Bjork, Karl Marx, and Dancing

Dancer in the Dark is a movie based on estrangement; estrangement of the main character, Selma, from the characters around her, Jean, Cathy, Bill, Linda, and Jeff; estrangement of Selma from the movie audience; and estrangement of the movie audience from the movie. Marx, too, talked of estrangement of the worker from the work and the “self” from the “other.”


I began to wonder about the true significance of the musical sequences. In all cases they tend to estrange Selma from the life around her, but in the factory scene it also tends to represent Marx ideas on the unification of the workers. What, then, is the affect of the estrangement of Selma to real life on the audience? Personally, I argue that these sequences alienate the audience from Selma and signify the alienation of the audience from the plight of the worker. However, Von Trier was likely trying to establish the medium for escape which gives Selma and the audience hope despite the tribulations of the world around them.

I was also curious as to the importance of Jeff to Selma and to the story as a whole. It seems that Jeff was Selma’s connection the possibility of class consciousness and worker revolution. Jeff’s role, though small, represents an estranged sense of sight for Selma. He gives vision the idea of class connection.

Dancer in the Dark was an interesting movie; however, I think that the estrangement Von Trier worked so hard to represent hurt the way his audience connected with the film and the character of Selma.