The Metamorphosis

a novel by Franz Kafka

Time : 1920s

Place : USA

Genre : Thriller

It is the story of a young man(Gregor) who transformed overnight into a giant beetle-like insect,

Gregor becomes an object of disgrace to his family, an outsider in his own home, a quintessentially alienated man.

An absurdly comic meditation on human feelings of inadequacy, guilt, and isolation,

The Metamorphosis has taken its place as one of the most widely read and influential works

of twentieth-century fiction.

Characters

Gregor Samsa

Wakes up to find himself transformed into a monstrous and repulsive insect.

He slowly dies, not only because of his family's shame and neglect of him but because of his guilty despair.

Grete Samsa

Grete is Gregor's younger sister, and she becomes his caretaker after his metamorphosis.

They initially have a close relationship, but this quickly fades.

Grete is also the first to suggest getting rid of Gregor, which causes Gregor to plan his death.

Mr. Samsa & Mrs. Samsa

Mr. Samsa is Gregor's father. He regards the transformed Gregor with disgust and possibly even fear

and attacks Gregor on several occasions. Gregor's relationship with his father is modeled

after Kafka's relationship with his father.

Mrs. Samsa is Gregor's mother. She is portrayed as a submissive wife. She suffers from asthma,

which is a constant source of concern for Gregor. It proves too much for her and gives rise to a conflict

between her maternal impulse and sympathy and her fear and revulsion at Gregor's new form.

Reference & Research

Based on Lacan's psychoanalysis theory, the work was interpreted and visualized as a stage.

Both mirror stage theory and gaze theory are structural analyses of the relationship between

the subject's self-awareness and others occurring in the field of vision.

Mirror

Before turning into an insect, Gregor did not live a life for himself.

I thought he resembled a child in the mirror stage who considered himself a fully integrated subject,

because he had repeatedly done boring things for his family.

Gregor's room was covered with a mirror to express Gregor's psychological state,

which was anxious and distressed by the physical gap between his ego and his current self.

These mirror walls will make the dancer's insect-like acting even more bizarre.

Gaze

We are always being seen.

The family's room is located above Gregor's, so they can always look down on Gregor's room and contact him, but Gregor must stay under their gaze and surveillance when he does not want to.

Even when no one is looking at him, Gregor feels a sense of gaze at himself, who has turned into a terrible figure.

Villa Dall'ava

by Rem Koolhaas, Xaveer de Geyter, Jeroen Thomas

To portray the instability of human beings and relationships, the family room was supported by

long, thin pillars, inspired by Villa Dall'ava by Rem Koolhaas.

Performance Reference

These peculiar movements by the dancer may resemble those of an insect.

It would appear even more unsettling with reflections on the three mirrored walls in Gregor's room.

Structure Study

Diassemble

The movement of Gregor, who became a bug, should be different from that of a two-legged human.

I started with the idea of tilting the set so that the dancer could crawl on the floor as if he had four legs.

From a simple box form, I studied various changing forms into a variable and inclined stage.

The image in the mirror is only an illusion of control and integration, and we as humans are ultimately divided.

As the play progressed, it was expressed through Gregor's room, which gradually dismantled

from the static form of symmetry and lost its form.

It also represents the relationship between Gregor and his family.

Previs Image

Used Software: Sketchup

The stage was designed with a focus on the relationship between Gregor and the family.

Gregor's room is set apart from the family's room. Family members do not enter the room

to distance themselves from Gregor, but talk at the door and hand him food,

and such actions take place where the door frame is installed.

Hand-made Model

Formboard, Mirror paper

Scale 25:1