Kafkaesque Insignificance and Humour

Kafkaesque basically means anything relating to or reflecting an element of Kafka’s work. The Kafkaesque element I decided to focus on in the film was the sense of insignificance and Kafkaesque humor. As Gregor became an insignificant insect insignificance is reflected in the death of the friend, the suspicion of the police officer and the characters themselves. You can see this mostly through camera angles and the building of false suspense as well as some bizarre juxtapositions.

I noticed that the camera angles created a sense of insignificance of the characters. It was rare that the camera focused on the face of a character, it never gave the character any significance over the setting or other characters. You can see this especially when Gabriela and Kafka are talking on a bridge. You’ll notice in this scene that the camera is quite zoomed out and not focusing on the two characters, you can also see people just walking in front of the camera from time to time, which shows they really are part of the setting. Contrastingly, in most films and TV shows there are those standard alternating shots of faces, during a conversation. That draws attention to the person who is talking and also signifies the reaction of the listener and overall puts focus on the conversation. However in this film they didn’t do that which enhanced the sensation of the central characters being no more important than the setting.

Whilst they make the characters insignificant they often create a false suspense, which usually ends in a comically insignificant release. For example after the main investigator questions Kafka he shuts the door and there is that bizarre suspenseful music playing, we clearly think some important clue is going to be revealed there, and then he sneezes and the scene ends giving us nothing. This building of pressure with an insignificant release is funny, in a very Kafka way. They also do something similar with the man suspiciously walking to the bathroom except they twist it at the end. The office is empty and a suspicious looking man walks to the bathroom and Kafka follows him only to find him looking at pornography. It’s that same pressure and insignificant release structure except just after that is when the most startling event occurs. Just when we have been relieved of suspense and are unsuspecting the crazy laughing man attacks Kafka. That keeps us on our toes and gives us a sense of danger and uncertainty. Throughout the film we are very confused about the identity of this laughing guy. He is this scary ugly creature who attacks people, but he laughs and smiles while he does this. When he attacks people he seems to be in a sort of trance, possessed by his psychotic happiness and we later learn that he was brainwashed by the people in the castle. Is he a metaphor for something? How did he get those boils? If he is so happy and full of joy why does he feel the need to attack people? His so-called happiness seems false, sporadic and destructive, its manic and dependent on some modern substance. The man smiles and laughs a great deal, which would normally show happiness but his joy seems artificial and unstable, not genuine. I think the film urges us to question what it means to be happy through this mysterious character.

Also when transitioning between two scenes they often juxtapose tragic things with mundane things. At the end of the morgue scene there is a shot of a nurse pushing Eduardo’s corpse out of the room, which transfers to some one pushing a cart of papers in the office scene that follows. The juxtaposition of the corpse of a friend and an everyday cart of papers makes the death seem sort of mundane or insignificant but simulteaneously conveys that the boring office job is sort of tragic in its blandness.

The overall idea of insignificance is related to metamorphosis, because Gregor is a bug and there’s no reason anyone should try to find out why he changed. They simply ought to except that he changed. Just as Kafka searching for the cause of his friends death is pointless, and in the end he just accepts suicide and moves on with his life. This sense of uncertainty and confusion is related to metamorphosis. Reading the novella I was uncertain of how to interpret it, what was a metaphor what was simply literal etc. Kafka isn’t exactly vague in his writing he is just obscure. The way he describes the characters isn’t completely clear showing the complexity of the characters. For example, you can compare the sister to the devil and you have a point, but she doesn’t seem completely evil because she seems more ready to accept Gregor as a bug and is also the most resilient character and is quite understanding of Gregor.  Just as the parents may seem awful and lazy they are also understandable in their treatment of Gregor. The father beats Gregor with a stick, while this is awful he needs Gregor to stay in his room to bring stability to the household.  His attack of Gregor is sort of defensive, awful but understandable. The mother is weak physically and emotionally so she depended on her son but couldn’t face him in his bug state, she doesn’t seem like a good mother but we know that she truly loves Gregor, she just cant handle his change, she’s human. While Gregor changes into a bug and literally metamorphosizes he’s still the same because he is imprisoned by his relationship with his family. The characters of metamorphosis are complex and confusing just like the laughing guy in film. The film asks us to question the meaning of happiness the way the complex characters of metamorphosis urge us to question what it means to be human. The pressure and release is related to metamorphosis because the moment Gregor becomes a bug you can see his misery increasing and his relations with his family withering, the tension in the household and within Gregor becomes intolerable. It’s a relief when Gregor dies.