Bergman -- Mimetic Theory and Literary Study

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Date Posted: 08:14:17 03/20/08 Thu
Author: CS Holden
Subject: Bergman

I checked out some Ingmar Bergman films and have been watching them over the break. I'm no film scholar, but I'm seeing traces of Girard in all of them, most heavily in "The Seventh Seal."

"The Seventh Seal" takes place in medieval Sweden, during the Black Death. If you've seen the movie, countless Girardian scenes probably come back to you: The march of the martyrs, whipping each other and themselves as they follow a large mock-up of Christ on the cross; the bar scene where the crowd of angry drunks turns on the minstrel after one man accuses him of infidelity; the squire's skepticism about religious endeavors like the Crusades or self-flagellation. I was also struck when Antonius Block says, "We must make an idol of our fear, and call it god."

Or when the squire says, "Love is as contagious as a cold. It eats away at your strength, morale... If everything is imperfect in this world, love is perfect in its imperfection."

Or when the painter in the church, who is painting apocalyptic visions of death and mobs, says to the squire, "Why should one always make people happy? It might be a good idea to scare them once in a while.... Then they think.... They'll become more scared."

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