Hey all,
Just found this forum and am loving reading on the insight you guys have on the film (and the book as well). Anyway, I'm in college and for school, I'm writing a short paper on why people think Niki stays at the end of the film and book. Got theories? Are you sure you know why? I'd love to hear your responses.
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I believe he stayed because it was his home now, he had a family and a child on the way. Plus, he had a sense of duty to tell the villages about the pump he made.
shareI think I agree with KingSaint. He has stayed long enough to get this sense of responsibility. For me it seems as if the writer wants to show how relative life is. We may think it is a lot better to live in our cities because it is more fun: we can go to the movies, go out etc. But (why) is it better? If someone can get satisfaction and a sense of importance from a life like the 'mysterious woman' is living, why is that not also good enough? The same case for the converse: are there not a lot of things that we are not seeing/doing because what we do now seems good enough for us. Maybe there is so much more to discover and do.
This reminds me of this comic I recently saw, by xkcd:
http://xkcd.com/137/
I was surfing the internet when I found this other comic:
http://www.waylay.com/Store/OrigPages/391.html
Seemed like an interesting (though less sophisticated) parallel
i think its something to do with a psychological hold. we get dragged into what we're use to more times than not, and humans and animals...even plants must always adapt to their environment..so i think he had grown accustomed to his life there...as well as new parts of his character that developed while there..like having a baby and coming up with some of his own creative work with the water hole.
shareYeah, I agree. The innate conservatism of people, even those most abused by the system.
shareI don't agree with the last interpretation. I believe he makes it clear at the end that his life is not so bad after all and that his experiments are quite exciting. I don't think he wishes to escape anymore or at least does not think about it seriously.
I believe that there is a parallel between the story of the movie and responsibilities a man face in his life towards work and marriage. In my opinion it simply means that trying to escape your responsibilities is not always the best way out especially when you know how to assume them and that you have humbled yourself.
Maybe.
But when your life's work is spent endlessly digging sand that gets sold illegally (it had "too much salt" he said, to which the lady replied "I don't care about other people, only the village")to built dangerous dams and buildings and only ends up helping the people who imprison you?
Like most people, after fighting it, he got used to it, and overlooked the negative side.
This is a good point. However, I would argue that this is not out of getting used to it but by choice. Even if the result is the same, the perspective is different. It is when facing the sea at the end of the movie that he makes that choice. He might not be of more help to society at the end of the movie than he was at the beginning but at least he is not acting out of vanity anymore. Not to say that humility is better than vanity, but our man had the opportunity to experience both sides of the story and clearly made his choice.
sharei think this transformation happens at this moment - http://img149.imageshack.us/img149/4765/sunanoonnark3.jpg
shareI think he wanted to live free so long he can.
shareHis motivation early was getting his name in an encyclopedia. It seems it was his attempt for fame and general acknowledgment or validation despite the long list of official documents proclaiming who he is. Consider too that an entymologist's life is a solitary one filled with countless hours of tedious work collecting, cataloging, classifying and mounting specimens. As he acclimates to his new life in the sand his motivation and routine essentially don't change. His motivation for fame becomes the sand pump discovery. His tedious routine becomes shoveling sand. He's the same person with one major difference - he isn't free to choose. The epiphany comes when he's given the choice to escape but doesn't. True, he leaves his sand prison but the lure of the routine and chance for fame holds him to the village. Our epiphany comes at the very end when we discover he's been in the sand village for 7 years. We wonder why he stayed given he has the ability to leave. What we learn for ourselves is that once choice is a tangible option life doesn't necessarily change for the better. We follow our motivations and are comforted by our routine. I believe his perspective changes from being an imprisoned chained dog to a true contributor to the village once he climbs the ladder. The choice he previously lacked becomes apparent and tangible, and it's at that point that he realizes the sand village life offers more than the tokyo life - at least for him.
shareMost of your analysis seems spot on, however I'd like to provide some perspective. Having seen this film several times I retain the same opinion, that the main character is a complete fool. From the beginning we atleast know that he is a shallow character. An entomologist working alone with the desires of "getting his name in an encyclopedia," is nearly pathetic in my opinion. Entomologists generally choose entomology because they love what they do. Any choice of profession that's being used as a forum for ten minutes of fame, is a misguided choice imo. Further evidence of his foolishness is abound in the film. He's thirsty.. so he drinks alcohol? "My breath feels like it's on fire" Congratulations retard, it's called alcohol. But he doesn't stop there, BRACKISH WATER? A schoolteacher, drinking brackish water. Just consider that for a moment. I knew the character was lost forever when (after the 3 month period) he responds to her saying "they treat us well" by bowing his head and not saying anything at all, essentially accepting his fate. A fool is a fool wherever he goes.
And how ironic is it that he ends up with his name in a book after all? I.e. the Tokyo Missing Persons Log.
shareI don't agree with the last interpretation.How can you not agree with that interpretation? He was a slave, in the full sense of the word. The fact that he adapted to it and learned to live with it doesn't change that.
perhaps we could question one thing about Niki's 'transformation'. Maybe the film could have been saying not so much that he chose to stay because he had discovered purpose/comfort in his life, but that he'd simply gone a bit mad. Once he finally escaped the pit and looked out upon the vastness of the ocean he realized that he could no longer face the outside world..Perhaps his time in the pit had led him to fear the outside world, a sort of xenophobic/agoraphobic reaction which could be linked to madness, i.e. his confinement drove him slightly nuts and he grew scared of rejoining society. He says himself when he's requesting to walk around outside for a short time everyday, something to the effect of 'I'll go mad if you keep me stuck down here'.
shareHe stays at the end because he is finally free. He found something to be passionate about as a diversion from his mundane life. This is what he was searching for as an amateur entomologist - some meaning in life and an escape from his dull life as a teacher. Only now, he's not doing it for the official recognition - effectively living a shallow life to achieve the acknowledgment of others. Now his life is real and has meaning, and he can endure life - even if it means in this case dealing with the never ending onslaught of sand pouring down (a metaphor for the difficulties of life). He has chosen to stay - a huge difference from being forced to do something. When we chose to do something, regardless of the reason why, rational or irrational, it makes all the difference in the world. When we are forced to do something, the very same thing, we resist. At least that's what my small mind made this story into...
shareNo one here seems to have really pointed out that no one appeared to come looking for him. That must make anyone re-evaluate what they want to do, and then he discovers the water. Does that not then give him a new motivation in life?
shareIt's interesting to see so many different interpretations, most of which seem to have a fair degree of validity. I think in in the end it's open to question - an ambiguous event which changes its meaning according to the personality of the viewer.
My own personal take is that he represents the individual worker in capitalist society - that if we thought objectively about how we live our lives they would become intolerable, so we distract ourselves with little projects, drink and entertainment until we are so used to the situation we take it for granted.
My original view 25 years ago was that his spirit was broken by the end which is why he went back down the hole and the pump was an excuse to stay rather than something he was really interested in. (But then I suspect his life in Tokyo was similar in all important respects). Seeing the film again last night probably reinforced my opinion. But that's just me. If your personal ideology prizes duty over freedom you'll probably see the film as a hymn to duty.
I used to want to change the world. Now I just want to leave the room with a little dignity.
I agree with Krustallos.
By living and working in the sandpit, he has just replaced one life of drudgery and unfulfilment in the city with another lifestyle that is psychologically equivalent. The point of the work in the sandpit is possibly more vital, as the consequences of not clearing the sand is obvious. He has replaced one casual intellectual activity to relieve the ennui, amateur entomology, with the effort to improve the capillary water pump. The relationship with the woman in the pit seems to be at least as satisfying as his previous relationship with a woman from the city.
The man is not a dynamic personality who controls his own life, and I partly agree with chris_moore2004 that he is a self-deluded fool. However, I don't think that he is so different from many people stuck in mundane jobs dealing with the absurdities of life. He is controlled by circumstances and, although he initially makes a few failed attempts to resist, he eventually submits to his fate, validating his existence through regular work, gritty sex and intellectual pastimes.
For me, he has just been transferred from one sandpit to another.
Very well said, both Krustallos and terry_bratula. I agree with your analyses.
"To punish the oppressors of humanity is clemency. To forgive them is cruelty."
-Robespierre
He stays because he comes to prefer the simplicity of a world in which he is isolated and can enjoy a meditative, structured life. It's the same kind of fantasy of asceticism that leads wealthy people to want to be monks or vegetarians. We are overwhelmed by modern society and dream about a world with less choice, more structure and less change.
This is the Japanese version of The Birdman of Alcatraz, IMHO. Niki finding water in his bird trap becomes the equivalent of Burt Lancaster nursing a sparrow while in solitary confinement. A simple, isolated, but purposeful life is revealed and we as the audience experience some sense of envy.
It's a mistake to impose too much analysis and criticism of the factual premises in Dunes. You can start with the fact that real-life sand does not hold its shape well enough to allow the sort of cliffs that create the isolation of the sand pit in Dunes. But we are experiencing a work of art that does not need to withstand a literal factual analysis to be useful to us as viewers in using the images to reflect on our own thoughts and perceptions. With pure art such as this film, the artist accepts that it will be interpreted and experienced by the viewer in unanticipated ways, all of which are authentic. It's kind of boring for the artist to impose a single, correct interpretation on the viewers. I think real artists get annoyed by critics and fans who badger the artist with questions about "what did that mean? what did that mean?" -- and they just make stuff up to be sarcastic.
To me Dunes is a representation of someone really stuck in their job and/or relationship. But then they get to like it.