Jabberwocky – Jan Svankmajer (1971)

Jabberwocky – Jan Svankmajer (1971)

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=c9H7B-FsJbA


This animation is named after Lewis Carroll's famous poem The Jabberwocky.
The poem is read aloud twice in this animation by what sounds like the voice of a young girl.
I feel that this voice gives a slightly creepy atmosphere to the animated film, which I found slightly creepy in itself.

This animation uses stop motion techniques, using mostly items that may be found in a child's nursery. The use of stop motion makes it appear that the items, clothes, toys and dolls are moving on their own.

After the voice has finished reciting the poem twice, this is replaces with a musical accompaniment. This soundtrack often emulates the creepy mood of the animation, but also fits well with some of the objects movements, for example when some of the objects are "dancing".

I thought that this animated film was interesting, but I'm not sure if I liked it all that much, as I found certain parts of it slightly disturbing, for example, the dolls feeding each other other dolls.

I'm not sure if this animated film carried a certain story or message, but it could maybe have had one of growing up. A maze was included in the film, and often wrong paths were taken, but the end was reached in the end. Also, before the maze was started, a child's outfit was hung in the wardrobe, however once the maze had been completed, a suit had taken its place, and the black cat was now trapped in a tiny cage. These could be uses of symbolism.