Dolls in Fragments: Daisies as Feminist Allegory

Abstract

tain resistance on the part of authority." 1 Daisies [Sedmikrásky] (Czechoslovakia, 1966) was no exception. Denounced by state deputies in Czechoslovakia for "hav[ing] nothing in common with our Republic, socialism, and the ideals of communism," 2 Daisies was initially banned and only eventually allowed public screening, and Chytilová herself was barred from filmmaking from 1969 to 1975.The product of a collaboration between three premier filmmakers of the Czech New Wave (Chytilová, Ester Krumbachová, and Jaroslav Kucera), 3 Daisies turns upon the picaresque exploits of two beautiful girls, Marie 1 and Marie 2 (played by two nonactors, Jitka Cerhová and Ivana Karbanová, respectively), whose destructive antics are rendered in an episodic narrative that ends by punishing them for their many infractions and inability to reform. In interviews and historical documents, Chytilová has always maintained that she intended Daisies to be a coded critique of its protagonists. In her view, the socialist bureaucrats who denounced it for celebrating its depraved hero-

Feminism in Vera Chytilovs Daisies: Montage, Collage, and Symbol

“…She claims that "Feminist film theory, like Woman herself, refused to stay domesticated, confined." Lim's article examines the application of the doll metaphor, a representation of feminism, to the two main characters in the film [1]. While Lim supports interpreting "Daisies" as a critique of the protagonists' extreme behavior or an embrace of the embedded feminism, she emphasizes the latter.…”

“…It encompasses various domains, including the Czech New Wave, surrealism, and semiotics. "Daisies" is often regarded as a surreal representation of nihilism by many scholars, with the director herself stated that "Daisies" condemns the female protagonists' morally destructive behavior [1].…”

Girls gone bad: An essay on “Existence” in Chytilová's Daisies

“…In these encounters, the protagonists mock the men rather than mirror them, going on to dispose of their hosts rather than reciprocating by offering themselves sexually. They also play with the possibilities of "undoing" their selves altogether by, for example, violently cutting each other up into pieces only to continue interacting with one another as animated fragments (00.52.58) (also Lim 2001).…”

“…Instead of focusing on what they represent morally, socially, and politically, these readings have explored their oscillation between subject positions and ideals, and how they thereby “trouble” orders grounded on demarcation (Stephenson, 2018). It has been noted that this polyvocality, reinforced by the film's Dadaistic style, makes it difficult to reduce it to a stance either for or against rules and reason (Lim, 2001; Soukup, 1998). Instead, the film comes into being as an excessive form of existence : a slippery treat that through fragments, flowers, disruptions, and butterflies allows us to explore the Maries as difference .…”

“…More recently, Daisies has been interpreted as a feminist expression and focus has been placed on how the Maries subvert patriarchal orders by “rewriting” their gendered selves (see Lim, 2001) through transgressive expressions of femininity (e.g., Bass, 2013; Newland, 2017; Parvulescu, 2006). Instead of focusing on what they represent morally, socially, and politically, these readings have explored their oscillation between subject positions and ideals, and how they thereby “trouble” orders grounded on demarcation (Stephenson, 2018).…”