Let's talk about a buzzword that is familiar to many, but there is no clear understanding of what it means. Attention is paid to the adjective "surreal". It will be interesting to say the least.
Surrealism is…
An entertaining and bold movement from the early 20s of the 20th century. Andre Breton (1896-1966) is considered the founder. It was from under his pen that the first manifesto of surrealism came out in 1924. The main concept of the doctrine is “surreality”, that is, if translated literally from French, “super- and supra-reality”. The leaders of the movement wanted to rejuvenate the old reality, saturating it with new meanings. The main principle of direction is a mixture of real and dreamy reality. Two opposite entities were united in bizarre collages, just as it usually happens in a dream, or by moving non-artistic, everyday objects into an artistic environment, thus art was created. This technology is called the foreign phrase ready-made.
It is not surprising that the representatives of the movement wanted freedom and revolution, but above all - the restructuring of consciousness, rightly believing that it was the beginning of all changes. What's the point of putting a man innew conditions of being, if he is not yet mentally ready for this? That's right, none! In order to fully understand what surreal means, it is necessary to delve deeper into the ideas of the movement itself. Consider the latter at least a little.
Ideological background and main themes
Surrealists did not hesitate to experiment: they worked under hypnosis, alcohol and drug intoxication, starved themselves - and all this only in order to disperse their own unconscious. Freud's term is not accidental here, since it was his ideas that inspired the surrealists, but not all. For example, Rene Magritte was calm about the doctrine of the unconscious. By the way, his picture is in the first photo. The reader probably knows her.
Surrealists were primarily interested in magic, erotica, the subconscious. This enumeration is already breathtaking. Therefore, it is not surprising that surrealism has remained in culture and language. The reader has probably already thought that we have forgotten why we are here at all. But no, we remember: we are expected to explain the adjective "surreal". This is not a problem, because we already know the main content of the teaching, from which it came. Everything is very simple. Surrealistic - not related to reality, at least not to the one that everyone is used to. This is reality, different, different, saturated.
Synonyms
This is where replacement words come in handy. Sometimes, of course, this subsection seems like a formality, but not now, when such a complex concept is being considered. Synonymsreally needed. So here they are:
- absurd;
- magical;
- magical;
- unrealistic;
- dreamy.
Unfortunately, giving an unambiguous interpretation to the adjective "surreal" is sometimes a difficult task. But usually people use it in the sense of "absurd". It is unlikely that someone climbs into dictionaries and reads about the history of the movement, which was founded by Andre Breton. Although we do not exclude that there may be such people. Then the latter use the term with full understanding.
Route 60 (2002)
The film came out a long time ago, 15 years have passed since then. But in the space of culture, time no longer has such a meaning. The most interesting remains, but the passage disappears and falls out of human use and disappears from memory. But "Route 60" continues to watch. And not least because the adjective "surreal" applies to the film. This will become apparent when looking at the material again, or enjoying the movie for the first time.
Even the main character, Neil Oliver, says the word 'sur' when he's interviewing for a 'job'. And this is a clear reference to our today's topic. And here we need to return to the fact that "surrealism", as a concept and a certain feeling from being, actually has no analogues. Yes, people say "sur" when the absurdity of existence becomes obvious to them, but still philosophical absurdism (A. Camus, L. Shestov) or literary (D. Kharms) has little in common with genuine surrealism.
What should I add? The phrase "surrealistic impression" is closer, rather,to a magical feeling. But there are no canons here. Now the reader knows the history of the movement and its main ideas and can perfectly understand what surrealism is. True mastery of some knowledge is not so easy, because they are complex in themselves.
Alice in Wonderland
By the way, speaking of dream reality, one cannot forget the wonderful work of Lewis Carroll. "Alice in Wonderland" is surrealism before its official recognition. And what? All features on the face. Unless there is no eroticism in the composition. But, one must understand that, firstly, this is the Victorian era, and secondly, this is still a fairy tale for children. Although the original addressee, that is, the child, will understand little of it. Or rather, the whole depth of the author's mockery of reality is inaccessible to him. The surreal impression of prose is captured without difficulty. Perhaps Lewis Carroll was the forerunner of surrealism, one way or another. But let's also agree that putting the action of the story in a dream is a convenient device. If there is criticism, you can always say: "This is a dream, only a dream." In this case, what claims can be made against the author? True, in the Soviet Union the trick did not always work.
So we figured out what surreal means. It cannot be said that the adjective is in demand by the masses, but sometimes it is used. There remains one more blank spot in the problematic: can a nightmare be surreal? However, we deliberately leave this question unanswered so that the reader has something to think about in the cold summer of 2017.
