Industrialism and the Futility of Man in Eraserhead Jessica White
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Industrialism and the Futility of Man in Eraserhead Jessica White This paper was written for Dr. Brevik’s David Lynch course. In the 1977 cult classic Eraserhead, director David Lynch uses a series of stylistic techniques, characters, and plot to convey the futility of man in a world that has become mechanized and industrialized. J.D. Lafrance comments that “Eraserhead is an urban nightmare set in an industrial wasteland ‘reminiscent of the paintings of the Swiss surrealist H.R. Giger,’ whose works contain images of decaying biological matter and people trapped in machinery, becoming one with industry, much like Lynch’s film with its bleak landscapes of buildings and factories with no signs of nature present” (Lafrance). Early in the film we see the main character Henry Spencer walking through this dreary landscape crossing over a train track between what look like polluted factory buildings. Henry crosses over murky puddles of waste from the nearby factories and mounds of dirt. The train track itself could be a representation of the Industrial Revolution, a period in which the use of steam locomotives for the transport of textiles and other goods became extremely important for the development of the country. In the film, the sound of a train’s screeching wheels and constant clacking against tracks can be heard at various times; especially in the home of Henry’s wife Mary, who appears to live directly next to a train depot. The sounds resonate in the background along with other mechanical music such as the clanking of gears and grinds. Lynch may have chosen to shoot Eraserhead in black and white to emphasize the darkness and bleakness of this industrial town. There is rarely anything shown that is a pure white which could be a way of showing the effects of pollution that has been caused by factory production. The use of gray hues leaves the audience with the impression of smoke or smog, possible remnants of a nearby factory or train. The use of these colors also adds to the overall tone of the film which is one of hopelessness and despair. The majority of the scenes are actually shot at night to emphasize this tone through an absence of sunlight. Another characteristic of the film that adds to the overall tone and reasserts the image of industrial pollution is the lack of vegetation. Henry does have a sort of tree sitting on his bedside table but it is dull and lifeless. It looks more like a stick standing in dirt. There are no leaves or budding flowers on the plant, but it is still showcased in his bedroom as if it were a decorative house plant. There also appears to be a mass of pine straw settled around Henry’s radiator and a mound of dirt atop his dresser. Both are products of nature but only invoke images and thoughts of decay and decomposition instead of images of lush greenery that assert life. The only time we see any real plant life is outside of Mary’s house. Though roses are present they still have an ailing appearance. They are in full bloom but they still appear to lack life. This may be due to their long darkened steams and drooping blossoms. It’s hard to see if there are even any leaves on the lifeless shrub. Such greenery, or lack thereof, is extremely common in industrial areas because of harsh pollutants and chemicals that are released into the air and soils making it difficult for life to thrive. Much in the same way, the working man finds it hard to thrive in the quickly developing city. It is evident that there has been significant change in the city that Henry lives in. When he goes to meet Mary’s family for dinner we are introduced to her father Bill. Bill is a talkative man who has spent years doing hard labor. He even shows Henry his knees to prove that significant damage that has been done to his body as a result of his toiling. Bill becomes very angry when speaking with Henry about work and loudly shouts over the howl of a passing train that he’s seen “this neighborhood change from pastures into the hell-hole it is now” (Eraserhead). This city is unlike the idyllic settings that we find in films such as Blue Velvet where firemen and their Dalmatians ride by waving to friendly pedestrians. This city is dark, sinister, and lonely. Bill claims to have “put every damn pipe in this neighborhood” (Eraserhead), only to help create the industrial wasteland it has become. Through his bitterness we can assume that his job is no longer necessary. It’s possible that his place has been taken over by machinery or younger workers who are capable of using newer equipment. The same can be thought of the main character Henry. When asked by Mary’s mother what he does, he responds that he is on vacation. This is referenced a few times throughout the film. Harry claims to be a printer at a local mill but at this point it is highly likely that his position has also been replaced by the help of machinery. Historian David Cohen speaks of Pierre Edouard Lemonerey, “the first French writer to argue that unemployment resulting from industrialization would remain a constant and increasingly prominent feature of the new social landscape” (292). This assertion holds true when it comes to the positions of Henry and Bill. At dinner time, a product of this advancing economy is introduced. Bill announces to Henry that he is cooking chicken, but they’re “the strangest damn things. They’re man-made” (Eraserhead). It’s difficult to determine what exactly Bill means by “man-made” chicken, but one can assume he is referring to the changing methods and mechanization of farming and agriculture. It is a very disturbing scene when Henry attempts to carve the miniature chicken only to see its legs begin to gyrate up and down and a viscous matter oozes from between their opening. One possibility is that the ooze is meant to be blood. By showing such large quantities of the blood one is reminded of life. It is also possible that this blood is supposed to remind the audience that the chicken was once a living thing. Very few people ever see the blood and other visceral matter that is associated with the slaughtering of an animal but when it is seen, we are forced to realize that it too was a living, breathing, creature just as we are. There is a famous quotation that says something to the effect that if slaughterhouse walls were made of glass then we would all be vegetarians. It’s doubtful that the consumption of meat and poultry is what Lynch is speaking out against in this scene but rather the process in which the meat is made available. In the pursuit of making more money and profits in farming and agriculture, we have lost some of our compassion for life. The “European Union Treaty of Amsterdam acknowledges that animals are sentient beings, rather than agricultural products or commodities” (Raj 66). Animals are not viewed this way in the United States. They are simply another product, not a living thing. A.M.B. Raj states in his essay “Stunning and Slaughter of Poultry” that: Although centralization and mechanization of poultry processing […] improve process control, it will inevitably lead to transport of live birds for longer distances, sometimes in adverse weather and under poor transport conditions. The impact of this is likely to be larger numbers of birds becoming dead on arrival (DOA) at the processing plant. Besides the complete economic loss to the industry, these birds prior to their death, will have contributed significantly to the impact of the industry on the environment (e.g. waste of energy and feed, excretion of nitrogen and heavy metals and emission of dust and odor. (65-66) Not only do these birds have to suffer, but they also contribute widely to the pollution that plagues such cities as Henry’s. What Raj describes are the effects of a mechanized system created to yield the largest gross of product with little regard for life and environment. Not only does Lynch bring into question the industrialization and mechanization of animal processing but he also brings into view the production of man. The very formation of human life is portrayed as an industrial process. In the first scenes of the film we see a man in a tin shack or miniature factory who takes on the role of the creator, or machine operator. He sits at his switchboard of cranks and levers and controls the production of Henry’s future child. We see what appears to be a sperm released from Henry’s head and with the pull of a lever is dropped into a large vat; possibly a representation of the womb and amniotic fluids. This scene shows a purely physical and biological process turned into something manufactured. The product of this process is even more disturbing. What Henry and Mary have helped create is a baby that looks more like an alien creature. What is even more shocking about this baby is that is lacks any arms or legs. It does not even have a flesh casing to contain its innards. One could see the baby as a sad result of the effects of industrial waste and pollution. Throughout history there have been recorded instances of children born with severe birth defects because the area in which they their mother lived during the gestation period was found to be polluted by harsh chemicals and other dangerous matter from nearby factories.