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Clip description
Walking with his dog Cricket, Peter (John Hargreaves) finds a broken doll covered in moss. At a tidal lake, he discards his beer bottle and pretends he’s in a western, firing off his gun at nothing in particular. Back on the dunes, he realises he’s not alone – there is a van parked on the beach nearby.
Curator’s notes
Peter pursues a number of myths in this scene. He is both the hero of a western, shooting an unseen enemy, and a Robinson Crusoe figure, alone on a deserted beach. He is perturbed when that myth is punctured by the sight of the van. The figure of the doll also upsets him, if only momentarily. It’s a fairly obvious symbol of the child that has just been denied him by Marcia’s abortion – although we don’t know about that yet, at least not for certain. The ducks on the pond are another symbol, as is Marcia’s examination of the eagle’s egg she has found on the beach. The frozen chicken is less obvious, although we have seen Marcia drop the chicken on her kitchen floor before they set off. That is to make clear the chicken was frozen solid. When she picks it up in the camp it has already started to spoil, perhaps another sign that nature is taking revenge on them, by denying them the food they are relying on. The mosquitoes are certainly a satirical sign of Peter’s ultimate vulnerability, even if he thinks he’s a cowboy.
