ORIGINALLY POSTED IN 2012 ON focusonsimple.co
A bursary essay from 2008.
“A mirror should reflect a little, before throwing back images” – Jean Cocteau
Jean Cocteau, as a celebrated French surrealist writer and artist, used the mirror as a symbol of a door into another world, throughout his creative life (http://www.kirjasto.sci.fi/cocteau.htm). His quote “A mirror should reflect a little, before throwing back images” plays on the word ‘reflect’ as both the purpose of a mirror to reflect an image and as the state one is in while contemplating. In turn, this lends a multitude of layers into the meaning one can take from this phrase.
Initially it seems Cocteau is stating that one should spend time thinking before acting; that there is a process that needs to happen before an end product can be arrived at. The phrase “a mirror should reflect a little” implies that one should spend time in contemplation, when considering the word “reflect” to mean “think”. The second part of the phrase “before throwing back images”, can be taken to mean that the conclusion that results from one’s reflection must actually be a result and mirror image of said reflection. Again, more simply put; think before you act.
However, upon further analysis (or reflection), this quote is a comment on one’s perceptions of self. As in, do we really know ourselves? Is what we see in the mirror really all there is? A person’s true self and being cannot be portrayed fully in a reflected image. To start with, not only is the image superficial, it is a reflection and therefore backwards representation or negative image to what really exists. It is two dimensional, not three.
If we know that a reflection is a surface value representation, then we can be mindful of how to more truthfully and fully represent ourselves to others. If we hold this to be true, we can use this to be more reserved on making judgments of others; do our initial perceptions fully capture the depth of a person? Do our first impressions do justice to the character of the person we are judging. By judging another, are we not simply judging ourselves? When what one sees in the mirror is most often one’s self, then what Cocteau is implying is that in order to best understand one’s self, one must reflect by way of contemplation.
Taken a step further, in relation to the field of Interior Design, this phrase can be taken to serve as a guide in the process of being a designer. Interior Designers must make value judgements all the time; with clients, with project scope, with current or future needs and trends. Designers must look at all the elements, bring them together and create something new out of all that they perceive. Because perception is personal, individual and varied, being able to be empathetic to what is being requested is one step in the process of reflection that leads to the successful meeting of all elements.
A mirror is a reflection of an image. However, one should look deeper than the surface value to find a deeper, truer, more honest value in that which is being reflected. This statement is a play on words, and Cocteau uses this play on words to provoke one to reflect on the deeper meaning that lies beneath his surface statement, which is the ultimate point behind Cocteau’s statement; further reflection and deeper meaning; taking that pause before throwing back an image, a thought, decision, or action.