COLIN WIGHT wrote:
>
> Thelma and Louise I think John.
>
> Still, a pyrrhic victory at best, and not one they were around to savour.
>
I think you have to subscribe to a bit of romanticism to read such things
as "victories". And few of us are romantic these days...anyone seen the
recent film version of Romeo and Juliet? I think its quite a clever film;
my favourite postmodern reading of Shakespeare so far! And its possible
to read the film as a deromanticising of something that has become a
cliche. Actually its a really interesting film to talk about but thats
not why I'm writing...it would be pointless for me to continue if nobody
else had seen it...
Yes, well...the point I was going to make was this...the examples of
Thelma & Louise, Princess de Cleves, Romeo and Juliet, Antony & Cleopatra
etc. (the list could just go on and on) show that notions of "victory"
and "defeat" are never concrete, and never mutually exclusive.
Thanks for all your comments/suggestions so far. I think it was Colin who
mentioned Spivak? I'm quite familiar with The Rani of Sirmur and,
spookily enough, the figure of the Rani provides another ambiguity.
Self-immolation offers her an act of subversion/defiance in relation to
the colonisers, yet it is also an act (a silent act at that) of
compliance with a phallocentric culture which subordinates her as a
woman. As you say yourself, Colin, its a matter of interpretation. The
ethical framework we place around her constructs her as rebel or victim.
And always she is both.
Cheers,
Mark
>
> Thelma and Louise I think John.
>
> Still, a pyrrhic victory at best, and not one they were around to savour.
>
I think you have to subscribe to a bit of romanticism to read such things
as "victories". And few of us are romantic these days...anyone seen the
recent film version of Romeo and Juliet? I think its quite a clever film;
my favourite postmodern reading of Shakespeare so far! And its possible
to read the film as a deromanticising of something that has become a
cliche. Actually its a really interesting film to talk about but thats
not why I'm writing...it would be pointless for me to continue if nobody
else had seen it...
Yes, well...the point I was going to make was this...the examples of
Thelma & Louise, Princess de Cleves, Romeo and Juliet, Antony & Cleopatra
etc. (the list could just go on and on) show that notions of "victory"
and "defeat" are never concrete, and never mutually exclusive.
Thanks for all your comments/suggestions so far. I think it was Colin who
mentioned Spivak? I'm quite familiar with The Rani of Sirmur and,
spookily enough, the figure of the Rani provides another ambiguity.
Self-immolation offers her an act of subversion/defiance in relation to
the colonisers, yet it is also an act (a silent act at that) of
compliance with a phallocentric culture which subordinates her as a
woman. As you say yourself, Colin, its a matter of interpretation. The
ethical framework we place around her constructs her as rebel or victim.
And always she is both.
Cheers,
Mark