I really appreciated Sidney Peterson's "The Cage." It wasn't my favorite film of the day, but I like Peterson's style. By taking everyday images that might usually seem mundane and manipulating them in a way that makes them unrealistic, the filmmaker utilizes a unique way to express himself. As I watched, I found that I was more captivated with the images than trying to figure out what they meant, which is unusual for me when it comes to avant-garde films. However, when the film started to seem a little long I considered what Peterson might have been trying to communicate by creating this piece.

The main aspect of the film that caught me was the reoccuring eyeball. The eyeball appeared in almost every scene, and it was always carefully placed so that it looked out of place. The viewer's eye goes straight to it. Peterson manipulates the audience in this way, creating a squimish (and sometimes humorous) motif. I was trying to figure out what the eyeball could be symbolic of. I think it could be multiple things, one being a representation of voyeurism. How do we see the world in which we live? The man in the film takes out his eyeball, and it is seen throughout the rest of the film. Often the eyeball is on screen when the images cease to be conventional. Time moves backwards, there are rapid cuts and the narrative becomes unclear. I think Peterson is trying to encourage the viewers to look at life another way. The man takes the eyeball out his head and lets it wander the streets. These normal, everyday scenes become deranged, jumbled and much more interesting than they normally would be.