(Wo)man vs. Nature: The Connections Between Humans and the Natural World in Lars von Trier's Antichrist and Nymphomaniac

Abstract

In this research project, I have analyzed two of Lars von Trier's films in relation to the interactions between humans and the natural world. These two films, Antichrist (2009) and Nymphomaniac (2013), parts one and three of von Trier's Depression Trilogy respectively, are often critiqued as having misogynistic undertones without being given credit for much anything else. However, when analyzed from the angle of nature and animal theories, I assert that von Trier has made incredible contributions to these fields. The research questions I analyzed in relation to these theories are that of: humans, animals, and their interactions and similarities; animal agency within these films; and the ways in which nature functions within these films especially in relation to human characters. The design of study that I used to complete this project is based on theoretical analyses and close analyses of multiple scenes from both films. Through this, content as well as stylistic elements are used to negate previous scholarship and add new developments. Previous scholarship has often labeled humans as above animals on a hierarchical level. This is not only according to scientists, but also philosophers and theorists. Many, like Anat Pick, even agree that animals no longer have agency, but gain a certain level of agency through humans that they would not be able to have otherwise. Nature too, often labeled as a caring, female force, has succumb to assumptions that may not be true, at least not anymore. Through my research in relation to von Trier's two films, I have noticed that these past assumptions have changed, if not become entirely false. Major trends I have noticed in his films are the equal playing field between humans and animals through their similar behaviors, true animal agency, and how nature can become an oppressive, patriarchal force. My interpretations of these trends favor negating previous scholarship. In both Antichrist Nymphomaniac, different views of nature are shown, which leads to nature being fluid rather than either caring or wrathful. Nature, especially in Antichrist takes on a patriarchal role which has not been seen much in film before and serves to prove that the character, named She, cannot live not because she is a woman and von Trier wants to punish, but to say that the patriarchal structure around her demands it and leads the viewer to question what must be done. The animals in this film also possess agency, clearly acting on their own accords and holding power over humans. The animals in Nymphomaniac clearly relate to the human characters in order to show that the actions they take, while seeming unbelievable, are merely just humans acting on their primordial desires. It is through these interpretations that I will assert that Lars von Trier's two films are not meant to be analyzed through a solely feminist framework as they usually are, but through frameworks of animal and nature theory as well in order to understand why the actions in the films take place and what von Trier is trying to say.