While I still really love much of the work of Munch and enjoyed looking at the reproductions, I found the essays rather pedantic. I suppose it is more of a scholarly look at his work. And I do see how they pull the archetypes idea out of his body of work.
I have a couple of problems with this though.
First, his archetypal images of women border on stereotypical - mother whore, innocence temptress, youth crone. True, these are enduring images of women dating back to Shakespeare, commedia dell'arte, etc - which could be said about the other archetypes he explores around men and people in general.
I guess the thing I find disturbing is the absolute seriousness with which he portrays these classic tropes - there is no wit, no humour. These stereotypes date back to commedia dell'arte, some even to ancient Greek theatre, and there, in those times, there was a lot of irreverence and humour injected into the interplay of these archetypical characters. I find them disturbing, even a bit scary, when presented with such seriousness.
No comments:
Post a Comment