To end off the year, I wanted to share my reflection on this class as a whole. History as Fiction has prodded me to explore and challenge notions of history, truth, and language in ways that pleasantly surprised me. Taking time away from discussing purely plot to discuss the author, postmodern style, mixing of "real" and "fictional" characters to make a point, and ways in which we write histories has been both a joy and an academic endeavor I'm so happy to have been a part of.
Exploration of Ragtime's adoption of real people into flourishing characters and constructed people into historical figures was a perfect book to get me interested in postmodernism. As I was reading Libra, I noticed how much it reminded me of Ragtime in the way that it made the real fictional and the fictional real.
Mumbo Jumbo caught me by surprise, but its overwhelming presence of Ishmael Reed caused me to read it differently than I read other books. Every sentence in that book was meticulously planned out, hinting at deeper meaning or mocking you for thinking too deep.
The time travel elements of Slaughterhouse-Five and Kindred are executed very differently, but certainly both challenged the reader to rethink the way we view the past. My anthropology class experience really enhanced these books for me, pointing out real ways the world is reworking it's view of history.
Libra completed the unexpected task of making me like the character of killer. Perhaps this is the skill of postmodern works: taking something hated and making you see its humanity.
I thank you all for a wonderful semester, and many thanks to you, Mr. Mitchell, for leading such amazing discussions and providing amazing literature to us.
Friday, May 16, 2014
Thursday, May 15, 2014
The Zapruder Film
There's something important in the grainy-ness of the Zapruder film. In watching it, over and over again, I realize that I really wouldn't wish it to be any clearer. In its current state, you get a general idea of each visual, without stomach-jerking precision. I don't wish to see anyone's head being blown open in HD. I am perfectly comfortable seeing it at a distance, and with the low quality of the film adding even more distance. I am removed. In no sense could I really imagine, in watching, that I am really standing where Mr. Zapruder stood, observing this horror.
The separation from the event over time and space was first established as I had never been formally educated on the Kennedy assassination. I knew he was on the list of Presidents assassinated, but I'd never really learned very much about him as a President or a person. I didn't know his stance on policies, I most certainly had no idea what the Bay of Pigs was. Being born close enough as I was after the event put me in the perfect spot where teachers didn't consider it "history" yet, but I was far enough after that the event was no longer part of normal conversation. Although I consider myself decently educated on world events through the twentieth century, I have learned more about JFK's assassination during this class that at any other point in my life.
Upon watching the film for the first time, I realized that it was low enough quality that I could watch it without feeling like I was going to hurl.
I'm fine seeing someone get chopped in half, if it's a special effect in an action movie. Seeing someone's head get blown apart, REALLY, is a completely different story. The separation, visually, physically, and emotionally, makes learning about Jack Kennedy's last moments a realistic option for me.
The separation from the event over time and space was first established as I had never been formally educated on the Kennedy assassination. I knew he was on the list of Presidents assassinated, but I'd never really learned very much about him as a President or a person. I didn't know his stance on policies, I most certainly had no idea what the Bay of Pigs was. Being born close enough as I was after the event put me in the perfect spot where teachers didn't consider it "history" yet, but I was far enough after that the event was no longer part of normal conversation. Although I consider myself decently educated on world events through the twentieth century, I have learned more about JFK's assassination during this class that at any other point in my life.
Upon watching the film for the first time, I realized that it was low enough quality that I could watch it without feeling like I was going to hurl.
I'm fine seeing someone get chopped in half, if it's a special effect in an action movie. Seeing someone's head get blown apart, REALLY, is a completely different story. The separation, visually, physically, and emotionally, makes learning about Jack Kennedy's last moments a realistic option for me.
Dallas and the US as One
In reading the chapter 22 November, I realized that what stood out to me most was the way the crowd is described by DeLillo. It is as if all of Dallas is one organism, awaiting the visit of it's president. Every description gives the feeling of the collective group, all feeling the same, all acting the same, all equally ecstatic that Kennedy has come to visit.
Big D rising out of caution and suspicion to produce the roar of a sand column twisting.
-Libra, pg 393
Dallas as one, as a large beast. Throughout the chapter the reader sees more and more references to the crowd operating as one, giving a sense of community. One embodiment, so happy and wholesome in light of Kennedy's visit. So personally grateful. As time grew closer to the moment that Kennedy dies, I got a sense that the death marks a tragedy personal to Dallas. "Big D" has been personally hurt by the end of what has made it so happy and excited.
This communal hurt feels like a metaphor for how the whole country felt when they heard the news. As if something that belonged to them has been taken away, and Oswald has done the taking. Kennedy's death is more than a political hardship. He had previously belonged to the American people, and now he's been stolen away. The wording DeLillo uses is precise.
This feeling of personal connection to Kennedy is what makes this disputed event all the more electrifying to the public. Had it been someone nobody would have wanted to spend time with, perhaps the national tragedy of it all wouldn't have been so potent.
Jack and Jackie belonged to Dallas. Belonged to the nation. DeLillo makes sure we feel interconnected during the reading of this particular scene.
Big D rising out of caution and suspicion to produce the roar of a sand column twisting.
-Libra, pg 393
Dallas as one, as a large beast. Throughout the chapter the reader sees more and more references to the crowd operating as one, giving a sense of community. One embodiment, so happy and wholesome in light of Kennedy's visit. So personally grateful. As time grew closer to the moment that Kennedy dies, I got a sense that the death marks a tragedy personal to Dallas. "Big D" has been personally hurt by the end of what has made it so happy and excited.
This communal hurt feels like a metaphor for how the whole country felt when they heard the news. As if something that belonged to them has been taken away, and Oswald has done the taking. Kennedy's death is more than a political hardship. He had previously belonged to the American people, and now he's been stolen away. The wording DeLillo uses is precise.
This feeling of personal connection to Kennedy is what makes this disputed event all the more electrifying to the public. Had it been someone nobody would have wanted to spend time with, perhaps the national tragedy of it all wouldn't have been so potent.
Jack and Jackie belonged to Dallas. Belonged to the nation. DeLillo makes sure we feel interconnected during the reading of this particular scene.
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