Last Wednesday’s Rose Cafe featured Sara Schlemm (my GRF!), who talked about the history of melancholy and the differences between sadness and melancholy. We began with a short discussion about our personal definitions of melancholy. Someone said that melancholy differs from sadness because it is categorized by a feeling of numbness; on the other hand, sadness is more of an outpour of emotions. I had never really considered the different facets of melancholy or sadness before, so this discussion was fairly interesting to me.
Sara spoke about the origins of the actual word “melancholy” and how those tie into its modern interpretation. Melancholy, or black bile, was one of the humors of Hippocratic medicine. It was also connected to autumn/fall. As a result, we can think of melancholia as something that is completely natural because its origins come from the human body and nature itself.
We then watched a few clips from Hitchcock’s Vertigo (1958) that conveyed elements of melancholia pretty well. Personally, I was enthralled by the museum scene. The colors, music, and camerawork were so incredibly haunting. I plan on watching this film eventually (even though Sara spoiled the ending :P).