YouTube Review

"No Food in the Library"



I would like to critique this teleplay from a Brechtian/neo-socialist point of view. This fine piece of work neatly encapsulates the modernist existential dilemma – that is: why are we here, what is the meaning of existence. The narrative begins in a typical “every college” in which the students perform as mechanized cogs in the educational machinery. They are subjugated slaves to the state. They represent the faceless humanity as it becomes more and more alienated from the nurturing mother figure (represented by the candy bar). The state is represented by the harsh security guards who subject the pitiless students to a humiliating torture and interrogation. At this point, the film slyly tips its hat to the absurdist/surrealist movement. The boy watches as group of drunken revelers (the women and rock band) enter the library, representing the Dionysian urge that lives within all humanity, and which is cruelly crushed by the forces of the state. The poor everyman student rails against the forces of the state while jealously yearning for the freedom represented by the Dionysian excesses. Yet, his voice remains unheard, his muted cries are drowned out by the by the rebukes of the guards/state. The boy/mankind descends into a dizzying phantasmagoria as the torture increases – he begins to see visions (the sign changes each time he looks). Here, he becomes a Christ-figure rooted in the Gnostic tradition (note the crucifixion posture the boy assumes while being frisked). It is only when the guards/state dangle to candy bar/nourishment before him that he achieves his final salvation. He is able to transcend his physical pain and move to a higher plateau upon which he absorbs the state’s oppression while providing a beacon of hope for the beleaguered populous. Altogether, a rather succinct summation of Hegel’s theory of alienation triumphant.