Allegory, Methapor and Surreal Aspects in the Film the Tin Drum

Central European Film

Allegory, metaphor and surreal aspects in the film The Tin Drum

In almost all of the studies about The Tin Drum, the fact that it is a filmical adaptation of Günter Grass novel is very much present to the extent that most of the theorical works aim to establish comparisons between the book and the movie. Developing a paper about The Tin Drum film without having read the book may seem like a big mistake, but the huge advantage of this approach is to conceive the movie as an entity on its own and a pure visual creation.

The fact that Grass rejected several proposals of adaptating this book does tell us, among many other things, about the complexity of translating in visual images this purely literary creation, which was an emblematic symbol of post-war novel in Germany and had to be treaten extremely carefully in the cinematographical version. Volker Schlöndorff indeed suceeded in what concerns to creating a very unique atmosphere in the movie, by not merely reproducing the book events, but instead catching the main idea and feeling of the story. Thus, he was able to build up a picture that has its own place as a movie - and not just as a literary adaptation - which is a quite difficult task because the general tendency of critics is to react fiercely towards adaptations. Volker Schlöndorff managed somehow to give the film a very personal touch.
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To give some context both to the creation of the book and the decision of making out of it a film, we have to go back to postwar period in Germany. After the war, Germany was left not only in an economical, but also in a huge moral devastation as a result of the Nazi politics. The new Federal Republic of Germany officially claimed to be antinazi, promoting the “denazification” of the population. The 50ʼs where characterised in Germany as a period of denial and evasion in what relates to confronting the past, where people eluded this notion of “collective guilt” trying to rebuild their own lives. This was also reflected in the cinema of that period, which was mainly escapist and portrayed “machiavellic” societies, in which if the Nazis were mentioned they were represented as the evil force that just seduced an entire nation. In the end of the 50ʼs this position started to change, moving towards a more selfconcious approach (in this point is when the book was published). The new generation started to confront the previous generation and this was reflected on a numerous students protests against conservative schemes. In the cinema world, this change led to an enrichment of the German Cinema, which had Herzog, Fassbinder, Wenders and Schlöndorff as leading representatives. They did not seek anymore for entertainment cinema, dealing instead with issues that were relevant in this protests.

In the mid-1970ʼs, the purpose of the neoconservative Government was to present Germany as a completely restructured country, permitting a much more rational approach to the events of the Holocaust, dealing with “normalcy” with itʼs past. In this climate, The Tin Drum, as a movie that stands between escapism and confrontation, acceptance and negation, gains importance.

Before making The Tin Drum, Schlöndorff had already adaptated another novel, Robert Musilʼs The confussions of Young Törless (1906). In this film he already depicts some of
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the topics that will be later dealt in The Tin Drum, such as the agression, the lack of self awareness and the human passivity. In this fragment of an interview, Schlöndorff tells why the idea of adaptating this particular book was so appealing to him:

I also remember, at around eight or ten (1948-1950), a kind of mass guilt tendency we were all accusing our fathers and asking them how the Hitler thing could have happened, what they were doing during the war, etc. And of course none of them admitted any responsibility. It was always somebody else who had been the evil one. The schools added to this confusion by teaching us about the war in a dry statistical manner. All you had to know was that a nasty Santa Claus, Hitler, had seduced everyone into doing horrible tings. The emphasis was on rebuilding the country, for which moral scrutiny was definitely not a necessity. That was the spirit of the fifties. So that is why the view of Nazism as a sinister populist phenomenon in the Grass novel seemed to me an important theme.1

Having outlined the historical background of Germany in itʼs relation to the Holocaust, we can not isolate The Tin Drum from these events. The Tin Drum becomes then a powerful discourse about of the banalization and infantility of the evil and a deep analysis of the roots of Nazism in middle - class society.

The character of Óskar, with all his ambivalences, is designed specifically to expose the society he lives in. Since the very beggining of the movie we can start to think in this direction. Óskar often refers to himself in third person, which is a crucial grammatical reverse that starts to shape not only the political discourse of the movie, but also the identity conflict that Óskar might have. This appearently even casual and childish detail, relates to the incapability of Óskar to communicate properly with his enviroment and also

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points towards the allegory of a sick society that puts the blame on an other - a third person - rather than looking at itself. Considering this, playing with the narrative point of view makes a lot of sense in the textual level and helps to construct a very complex character, that can be admired, but never loved.

Óskar as an allegory of the society works very powerfully when we learn about his ambiguity, so we do not merely see a child that refuses to grow up in order not to belong to the pathetic world of adults, but also a child that is extremely repulsive, provoking very mixed feelings in the viewer. In this sense, we could analise Óskar at least in two levels that frequently overlap one another. In addition to this, there is another possible level in Óskarʼs figure, which is his conciliating position in German/Polish/Kashubian multicultural compound. Thus, I will comment these aspects separatedly in order to make a full picture of the movieʼs metaphoric relevance.

In the first minutes of the movie, after Óskar makes a presentation of his family story and establishes the Grandmotherʼs role and also the circumstances of his motherʼs marriage, he reveals the events that led him to want to stop growing. We should outline that the birth of Óskar is already surreal because his image appears for the first time inside the womb as the image that we will see through all the movie. He is never shown as a baby, because he never was, even if he is stuck in his three old physical age. Though the idea that he doesnʼt want to belong to that world is implied since he is taken out of the womb - his first vision of life is upside down as representing that he is born in a messed up world, thus he wants to go back to his safe shelter- it is not until his third birthday that he fulfills this desire. This drastical decision comes after witnessing the grotesque and hideous adult world. In this emblematic scene, the camera empathizes in all moment with Óskar, we see -in subjective shots - through his childish eyes the silly behaviour of the
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adults and we can despise them as much as Óskar does. After his visual scrutiny, he turns to his grandmother and tries to go underneath her skirts - his symbolic womb -, but she tells him to go away in a quite harsh way. Óskar is told that the Grandmother doesnʼt allow to go under her skirt for a long time now, so the childood shelter from a distorted environment is definitely torn apart. After that, he hides under the table where he sees the last straw: the adultery relationship between his mother, Ágnes, and his polish uncle Jan. Following this, he finally decides not to grow up anymore, to stay “a dwarf” forever. The hard criticism of the petit bourgeois society who is soon to embrace Nazism is then evident. This middle class society is shown as a completely banal one, a simple group of people that seek to feel important. The very representation of that is Óskarʼs father who joins the Nazi party just because he sees in it the opportunity of being something more than he is. It is well known that Nazism appealed especially for the lower middle class -the workers- as they were perfectly aware that that is the first stratum that would be more eligible to follow them blindly. The figure of Matzerath -who is speaking about a whole society class - seems just to need a strong lider, who is so interchangeable as the pictures over the piano that he is replacing, pointing out to the viewer the historical changes. Matzerath doesnʼt have any strong ideologic affiliations, he just follows the trend, and as long he can have his “schnapps” everything is fine. Óskarʼs refusal to grow up can be seen as a proclamation against this hipocritical and sick society, which makes even Óskar feel sick up to a real physical extent. This, actually, may seem enough of a statement, but Schlöndorff will go much further by making this rebel figure a despicable one.

Thus, Óskarʼs criticism is further a critic of the critisicm. Yes, Óskar refuses to grow up because he despises the materialistic and hideous world of adults, but he himself becomes, with his behaviour, the representation of the kind he is critizasing, adding more value to the allegoric construction of the film. The fact that Óskar avoids to take any
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responsability of his own acts itʼs very well reflected when he meets the dwarf Bebra and rejects joining the circus saying that he “prefers to be part of the audience”. Later on, when he takes a more active part by joining the circus he does that to amuse the society he is suppossed to stand against. This idea is empashized in a reverted way right after the scene in the circus with Bebra, in which Matzerah tells their family that a “man canʼt stand aside, gotta join in”. So, whatʼs the point of joining in if you end up being a parrot within the social mass like Matzerath does?

Another important aspect is how Schlöndorff portrayed the strained relationships between the triade of German, Poles and Kashubians. In the movie this multicultural convergency is both shown in the story itself as well as in the mis-en-scéne, which always focuses in the triangle of Agnes (Kashubian), Jan (Polish), Matzerath (German) and the adultery relationship behind that, whose ultimate product is Óskar. The very setting of the film is already very meaningful, as it is in the problematic ex-territory of Germany Danzig (after renamed as Gdansk). The movie portrays the complicated relations between German and Poles, mainly in Óskarʼs family circle. In the beggining of the movie, Mazterath suggests a peaceful stance for German and Poles (“German, Poles, Kashubians we all live together in peace”). Later on, when Matzerath joins the Nazis he starts to critize Jan for suscribin to a Polish newspaper and in general being on the side of the Poles, to which Jan replies that he is Pole. Even the Jew toy shop owner tells Agnes that she shoudnʼt bet on the Poles. In the end of the movie this situation reverses being the German the defeated ones and the Poles, who potentially can be the new rulers.

In what concerns to Kashubians their position in the dispute remains the same, as - and quoting the Grandmother - “because they are not Polish enough of German enough”, relegated to be always in the middle, without recognition. To this perennial state alude both
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the beggining of the movie and itʼs ending, which take a circular structure. While the German part of the family moves away to Poland in order to embrace a new future, the “Kashubian potato field with the Grandmother” remains the same as it was 40 years ago , when Óskar started the tale. As the train fades away and we look to that idilic potato field, we may ask ourselves: what is next now? How are they supposed to live in this peaceful environment after so many tremendous devastations?

Getting back to Óskar, his figure embodies this complex union between those three nationalities. Óskar himself doesnʼt seem to recognise as propper any of these nationalities, thus, he doesnʼt have any strong attachements to some particular allegiance. In this sense, Óskar has an innocent eye, as he doesnʼt classify people in race pattern. For instance, even though all his environment is standing against the Jews, Óskar never shows any kind of antisemitism. All this, does tell us about the complexity, in the context of a torn up Europe, of defining identity and though it may not be explicetely treated in the movie in this sense, this is one of the questions that raise when the train leaves to Germany. It is also very interesting to hang on on the fact that the family that departs to Germany is a completely restructured and new one, as the older members perished and somehow itʼs suggested that the three of them died because of Óskar.

Having outlined the main body of the film, which develops around Óskar, I would like to point out some other details which are continously helping to build this bizarre tale. One of this very special moments in the film gather around Óskarʼs mother suicide. Mainly, what we do learn about Agnesʼ suicide is her state of mind at that moment, without any need of dialogues and explanations. The fact that he kills herself from an overdose of raw fish actually explains why she wants to die and tells a lot to the viewer about the characterʼs feelings.
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Her eel consumption might be seen as an ambigous feeling towards her cousin Jan and the sexual relationship that he has with him. Agnes, in general, is portrayed like a person that ends up feeling extremely guilty in her life. This feeling is somehow insinuated when she constantly tells her husband that he left the cellar open, a slip that caused Óskarʼs accident. Once again, this also shows the tendency of putting the blame on an other, which mirrors the postwar Germany mentality. Going back to her relationship with Jan, Agnes is quite in a bad position. She cannot stop seeing Jan, but she is also aware that this is ammoral in the parameteres of her society: both Christian (she goes to the church to have a confession) and in her role as a decent keep house Nazi woman. Besides, Agnes is pregnant and again she doesnʼt know who the father of her future child is. Plus to that, the uncertainty of the war also lies on her. After seeing the horse head in the beach and vomiting, Agnés doesnʼt want to eat the eels and goes to her room to moan. It is after Jan comes and comforts her that she comes back to the dining room and starts to eat the fish. In that moment, when all the damage is done - after explicitly having sexual relations in her own room and even practically in front of her husband- she canʼt go lower and all she has left is selfdestruction. In that surrealistic manner is how Agnes finds her way out from the world.

Óskarʼs statement against the adult world is likely to be a critic of the materialistic world. Indeed, itʼs true that adults worship some kind of objects (the radio that Matzerath brings home, for instance), but Óskar in this aspect also makes no difference. He is strongly attached to his drum, which for Óskar simbolises power - in this context is worth remembering that Hitler wanted at some point of his life to become a drummer - and with this power he can affect otherʼs people lives. In the scene where he sees Jan and Agnes having sexual intercourse, Óskar express his rejection by drumming and screaming really
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hard, up to the point he breaks the glasses in the surrounding buildings, which references the Kristallnacht. Also, with the power that gives him the drum he canʼt just turn upside down a Nazi meeting, transforming it in some kind of open -air dance event. Óskarʼs drum, with his rhytmic strain, has some sort of hipnotic and calming effect for him, replacing maybe the womb that he has lost forever. That is why when he finally decides to get rid of the drum, he decides to start growing up again. After pointing out some of the traces of the main character, we can establish a various set of meanings. Óskar embodies several points of view, all of them complex and even contradictional, which demonstrates a real ambiguity when thinking about this film. What we may say for sure is that Óskar opposes the adult world, but his opposition because of how it is shown during the movie creates and ambivalent feeling in the viewer. Sometimes we may feel identified with Óskarʼs gaze when looking up - to the adults -, but others we contemplate with horror how a “kid” is commiting the most despicable acts. Does Óskar understand what is he doing? Is he good or bad? Of course, neither of them. In this sense, Óskar it is not a the “realistic” character that is more likely to be in a Second World War film. Instead, he is the surreal one, the “eternal child” with psichopatic tendencies and a completely own set of values - or lack of them. Because of his complexity and an infinite amount of layers, he works in the context of the movie as a whole allegory of “something”, that cannot be always clearly formulated, but itʼs still there to give each viewer an individual meaning.

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BIBLIOGRAPHICAL REFERENCES:

Arnds, Peter O. (2004) Representation, subversion and eugenics in Günter Grassʼs The Tin Drum. Camden House. Rochester NY Hernández Medina, Juan José (2002) De la palabra impresa al medio audiovisual: “Die Blechtrommel” de Günter Grass y la adaptación cinematográfica de Volker Schlöndorff. Universidad Complutense. Madrid. Hughes, John. (1981) Dreams of Childhood. Film Quarterly 34 : 2-10. Moeller, Hans-Bernard (2002) Volker Schlöndorffʼs Cinema. Southern Illinois University Press. US Olick, Jeffery K. and Levy, Daniel (1997) “„Collective Memory and Cultural Constraint: Holocaust Myth and Rationality in German Politics‟, American Sociological Review 62: 927-929, n. 10. Peukert, Detlev J.K (1987) Inside Nazi Germany: Conformity, Opposition and Racism in everyday life

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References: Arnds, Peter O. (2004) Representation, subversion and eugenics in Günter Grassʼs The Tin Drum. Camden House. Rochester NY Hernández Medina, Juan José (2002) De la palabra impresa al medio audiovisual: “Die Blechtrommel” de Günter Grass y la adaptación cinematográfica de Volker Schlöndorff. Universidad Complutense. Madrid. Hughes, John. (1981) Dreams of Childhood. Film Quarterly 34 : 2-10. Moeller, Hans-Bernard (2002) Volker Schlöndorffʼs Cinema. Southern Illinois University Press. US Olick, Jeffery K. and Levy, Daniel (1997) “„Collective Memory and Cultural Constraint: Holocaust Myth and Rationality in German Politics‟, American Sociological Review 62: 927-929, n. 10. Peukert, Detlev J.K (1987) Inside Nazi Germany: Conformity, Opposition and Racism in everyday life 10