The film Death in Venice was directed by Luchino Visconti and starred Dirk Bogarde and Björn Andrésen. This 1971 film was developed using a novella called Death in Venice by Thomas Mann who is a famous author. In the film, the main actor Gustav Von Aschenbach, was compelled to travel to Venice in search of treatment. Here, he was obsessed with Tadzio, a young Polish boy who was staying with his family at Grand Hôtel des Bains. At that time, the city was experiencing a cholera epidemic, but the city management kept the holiday-makers in the dark for fear of losing them. The reality finally dawned on the tourists, and they decided to leave. Aschenbach’s health was deteriorating day by day, but the presence of Tadzio rejuvenated him. One day, Aschenbach visited a barber for a makeover. When he was done, he gazed at Tadzio from far oblivion that the latter was fully aware. In the beach, Aschenbach watched as Tadzio was beaten up by an older boy. Overwhelmed by the events, Aschenbach, developed a heart attack, but, Tadzio and the boy realized much later when he was already dead and his body carried away by the hotel staff. This essay will investigate the main themes in the film.
The first theme in this film is decadence/degeneracy which was popular in European Literature during Mann’s time. In the film, decadence theme is portrayed by Von Aschenbach’s homoerotic feelings towards Tadzio. The writer acknowledges that Tadzio was beautiful rendering Aschenbach’s attraction to him. His feelings lead to his down fall and thus decadence caused degeneracy.
The second theme in this film is death. This theme is a dominant leitmotif in this film and has different representations with the ominous man coming closer and closer to Von Aschenbach in proximity. The first encounter occurs in the grave yard when Von Aschenbach comes across a teeth-baring strange foreigner. The next encounter appears to Von Aschenbach through a frightening gondolier in Venice. The gondolier was steering a boat that reminded Von Aschenbach of a coffin. The gondolier shares many of the characteristics of the teeth-baring stranger including reddish hair, a distinctive hat and prominent teeth. The gondolier was physically closer to Von Aschenbach as compared to the teeth-barring stranger, but he is still not available for a conversation with Von Aschenbach. The final occurrence of death appears symbolically to Von Aschenbach at the hotel garden where it appeared like a singer. The singer had similar characteristics with the previous symbolic men, including an important hat and red hair. More importantly, the singer paid extra-ordinary attention to Von Aschenbach.
The third theme in this film is susceptibility to the environment. Von Aschenbach was a sensitive person and this rendered him susceptible to his environment. His moods swayed with the environment. As an example, he left his initial vacation place to search for another one only because the atmosphere and the weather did not suit him. Another example for weather responsiveness is during Venice general census when Von Aschenbach argued that the unpleasant air was caused by excessively oppressive sirocco, rather than being related to health concerns.
Platonic ideal is another theme which is outstanding in this film. When Von Aschenbach’s saw Tadzio for the first time, he believed that he exemplified perfect beauty. This made Von Aschenbach relate Tadzio’s beauty to the Greek’s beauty. In response to this, Von Aschenbach’s used the Greek Image to abstract Tadzio’s beauty and thus felt comfortable towards his admiration. Platonic ideal shows that, sexual love can occur as a precursor to a higher spiritual love that does not have physicality, and it is a common practice between old men and young boys. Von Aschenbach’s imagines himself as a Greek master teaching Tadzio whom he assumes to be his young pupil. Nevertheless, the writer never achieved platonic ideal completely since Von Aschenbach’s never spoke to Tadzio, as discourse is important to the platonic ideal.
In the novel, the theme of costume/disguise is covered comprehensively. Costumes strike artists positively or negatively. During a trip to Venice by a ship, Von Aschenbach noticed a group of young men and an older man who was wearing youngsters clothing and make-up so as to appear young. On seeing this, Von Aschenbach, after a few weeks wears in the same manner so as to attract Tadzio. In addition, Von Aschenbach, admired Tadzio’s costuming. He was specifically attracted to Tadzio sailor’s suit, which had a red bow for the beach as well as his little peacoat which had brass buttons and used it for the city. To assimilate Tadzio’s costuming, Von Aschenbach added colorful bits to his clothes. To Von Aschenbach, the effects were disastrous; he lost his good taste, and even asked the barber to dye his hair. In this disguise, Von Aschenbach is uncomfortable as the man he scorned during his trip to Venice.
Another theme, which is conspicuous in this novel, is Dionysus. The writer focused on degeneracy in this novel. Dionysus is also called Bacchus, the Greek god of hedonism and drunkenness. It was represented as a drunken half-man and half-goat surrounded by half-naked youths dancing. The lower half, which consists of a goat’s body, represents unrepressed sexual urges, and clearly this was the true status with Von Aschenbach towards Tadzio. Von Aschenbach’s final vision/dream before his death was a Dionysian orgy. The “strangergod” was also a Dionysus and it was based on earlier gods from the eastern tradition hence “stranger”.
In summary the film covers numerous themes like decadence/degeneracy, death, susceptibility to the environment, platonic ideal, costume/disguise and dionysus. The book writer accredited for the outstanding work he did as well as the film director who developed this film from the novel.
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