“Meshes of the Afternoon” by Maya Deren seems to exhibit many strange and unexplainable features. She says that she likes to create creative cinema that deals with the imaginary and exaggerates reality and she definitely accomplishes these goals. Her film plays with time and space as well as dreams and the subconscious. By being the actress herself I would say she is able to better portray the character that she wants to show in a way that could never be explained to another actress as thoroughly.

I was extremely intrigued by the symbolism we discussed in class relating to the flower, key, mirror-face, and knife. Our discussion revolved around the idea that because she kept losing the flower it was like the deflowering of a virgin in the way that the flower seems to always get picked up by the mirror-face man. This mirror-face could also be seen as another side of the woman herself, and her self-reflecting on her actions. The key could be in relation to a secret kept under confidentiality or a more phallic symbol relating to the idea of deflowering the woman. Or these two ideas could be combined in the idea that she has become pregnant but outside of wedlock or in some other circumstance that isn’t considered appropriate. These ideas for alternate meanings stretch us to think past what is right in front of us and to unfold the true meaning the director wished to unveil.