The paper argues for an allegorical interpretation of Dogville, centering on the identification between the lead character, Grace, and the virtue of the same name. The most minute and mundane details of the protagonist's behaviour are shown to embody a coherent illustration of the various aspects of the theological definition of grace. However, Dogville is far more than a mere specimen of Christian exegesis. This is shown by the analysis of one fundamental aspect of the working of the artistic text: its effect on the recipient, and the position it carves out for her, and which it forces her to take up. A painstaking analysis of the technical aspects of Dogville shows that we, as viewers, simply by virtue of watching the movie as it has been conceived and filmed, cannot help but become entangled in a position of proud self-righteousness which makes it impossible to recognize our own need for grace, and thus to accept and experience salvation. This manipulation of the viewer's position by the filmic text is the equivalent of another, much older, manipulation: that wrought by the Serpent on the progenitors of humanity. Our identification with Grace, both as a victim and as a judge, makes us „as gods". But this superficial realization of the serpent's promise comes at the expense of its most profound meaning: far from „knowing good and evil", we fraudulently identify with the goodness of Grace and become blind to the evil in ourselves. By watching Dogville we do not experience spiritual progress or elevation but, on the contrary, succumb to the temptation of believing that by our own merits we can transcend our humanity, escape our creaturely nature and identify with God. However striking and detailed the parallels between Grace and grace, and between her story and the key moments of the New Testament – the Incarnation, Passion and Last Judgement, Dogville is ultimately about the ever-presentness, and the inevitability, of the Fall, which it reenacts not on-screen, but in the movie house, with the audience as Adam and Eve – and with Lars von Trier as the Serpent.
‘Your eyes shall be opened and ye shall be as gods’: The Director as Serpent in Dogville
DELL'AVERSANO, CARMEN
2012-01-01
Abstract
The paper argues for an allegorical interpretation of Dogville, centering on the identification between the lead character, Grace, and the virtue of the same name. The most minute and mundane details of the protagonist's behaviour are shown to embody a coherent illustration of the various aspects of the theological definition of grace. However, Dogville is far more than a mere specimen of Christian exegesis. This is shown by the analysis of one fundamental aspect of the working of the artistic text: its effect on the recipient, and the position it carves out for her, and which it forces her to take up. A painstaking analysis of the technical aspects of Dogville shows that we, as viewers, simply by virtue of watching the movie as it has been conceived and filmed, cannot help but become entangled in a position of proud self-righteousness which makes it impossible to recognize our own need for grace, and thus to accept and experience salvation. This manipulation of the viewer's position by the filmic text is the equivalent of another, much older, manipulation: that wrought by the Serpent on the progenitors of humanity. Our identification with Grace, both as a victim and as a judge, makes us „as gods". But this superficial realization of the serpent's promise comes at the expense of its most profound meaning: far from „knowing good and evil", we fraudulently identify with the goodness of Grace and become blind to the evil in ourselves. By watching Dogville we do not experience spiritual progress or elevation but, on the contrary, succumb to the temptation of believing that by our own merits we can transcend our humanity, escape our creaturely nature and identify with God. However striking and detailed the parallels between Grace and grace, and between her story and the key moments of the New Testament – the Incarnation, Passion and Last Judgement, Dogville is ultimately about the ever-presentness, and the inevitability, of the Fall, which it reenacts not on-screen, but in the movie house, with the audience as Adam and Eve – and with Lars von Trier as the Serpent.I documenti in IRIS sono protetti da copyright e tutti i diritti sono riservati, salvo diversa indicazione.
