"Meshes of the Afternoon" - Maya Deren

Textual Analysis
Produced in 1943 by infamous experimental director Maya Deren, Meshes of the Afternoon is a Avan Garde accredited black and white short film, developed to stun the audience of the 1940’s. The first shot depicts the protagonist (Maya Deren herself) picking up a flower, Deren uses the shadows of the woman to confuse the audience to her whereabouts. The key is dropped down the stairs, with non-diegetic music used to accentuate the drop so that the audience take note of important aspects of the brief narrative structure. Deren uses establishing shots of the house, to depict the era and the idiosyncrasy of the situation, including the knife peculiarly falling out the bred, and the telephone off the hook. The protagonist walks up the stairs to discover the banging sound she hears, and finds a wide open window with a record playing the banging sound. Deren carefully frames her shots to confuse the audience about gravity and the whereabouts of the protagonist, the women then goes to sleep. Sacramental esque music is introduced, introducing an eerie tone to the piece. The shot is framed as if the audience is looking down a black hole at a figure, identical to the conventional idea of the grim reaper. This shot proposes a death theme to the piece. The audience is then acquainted with the face of the grim reaper, which is a reflection of its surroundings as it picks up a similar flower to the previous and begins to proceed down the path. The protagonist and her shadow follow the grim reaper, alongside the bizarre, tension building sacramental music.

The whole process is then repeated as she walks up the stairs to find her door unlocked, with a knife placed carefully on the stair. The protagonist then runs up the stairs, as if there is no gravity as she bounces along the stairwell. Deren disobeys the stereotypical “Hollywood” rule of continuity, cutting from shot to shot confusing the audience, completely destroying any form of narrative structure. The editing effects used by Deren are completely beyond their time, layering shots upon each other and using special effects on the grim reapers ‘face’. The knife is then found in the bed, and the eerie non-diegetic music repeats. The protagonist then falls out the window, the camera is used in un-conventional numerous angles to confuse the audience of the centre of gravity, it is difficult to watch as the previous banging sound replays again, speeding up, and we as the audience feel as if something ‘bad’ is going to happen. We are then shown the protagonist asleep on the arm chair as we saw her before, there are now two doubles of one character, we can assume this is her dream. The grim reaper chases down the path with the flower, repeating the process for a third time.

The key then comes out of the protagonist mouth as she opens the door to her home again, following the grim reaper figure up stairs. Deren angles the camera as if the house is moving as the protagonist climbs the stairs. The sacramental music starts again as the reaper places the flower upon her bed and turns to look at her, extraordinarily eerie, and the figure disappears. The grim reaper is shown walking along the path for a fourth time, as the protagonist chases after her, with the double looking on.

The key then turns into the knife. This could be conveyed as the knife is the answer, keys are conventionally used to open doors, open answers, therefore the fact the key repeatedly turns into a knife could be a symbolism of her suicidal thoughts. The three identical protagonists sit around a table and each stare and pick up the key which repeatedly turns into the knife. Non-diegetic music is used to enhance the change from key to knife. The protagonist picks up the key and her hand turns black. As this is a black and white film we could assume her hand is meant to turn red, a representation of the blood, illustrating death. Various shots are shown of her foot walking through various locations with a knife, very experimental and illustrating artistic ideas, also supporting the fact she is still dreaming.

The protagonist wakes up from her dream (supposedly) and finds her supposed husband staring straight at her, walking up the stairs with the same flower. The sacramental music starts again as the tension reaches a point within the piece. The flower turns into a knife, her husband looks at her sternly, she goes to hit him and a mirror breaks, we as the audience assume she is still dreaming at this point. The husband walks into the house for a final time to find the protagonist surrounded by smashed glass and with a slit to her throat, clutching a knife. The symbolism throughout is the only aspect we as the audience can interpret into some form of narrative. The protagonist continuously chases the grim reaper, symbolising that she is chasing death; she is looking for a way out, predominately suicide. The sacramental music conveys traditional African themes when animals are sacrificed for the gods; this also relates so suicide and thoughts about dying. Deren never portrays the protagonist to run away from the reaper; she is trying to find an answer, but the key keeps coming from inside her, as she is the answer to her suicide. During the scene where the three identical women sit around the table, Deren illustrates the conscious of the one woman, exploring her thoughts. Ideas, and symbolic themes could ever only be explored in this Avant Garde way through short film, as if it is not received well by an audience, no money is lost, no harm is done. Also the narrative would not suffice a feature film.