Stalker (1979) is Tarkovsky’s last film made in the Soviet Union (154). An open-ended question is left by the film: what is the Zone? The Zone is a fictional location that contains elements of fantasy and mystery, such as the wish-granting Room. Nevertheless, the way Tarkovsky films this reflects an attitude of realism. This approach allows the audience to relate life to the themes of the film, salvation through the faith in God, dignity, and love.
In the film, the Stalker describes the Zone as a dangerous realm with its own set of rules and consciousness. However, the actual account of the journey is plain and ordinary. Moreover, the mundane scenes of the characters walking in the lush forest, the damp tunnel, and the abandoned building convey …show more content…
This concept is explained by Zizek using Lacan’s psychoanalytic interpretation of the Room, in which the Room can be seen as a mirror for a person’s innermost desires. In Zizek’s article “The thing from inner space on Tarkovsky”, he explicates that the Zone reflects the Real, the steadfast realm of reality that transcends human perception, which “sustains desire” (Zizek, 227). The Room reflects a person’s truest desire instead of what the person perceive to be his or her wish and thus has the potential to bring disaster to people with impure motives. In Porcupine’s example, the Room gave him material wealth instead of reviving his brother, revealing to him that he is inherently selfish and causing him to commit suicide. At the end of the film, the Writer and the Professor were still skeptical of the Room, and their distrust of the Stalker reiterates their lack of faith. However, their attitude toward the Zone has changed because “the silence of the two intellectuals…as they look into the Room suggests a degree of respect and acceptance that is perhaps a form of prayer (Johnson, 161). Because they gained some reverence for the Zone in the journey, they were hesitant to enter the Room when they finally arrive in fear that their perceptions of the purity of their faiths are wrong (Zizek,
In the film, the Stalker describes the Zone as a dangerous realm with its own set of rules and consciousness. However, the actual account of the journey is plain and ordinary. Moreover, the mundane scenes of the characters walking in the lush forest, the damp tunnel, and the abandoned building convey …show more content…
This concept is explained by Zizek using Lacan’s psychoanalytic interpretation of the Room, in which the Room can be seen as a mirror for a person’s innermost desires. In Zizek’s article “The thing from inner space on Tarkovsky”, he explicates that the Zone reflects the Real, the steadfast realm of reality that transcends human perception, which “sustains desire” (Zizek, 227). The Room reflects a person’s truest desire instead of what the person perceive to be his or her wish and thus has the potential to bring disaster to people with impure motives. In Porcupine’s example, the Room gave him material wealth instead of reviving his brother, revealing to him that he is inherently selfish and causing him to commit suicide. At the end of the film, the Writer and the Professor were still skeptical of the Room, and their distrust of the Stalker reiterates their lack of faith. However, their attitude toward the Zone has changed because “the silence of the two intellectuals…as they look into the Room suggests a degree of respect and acceptance that is perhaps a form of prayer (Johnson, 161). Because they gained some reverence for the Zone in the journey, they were hesitant to enter the Room when they finally arrive in fear that their perceptions of the purity of their faiths are wrong (Zizek,