Trauma, Surrealism and Time Out of Joint in The Lighthouse

Main Article Content

Pál Gerdesits

Abstract

The main problem of Robert Eggers’ The Lighthouse is the concept of time. Both protagonists of the movie are tied to a certain point of their past via their traumas and this fixation completely sprains their experience of time. In my essay, I demonstrate how this sprain is called to life in the movie and I also point out how the different aspects of interpretation converge in the recurring motif of the mermaid. I also articulate how Eggers uses the tool of “direct aging” to create a unique, time-travelling experience of reception while I demonstrate the most important differences between the concept of nostalgia and trauma.

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How to Cite
Gerdesits, Pál. 2022. “Trauma, Surrealism and Time Out of Joint in The Lighthouse”. AMERICANA E-Journal of American Studies in Hungary 18 (1). https://iskolakultura.hu/index.php/americanaejournal/article/view/45483.
Section
Essays
Author Biography

Pál Gerdesits, Film Studies, Eötvös Lóránd University

Pál Gerdesits completed his MA in Film Studies at Eötvös Lóránd University (ELTE) in Budapest and currently he is doing his PhD studies in Aesthetics at ELTE as well. His research interests include the question of „truth” and „reality” in art, he wrote his MA thesis on the “ecstatic truth” of the cinema of Werner Herzog and his doctoral research focuses on the phenomenology and truth-concept of surrealist cinema. Email: gerdesits.pal@gmail.com