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Reality in Murakami's Sputnik Sweetheart and Hitchcock's Spellbound
Part of what makes Murakami’s Sputnik Sweetheart such a rich and provocative work is his allusions to other works of art. The references serve to give us better understanding of the work and can help fill in some of the blanks where Murakami’s ambiguities leave us puzzled.
One that stood out to me was this very strange reference to Alfred Hitchcock’s Spellbound, “He was remarkably handsome, his well-formed nose reminding you of Gregory Peck in Spellbound.” Having been an Alfred Hitchcock junkie for many years I instantly began to see the similarities between the film and the book. Without giving to much away the film is essential about a doctor at a mental institution who is very cold and removed (played by Ingrid Bergman) who suspects that a new doctor isn’t exactly who he says he is (played by Gregory Peck).
In an essay by Richard Abel entitled Notorious Perversion Par Excellence he describes the Spellbound as Hitchcock’s experiment with “expressionism and the blending of space and time”. Hitchcock later dismissed the film as “pseudo-psychology” but his experimentation with the concepts of reality still raise some interesting questions about the Sputnik Sweetheart. The idea of the novel existing on multiple levels and different realities is reflected in the film as well.
One way this is manifest is through the use of dreams in both works. Miu’s encounter with the Ferris wheel and her reminder of her father is a sequence that is ambiguous as to whether it exists in “reality” or in a dream world. The question of what is defined as reality is further blurred by this event. In much the same way the dream sequence in Spellbound seems to uncover something an unconscious world of Gregory Peck’s character. Even if the film doesn’t interest you the dream sequence with set design from Salvador Dali is well worth watching.
Surrealism
Spellbound certainly isn't one of Hitchcock's better films, I agree with his assessment that it's "pseudo-psychology." I never knew that Dali was involved with it, that's very interesting. I should have been able to tell though, because the cutting of the eye and the whole sequence in general is reminiscent of the beginning of Un Chien Andalou. I don't really see much of a relation between Spellbound and Sputnik Sweetheart though. I think Spellbound is all about textbook Freudian psychology, and Sputnik Sweetheart is far more abstract than that. Sputnik Sweetheart somewhat fits with the concept of surrealism, because of the importance of dreams and the lack of clarity towards the end, but Spellbound isn't much of a surrealist film: too conventional!
I love that you were able to
I love that you were able to put the video clip in the blog post. I wish I had known about that this whole semester! I agree with you about references and the wealth we can find in comparing and drawing from other works to enrich the discussion about our novels. The dream sequence is right on! Who's to say that dreams aren't reality? Or at least, a different reality, like the kind all three of our characters venture to. I really liked Morukami's subtle surrealism - though K narrates mostly straightforwardly, his bits and pieces about otherwordly elements are so curious in their nonchalance, it makes it seem like of course these other worlds exist. Thanks for sharing!
Also, the surrealist imagery
Also, the surrealist imagery in the dream sequence in the clip mirrors the surrealist imagery in parts of the book, especially the moment when K follows the Greek music to the top of the mountain.
I forgot about that
I forgot about that reference. I used to watch The Alfred Hitchcock Witching Hour all the time on this channel Chiller back home. Now that I think about it, Alfred Hitchcock's style is similar to Murakami's. There is an element in their works of something mystical but both could also be described as "pseudo-psychology."