Animation Theatre: Jan Švankmajer

4th September 1934- Present

Fig. 1 Jan Švankmajer

Jan Švankmajer is a Czech filmmaker who cannot be categorised in terms of artistic media instead being more of a mixed media artist. He is known for his Surrealist tendencies in his filmmaking and because of this he has influenced many other filmmakers including The Brothers Quay.

Švankmajer was especially influenced by his introduction to the puppet theatre and this is evident through his hands on approach to his work, more interested in physically making solid objects to manipulate rather than go by the traditional hand-drawn approach. He is also keen to involve his hobby of collecting things and making what he calls a ‘cabinet of curiosities’ which just shows where all the knick knacks such as out of his ‘Alice’ animation came from. There is just one thing though; it is hard to even class Švankmajer as an animator because he himself doesn’t believe he is one. ‘”Animators tend to construct a closed work for themselves, like pigeon fanciers or rabbit breeders.” Švankmajer stated in an interview, “I never call myself an animated filmmaker because I am interested not in animation techniques or creating a complete illusion, but in bringing life to everyday objects.”’ (Jackson: 1997)

Let’s look at Švankmajer’s ‘Dimensions of Dialogue Part 2’ (1982) and the clay figurines that

he makes. Švankmajer doesn’t just use them as an animation device, telling the story around them.

Instead, he uses the figures and the actual clay itself to tell it. He isn’t worried about the clay staying

smooth like other stop-motion filmmakers do but uses the tactile material to express the actual

dimensions of dialogue. The fingerprint indents while they are kissing show the want for each other,

the smooth movement of each clay figure against the other reminiscent of a sexual act, and the

deep scratch outs of parts of clay can be viewed as a violent argument. Perhaps this scene of

‘Dimensions of Dialogue Part 2’ is symbolic of the unfortunate journey of love. This way of connoting

is something that makes Švankmajer’s work stand out. He uses objects as metaphors for emotions

and ideas and even though you would think a real life film would convey this better somehow

Švankmajer does it in a far more emotive way.

Fig. 2 Dimensions of Dialogue Part 2

Švankmajer’s ‘Alice’ (1988) is probably the best example of his work which combines

multiple of his techniques and expresses his surrealist stylisation truly effectively. We are all used to

Walt Disney’s adaptation of Alice in Wonderland yet there is something more fixating and

emotionally affecting about Švankmajer’s attempt at Lewis Carroll’s classic. Even though the story of

Alice is extremely well known Švankmajer manages to create a sense of the unknown about it, there

are times in his film that we just don’t know what to make of such as the Taxidermist style

appearance of the white rabbit, and along with the narrator voice constantly repeating for example

‘said the white rabbit’ we are in ways disturbed by the film and it wouldn’t be unusual to wish

throughout your viewing that the narrator’s voice stopped. That along with the uncanny doll version

of Alice-meant to show her at her tiny points of the story- moving about on screen, Švankmajer adds

an element of the horror that Disney didn’t manage to encapsulate therefore, truly expressing the

frightful thought of getting lost down a rabbit hole. ‘This sense of ambiguity is what drives the film.

Gone are the whimsical overtones of the Walt Disney feature. This is Alice in Wonderland as it was

meant to be- a tale of a dark and mysterious child, who is a victim of her own delusions.’

(Renkovish: 2011)

Fig. 3 Švankmajer’s Alice

There is a highly nightmarish atmosphere about Jan Švankmajer’s work and so it isn’t

strange that his ideology is to make us relive viewing the world as a child. His surrealism is perfect

for this as we not only have to try and understand his stories but we have to try and understand the

surreal nature of his pieces, just like a child growing up trying to understand why the world around

them is as it is. If we revisit ‘Dimensions of Dialogue Part 2’ there is a highly childlike perception here

in that children express through touching and physically exploring, that’s why a child should be

allowed to run around and risk hurting their knee, it opens them up to understanding the world. The

infancy of this film is showing the suggested damage to love through a very physical hands on

approach, just like a child playing with play doe and trying to make something out of it. This childlike

expression is explored by Jonathan Owen. ‘Svankmajer’s central aim in his approach to animation

and filmmaking is to make us perceive the world as we did when we were infants. He strives to

evoke and enliven that original wonder and responsiveness, that rich experience of the world

teeming with new sensations, mysteries and imaginative incitements. Indeed the seamless vision

of reality presented in Svankmajer’s films is itself the condition of infancy, of that time prior to

imposition of verbal language.’ (Owen: 2011)

Bibliography

Jackson, Wendy, (1997) The Surrealist Conspirator: An Interview With Jan Svankmajer

http://www.awn.com/mag/issue2.3/issue2.3pages/2.3jacksonsvankmajer.html (Accessed

24/03/2012)

Owen, Jonathan.L, (2011) Avant-garde to new wave: Czechoslovak cinema, surrealism and the

sixties. U.S.A. Berghahn Books (Accessed 24/03/2012)

Renkovish, Steven, (2011) Movie Review: Jan Svankmajer's 'Alice' is a terrifying trip down the rabbit

hole - Greenville Indie Film | Examiner.com http://www.examiner.com/indie-film-in-greenville-

ms/movie-review-jan-svankmajer-s-alice-is-a-terrifying-trip-down-the-rabbit-hole-review (Accessed

24/03/2012)

List of Illustrations

Fig. 1. Jan Švankmajer. [Online image].On amazonaws.com

http://s3.amazonaws.com/auteurs_production/images/cast_member/458/original.png (Accessed

24/03/2012)

Fig. 2 Dimensions of Dialogue Part 2. [Online image].On skillset.org http://blog.skillset.org/wp-

content/uploads/Dimensons_of_Dialogue1.jpg (Accessed 24/03/2012)

Fig. 3 Jan Švankmajer’s Alice. [Online image].On photobucket.com

http://i28.photobucket.com/albums/c246/4mrstaff/cinefobie/xnzajs4.jpg (Accessed 24/03/2012)