The Epic of Gilgamesh, or This Unnameable Little Broom

Little Songs of the Chief Officer of Hunar Louse, or This Unnameable Little Broom, Being a Largely Disguised Reduction of the Epic of Gilgamesh, Tableau II (aka This Unnameable Little Broom) is a 1985 stop motion short film by The Brothers Quay. The film is loosely based on the first tablet of Epic of Gilgamesh. Boasting the longest title in the Quays' entire output, this 1985 film is generally known as This Unnameable Little Broom. The short began life as a proposed hour-long program Channel 4 exploring aspects of the ancient Babylonian Epic of Gilgamesh, one of the oldest known surviving works of literature, which would combine puppet animation, dance sequences, and live-action documentary elements. However, Channel Four were unsure about the project, and only agreed to fund a short animated sequence as a pilot - which is all that was ultimately made.^[1]

Plot

In the film,

As a symbolic representation, Gilgamesh's world is one of evil and deceit, simultaneously laced with psychosexual tension and personal resonance for the Quays. The medical hooks, rusting scissors, and razor sharp high-tension wires all imply a castration theme, accentuated not just by the sadistic mechanical trap that Gilgamesh sets but also by the sequence in which he places two eggs on a slicing wicket, positioning them where his own testicles should be. Such brutal and sexually violent imagery would reoccur in the brothers’ other films, most notably in Street of Crocodiles, where organic materials are organized into representations of male genitals then pierced with tailor's pins.^[3]

Differences between the First Tablet of The Epic of Gilgamesh and the film

In the epic poem Gilgamesh is King of Uruk and oppresses his citizens. In the Quays’ adaption he is lord over an isolated kingdom where he is the sole denizen.

In the Epic Enkidu is a Wildman created by the gods to distract Gilgamesh from his questionable activities. Enkidu is spotted uprooting traps, ruining a trapper's trade. Enkidu is then seduced by Shamhat, a temple prostitute, the first step in civilizing him. The Brothers version shows Enkidu first being seduced by Shamhat, leading him into a trap that Gilgamesh has set for him.^[4]

Influence

The film had many inspirations besides the Gilgamesh legend. The violence that pervades the film is a tribute to Austrian writer Konrad Bayer, the physical design of Gilgamesh was based on artwork by Heinrich Anton Müller, one of a trio of artists that the Quays originally intended to dedicate their film to.

'Hunar Louse' is a satirical representation of Lunar House in London, the headquarters of the UK Border Agency, which called the Quays' visa status into question at the time they were making the film. Though this was distressing at the time, the experience helped create the paranoid atmosphere that saturates the film.^[5][6]

References