CHID 496N Pandora’s Wake

1. CHID 496N Pandora’s Wake Children of Men Reminders - Purchase The Road; signup on forums Last Time - From Audacity to Ambiguity, Possibility of Hope Next Time – We will finish talking about the movie and begin discussing the book, so start reading! For today: The solution is Boat Theo Faron: A portrait of hope? Break Representations of Hope Resources of Hope

2. The solution is boat. “What I like is that the solution is the boat. What is the definition of the boat is that it doesn’t have roots; its rootless, it floats around. That’s the solution. We must really accept how we are rootless. This is for me the meaning of this wonderful metaphor. Boat. Boat is the solution. Boat in the sense that you accept rootless, free floating. You cannot rely on anything. You know. It's not a return to land. Renewal means you cut your roots.” - SlavojZizek [“Possibility of Hope”] How can we interpret the end of this film? As we watch the scene, write a paragraph or so response. Once everyone is finished we’ll share.

3. The solution is boat. • Kee has only hope after Theo’s death. • Theo’s transformation from cynic to offering babycare advice. • Religious symbolism. • Conservative values? • Shrunken world of interpersonal relation • Death of child – birth of child • River in reverse. • Out with the old, look for the new • The boat metaphor and rootlessness. • Common humanness as foundation • New allegiance to humanity. • Don’t know that is really the Human Project on the Tomorrow. • Shared leadership. Follower Hero, whose role ends. • Hope arises in situations of uncertain outcomes. – fog. • Modes of hope, contextual hope • Fuzzy but light. How can we interpret the end of this film? As we watch the scene, write a paragraph or so response. Once everyone is finished we’ll share.

4. The solution is boat. "We wanted the end to be a glimpse of a possibility of hope, for the audience to invest their own sense of hope into that ending. So if you're a hopeful person you'll see a lot of hope, and if you're a bleak person you'll see a complete hopelessness at the end.” - Alfonso Cuarón, 2006 [http://www.filmmakermagazine.com/archives/online_features/hopeless_future.php] Do you buy Cuarón’sstatement? Does this ending just reflect the viewer? Or, does it carry its own interpretation of hope? Is the ending itself rootless?

5. Theo Faron: portrait of hope? • Theo • only one who can change. • loses everything, had nothing, looking for something • stasis vs. adaptability. • Why does Theo go through with all this? • What possible motivations does the film offer? • What do you feel ultimately compelled him, if anything? • Is Theo a hopeful person? Does his attitude toward hope remain the same throughout? • What representation of hope does Theo cast?

6. Intermission.

7. From Audacity to Ambiguity BarackObama on Hope (DNC 2004) “In the end, that's what this election is about. Do we participate in a politics of cynicism or a politics of hope? John Kerry calls on us to hope. John Edwards calls on us to hope. I'm not talking about blind optimism here -- the almost willful ignorance that thinks unemployment will go away if we just don't talk about it, or the health care crisis will solve itself if we just ignore it. No, I'm talking about something more substantial. It's the hope of slaves sitting around a fire singing freedom songs; the hope of immigrants setting out for distant shores; the hope of a young naval lieutenant bravely patrolling the Mekong Delta; the hope of a millworker's son who dares to defy the odds; the hope of a skinny kid with a funny name who believes that America has a place for him, too. The audacity of hope! In the end, that is God's greatest gift to us, the bedrock of this nation; the belief in things not seen; the belief that there are better days ahead.”

8. Audacity, part 2 BarackObama on Hope (Inaugural 2009) […] “That we are in the midst of crisis is now well understood. Our nation is at war, against a far-reaching network of violence and hatred. Our economy is badly weakened, a consequence of greed and irresponsibility on the part of some, but also our collective failure to make hard choices and prepare the nation for a new age. Homes have been lost; jobs shed; businesses shuttered. Our health care is too costly; our schools fail too many; and each day brings further evidence that the ways we use energy strengthen our adversaries and threaten our planet. These are the indicators of crisis, subject to data and statistics. - a nagging fear that America's decline is inevitable, Less measurable but no less profound is a sapping of confidence across our land and that the next generation must lower its sights. Today I say to you that the challenges we face are real. They are serious and they are many. They will not be met easily or in a short span of time. But know this, America - they will be met. On this day, we gather because we have chosen hope over fear, unity of purpose over conflict and discord..” […] Quotes Washington: ‘Let it be told to the future world...that in the depth of winter, when nothing but hope and virtue could survive...that the city and the country, alarmed at one common danger, came forth to meet [it].’

9. Representations of Hope Quietus vs. Human Project • Don’t know its worse. Maybe its better? • Why is it any different? How has life lost its meaning? Its future? What does it have to do with reproduction? • Genes and memes • Why does the government give quietus? • Last vestige of capital • Hopelessness in the state • Cyd and rootlessness Gender • Mobility v. Stablity • Transferring of power. What other representations of hope are there? In other words, what forms does hope take in this film? How does their backdrop relate to Theo?

10. The Resources of Hope • What has ended? • Procreation • Youth culture, involvement, engagement • Technological advancement, to some degree • Governmental trust of citizens, human rights. • Free flow of information • Global economy – capitalism debilitated. • What has begun/emerged? • Strickly guarded social organization • Cages, walls, yet dilapidated structures • On what grounds could hope be founded? Is there a foundation for hope? • Or, is hope necessarily groundless, rootless, as Žižek would say?