Grotesque Transformations in Animated Films by Jan Lenica

Abstract

This paper elaborates the problem of the grotesque style in a selection of animated films by Jan Lenica (1928-2001). The main objective of the paper is to justify the thesis posed by the author. The thesis is that the grotesque style is an aesthetic category that organizes the world of moving images in Lenica’s films. The perspective adopted by the author, as expressed by the thesis, allows to better understand the creativity and the artistic talents that manifest themselves in Lenica’s film works.

The first part of the text gives a definition of cinematographic animation. Essential differences were pointed out between an animated and a feature film. Referring to the Freudian concept of das Unheimlich – the incredible (a concept that is fundamental for comprehending animation, both its aesthetics and its impact on the viewer), the author pinpoints “the grotesque” as a distinctive feature of the animated film medium. This is because animated film makes use of specific means of realizing the impression of the incredible. Animation blurs the borderlines between reality and dream, between the dead and the living. In this way, a new world is born, in which there obtain relationships that are impossible anywhere outside of it. The latter part of the text concentrates on the analysis of the particular film elements as used by Lenica to construct his poetics of the grotesque. These elements consist of: a specific spatial composition, a specific way of representing figure movement, types of protagonists, numerous cases of the situational grotesque and the sound background. At the end, the paper brings answers to the most important questions that can be asked in relation to the subject matter under analysis: what does the world seen through the grotesque look like and why did Lenica use this aesthetic category? The author also refers the reader to the sources of Lenica’s inspiration and the roots of his grotesque perception of reality.