Schizophrenic Surrealism of the Screen

Marcin Giżycki

Abstract

The author presents his reflection upon a book by William Earle - Surrealism of the Movies (1987). William Earle (1919-1988) was a philosophy lecturer at the northwestern University of Chicago, and an expert on existentialism and phenomenology. He wrote a number of books on philosophy and one about cinema, which, contrary to the title, is not a history of surrealistic films, but a collection of erudite and virulent es­says on traditional films. The reflections of the philosopher on the ontology of film lead him to think that surrealism is part of the essence of cinema. Giżycki also notes, that Earle’s essays can be read as a manifest of antirealist film. It would be interesting to confront the theories of the philosopher with his practice, as after all the back cover of the book informs that he is known to have made over 20 “surrealist-dadaistic” films. However it is futile to look for these films in shops, Internet or film libraries. Therefore Giżycki asks: Perhaps these films were never created, and are only a dadaistic-surrealist joke?