As a piece of coursework for the IB film
course, we had to research different genres and create a 7
minute film in one or a combination of them. From previous experience of surrealist films, I decided I wanted to look a little more into the genre and some of its most influential films. I watched a
few of David Lynch’s films, but the one that really stuck in my mind was ‘Rabbits’.
Rabbits is a series of 8 episodes about 3 rabbits within one room, in short. They have human bodies, with a rabbit head on top. The camera is static, giving a view
of the room as if they are on a stage. Occasionally one of them may leave the
room through a door on the left and return later, but never ending rain can be
heard and a studio laugh track makes appearances when there is nothing really to laugh
at. The rabbits don’t talk much, when they do, it makes no sense.
Surrealist films often have a lot of deeper
meaning behind them; they may use metaphor in order to establish a message. Rabbits
is no different, there’s many different possible interpretations of Lynch's intentions for the film.
For me, my first impression of the film was
that the message is existentialist. The film could possibly embody the idea of
a meaningless existence. The rabbits just seem to exist, moving around the room
and occasionally saying things which mean nothing at all. From the start of the
film to the end, there is very little progress. Nothing ‘gets done’
essentially. The view we first see as the film opens, the rabbit in the pink dress ironing, is repeated again and again on the same shirt. They just spend their time moving around the room, being laughed
at, and saying their eerie lines. Without any deeper thinking, the film,
particularly the laugh track, appears random and unexplainable. It’s disturbing
and creepy, perhaps because the occasional lines serve only to remind us of death, how meaningless our lives are as they we progress until death.
I also did some research on the internet to
find some other interpretations of the film.
One of these interpretations is that the
film is a critique on modern society. The viewers are “watching characters who are
in fact role playing the normalcy of everyday domestic situations.”[1] They appear to be sitting as if a television should be where the camera sits. Lynch appears to try to convey the idea of the rabbits sitting around, with very little communication between them and repeating the same remedial actions. The film’s laughter track does further enforce the entire of television
dependency. The laugh track is similar to that within sitcoms, laughing at
things that appear meaningless, such as one of the rabbits returning to the
room after being outside for a short while. The film “deliberately violates
everything we have come to expect in a narrative”[2],
actions such as ironing the same shirt, sitting on the sofa only to get up,
walk around and return again are repeated by each of the rabbits. This mirrors
the nature of sitcoms, they are essentially the same characters repeating the
same actions in each episode, with a laugh track to complement each ‘funny’
repeated action. This interpretation suggests that Lynch created the film to
mock how pointless and mundane these sitcoms we enjoy really are.
Another message some got from this film was
that it is set in purgatory. This theory may further go on to suggest that the
three souls are waiting to be reincarnated into rabbits. Their lines sometimes
mention murder, sharp teeth and dogs barking, suggesting they were hunters[3].
However, the general theory is that the souls are stuck within purgatory,
explained by the boss they frequently make reference to and eventually visits
them. He would be the thing that has trapped them there. The laugh track could
be explained to be souls within hell, laughing at their actions or potentially
waiting for them. In addition, the rabbits could have been killed within a fire. There are mentions of burning, an alarm sounding through the open door at one point too. However, this theory has flaws. For example, what is the purpose
of the door leading outside? The male rabbit frequently enters and exits
through it, something which he should not be allowed to do if he were trapped
within purgatory.
To me, the theory that the film could be a
mockery of sitcoms and a reflection of our modern day lives appears the most
credible and supported with the most evidence. Although I loved this film, it
really did scare me. It was eerie and uncomfortable but I’m very glad I looked
into it.
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