Identities in the Spaces of Flows & Fragmentations

Stardom and The English Patient

OutlineCauses for Flows & FragmentationsStardomThe English PatientFor Next Week

Causes for Fragmentations & FlowsThe two World Wars and the wars afterwards; Challenges to traditional beliefs (religion, humanity; e.g. Darwinism, Freud, Nietzsche); Capitalism (from national to international) + Telecommunication Contemporary Flows of people, commodities, capitals, information, and virus.

Global culture, “The center cannot hold” (e.g. nation, family, stable sense

of identity, etc.)

StardomWhat do we know about Tina Menzhal? How is her life different from another model, Toni? What makes her famous, media or her beauty? How does she get known to the public? How are media, and the different kinds of TV programs, treated in this film? How are “artists” such as Bruce Taylor and Phillip Gascon positioned in relation to media?

Tina on videos: her words & Comments on her

“I can’t talk” in Gascon’s interview; Interviews of her: e.g. in front of the restaurant (by Michelle), report on Bruce Taylor’s ad project (Fashion I). [Her sister’s] the one with the brains.Not blonde “on the outside” her actions in the fur episode

and with Blaine

The Men around Tina From Phillip Gascon to Barry Levine; (flirting with Steve)Fur episode ambassador Blainde de GastillonAd Steve Bourque The agent; Bruce Taylor

Stardom: Tina on and off videos 1. Her life told on these videos: e.g. Her first status climbing: Getting the award of Lio

n’s Club’s annual athletic achievement The photographer interviewed the model agent interviewed; Tina’s association with the men (e.g. Gascon, Blaine)Tina and her father

Stardom: Tina and Media 2. Trashy TV programs of different types

Interviews of and Peeping on celebrities: Celebrity Hunt; websites Interview of P Gascon -- sexual implications; Of Barry Levine

Gossip and Sensational Debates “Dr Evelyn Loo: Coping”: his mother interviewed & Tina;TV forum Pyschic shows (healing of Ruth, Barry’s wife)Surprises

Stardom: Tina on videos Videos used as promotion:

e.g. soft opening of “A Model Life”Portrait of Phillip Gascon;

Pervasive camera: A man talking to the agent; “I hate God” Cinema verite (Bruce Taylor) What does superficiality mean?

Issue 1: Reality & Video Presentations

E.g. Tina’s visit to Paris – TV news of Muslim Bomb – Cornwall’s “Dr. Evelyn Loo” reportBruce Taylor

Issue 2: ImageTina’s images – change according to the circumstancesGlobal image Used by multinational industry –WCM and Nagashimi (involved in different national cultures

--Canadian French American Japan)

Issue 3: Model’s LivesTina & Tony

Michael Ondaatje Michael Ondaatje was born on September 12, 1943 in Colombo, Ceylon (now Sri Lanka).As a result of his father's alcoholism, OndaatjeÕs parents eventually separated in 1954 and he moved to England with his mother1962-64, Ondaatje attended Bishop's University in Lennoxville, Quebec.

1965 -- B.A. at University of Toronto

Michael Ondaatje Criticized for

criticized for not writing much about Canada and Sri Lanka, or writing in a “politically correct” way. the use of violence (e.g. the inclusion of atomic bomb) his response: trying to find a balance between ‘gentleness and violence’” (Leckie 29).

The English Patient: SettingPlaces: 1.the Villa San Girolamo in Tuscany; a nunnery, a field hospital,

and a besieged fortress e.g. 11, 12, 29, 43; 2.South Cairo; the desert; 3.Kip: Lahore the English countrysideTime: 1.right after WWII 1945; 2. 1943 the first Canadian infantry p. 49; 3.South Cairo1930-1938: 1936

EP: Chaps 1-2 The Villa: Hana’s taking care of EP, her reading, the villa, the desert, and the desert tribes; In Near Ruins: Hana and Caravaggio in near ruins; their respective experience of the War and its influences on them, their memories, the arrival of Kip

Questions about Fragmentation and Reconstruction

How does the War influence the three characters we have seen so far? Why do you think the desert winds and the tribe’s customs are important? How is the EP related to them?How do the Bedouins treat the EP, as opposed to Hana’s way of treating him? Reading: What is the importance of reading—for Hana and for the EP?Memory: Why is the novel’s narration fragmentary?

What do the characters’ memories reveal about them?

The War’sinfluences on the Villa Pp. 11-12, 29, On the charactersEP Hana p. 7 scurry in the mind; a nomad; Caravaggio p. 34,

How do they heal themselves Mutual support; Reading Memories and reconstruction of memories.

Memories EP’s Hana’s

Next WeekChaps III: Kip’s presence in the Villa and his past; Chaps IV – VI: Katherine and Almasy