Seventh Seal
“He grins at Death, mocks the Lord, laughs at himself and leers at the girls. His world is a Jöns-world, believable only to himself, ridiculous to all including himself, meaningless to Heaven and of no interest to Hell.” -Squire Jöns The Seventh Seal, Dir. Ingmar Bergman
I managed to find something fitting Absurdism and the Seventh day of the year today. The Seventh Seal, Directed by Ingmar Bergman for the SEVENTH DAY of the year. I actually watched this a few weeks ago, in an attempt to get through some classics with my partner before Filmstruck (yes, I was one of the few subscribers) went belly up. I admit, I had ideas about the film long before I saw it as a late teenager in Germany, mostly influenced by Bill and Ted’s adventures that I watched as a kid. But it’s one of those films a like many books that a lot of people talk about but not many have seen all the way through. It’s actually a pretty good watch, certainly a much more thoughtful pace than I think modern moviegoers are used to, but compelling nonetheless, with imagery that in context makes even more sense than when adorning postcards and internet memes.
This is one of those films that has been written about almost ad nauseam so, I’ll spare the attempts to dive into Bergman’s psyche and meaning too much but focus as I’ve been doing on the Absurdist elements that resonate with me.
Anyone that had a spiritual or religious upbringing has had the thoughts and questions vocalized and embodied in the Knight, Antonius Block. The questions about God, the unanswering void, the questions about why bad things happen to good people. Questions of a person in a crisis of faith. Questions so personal that some dare not even speak them aloud, but that are prevalent in theosophical arguments across centuries. Questions that resonated more with me when I first watched it, and that I asked myself when I still believed, or was trying to. I’ll never forget when shortly after I was caught in my own unbelief (maybe more on this later) by religious leadership and sitting in front of my religious leader, where he pulled open his gigantic bible and offered to answer all my questions with scripture. As if I hadn’t read it all already, as if I hadn’t asked all the questions and prayed and pleaded and called out to the unanswering void. I didn’t get to ask death however. I’d certainly had my own close encounters, but never did the hooded figure appear, and I never got to challenge death to any games. But I find the Knight these days a bit blind to the realities about him. Certainly, if I had maybe encountered death personified I might have had reason to re-think my relationship with a god (if there’s death, and there’s an afterlife, then maybe a god and devil?) If you believe in death personified and a devil, does that default to a belief in a god? Either way, Block asks the good questions, and gets no answers. I think what resonated to me more no was the character of Squire Jöns. He was straight up playing the Absurd Hero.
As I sit to write this, I no longer have access to Filmstruck, but managed to pull a quote or two from script snippets online. Squire Jöns seems to be playing the fool at first, speaking in “riddles” and curmudgeonly quips. But he’s made the leap from critic, unbeliever, and existentialist striving for meaning to just accepting the absurdity of life and living it. He doesn’t care there is no meaning, doesn’t see any point in trying to find one anymore, and just wants to enjoy being alive. He’s still very much a man of the world, feeling all the feels, and experiencing the world around him. The phrase that I chose lays out his worldview, which captures the Absurd experience well; grinning, mocking, laughing, leering, believable only to oneself, ridiculous to all, and meaningless to heaven and of no interest to hell.
Amazon Link: https://amzn.to/2SwOpbR
Wikipedia: The Seventh Seal
