Zoomorphic code in the films by Andrei Khrzhanovsky

Abstract

Each protagonist in Andrei Khrzhanovsky’s “Fifteen rooms, or sentimental journey back home”, a film based on his animated film “One and a half cat”, has an alter ego in the animal world. It is revealed in their speech, their actions, in some scene moves, even in the musical design of the film, animated pictures in the
movie. By creating the second narrative line based on zoomorphic metaphors the author interprets an essay “Room and a Half ” by J. Brodsky and creates a special zoomorphic code, with key elements and images evoking various cultural associations. Thus, the motive of death, which is regarded as a key motive in the essay by J. Brodsky and presented in a series of his recollections and contemplation, gets a visual representation in the film: the images of the two ravens and a cat, that is animals associated with the world of the dead. Within visual system of the arts the opposition “Live/Dead” is transformed through an  оpposition “totalitarianism/freedom” towards a new version “human/animal”.

Keywords:

Andrei Khrzhanovsky, film, film adaptation, zoomorfization, zoomorphic code