电影《离魂异客》中的威廉布莱克由死亡到重生的象征意义

成都理工大学工程技术学院本科毕业论文题目：电影《离魂异客》中的威廉 布莱克由死亡到重生的象征意义作者：刘智蕙学号：201020701220 指导教师：关英森专业：英语时间：二〇一四年五月The Symbolic Meaning of William Blake’s Dea th and Rebirth in Dead ManMajor: EnglishName: Liu ZhihuiSupervisor: Guan YingsenAbstractDead Man, a mature work of Jim Jarmusch bespeaks strong influence of the beat generation on him. The director not only employs poetic symbols, but also makes use of the details of the life to put across to his audience the cultural meaning of his film. The film makes a point of revealing a cultural diversity in ethnic and religion, while criticizing the racism or religious ethic. This film expresses that in spite if their being strangers to the cultures other than their own, the various individuals, ethnics and cultures want to mix together keep connections with each other, but in vain because they realize that they still keep the special on origins.The hero of the film, William Blake, is ostracized from the mainstream of society, who lives beyond the pale of social revolution, law and morality. Accountant William Blake and Indian Nobody with different cultures stand in sharp contrast in terms of life background and culture legacy they inherited. This thesis wants to unravel the meaning of ubiquitous symbols therein from different angles, especially the symbolic meaning of death and rebirth on the part of the hero. For instance, music of the film can supple footnote and help explain cultural milieu, and ethnical traits and customs. Dead Man prompts the viewer to look at the movie from a deeper, symbolic point of view—the protagonist‟s spiritual voyage of death and rebirth.Key Words: symbol, spiritual essence, voyage of death and rebirth摘要作为美国吉姆·贾木许成熟期的作品拍摄的电影，《离魂异客》标明导演深受垮掉派作家影响较深。

导演运用富有诗意象征象征追求，和生活细节来表现主题：民族与宗教的差异，同时隐含着对种族主义，阶级或宗教伦理的批判。

这部电影体现了不同的个人、民族、文明之间尽管互相好奇，并有彼此交流的趋向，却无法根本融合这一事实。

这部电影中的主角威廉姆·布拉克是一个被主流社会边缘化的人物，他生活在社会变革，法律，道德的影响之外。

会计布莱克与印第安人“小人物”形成为深刻的对比，他们之间不仅存在生活背景带来的差异，而且还体现了他们各自继承了不同的文明遗产。

本文旨在探讨电影中的象征意象的文化涵义,尤其是电影的男主角的死亡与再生的象征意义。

还比如其中音乐对影片的时代气氛、民族色彩、民间风俗方面作出补充与阐释。

导演希望观众深入的探究其中的象征意象的含义，关于主人公的精神死亡与再生的含义。

关键词：象征精神内涵死亡与再生之旅ContentsAbstract (I)摘要............................................................................................. I I Contents (III)Introduction (1)1. The Summary of Dead Man (2)1.1. The Characters of Dead Man (2)1.2. The Theme of Dead Man (3)2. Symbolic Meaning of Blake‟s Death and Rebirth (6)2.1. Introduction to Blake‟s Death and Rebirth (6)2.2 Symbolic Meaning of Blake‟s Death and Rebirth (7)Conclusion (11)Bibliography (12)Acknowledgments (13)IntroductionSymbolism derives from the Greek word …Symbolon‟, whose original intention refers to …a piece of wood divided into two parts which put thing together again means friendship‟; Symbolism was a late nineteenth-century art movement. It is seen in poetry and other arts such as film. The film Dead Man which this thesis wants to explore belongs to late symbolism.The film abounds in symbolism such as story, clothes, words and music and so on. The quoted poems in the Dead Man, as well as its title, the opening scenes, embody the concepts, ideas or messages that the filmmaker wants to get across to the audience. The hero, William Blake, an accountant from Cleveland, later was believed to be a famous English poet and painter of the 19th century. The story of the film took place some 50 years after the British poet William Blake‟s death (the movie bein g situated in the mid-1870es. But after accountant William Blake was shot dead, his soul is replaced by that of poet of his name. Thus, this film is about the William Blake‟s spiritual journey of death and rebirth.At first, the thesis will give the summary of Dead Man, explaining its contents, characters, and theme. Then, it will explicate the symbolic meaning of Blake‟s death and rebirth with length.1. The Summary of Dead ManBefore devolving into the topic of sy mbolic meaning of Blake‟s death and rebirth, this thesis shall give a sketchy introduction of the plot, the characters and the theme in Dead Man.1.1. The Characters of Dead ManThe film Dead Man, directed by Jim Jarmusch, relates the story of the character of accountant William Blake, who shares his name with a nineteenth century British poet, of how he traveled on a train to the town of Machine where he supposes to get a chance of work. When he arrived, he finds that his accountant job is already occupied and when he tries to face the boss, he is greeted with a shotgun. In order to get job, he gives up too much, leaves the office he quickly, without the job he should get, and hang out in the twist and muddy world. After spending the last of his money on a bottle of alcohol, he meets flower girl. He returns home with her as he has nowhere else to go .Blake is the only one to survive, although he is gravely injured. Blake proceeds to steal a horse and leave town before. Because of his wound, he becomes unconscious. And he is told he is not accountant Blake, but the poet Blake of 19th century. And he does n‟t belong here, and Nobady will bring poet Blake to the Great Spirit of World, where he comes from. At the same time, three killers, who are hired by Dickinson and twins policemen, are pursuing Blake. So they have to run away. And the journey or death and rebirth begin. During the journey, they confront with many people, and many problems. But all the people, whom poet Blake meets die, for different reasons. At last, with Nobody‟s help, poet Blake succeeds in returning the Great Spirit of World by a boat, which takes him though the mirror water.1.2. The Theme of Dead ManUntil now the thesis has talked about some basic information of the characters in Dead Man. But only when we grasp the theme of the film can we understand it better and analyze the symbolic meaning of Blake‟s death and rebirth.Dead Man is a 1995 American Western film written and directed by Jim Jarmusch. It stars Johnny Depp, Gary Farmer, Billy Bob Thornton, Iggy Pop, Crispin Glover, John Hurt, Michael Wincott, Lance Henriksen, Gabriel Byrne, and Robert Mitchum (in his final film role). Neil Young composed the guitar seeped soundtrack with portions he improvised while watching the movie footage.Jim Jarmusch poetically describes a crisis-ridden world, where the boundary of civilization and savage is fuzzy. As always, Jim Jarmusch has the preferences of heterogeneous culture .at this time, the Indian became a white male mentor and lead him out of his nature. In the film, our protagonist William Blake from the original uncertainty when facing this wild world, gradually become adapt to the law of the jungle, and then set up his own reputation. This is a process of "purification”. The film is filled with a lot of death scene such as, death without warning, death of destiny, death of everywhere...Death has never been given such a rich connotation. In addition, numerous and complicated metaphor in the film enable audiences keep the delight of decryption in the process of viewing. For example, the police who was shot down on the branches is a mockery of Christian civilization.Dead Man is Jim Jarmusch‟s most amazing work. What‟s more, Dead Man not only is congruous with the pattern of the western film, but also is typical symbolic one that sets it from Jarmusch‟s other works and from other dir ectors‟ same western films. Johnny Depp plays William Blake, whowants westward by train to the savage town of Machine to catch a job. While there, he meets (Mili Avital), Blake and Thel together back to her home, but T hel‟s boyfriend (Gabriel Bryne) finds them in the bed. The violence that ensues causes Blake to escape the wilderness with a bullet in his chest. Pursued by savage bounty hunters, Blake‟s journey is an dead journey，he escapes with a dead crisis after another. Blake doesn‟t quit the chance of his name, which is pointed out by Nobody. Nobody is a Native American who can recite Blake‟s poem. The mistake causes a stream of ridiculous incident. While a few his au dience can't accept Jarmusch‟s work, audience can dig something deeper in his film, maybe he doesn‟t want to let the audience just lazy sitting in the cinema watching movies, finally left nothing after the play.Blake enters into a dangerous and barbarous world, instead of civilized and free world. Jarmusch‟s particularly terrible style is the important significance. In 1893, the historian Frederick Jackson Turner published a paper of tremendous and controversial thesis that is about American history. The historian writes an important reason of this paper is: The border region of America enter a civilized society symbolized that all America enters civilized society .Dead Man make American fully realized that the western has important significance in the process of American civilization. Instead of an optimistic assessment of virgin land and opportunity, the film shows the idea of “white blight”, the meanness and ignorance spread by European industrialism on the lands of the indigenous tribes. He respect but will not accept short of Romantic native American culture，this point is obvious shows on native Nobody. This is also one of the Dead Man‟s points of interest.Few people willing to the westerns turned into a black style, few people can the westerns turned into a black style, and Jim Jarmusch is an exception. Dead Man is a film that will put the traditional sense of “WesternSpirit” on the balance of criticism, in the west of the pioneering spirit is mocked at. Film “savage”Indians，who is familiar with poetry, becomes representatives of civilization. Film "savage" Indians，who is familiar with poetry, becomes representatives of civilization. The “pioneer”white becomes the beast predators. The great irony is not able to make Jarmusch happy, so the film‟s tone is humorous and sad.2. Symbolic Meaning of Blake’s Death andRebirthIn Dead Man, Michaux‟s words prompt the viewer s to put aside the logical understanding and to look at the movie from a deeper, symbolic point. The film is a metaphor for the protagonist‟s journey of spiritual death and rebirth.2.1. Introduction to Blake’s Death and RebirthThis movie called “Dead Man”for two reasons: first, Johnny Depp plays a role William Blake is shot at the beginning, he is a dying man. Second is that his name is same to the British poet William Blake, at the end of the film he also thought he is the great poet, the poet had died for many years, the soul of the poet is rebirth in the accountant body.Nobody leads accountant Blake becomes the poet William Blake began to look calmly asked after him the killer: “do you know my poetry?”Nobody who is full of poetry and deported from their ethnic, but he becomes the leader of poet Blake‟s death and rebirth. Accountant Blake‟s name is same to poet William Blake (1757-1827), who is a self-proclaimed prophetic poet whose work revolved mainly around two elements: the Bible, which “represented for him the Great Code of Art, the total form of what he called the Divine Vision”.These visions are through “the imaginative eye” of his spirit to understand the world. Poet Blake is not only a poet, but also a carver, so he can write poems and carve characters them as well. In his lifetime he created a mythology of his own, based largely on his own religious and personal belief of the “Real Man, the unfall en unity we had been and must become again.”In Jarmusch‟s movie in 1995, accountant Blake as a metaphor, the whole movie is filled with poetic flavor of death and rebirth, account Blake side step towards death, thinking the true meaning of life. What life is, theIndians told Blake without eating, the place of the soul is in the vast sea, everything is waiting for death and everything is waiting for rebirth.He finds the fawn. The dead fawn seems to symbolize himself. A poor, defenseless animal, shot in the neck. Blake approaches the animal, touches the partially dried blood seeping out of the wound, then feels the blood of his own wound. He has reached realization that he is dead, curling up against the fawn, one could almost believe he is weeping over his own passing. He repeats Nobody‟s gesture and paints on his face with the animal‟s blood. The mix of bloods shows his integration of this part of him, the dead, innocent part, but his soul is rebirth.2.2 Symbolic Meaning of Blake’s Death and RebirthMichaux‟s phrase contains two fundamental elements: the idea of death and rebirth. Everything in Dead Man points toward the notion of death and rebirth. In the process of death William Blake perfects himself, in a sense he is alive, he realized the poet William Blake depicting artistic conception. He is poet William Blake, just to use the blood in writing. He becomes a hero at end, take off the previous cowardice, precision marksmanship. In the process of death to live out a fresh look. The movie sets in motion with a train ride, Blake (Johnny Depp), who is a Cleveland accountant, he wants to the town of Machine. The notion of journey is the most important theme in this film, no matter what level of interpretation is being used. The second theme is death and rebirth, present in each step of this journey. In Machine, there are skulls and bones everywhere, man and animal alike. During Blake‟s travels through the country, we see death and desolation, dead soldiers, burning houses, destroyed settlements, a dead fawn. Blake himself could be seen as Death, as he brings death to all around him, until Nobody finds him and leads him to other world. All the people come into contact with him one way or the other end up dead. Even Blake‟s companion andguide, Nobody, dies in the end, only he is back to the other world. Some are killed by poet Blake. Some are killed by other people, some die by accident, but eventually, and all the people that have something to do with Blake die.Blake as Dead an accountant, he is also rebirth as a poet; this is a death and rebirth journey. And all these variations on the two basic themes are present in Dead Man. The story recounts the journey taken by the main character towards his death. But the me taphoric quality of Michaux‟s sentence suggests a symbolic level of interpretation. On a more abstract level, the quotation could quite literally portend the story. Dead Man then becomes the story of a dead man, traveling through Purgatory or some sort of afterlife. As the narrative shows Blake to be quite alive, therefore, death is of a spiritual nature rather than a physical nature, a death through loss of identity or the loss of the …essence of being‟.As to why view Dead Man as Blake‟s journey through Purgatory to a place that Nobody calls “the next level of worlds” or “the place where all the spirits come from”. William Blake offers an interesting, modern interpretation that he is traveling through in Dead Man.The entire journey through this shadowy world, the real world but a symbolic Purgatory, is an unceasing fight for Blake‟s soul. Symbolically, the crossing of the water represents the transmigration of the soul. Blake is on the last part of his journey to deliverance, or in Nobody‟s terms, he is going to meet the Great Spirit. Nobody prepares the canoe with all the ritual elements for Blake‟s trip, and especially with tobacco, an important part of Native American rituals. Nobody and Blake go from windy hills down to the dense forest, which is a symbolically tortuous road on a quest that first leads them into dense, inscrutable bearings.While Blake only brought hate and fury in Metal, the giant totem in the Makah village brings forth help that will give him life is death and rebirth, after death. Similarly, the very beginning of the movie is mirrored by itsending.There is no doubt that choosing Blake's poetry as movie lines is a good suggestion, which gives Jarmusch a handsome income. Black‟s words are not only very lyrical and contemplative, but also political and social. Jarmusch was able to receive remarkable results with the simplest means. And he also brought back a rich musicality of the language.In the film, it is not only death to rebirth of the journey, but also full of mysterious soul tr ansition, the movie‟s core is mainly William Blake‟s death and rebirth .Blake believed that everything that lived was holy. He thought that Christianity encouraged the suppression of natural desires and discouraged earthly joy (Damon 344). According to this idea, Jarmusch use tobacco to make a difference between white European culture and Indian culture. The joke is that Nobody continually asks Blake for tobacco, which Blake always replies, “I don‟t smoke.” It is the humor and conflict. It also shows the different status of tobacco in two cultures. For White Europeans, it is something which you can become addicted. But for the Native American, tobacco is used as a sacrament in ceremonies. It‟s used for praying. It is used as a gift. It can purify the soul. B lake‟s response is an inside joke aimed at Native Americans. However, Jarmusch believes that he can use the end of the movie to make Black relized the real meaning of living. “He says, …Nobody, I don‟t smoke‟, but he knows, I think. I didn‟t want to make a little lesson out of it. I just wanted to stick it, as a kind of payoff.”In a key scene, Nobody asks Bill Blake, “did you kill the white man who killed you?” Bill answers, “I‟m not dead.” As the tobacco conflict, Bill has misunderstood the concept of life and death. His death is as much a part of his life as is his breathing or the blood pumping through his veins. In the whole movie it is the key that the characters use the way of death and rebirth in communication. Indeed, he considers that it is an adventure. The wholemovie is mixtures of the western spiritual connotation and black style. It is not only leading to the characters fall into the abyss of escape and killing, but also motivating the self journey of the soul at the same time. In some ways, our life‟s journey is under the guidance of Nobody across to the other side of the mirror, the so-called death is just back to the soul, we all will be back the place of the soul.He hates the Industrial Age, especially in the opening scenes, where Blake is introduced to the Old West becoming the New West. The early scenes convey a sense of an undiscovered West that vanished before it could be incorporated into national myth. The water is gradually away from the continent return to home of the soul. The process of human growth, sometimes it is the growth process of inner. It is also a process of physical death and soul rebirth.ConclusionThe thesis is meant for putting forth that with Nobody‟s help, the soul of poet William Blake returned to the great spiritual world from the criminal and violent world. Contrary to his nature, circumstances transform the poet Blake into a hunted outlaw, a killer, and a man whose physical existence is slowly slipping away. However, due to limited resources, all these are just the top of the iceberg.Although the author makes every effort to analyze the strategies in different aspects, some aspects may not be involved in this thesis or may not be discussed thoroughly. There are also some other aspects can be discussed. For example, there are beads and blankets in the film, they are obvious discrimination, and there are also many pictures with buffaloes, those are very important food for Indian, so the buffaloes can symbolize Indians. The author sincerely hopes this thesis will be of some help to the symbolic meaning of William Blake‟s death and rebirth in Dead Man. And seeing the great significance of that, it is hoped that scholars will make more thorough researches into this field.BibliographyArnheim, Rudolf. Film as Art. University of California Pass, 2006.Bazin, Andre. What Is the Cinema. University of California Press, 2004. Biskind, Peter. Down and Dirty Pictures. Guang Xi Normal University Press, 2006.Bordwell, David. Film History. World Publishing Company, 2004. Kracauer, Siegfried. The Nature of Film. China Film Press, 1981.Maltby, Richard. Hollywood Cinema. Hua Xia Press, 2006.Pudovkin,V．I．. The Film Editor, Director and Actor. China Film Press, 1984.Walsh, Michael. A New Dictionary of Saints: east and West. Liturgical Press, 2007.焦雄屏. 法国电影新浪潮[M]. 江苏: 江苏教育出版社, 2005. 李·R·波布克. 电影的元素[M]. 北京: 中国电影出版社, 1992.郑洞天, 谢小晶. 构筑现代影像世界——电影导演艺术创作理论[M].北京: 中国电影出版社, 2002.郑洞天, 谢小晶. 艺术风格的个性化追求——电影导演大师创作研究[M]. 北京: 中国电影出版社, 2002.钟大丰, 梅峰. 东方视野中的世界电影[M]. 北京: 中国电影出版社, 2002.江晓雯. 当代世界电影文化1990-2000 [M]. 北京: 中国电影出版社, 2004.AcknowledgmentsHere, I could not wait to extend my great thanks to all the course instructors who have taught me during my studies for B.A., for his instructive lectures and generous supports in writing this paper.My deepest gratitude first goes to my thesis supervisor GuanYingsen, whose valuable suggestions, principled responsibilities, and professional guidance have benefited me a lot; whose constant help and kind encouragement have led me to finish this paper; whose painstaking effort in spotting and correcting my errors and mistakes have resulted in the accomplishment of this paper. Without her readiness to help, my paper would be a castle in the air. So, I express my hearted thanks again here.。