[Frameworks] animals and human-animal relationships on film

[David Tetzlaff]

I forget. Did anyone mention "The Private Life of a Cat" yet? 

Perhaps especially interesting in the context that it's a metaphor for the sort of domestic bliss Sasha Hammid hoped to find with Maya Deren, but wasn't going to happen, and also Stan Brakhage's assertion that, visually anyway, 'Private Life' is Deren's film, while 'Meshes' is Hammid's film. Brakhage's interpretation of authorship is nakedly converse to the themes/subtext of each film, but points to a fascinating take on the Deren/Hammid partnership: Sasha brilliantly visualized Maya's expression of reprehensive angst about the stifling aspects of relationships and domesticity despite the fact his emotions were going in the opposite direction, and Maya expressively visualized Sasha's ode to the joy's of family life despite her reprehensions about the spiritual restrictions of that sort of life.