The Moving Image as a stream of Consciousness: Analysis of Stan Brakhage´s Dog Star Man

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Stan Brakhage, Dog Star Man (1961-64).
One of the most famous works in experimental cinema, and loaded visual stimuli, Dog Star Man (1961-1964), by Stan Brakhage, consists of four parts and is thought as a seasonally structured piece that reflects on the history and experiences of man. Prelude is an explosively fast, paced experience. A rapid burst of images showing all the elements of the earth. Organs, birth, a woman´s naked body, trees, burning sun, water, cold and warm landscape. Streetlights at night. Electricity, energy, vibration, other planets, electrical bursts, chaos, and colored light. Layers of images floating on top of each other with electrical-like shots. The experience is otherworldly like, but also, earthly matter and life connecting with the cosmos, with no restrictions when traveling through different dimensions and transcending linear time, making the viewer feel it is all connected. Brakhage takes a somewhat surrealist approach, attempting to bring forth a stream of consciousness. The state between wake and sleep, with dreams, passions, and nightmares all intertwined. For the perceptual experience, Brakhage uses many techniques, such as synthetic editing, superimposition, and even physical manipulation of film strips (painting, scratching, dying, and baking). Brakhage is sure that whatever happened in the Prelude was to determine what happens in the later parts of the film.

Continuing from Prelude, the clips become longer. Cosmos and elements of earth and its life forms appear. A beating heart and blood cells. A landscape with mountains and trees. We see a man, carrying an ax, accompanied by a dog, climbing up a hill through the snow—more life forms and regeneration. As the film moves on to its last part, we see the man falling and getting up again. Images appear. They convey lust and passion. The human senses are prominent. There is a longing for union. A man and a woman´s bodies come together, separate, and come together again. In the final part, we see more dark tones. Black starry heaven, connecting the title of the film with a bright star in the sky, perhaps also connecting with a man´s quest in life and possibly questioning the nature of death and consciousness.




Resources: 

Spencer Sundell, Dog Star Man (1961-1965): The legendary Experimental Film by Stan Brakhage, (Seattle, WA: Northwest Film Forum. Copresented by the Sprocket society and Third Eye Cinema, 2010), film catalog. 
Paul Arthur, „Qualities of light: Stan Brakhage and the continuing pursuit of vision,“ Film Comment 31, no. 5 (1995): 68-76, 70.


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