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PAGE Two
THE MICHIGAN DAILY
SUNDAY, JANUARY. 15, 1967
PAGE TWO TIlE MICHIGAN DAILY SUNDAY, JANUARY 15, 1967
Architect Friedman Ups Ford-
Plans Europe on Beam in Sky
FILMS
Fantasy and Realism
In La Bande a Part'
II
M
By RON F. BODNAR
Probably not since Henry Ford.
has there been anyone with such
radically different ideas as French
architect Yona Friedman, who lec-
tures at 4 p.m.. Monday in Angell
Hall D. Whereas Ford put Ameri-
ca on wheels, Friedman plans to
put Europe on beams and the
beams in triangles.
Friedman's plan is to create a
second, adaptable Paris in a space
frame above what now exists on
the ground. Parisians, already liv-
ing in daily familiarity with the
world's most famous and most
handsome space frame, the Eiffel
Tower, do not fear that such a,
structure will cut off all light
from the city below-the gaps and
the staggering of the different lev-
els assure them that sufficient
light will fall through.
Already well aired over French
TV, Friedman's ideas have met
with widespread public acceptance.
This and the current Parisian city-
wide and semi-permanent traffic
jam have convinced the powers
that be to undertake a full and
theoretical evaluation of the proj-
ect.
Friedman has reduced his plan-
ning criteria to a few, obviously
National Student Strike Set
A t December Convention
Student radicals are currently measures to radicalize student
planning demonstrations on cam- opinion against the war:
puses across the nation to be co- -Civil disobedience;
ordinated with a mobilization _War tribunals, modeled after
against the Vietnam war on April British philosopher Bertrand Rus-
15 in New York and San Fran- sell's projected international court
cisco. to judge President Johnson, Sec-
These tactics were set in Chi- retary of State Dean Rusk, and
cago at the Dec. 29-30 Conferen Secretary of Defense Robert Mc-
for a Student Strike for Peace'. Namear o forsllegedwrtrMe.
The participants did not reveal Namara for alleged "war crimes.-
which campuses wouild be singled The conference said that the tri-
wh for protest wbunals should be especially con-
out fcerned "with complicity in war
Voice, the University chapter of research contracts and their ef-
Students for a Democratic Society, fects on student education;"
did not send delegates to the _Activity to abolish 2-S stu-
meeting, and the national board dent deferments and/or the draft;
of SDS has refused to endorse the nd and
conference's -program. However, and
SDS chapters- at several campuses Support for Alaska Demo-
have attacked the national's cratic Senator Ernest Gruening's
stance, and they have threatened bill to prohibit the sending of
to force an SDS referendum de- draftees to fight in Vietnam.
signed to . alter the national's The conference, attended by
policy. Voice has not discussed the participants from 49 colleges, also
possibility of joining the dissident urged women to write local draft
chapters. boards, announcing their refusal
Besides a student : strike, the to cooperate with the Selective
conference urged the following Service System. Such letters, the
conferees recommended, should be
signed with a first initial and last
name.
DIAL
5-6290
unchanging facts, fixing the ax-
ioms of town living. According to
Friedman, these axioms are:
-A man occupies a certain con-
ventionally fixed space, necessary
for his activities. He can leave the
space, and occupy another one;
-Man lives in groups. These
groups are defined by communi-
cation (means and frequency) be-
tween their numbers, and
-Man needs to maintain his
equilibrium between his external
and internal environment. As the
means to maintain this equilib-
rium are often rare (food, weather,
protection, etc.), a rational distri-
bution becomes necessary.
For the axiom of space occupa-
tion, spaces can be organized in
a continuous way or in a discon-
tinuous way. Groups can be form-
ed on a biological base (family)
or on the base of any social deter-
minant (same age, interest, reli-
gion, etc.). Distribution can be
centralized (you go to a defined
place for a commodity, for exam-
ple "theatre"), or homogenized
(you can get the commodity at
any place you are, for example,
"television").
The ideally planned town would
adapt to any of the basic three
axions. It would also adapt from
7ne axiom to another under the
effect of some technical, political
or cultural change. Should such a
chance occur, life becomes uncom-
fortable in a town with a rigid
physical shape, creating a need
for a way of physical planning
that yields to transformations.
Frriedman's model, his "Spatial
Town," as he calls it, is contained
by a many level space frame grid,
posed on piles high above the
earth, 200-350 feet distant from
each other.
Friedman's model, his "Spatial
a fresh concentration of the Euro-
pean population itno compact ci-
ties, distributed in a rationally.
triganulated grid across the face
of Europe in a topological net-
work whose apices are the pres-
ent location of the major railway-
junctions and airports.
ShJ TODAY
Shows at 1 :00 - 2:55I
U E JJ4 :55-6 :55-9 :05
By PAUL SAWYER
"La Bande a Part" is in outline
the story of how two young Paris-
ians woo a lonely girl in order to
rob the rich man in whose house
she lives. The story ends with a
dramatic and far-fetched shoot-
ing, with the hero and heroin go-
ing off to South America.
It is of course all relatively un-
important to the film iself, for
Godard's chief interest-and his
true genius-lies in the creation
on the screen of subtle character
relationships and complex moral
ambiguities without the benefit of,
and often in opposition to, the
plot and its simple-minded con-
ventions.
And so it is through a seem-
ingly random series of jokes and
conversations, taking up most of
the film, that Odile (Anna Ka-
rina again) emerges as a sweet
and soulful thing, who can't say
no because she doesn't really want
to; that Arthur (surnamed Rim-
baud!) turns out a crass manipu-
lator; and that Franz, finally be-
comes the boy who has a soul after
all, in spite of his weaknesses.
The whole last part of the film,
dealing with the robbery and es-
cape is deliberately phony, be-
cause besides being far-fetched, it
undermines the psychological and
moral complexity Godard has
been building up all the way
through. Franz wonders "whether
this world is a dream, or whether
this dream is a world."
Indeed the two boys never com-
pletely distinguish between their
fantasy world and the real one;
they are both pretend gangsters
and real ones. Godard does not
make this kind of distinction
either, so that this strange and
fascinating film becomes an in-
extricable mixture of scrupulous
neo-realism and broad parody, or
fantasy. The "true" story simply
cannot be singled out.
The resemblance of this sup-
posedly new technique to the
plays of Euripides, with their
mockery of conventional myth-
ology and frequent use of deus ex
machina, is very strong. Also re-
miniscent of Euripides is the pres-
ence of endless layers of irony
and parody with an omniscient
narrator, who tells the audience
a good deal of "straight" infor-
mation.
Godard is corny in places (not
so much in this film as in "Alpha-
ville,") where he is trying to be
serious. However, I have no defi-
nitive judgement on the purpose
and ultimate effectiveness of this
sleight-of-hand technique.
"A SPLASHY, SURF*SOAKED SLEEPERI
BREATHTAKING! IMAGINATIVE!
The nicest surprise to happen in a long time.
Unless you just- enjoy turning your back
entirely on life, you should not miss the
breathtaking shots!"
-- -~
NEXT
ATTRACTION
A BRUCE BROWN TM IN COLOP
*0
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4'
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a MATT HELM
KARL MALEN
AURBEEREES
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MELINA MERCOURI "10:30 P.M. SUMMER"
RUMY SCHNEIDER
IN
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Jean-Luc
Godard
Festival
tonight
BANDE A
PART
(BAND OF
OUTSIDERS)
Comedy in the
tradition of
STARTING TOMORROW, Jan. 16
LYDIA MENDELSSOHN BOX OFFICE
10 A.M.-5 P.M.
UAC MUSKET '67
O~f
tir
@ ur
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TICKETS:
0 Individual Soles
start
January 16
Lydia Mendelssohn
Box Office
10 A.M.-5 P.M.
All Seats $2.50
Performances:
Date:
I"
the new
musical
III
1111 ZIMC Am 11
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