Marcell Jankovics’ The Tragedy of Man

Considering the various ways that one could visually adapt Imre Madách’s 1861 play The Tragedy of Man - a widely renowned icon of Hungarian literature - Marcell Jankovics’ 2011 animated film of the same name makes a strong case for animation as the perfect medium to do so. Beginning in 1988, the film’s production was halted the following year due to major societal and governmental changes in Hungary after the crumbling of Soviet power in the Eastern Bloc (see Ito 2021; Astell 2021). Having spent years raising funds to resume production incrementally, Jankovics saw his work to its completion over two decades later in 2011, its painstaking production process almost mirroring the themes of the work upon which it is based. The journey paid off immensely, as the final film proved to be what many deem a masterclass of both hand-drawn animation and literary adaptation. In viewing the film’s form, specifically its artistically crafted visuals and incorporation of various unique art-styles, this blog analyses how the story and themes that Madách presents are highlighted and powered by the animated medium through which Jankovics relays in the narrative events.

The film, as well as the original work, follows Adam, Eve, and Lucifer. The latter, after Adam and Eve are expelled from the Garden of Eden, hears Adam’s aspirations to seek knowledge and thrive as his own god, and so shows him future visions of mankind. Each vision involves Adam relishing in human advancement until he becomes aware of its flaws in its concurrent state, Lucifer always around to try and convince him that these flaws demonstrate the unattainability of true human prosperity, and Eve often urging him in some way to keep pushing forward and progress. However, each advancement introduces new grim facets of reality. This all culminates in the world becoming a desolate hellscape where man is left with nothing but to aimlessly wander. After pleading to Lucifer to end the dream, Adam wakes up and decides that the only path he can forge for himself is through suicide, resolving to jump off a cliff before Eve stops him and announces her pregnancy. The story ends with God telling Adam to simply pull through and have faith in him, ultimately concluding in a way not too dissimilar to each phase of Adam’s dream sequence.

Jankovics’ decades of experience as an animator allowed him to cultivate masterful storytelling abilities through the experimentation with various art styles and an exploration of diverse themes, his work ripe with artistic symbolism (Chester 2023). In his adaptation of Tragedy of Man, the depictions of events such as the dawn of creation, the initial fall of man, Adam's contemplation over his pursuit of knowledge and human prosperity, and his dreams of the future induced in him by Lucifer, all differ significantly in their artistic expression while still retaining the surreal and fittingly dreamlike visuals that encompass the film. There are numerous instances of creative symbolism presented throughout, one example being Lucifer drawn as an empty shadow cast by God’s light while arguing that humankind is destined for failure — aspiring to become gods when they are merely creations in the image of God or, in other words, shadows cast by God’s light themselves, invoking the same empty futility that Lucifer does. Jankovics’ heavy employment of symbolic imagery throughout the film opens endless possibilities for interpretation, which in turn allows for the further understanding of the original play.

The most evocative showcase of this adaptation, which employs its own animated medium to its utmost advantage, is its portrayal of different eras of human advancement and prosperity throughout history, utilising various unique art styles. Jankovics tackles time periods and events, including the Dawn of Creation, the Ice Age, Ancient Egypt, Ancient Greece, Ancient Rome, and the Crusades alongside the Age of Enlightenment, the Industrial Revolution, a rapidly changing world of the 20th century, an imagined future dystopia, man’s transcendence of earth, and the end of mankind. Each is portrayed in a style that appropriately reflects its subject (Astell 2021). For example, a semi-realistic, illustrative art style that establishes a more grounded environment is used to portray Adam and Eve’s life together after their exile from Eden, complementary to the viewers’ understanding of them in their most primitive state. Ancient Egypt is portrayed in an art style reminiscent of ancient Egyptian tomb paintings and hieroglyphics — the pattern-like visuals they are often associated with can be seen as symbolic of the strictly enforced and systematized slavery upon which their civilization is shown to be built upon. Furthermore, in the exploration of 18th-century France, the elite are portrayed in the style of detailed woodcuts, a residual of the dawn of the Enlightenment, while revolutionaries are depicted using ink drawings made to resemble political cartoons of the 18th century. The segment has a prominent use of blue, white, and red, colours that France was beginning to adopt alongside its emerging ideals of liberty, equality, and fraternity, respectively, as they are shown to take the form of a “tri-color mob in motion” (Stamets 2013). The colour red is shown to take its own form, separate from the white and blue, in the form of bloodshed as revolutionary violence increases. The film’s employment of these various art styles allows viewers to better immerse themselves in each setting being explored — an experience that I believe few mediums could evoke as effectively as animation.

Adapting Imre Madách’s Tragedy of Man for another medium is an enormous feat, one ripe with infinite possibilities that can be taken in several different directions. That Jankovics was able to take it on in the form of hand-drawn animation speaks volumes about his artistry and the broader possibilities of animation as a medium of expression. The ideas presented in the original work are formidably intense, with Jankovics himself stating, “reading the play is exhausting, so I think a film is a good solution” (Ito 2012). If he believed that an absolute masterpiece of literature like the original play could be adapted into an animated film, the idea that anything can be achieved with animation becomes evident. His film did wonders not only in visually grasping Madách’s abstruse words, but also in relaying them in a way that bolsters the play’s themes and adds a new layer of effectiveness.

**Article published: November 14, 2025**

References

Astell, Paul. 2021. “First Thoughts on the Tragedy of Man / Az Ember Tragédiája (2011).” Feeling Animated (May 17, 2021). Available at: https://feelinganimatedblog.wordpress.com/2021/05/17/first-thoughts-on-the-tragedy-of-man-az-ember-tragediaja-2011/.

Ito, Robert. 2012. ““The Tragedy of Man” by Marcell Jankovics, Animator.” The New York Times (November 10, 2012). Available at: https://www.nytimes.com/2012/11/11/movies/the-tragedy-of-man-by-marcell-jankovics-animator.html.

kubricklynch - Film History by Evan Chester. 2023. “A Beginner’s Guide to Hungarian Animator Marcell Jankovics.” YouTube (July 20, 2023). Available at: www.youtube.com/watch?v=mAYxydCnDhE.

Stamets, Bill. 2013. “Short Reviews of “the Closed Circuit” and “the Tragedy of Man”.” Chicago Sun-Times.

Biography

Maya Gangadharan is a student at the University of Texas at Dallas, Harry W. Bass School of Arts, Humanities, and Technology, with a focus on digital art and animation. In addition to her affinity for art forms such as sculpting and sewing, she has always had a keen interest in viewing, analyzing, and participating in all things animation. Earlier versions of this text were developed with the help of Dr. Christine Veras and peers from the Animation Studies course.