbage full of the scene and the creepy sounds of water drops are reflection of a deadly depressed environment. We hear someone takes a deep breath and exhales very hard. It sounds like a man suffering serious disease, drag out an ignoble existence. The absent of the character leaves us space of imagination and makes the whole movie even more despairing. The poem has many similarities with the movie. Dark scene, frozen lake and despaired swan that had broken out of its cage and found itself unable to survive in the society, the frozen lake. While both of the poem and the movie are short, they fully illustrate some features “Endgame”, an absurd theatre has, which is about the meaninglessness of life. (Zheng Huang)
4 responses so far ↓
lh154081 // May 7th 2016 at 10:35 am
I agree with Ivy’s response that Endgame, the poem, and the video all center on the theme of loneliness. All three of these have a very dark and bleak setting, and highlight upon the concept of an inescapable sense of despair that is prevalent throughout life. I also agree that he heavy breathing present in the video gives off a sense of sadness, with the person forcing his breaths, breathing simply to live rather than enjoy his life. I also agree that the swan’s inability to live on its own correlates to how Hamm depends on Clov in order to live.
f.falconite // May 7th 2016 at 11:03 am
I agree with Ivy that major themes that are present are emptiness and loneliness. The sound of the mans breath in the video is the number one way you can see emptiness and loneliness in life. This person who is breathing in the video has a boring, dull setting where the only thing that stands out is this mans loud breathing. I like how Ivy said that there is a “lonely and creepy vibe” because watching the video to me was very mysterious and odd.
d.kim5 // May 7th 2016 at 11:28 am
I have a very similar opinion with Ivy. I’m totally with her. I’ve thought that the main theme of the End game is loneliness and emptiness. Because of these theme the Endgame is also kind of dark and in some sense some people could feel it’s weird. Also, the video we watched ‘Breath’ is really dark and creepy. That’s why the Endgame and Breath are alike somewhat.
j.yusufova // May 7th 2016 at 11:50 am
I agree with Alexandra that the video shows Absurdism. I didn’t think of the video of showing people as disorganized and garbage. I thought it was very hopeful and that is why it was absurdism. The person kept breathing showing that no matter happens you have your life in your hands and you can make it what you want it to be. I thought there was some element of hope in that video in showing that person breathing.
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