Marcel Duchamp and the film Un Chien Andalou

In today's class we were exposed to the work of Marcel Duchamp. His experimental pieces of art inspired by futurists and cubists were amazing, while his simple ready-mades created more of a response for myself. Duchamp's ready-made such as the Mona Lisa that he added facial hair to created a new light to familiar objects. For instance the Mona Lisa is known everywhere and everyone has seen recreations of this art piece, however when Duchamp takes it out of its context and recreates the work, it creates a stir and opens your mind to looking at the art in a new way. It's almost as if he's trying to get viewers to appreciate the art more and not take it for granted as often happens due to the familiarity. I think one reason he was able to get to do this Mona Lisa piece was because at the time, Dada, futurism and surrealism were working and also emerging still that allowed for a new wave of art. This new era opened the doors to looking at art differently and creating art from every day objects. Surrealists were twisting art and creating pieces that were never thought of before and were bizarre, however Dada was chaotic and new. Therefore Duchamp's piece was just another bizarre and new idea to add to the growing movement.
Meanwhile watching the short film Un Chien Andalou that was produced by surrealist also opened new ideas. The bizarre and strange nature of the film seems to follow a love story or search of love with the characters, however the cut off hand and man dragging the pianos with dead farm animals on them and Amish dressed individuals is so odd. The cutting of the eye in the beginning of the film also always freaks me out and still can't watch it no matter how many times I've seen this film. However the bizarre twist of the film demonstrates that movement of the time and while they could have created a regular film about a couple they created something that will leave the viewer thinking. Therefore the viewer now has expanded their mind on the art form and seeing the familiar story in a new way.