Today during class, Mr. Mitchell showed us a YouTube loop of the JFK assassination footage (Zapruder film). Keeping in mind that 1. DeLillo made "22 November" as a close explication of the scene and 2. the readers have a sideline expectation of having seen the footage already, I found it interesting that we had a couple differing comments during class about the video vs. book scene.
Some people commented that the the book scene was more emotionally provoking for them than the video footage, and I agree with this point of view for a few reasons. The multiple and direct perspectives from the characters in the book is something we can't get from the video. Lines describing the gore from Nellie Connally ("She heard Jackie say, 'I have his brains in my hand'), the shocked, bloodsprayed woman photographing the scene, or Agent Hill hanging on to the back of the car and staring into JFK's head, are raw and blunt details that burn into our minds in a way the footage can't give us with it's distance, fast-speed, and relatively low resolution.
We also get Lee's personal reactions and emotions during the shooting--we start with his childlike sensation of hiding in a fort in the book depository, then we move to his moment of clearness during the shooting, and we eventually see him start to realize the set-up behind the whole plan. Because Libra follows Lee's developing character, and avoids any of the usual focus on JFK's significance in the American dynamic, the emotions evoked from the shooting scene in the book are much more complicated than anything evoked from a straight dip of the footage. Lowkey shock, pinches of something like sympathy for Lee but not quite, expectancy, inevitability, etc.
Although "22 November" was written with the expectancy that the reader had already seen the footage, I actually hadn't. So watching the video in class, I knew what was coming and DeLillo's close detailing of the scene kind of reduced the impact of the video. I could expect there to have been more of an emotional provocation if the footage had been my first exposure.
Interestingly, during the first play of the footage, I had a thought running through my head that this could almost be a view of the scene from Lee's aerial point while the car passes by. (How conspiratorially post-modern). As the scene started replaying in the second loop though, I finally began getting a feeling of unease, and "here it comes," and inevitability. But I think that just seeing the footage would have just left it at that: a bit of movie-like distance and awe, and some wonderment and unease at the historical realization. Even though DeLillo contains the story from going beyond this exact footage, the book induces some effects that would have been impossible otherwise.
On another note, Libra was interesting to have as our last book. Reading and discussing pretty much taught me everything I know about the JFK assassination. Somehow beforehand, whether due to a gap in my history teachings or impressive misses in my media/cultural exposure, I had known almost nothing about it. I knew JFK had been killed, didn't know (or forgot) by who, where, or what context. Educated now though!
I, like you, hadn't actually seen the footage until we had watched it in class. I felt as though even without reading DeLillo's depiction of it I knew somewhat about what was going to happen but the video to me was still shocking. I guess that is why I am torn about which one was more emotionally provoking to me. While I agree that the multiple perspectives that DeLillo provides us with as well as the shocking details that really draw the reader into the scene, I feel as though there is a feeling, I guess a sense of shock, that I got through actually watching the whole thing go down that I didn't through DeLillo's written narrative. I think there is something emotionally chilling about both the written narrative and the video. I think that there is an aspect of each that the other one can't give.
ReplyDeleteI'd seen the Zapruder film several times before I'd read the section, digitally remastered, stabilized, slowed down, whatever. It always just struck me as more interesting than anything since I really didn't know the history or context very well. I definitely was more invested in DeLillo's retelling of the scene, mostly just because of how slowly and carefully he went through the entire event. The film is very fast, and DeLillo's breakdown of it took me a ways out of his fictional narrative, and placed me in that historical spot. I definitely reacted with more emotion, and I thought it tied together extremely well with the plot that's been set up so far.
ReplyDeleteI'd heard of the assassination before like you, but I didn't really know any of the details about it until this class. I find it really interesting how Oswald doesn't really have anything against Kennedy, but just does it to get into history. I feel like from the book the image of Kennedy getting shot wasn't as feeling provoking as the video, I guess mostly because the video actually showed brains spilling everywhere. I do like how the book gives us more than on perspective on everything though.
ReplyDeleteI've always been struck by that passage in _Underworld_, where the video artist has made a loop of the Zapruder footage an art project. There's something about the loop effect, which you touch on here, that seems especially appropriate for the context of postmodernism: it's not a sense of watching a thing happen, unexpectedly and live, in "real time." It's a rehearsal of a moment over and over, and that feeling of inevitability (which the novel plays with throughout) gets so strong. There's a Tralfamadorian sense of a moment "structured that way," of bugs trapped in amber. The cars move, the people watch, and yet everything keeps happening in the exact same sequence. We're increasingly aware that we're watching *footage* and not reality or "the event itself."
ReplyDeleteAlong this vein, I think DeLillo's retelling of the event is more powerful because the reader has no choice but to focus on and imagine what he is depicting. The simplicity of text on the page hides nothing, but the vast amount of information contained in video footage does. The viewer doesn't *have* to focus on the moment Kennedy is shot, and in fact, as you view the footage repeatedly, the climactic moment just becomes a part of the scenery.
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