1. What do you think the hand and puppet character represent in this film?
I think the hand and puppet character metaphorically represents the influence of the communist political regime on the freedom of people. The artist wants only to throw pottery, but the hand, which walks on its fingers and hovers in the air to gesture, keeps shaping his clay into a statue of itself, index finger pointing upward. This feud continues until the hand, returning in a black glove, gets tough with artist, punching him and dropping strings to lasso his head and arms. Trnka used animation to both records his reality and condemn it. I think the most obvious metaphor was the 10-second sequence where the main character is manipulated by the hand into crafting a sculpture of the latter, which shows the effects of totalling powers on free-thinking individuals. Another aspect of the sense of manipulation and control represented by the hand is that the main character sculpts flower pots which are suddenly destroyed by the tyrannical interruption of a hand. Through its multiple attempts of seduction and manipulation, the hand gradually leads the character to exhaustion and is able to force him to craft a sculpture in its honor. In its facelessness it is as scary as it is symbolic for the invisible hand of totalitarian power.
2. Instead of changing facial expressions on his puppets to denote their emotions, Trnka keeps their faces unchanged. Describe some techniques he used to convey changes in emotion
Alongside the absence of dialogue, the harlequin maintains the same inexpressive facial expression throughout. This allows for an emphasis on the attacks exerted on him by the outside force of the hand, particularly as his lack of expression reflects such actions back passively. The film showed me innovative techniques in conveying emotions through puppetry without changing the facial expressions.
Here are some of the techniques I find that Trnka used in “The Hand” to convey emotions:
– Lighting and shading: Trnka utilised lighting and shading techniques to create a sense of mood and atmosphere. He used shadows to create a sense of tension and used lighting to highlight certain aspects of the scene.
– Sound effects: Sound effects played a crucial role in conveying emotions in the film. Trnka used different sounds, such as the sound of footsteps or the rustling of leaves, to create a sense of atmosphere and convey emotions.
– Camera angles: Trnka used different camera angles to emphasise certain aspects of the scene and convey emotions. For example, he used close-ups to highlight the hand’s emotions and used wide shots to show the environment and create a sense of tension.
3. If this film was made in the current day, what could the hand and puppet represent?
In almost all cultures, puppets embodied questions on the origin of life and death, the relation between the visible and the invisible, and the relation between the spirit and the matter. Especially in my cultural background, the puppet is a sign of lifelessness. Throughout history and in most societies, mankind has projected its image onto the puppet, thus contributing to the renewing and updating of the ancient myth. Meanwhile, contemporary society has placed the puppet at the heart of a technological and cybernetic universe, by projecting onto it not only its most futuristic visions but also its most worrying fantasies. I think the implication is already planted in the puppet and hand composition. It is always correlated with the words of manipulation and controlled. This relation still makes sense in modern life, it is more about how people related this hand-puppet situation to themselves. For instance, on an economic level, the hand may be the “invisible profit driving pressure” that pushes the economic operation. For ordinary people, they may understand it as the force of life and survival that manipulated them to work rather than having to enjoy the freedom and choose how they would like to live, the hand then becomes a representation of greed and desire. All in all, I think the implications did not change, what matters is how people interpret and related these elements to their lives.
