{"id":418639,"date":"2026-04-30T16:36:13","date_gmt":"2026-04-30T16:36:13","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/418639\/"},"modified":"2026-04-30T16:36:13","modified_gmt":"2026-04-30T16:36:13","slug":"why-salvador-dali-and-luis-bunuel-made-the-still-shocking-un-chien-andalou-1929","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/418639\/","title":{"rendered":"Why Salvador Dal\u00ed and Luis Bu\u00f1uel Made the Still-Shocking Un Chien Andalou (1929)"},"content":{"rendered":"

Under most cir\u00adcum\u00adstances, there\u2019s noth\u00ading par\u00adtic\u00adu\u00adlar\u00adly shock\u00ading about cut\u00adting into an eye removed from a dead ani\u00admal. Gra\u00adtu\u00aditous, maybe, and sure\u00adly dis\u00adgust\u00ading for some, but cer\u00adtain\u00adly not psy\u00adcho\u00adlog\u00adi\u00adcal\u00adly dam\u00adag\u00ading. I remem\u00adber a man turn\u00ading up one day to my first-grade class\u00adroom and show\u00ading us how to dis\u00adsect a real sheep\u00ad\u2019s eye, which most of us found a fas\u00adci\u00adnat\u00ading break from our usu\u00adal spelling and math exer\u00adcis\u00ades. But in edu\u00adca\u00adtion as in art, con\u00adtext is every\u00adthing, and it is the con\u00adtext estab\u00adlished by Sal\u00advador Dal\u00ed and Luis Bu\u00f1uel that has allowed their own act of eye-slic\u00ading to retain its vis\u00adcer\u00adal impact. It occurs, of course, in their short film Un Chien Andalou<\/a>, from 1929, the sub\u00adject of the new Nerd\u00adwriter video above<\/a>.<\/p>\n

The shot of Bu\u00f1uel\u2019s hand tak\u00ading a razor to the dis\u00adem\u00adbod\u00adied eye of what he lat\u00ader said was a calf comes ear\u00adly in the pic\u00adture. What gives it its pow\u00ader are the images that pre\u00adcede it: Bu\u00f1uel sharp\u00aden\u00ading a razor and gaz\u00ading up at the moon, and the actress Simone Mareuil hav\u00ading her own eye opened up and the razor brought near. In extreme close-up, the calf\u2019s eye obvi\u00adous\u00adly isn\u2019t Mareuil\u2019s, but no mat\u00adter.<\/p>\n

Cin\u00ade\u00adma is so often about car\u00adry\u00ading the audi\u00adence along with sheer momen\u00adtum, and in any case, Un Chien Andalou is a work of sur\u00adre\u00adal\u00adism. To the extent that any com\u00adbi\u00adna\u00adtion of shots makes sense, it fails on that move\u00admen\u00adt\u2019s terms. Dal\u00ed and Bu\u00f1uel suc\u00adceed\u00aded, pos\u00adsi\u00adbly to a unique degree, in mak\u00ading a film in which noth\u00ading adds up. \u201cThe rule was to refuse any image that could have a ratio\u00adnal mean\u00ading, or any mem\u00ado\u00adry or cul\u00adture,\u201d says Bu\u00f1uel in a late inter\u00adview clip includ\u00aded in the video.<\/p>\n

Nerd\u00adwriter cre\u00adator Evan Puschak lists a few of the images that made the cut: \u201cA crowd sur\u00adround\u00ading a man pok\u00ading a sev\u00adered hand with a stick; a man drag\u00adging two Jesuit priests, one played by Dal\u00ed him\u00adself, as well as two pianos laden with two decom\u00adpos\u00ading, ooz\u00ading don\u00adkeys; a wom\u00adan\u2019s armpit hair sud\u00adden\u00adly appear\u00ading over a man\u2019s van\u00adished mouth.\u201d The goal of assem\u00adbling such grotes\u00adqueries into one dis\u00ador\u00addered view\u00ading expe\u00adri\u00adence? \u201cBu\u00f1uel felt that main\u00adstream cin\u00ade\u00adma, so con\u00adcerned with re-cre\u00adat\u00ading the con\u00adven\u00adtions of the nine\u00adteenth-cen\u00adtu\u00adry nov\u00adel, was trap\u00adping itself in the same insid\u00adi\u00adous moral\u00adi\u00adty and lim\u00adit\u00ading its cre\u00adative poten\u00adtial. He and Dal\u00ed sought to lib\u00ader\u00adate the medi\u00adum and the audi\u00adence, and that lib\u00ader\u00ada\u00adtion was not designed to be pleas\u00adant.\u201d Near\u00adly a cen\u00adtu\u00adry on, Un Chien Andalou\u00a0remains mem\u00ado\u00adrably trou\u00adbling, but most of cin\u00ade\u00adma still stub\u00adborn\u00adly refus\u00ades to be freed.<\/p>\n

Relat\u00aded con\u00adtent:<\/p>\n

The Short Sur\u00adre\u00adal\u00adist Film That Rev\u00ado\u00adlu\u00adtion\u00adized Cin\u00ade\u00adma: Luis Bu\u00f1uel & Sal\u00advador Dal\u00ed\u2019s Un Chien Andalou (1929)<\/a><\/p>\n

\t\t<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Under most cir\u00adcum\u00adstances, there\u2019s noth\u00ading par\u00adtic\u00adu\u00adlar\u00adly shock\u00ading about cut\u00adting into an eye removed from a dead ani\u00admal. Gra\u00adtu\u00aditous,…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":418640,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[31],"tags":[437,434,435,436,438,146,85,46],"class_list":["post-418639","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-arts-and-design","tag-arts","tag-arts-and-design","tag-artsanddesign","tag-artsdesign","tag-design","tag-entertainment","tag-il","tag-israel"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/418639","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=418639"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/418639\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/418640"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=418639"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=418639"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=418639"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}