Ararat
Anna, Emily, Honda, Julie
Outline
I.
II.
III.
Introduction
A.
Armenian genocide
B.
Atom Egoyan
C.
Structure
D.
Theme
Analysis
A.
Characters
B.
Parallel—family relation
1.
Ani & Raffi
2.
Gorky & his mother
3.
David & Philip
C.
Trauma
1.
Personal trauma
2.
Historical trauma
D.
Retelling history
E.
Symbol
Conclusion
Introduction

Armenian genocide (1915-1917 / WWI)
 Armenians became the only major Christian
minority and call for independence
 Turks killed millions of Armenians
 Historical, cultural and political conditions
led to this tragedy
 Turkey denies the word “genocide” and gives
some excuses
Ararat
 Tragic historical event, Turkey in denial,
people yearning for the truth
 An Armenian director makes a film in
Toronto to represent the tragic history
 From the fictional point of view of a genuine
historical figure, Gorky
 Film named “Ararat” same as the movie
Atom Egoyan (1960)


Atom Egoyan (1960)
 Director of Ararat
 Armenian-Canadian
(Born in Egypt, immigrate to
Victoria, British Columbia )
 Son of Armenian refugees
 Director, writer, editor, and producer
Quotation
“You can talk about Holocaust denial, but it's really
marginal for the most part. What is compelling about the
Armenian genocide, is how it has been forgotten.” -Atom Egoyan
Atom Egoyan

Experience
 Reject his own ethnicity and reject to learn native
language until college
 Begin to recognize Armenian identity/culture issue
ex. Next of Kin, Calendar, Ararat

“Atom”
 He was named “Atom” to mark the completion of
Egypt's first nuclear reactor
 His parents expect him to be like an “atom” to
influence people

Structure
 Framed as scenes
 Film-within-the-film

Theme
 Historical trauma
 Family relation
Characters



Ani
 An art historian and expert on Gorky
 Adviser on Saroyan's fictional film
 Raffi’s mother
Raffi
 Interrogated by Canada custom
when he back from Turkey
Celia
 Raffi’s step-sister / crazy girlfriend
 who believes that Ani kills her father


Edward Saroyan
 Director of the Ararat
in the film-within-the-film
 His mother died in genocide
Gorky
 Armenian refugee
 painter / boy in the painting

Ali
 Turkish-Canadian actor
 Playing an
evil Turkish military officer
in Saroyan's film.

David
 Canadian customs officer
 Interrogated Raffi
 whose son (Philip) is having a
homosexual relationship with Ali
Family Relation
Ani & Raffi (1)

The poem (foreshadowing)

Different interpretation between Ani & Raffi.
 The
girl is crazy/angry.

A voyage of seeking passion.

Taken out the heart, her mother says
 “my
poor boy, did you hurt yourself.”
Ani & Raffi (2)

Raffi tries to find his origin (a voyage.)
Through parents
 Making film for both Ani and himself.

 Origin


of what?
Painting – sketch – photograph – art work.
media
 Through

camera and art work.
The representation of the origin.
A
connection with the past.
 From history to the present.
Gorky & his mother

Where Ani and Raffi’s
relation extend

Ani was projected that Raffi
would leave her


Projection not necessarily would
cause confusion.
Gorky

Develops sentiments through
the process of drawing.


A connection with the past.
Repetition

Pencil -> oil -> erase.
David & Philip (1)

As a Customs officer. (Value system)

Superintend Subjects simply as figures.


Pomegranate (film-maker.)
Value system
 Could
understand what is tangible, but not feeling.
David & Philip (2)

Lover
Ali
Philip
The issue brought by
“Amen.”

Toni
Issue
David
Religion, gender, and race.

Christianity.

Homosexual.
David & Philip (3)
Raffi

Raffi telling David his story.

Influence

David buys it


David

Tolerance
Let him go, without punishment.
Reminds him of Philip.
Develops tolerance


Philip
Through Words, tapes, journal.
Cans of film=heroin.
Issue between Philip and him.

Gender, religion.
Trauma
The wound only speaks when we look back
Freudian Psychoanalytic Theory
Defense mechanisms
- The purpose of the Ego Defense
Mechanisms is to protect the mind/self/ego
from anxiety, social sanctions or to provide
a refuge from a situation with which one
cannot currently cope.

Traumatized Characters:
Celia & Gorky
 Celia
- death of her father
 “yours [father] died like a hero, mine
died in a stupid accident, according to
her [Ani]”
 blaming Ani: during the lecture,
displacement of her trauma “he
needed to destroyed what he made”
(1:14:10)
 refusing to believe Ani’s explanation
Ani: “Listen, I didn’t see him fall…”
(1:16:10)
 intention to destroy the painting:
Displacement
Gorky
- survivor, witness of the war
- the image of mother’s hands
- being silent, only communicate with the
painting
- wiping off his mother’s hands with his
hands: from brush to hands
- unfinished hands: opened wound
- the usage of oil paint: repetition
compulsion

(18:00/22:40)
(16:52/1:25:40)
Historical Trauma:
Traumatized Armenian People
Women being raped
- little girl underneath her mother, holding
hand in hand


German woman
(1:23:17)
 Disgrace of humanity: the war not only
kills people but also kills human dignity
Retelling History
“finding a way to articulate history, identifying what
it means to you and what it might mean to others”
Film within the film

Representation of history/past
 Clarence
Ussher ‘s journal
 The brutal scenes

Gorky in the film
a
cruel joke
 a constructed image

Ararat/Van
 poetic

license or distortion
Authority
 the
camera and the set
Raffi and the film
initiation to find his origin
 connection with the past
 to understand his position/cultural identity


Questioning History
Twisted, modified
 Subjective history

 Ali
vs. Raffi and Saroyan
 Terrorist or freedom fighter (Raffi’s father)
” Every true history is contemporary history”

Interpretation

The flower on Gorky’s painting
A
fragrant gift to his absent father
 Cover the lost bottom
Symbols

Pomegranate—cultural father

Relate to his mother/Armenia
Cans
 emotional items
 meaningless objects (state apparatus)
 Mt. Ararat


National and religious identity
Unfinished hands — open wound
 Hands

Mother’s touch
 unity

Conclusion

Button
 symbolizes “wound”

Sewing button
 Stitch parts and facts together
 Healing wound
Conclusion

Did genocide really happen?
Armenians Claims:
 Ottoman Empire committed genocide to the Armenian
people, they called it the Armenian Genocide

What about Turkey’s stands?
Turkey Claims:
 Deny the word “genocide”
 During World War I, many Armenians died, but Turks
died as well
 Inter-ethnic violence and the wider conflict of World
War I