The Deeper Truths:
The Deeper Truths: Whereas many of the war films of the early twentieth century, especially the propaganda masterpieces of Sergei Eisenstein and Leni Riefenstahl, contain intentional, or implicit, symbolism and meaning, this by no means covers the gamut of interpretation. Developed primarily in the 1940s (though explored prior to that), symptomatic interpretation deals with the interpretation of meaning, unconsciously or subconsciously, included in a film. These repressed meanings allow the interpreter to more fully understand not only the film, but also its creator and creation process. For centuries, philosophers have researched the concept of repression, questioning the issues repressed and the reasons for their repression. According to Bordwell, symptomatic interpretation prefers to show the social sources and consequences of such repressed material; the analyzation of a film that hides important issues in its culture of origin or destination can reveal much about said culture.
Bordwell explains that much of the impetus for the exploration of symptomatic meanings arose out of the wartime films of the World War II period. The use and development of national identity in the films of Eisenstein and Riefenstahl (and, according to Bordwell, the Japanese films of the period) provided material not only for their countries of origin, but also for American films. Eisenstein's extensive use of group identity (the sailors on Potemkin and citizens of Novgorod in Alexander Nevsky) reveals the Russian (Soviet) unity along lower class lines. The unification for the good of the nation against enemies both foreign and domestic, even when requiring religion, emerges as an important element of the culture.
Riefenstahl's masterpiece, Triumph des Willens, captures not only the publicized ideologies of the Nazis, but also inherent characteristics of the German people. The willingness (need?) to submit to a leader is not readily admitted by most Germans, but is nonetheless evident in Riefenstahl's work.
Inherent characteristics in the Japanese persona provided the source for such films as Behind the Rising Sun, though Hollywood portrayed the patriarchal, honor-based society as backwards and destructive. The work of Hollywood was not limited to propaganda films, and the works produced before Pearl Harbor provide not only an opportunity to examine the repressed meanings in American culture, but also an exploration of the antinomy system.
The juxtaposition of two disparate concepts (thematic dualism) provides perhaps the easiest method to impart meaning to an audience; however, in so doing, a filmmaker reveals some of the dearest elements of a culture, the myths treasured by its citizens. In just the first ten minutes of John Ford's The Lost Patrol, one witnesses numerous dialectical explorations of American culture. The immediate conflict is that between the soldiers and the unseen assassin; the most used and famous symbol, that of the "other", appears in stark contrast to the "us" in the form of the white soldiers. The wasteland of the desert is later juxtaposed with the oasis, and the old, grizzly soldier conflicts with the young, enthusiastic rookie. The American myth of manifest destiny, along with all the "white man's burden" baggage that it carries, seeps through the obvious symbolism of the film.
Symptomatic interpretation provides that search for "deeper" meaning that scares many away from the practice and practitioners of interpretation. It built upon the explicatory method of criticism that predated it, and critics who espouse the symptomatic theory make use of both, sometimes treating a "bad" film kindly by only exploring on the implicit level. The exploration of repressed meaning provides important evidence of not only the background of a film and a director, but also the culture or society as a whole. To symptomatically interpret is not to over-interpret, but to fully explore the meanings, both implicit and repressed, of the symbolism and work as a whole.
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Last updated 24.6.99