Images and Illusion: Storytelling through various embodiments of iconography
 |
| Kenneth Anger, Rabbit´s Moon, 1950 |
The moon comes up dominant over the clown in a high shot. He is almost blinded by the strength of the light emitted. One can detect sadness and curiosity in his face as he continues to reach out toward the moon. The image cuts to a close-up of a rabbit on the moon. We see more images of the clown jumping as he tries again to reach but falls to the ground several times. He continues walking while stretching out his arms. One single leaf from a tree falls on him. He raises his arms again. Two children appear from behind him, one holding a circled mirror and pointing it towards the clown's face, who doesn't seem to enjoy his reflection in the mirror. The other child carries a string instrument and offers it to the clown, but he refuses with slow-moving arm gestures. More close-up images of the moon appear (which always comes up in high shots), and we see the clown, now alone in the frame, jumping up, still trying to reach. The repetitiveness in his movements gives a feeling of loneliness and desperation of someone trying to go for something.
As the clown becomes still and raises his arms again, another clown in a chequered costume appears and starts to intimidate him with a sword. He also walks in an imaginary straight line and does juggling tricks without any items. Finally, he points his sword toward a lantern that lights up. The sad clown gazes at it. The frame cuts to several symbols shown on a pink background. First, an image shows light rays, and then a star appears in front. Lastly, an eye inside a circle appears in front of the other symbols.
The set is visible again. Now a young woman appears. The sad clown takes his gaze off the lantern and looks at her with astonishment. The children appear again, holding the mirror and the string instrument towards the woman making graceful dance movements and looking at herself in the mirror, admiring her reflection. The sad clown approaches her and starts dancing around her. The clown in the chequered costume jumps into the scene and starts competing for the woman's attention. He points towards the sky. The three of them look up. The screen shifts to pink background with an image of a waning moon. Another image shows the binding of pink stars, forming a square shape, with pink liquid pouring down from them. The screen shifts to the lonely clown, showing him falling to the ground. He is alone again. The children reappear. The one with the mirror shows him his reflection and then points to where a rabbit appears. The clown walks towards it. The symbol of the circled eye surrounded by solar flames reappears on the screen, then it cuts to the mischievous clown dancing with the young woman. The last scene cuts to the rabbit situated on the leaf-covered ground. We see the scene from high above where the sad clown appears and falls like a doll as the screen fades to The End.
Concepts like vanity and delusion come up as the clown is asked to look into a mirror, but he refuses to. The mirror has been considered a symbol of imagination or consciousness. It is also related to thought. From the earliest times, the mirror has been ambivalent. It is a surface that reproduces images and also contains and absorbs them. It has magic quality. It invokes apparitions by conjuring up images it has previously received. The implication is feminine and related to moon symbolism. The indication that the mirror is lunar is afforded by its reflecting qualities, as it receives images as the moon gets the light of the sun. At times, it takes the idea of a door through which the soul can free itself when passing to another realm. In Rabbit's Moon, the mirror is handheld. Sometimes, hand mirrors represent the truth. In China, they are supposed to be an aid for happiness and protection against negative influences,[4] which raises the question of whether the clown is delusional and the children are trying to show him what is real or just trying to help him.
Anger's film has many icons that relate to female and male energy. In symbology, there is often an essential connection between the sun and the moon. The sun represents the masculine. The moon and the ocean (and the rhythm of a woman) have been classified as feminine.[5] Longing for a union of a man and a woman seems enforced in Anger's use of these symbols. The circled eye is the all-seeing eye of God. It represents the eye of God watching over humanity.[6] This symbol seems to be the most potent one Anger uses in the film because it means the highest level of consciousness. The star is something that battles darkness and is also a common symbol of the spirit, but it nearly always alludes to multiplicity in meaning. The meaning depends on the shape of the star(s), the number of points, the manner of their arrangement, and their color.[7] They are linked to diversity because they appear in clusters. They are united with destiny because of their location[8]
The film's title refers to the moon in which a rabbit lives. A concept found in Japanese folklore and Aztec mythology. The symbol is the moon's marking on the rabbit. According to Chinese legend, the moon rabbit is a companion to the moon goddess. The Aztecs believed that a rabbit saved a god's life. Therefore the animal's outline is engraved in the light of the moon forever. It is a token of God's gratitude for the animal sacrificing itself.[9] There is a feeling of trying to catch a myth or attain something that doesn't exist when the sad clown continuously tries to reach for the moon and becomes disappointed when he fails. One might interpret the stars, the mirror, and the bright light as being forms of illusions where our minds fixate on something that blinds us. Unrequited love and disappointment come into play, but a higher spiritual theme seems dominant in the story regarding the all-seeing eye symbol. Perhaps wisdom that the main character should be seeking but doesn't.
Comments
Post a Comment