1. Traveler’s View of A City and Ways of Communication: “Desperanto” & “En Passant”DesperantoEn Passant Group members: Nicola, Maggie, Jennifer, Angela, Dominique, May, and Sheryl

2. “Desperanto” Directed by Patricia Rozema (image source)image source Patricia Rozema on the set of Desperanto source source

3. View A. House-wife’s perspective 1. Media’s influence: from The Decline of the American Empire thinks Montrealers are sexually liberated. (Clip1) 2. How her identity is changed by using another language: speaking French made her change into another person, a dancer. 3. Viewing angle and her expectation: she looks upward toward the party, which indicated her high expectation of Montreal. 4. Her liberation: the last scene of her flying in air with other two people shows she has learned to liberate herself of the city. The words, “teach me, oh please, teach me,” mean: a. The two people from TV showed her her how to survive or accept the city b. Telling the city to learn to be open to outsiders

4. View B. How city dwellers view outsiders 1. City dwellers presented as an exclusive party. 2. Insiders identity outsiders by their language: e.g. Asking the housewife where she is from 3. Insiders are harsh to outsiders: e. g. “she is a tourist.” “Tourists come here trying to get laid.” 4. Insiders feeling superior in speaking French.

5. View C. View of film watching 後設電影 : make it obvious for film viewers know that they are watching the film, that they are outside of the film, in contrast to films that try to make audiences feel they are together with the film. e. g. 1. The house-wife walks to look at the subtitles in order to understand other people ’ s conversation. (Clip2) 2. When her soul arises from her body, she presses the stop button on the TV control to give her time to check the dictionary in order to understand the conversation between the two people.

6. Communication A. Language 1. Ways of learning a. French-English handbook b. movies 2. Language barrier a. accent b. misunderstanding (Clip3) B. Eye contact Indicating another misunderstanding situation.

7. Communication C. Subtitle --- reflection of the language barrier 1. Position of audience 2. Housewife’s liberation (Clip 4) 3. Subtitle for the other outsider 4. Bilingual subtitle

8. Fairy Tale Allusion A. Little Red Riding Hood 1. Red colour hood Menstrual blood (strawberry stain) 2. Because of being naughty to play in the forest, the little red Riding-Hood meets the vile wolf in the forest. The house-wife goes joining the party without being invited. B. Cinderella 1. 12 o’clock at midnight 2. The godmother (or fairy) plays magic enabling Cinderella to go to the banquet. The two ambulance men help the house-wife free from her embarrassment.

9. “En Passant” Directed by Atom Egoyan

10. Pictogram 1 A. Sign and the global experience in traveling ---representation of camera view 1. non-language communication: picture/direction makes people lose the ability of communication in language. Under the direction of signs, people become robot-like: automatically know what to do. Though these signs present the man’s mind or behavior, for audience the mechanism of receiving message is the same. e.g. when we see the sign on the restroom door. The female monologue voice is written by Egoyan in Tokyo

11. Pictogram 2 2. Alienation in the post-modern cities: similar process and locations (such as int’l airport, five star chain hotel) make the big cities experiences similar and let them lose their characteristics (no connection with the city) This kind of signs represents the “non-relationship” between the city and travelers. signs appearing in the first half: neutral, plainly expressive signs appearing when the man starting to explore this city: shocking, emotional, personal. e.g. Thunder, man of being squeezed by arrows …

12. Pictogram 3 B. Sign and the characters ----representation of the man’s mind 1. He tends to simplify things. Using sign is his way to know the city. framing: he becomes a sign waving the taxi: raising the hand as the sign (correct) v.s whistling the taxi (useless) sign of the hotel: the map of a city and map of human body 2. The woman is opposite. She detailizes.

13. The Man's Connection with the City Shown through the Tape A. a lost tourist 1. He relies on the tape to get to know Montreal. 2. The tape points out cruelly that he is just someone passing by the city. 3. The tape said that she is his story: The city is what he expects it to be instead of what it really is. B. a lost lover 1. The tape's voice represents the girl he knew before in Montreal. 2. The custom officer girl's image 3. The accusation of cowardness by the tape: A coward in love. Modern Cowardness

14. The Woman A. Like the City, 1. She has different sides: customs officer and artist 2. She collects and records. B. The connection with the man, 1. Her ways of establishing relationship : --her portraying and being portrayed --untraditional way: taking off the gloves 2. She sees the man through the frame. She has two ways of seeing. 3. Her connection with the man: “Welcome to Montreal”

15. Compare and Contrast: A. Similarities: 1. View point 2. Expectation  Interaction 3. “Namelessness” 4. Ways of keeping B. Differences: 1. Presentation of Language a. Language barrier b. Pictograms 2. “Move beyond the role” a. The tourist b. Tourist’s guide (the voice of the city)