In this essay I plan to point out which particular aspects of the film medium are explored in surrealist film. In doing this task I will need to define surrealism in terms of the cinema and therefore explain exactly which aspects of a surrealist film set it apart from other genres to make it surrealist. In turn I shall also compare surrealist film to other genres of film including that which it is most often compared to, avante-garde cinema. The particular surrealist films I shall be making reference to are
             L'age D'Or (France, 1930, d. Luis Bunuel) and Un Chien Andalou (France, 1928, d. Luis Bunuel) as these are the surrealist films that I am most familiar with. I shall also be exploring surrealist film in terms of narrative, style and content as well as addressing issues such as fantasy, reality and voyeurism in terms of film.
             The surrealism movement took place during the aftermath of the First World War and started primarily in France. Surrealism was more of a broad range, cultural and social project interested in liberating human society from conscious and logical thinking to create a utopian society, than an art movement. The surrealism movement was in search of a gateway into society's subconscious, the breakdown of rational and logical thinking. Surrealist artwork concentrated on individualism, subjective visions and states of disorientation, nihilism, chaos and irrationality of modernity to break down the society's consciousness.
             The founders of this movement were quite specific in terms of what they wanted surrealism to be and in fact made a declaration in 1925 called the manifesto of surrealism. The most relevant points of this are as follows "Surrealism is not a new means of expression, or an easier one, nor even a metaphysic of poetry. It is a means of total liberation of the mind and of all that resembles it" And, "We make no claim to change the mores of mankind, but we intend to s...