What is it about?
In the article "Work and Play: The Dystopic Environments in Terry Gilliam’s Brazil", PhD Martta Heikkilä examines the meaning of space and architecture with a view to producing an anti-utopian, dehumanised milieu. As the point of departure, she takes the British cult film Brazil, directed by Terry Gilliam in 1985.
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Why is it important?
As an artwork, the film Brazil marks a turning point in how it reflects our times: it appears as a satirical postmodern dystopia of a society that is exposed to the forces of violent, surrealist bureaucracy. In the milieu of the film, the practices and conditions of work have turned nonsensical, and dreaming is the sole means of escape from the society of control. As I point out, Brazil conveys a strong vision of a totalitarian and estranged world where the realistic, the fantastic and the sinister intersect.
Perspectives
My article draws on two recent theories of architecture and living – Martin Heidegger’s modernist and Jacques Derrida’s poststructuralist views. From these points of departure, I analyse the construction of milieus in Brazil with paying attention to the idea of "work". As I claim, work is what structures the film's imagined reality: the way in which work organises society creates a sense of displacement that extends to the conditions of our existence, thereby producing a sense of estrangement and fundamental dysfunctionality. As I think, these are qualities that characterise both the environments in Brazil and the very prerequisites of our contemporary life.
Martta Heikkilä
University of Helsinki, Finland
Read the Original
This page is a summary of: Work and Play: The Dystopic Environments in Terry Gilliam’s Brazil, August 2023, Brill,
DOI: 10.1163/9789004681385_004.
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