Week 6 - Imagination
4:40 PM
During the week of documentation, we discussed the impact
that material circumstances, social environment, and human labor have on an
individual. Imagination contrasts that by emphasizing the mind of the
individual, rather than external circumstances. Freud concluded that conflict begins in the
mind, and we are human because we have these internal structures. The content
in people’s minds differ, but the structures of the mind are universal. By
taking a scientific approach to study mental processes, we can understand more
fully the world around us.
“And to Think that I Saw It on Mulberry Street” by Dr. Seuss
is a story about a boy with a vivid imagination, but is discouraged from using
his imagination by his father. Often imagination is encouraged in children, but
then societal pressures dictate the opposite. Often it causes people to keep
their imaginations to themselves, because there is no real-world application. Destino,
the Disney/Dali short, contradicts that point. It shows that imagination can
also be used productively. Disney and Dali both were known for their
imaginations and creativity. This collaboration tells a story of a woman who falls
in love, but is in a battle against time. Each scene is very reminiscent of
Dali’s surreal landscapes. This piece is very emotional and dream-like, and not realistic-looking at all. It shows how our emotional state and perception do, in fact, have an impact on our reality. They were able to utilize surrealism and
imagination to tell a striking story. It is through fiction like this that we
learn to understand our own minds and how we are perceiving things.
The clips from both Bridge to Terabithia and Pan’s Labyrinth
we viewed in class illustrate how imagination can be a means of coping with
real life. Another example of this is the book, and now the film, Life of Pi.
Pi Patel is stranded on a life boat in the Pacific ocean with a Bengal tiger
for several months. As the ship is sinking, a zebra, an orangutan, and a hyena
are on the lifeboat with Pi and the tiger. Eventually, the animals kill each
other off, until only the tiger and Pi are left. Pi then learns how to co-exist
with the tiger while trying to survive. At the end of the book, after Pi has
landed in Mexico, some reporters ask Pi for his story. He tells him the fantastical
story, but they are unwilling to believe it. They ask for the “real” story. Pi
then tells them a different version. He tells them that he was actually on
board with a sailor, a cook, and his mother, instead of the animals. He tells
the exact same story of how they all died, but the reporters believe this time
because it’s about real people. It is also concluded that the tiger is Pi. My
favorite thing about this book is that it is up to the reader to decide how to
believe. Many clues lead to the idea that Pi is the tiger. For example, Pi is
vegetarian, but he is able to justify eating fish meat to survive, because it’s
what the tiger needs to eat. Also, when he washes up in Mexico, the tiger leaves
Pi forever, because Pi doesn’t need that part of himself anymore. I think that
Pi’s imagination was his means of coping with reality. It is a really
intriguing book, and it fits along well in the context of our discussion of
imagination.
The Spirit of the Beehive was like Life of Pi, and Pan’s Labyrinth,
in that Ana’s imagination is how she is able to handle real life. The film
takes place in post-civil war Spain, when Spain was under Fascist rule. This
left society and families split, and it was a time of general fear and silence.
This is reflected in the distance and separation within Ana’s family. All of
the characters in the family are kind of living in their own minds. Ana’s
father is constantly concerned with his beekeeping, which seems to be a
metaphor for society at the time. Her mother is constantly writing a man (and
possible lover) she knew from before the war. Her sister Isabel is constantly
toying with the morbid. Ana, who is fascinated by the film Frankenstein, is
determined to find a “spirit.” When a deserter of the war (or someone similar)
takes up residence in the abandoned house Ana visits, Ana brings him food and
clothes. He seems to be representative of Frankenstein’s monster from the film
Ana watches. Ana’s world crosses from real into the surreal at this point.
Later, the soldier is killed by government officials, so obviously he was
opposed to Fascism. Later in the film, when Ana has run away and is wandering
at night, she sees Frankenstein’s monster. She also sees the monster's reflection in the water. Just as she identified with the anti-fascist soldier, she is identifying with Frankenstein's monster, which shows her alienation from the realities of life in this post-war society. In the last
scene of the film, Ana is still trying to talk to the spirit and repeatedly
says “It’s me, Ana.” Her imagination was her means for understanding what was happening in her life. The story is allegorical, and is a great
illustration of the use of the structures of the mind to handle realities.
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