La politica degli oggetti. Cianfrusaglie, feticci e marionette nel cinema di Jan Švankmajer
DOI:
https://doi.org/10.13129/2240-5380/15.2025.73-84Keywords:
Jan Švankmajer, Surrealism, Stop-motion animation, Anti-anthropocentrism, Political allegoryAbstract
This article explores the political and ontological centrality of objects in the cinema of Jan Švankmajer, interpreting his work as a radical anti-anthropocentric project rooted in militant Surrealism. Through stop-motion animation, everyday objects—tools, utensils, toys, puppets, and organic matter—acquire agency, disrupt narrative logic, and challenge hierarchies between human and non-human realms. Drawing on philosophical reflections on “things,” the essay argues that Švankmajer’s animated artifacts operate as political allegories: initially critiquing the oppressive structures of communist Czechoslovakia and later expanding toward a broader denunciation of consumerism and identity erosion. From early shorts such as The Flat to feature films like Alice andLittle Otik, objects progressively decenter the human subject and propose a hybrid, relational ontology in which organic and inorganic forms coexist beyond anthropocentric frameworks.
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