Section 3.2 Vanya: the Film
The World Wide Web has some information on the director of Vanya on 42nd Street, Louis Malle.
- You can begin your research on Louis Malle by examining a biography on this director.
- Compare the kinds of sites that two or three search tools bring up when you look for "Louis Malle" or "Vanya on 42nd Street."
Beyond delving into background information on this filmmaker and secondary materials on his films, you can further develop your research into modes of representation and cultural movements. As argued in the Study Guide, Malle's film can be properly considered "postmodernist." The somewhat intrusive framing structure lays bare the artificiality of theatrical and cinematic systems of representation. Your own studies of the film have certainly uncovered other instances of "ontological doubt" and "self-reflexivity" in the film.
Returning to the Glossaries listed in Section 1-3 of this course, try to locate definitions of "self- reflexivity," "modernism," "postmodernism," "realism," and other terms used in the course guide.
Next, take this opportunity to learn more about the literary and cultural movement called postmodernism by following these links:
- Begin with Internet Sites on the Theories and Theorists of Postmodernity and Postmodernism as well as a chart outlining some of the differences between modernism and postmodernism, both from a course taught by Professor T.V. Reed.
- Explore Modernist and Post-Modernist Artists, Performers, and Film Makers.
- Find a brief description of Postmodernism and the Postmodern Novel from the Electronic Labyrinth
- Explore the site Contemporary Philosophy, Critical Theory, Postmodern Thought
The World Wide Web archives many of the same kinds of secondary materials texts housed in your University's library. By examining what other critics have to say about the texts you study, you can develop a better sense of how your own reading strategies correspond with or contradict others.
- Read an essay titled " What is 'Postmodernism'?" by Paul Hartman
