4D - New Student Edition

The Michigan Daily - michigandaily.com 4

Director Wes Anderson visits Ann Arbor 4

Independent film-
maker discusses the
cultural issues in his
newest flick
By KIMBERLY CHOU
Associate Arts Editor
Oct. 18,2007-Even if you haven't
carefully reread the works of
Edward Said in anticipation of the
film, it's not hard to see the trans-
cultural potential to offend in "The
Darjeeling Limited," Wes Ander-
son's latest about three brothers'
train journey through Rajasthan.
The movie, which opens tomor-
row at The Michigan Theater, is
the fifth directed by Anderson,
who has become a touchstone in
hipster film circles. Inevitably,
the question of authenticity arises
when an artist creates in or about
a culture not his own. A young
director as closely followed - and
as white - as Anderson was not
going to set a film in India and get
away with it easily, no matter how
many Satyajit Ray films he's seen.
Anderson, Roman Coppola and
Jason Schwartzman wrote the
screenplay for "Darjeeling" while
on their own trip to India, the
director's first.
"It's not really our goal to rep-
resent the culture as it is to just
share our experience, our point
of view of (India) - and it's only
such a sliver," Anderson said in
a roundtable interview before a
Q&A session and special screen-
ing of the film in Ann Arbor Mon-
day night. "It's a place where I feel
there are so many surprises, and
I'm so interested in learning about
this place and to share my limited
experiences."
When the film's three Whitman

brothers (Owen Wilson, Adrien appeared in the Anderson-penned
Brody and Schwartzman) arrive "The Life Aquatic with Steve Zis-
at their first stop, they step off sou," was born in India but grew
the Darjeeling Limited - the fic= up in New York.
tional train that gives the movie "As an insider and an outsider,
its title - into a kind of "Picture- because I was bornthere butraised
book India." Although American here, I think Wes and the writers,
tourists traveling in Asia for the Jason and Roman, handled India
first time, are often surprised in a beautiful nature," he said.
when encountering marketplaces "They made it a character in the
and blinding poverty (two things film." (He joked, "I speak officially
usually not out in the open in the for India.")
United States), the India captured Perhaps the, best explanation
in Anderson's signature camera for a film that some bloggers and
pans show women in tropical writers have attacked as misogy-
fruit-colored saris. The children nistic, racist and, at the very least,
are adorably dusty. The market- mildly Orientalist (see Jonah
places are just dirty enough to be Weiner's painfully titled response,
"quaint." Anderson filmed "Dar- "Unbearable Whiteness," on Slate.
jeeling" in the region of Rajast- com), is that the filmmakers inten-
han - it's not as if he could have tionally made "Darjeeling" from
"faked" India. the point of view of a blindly off-
But what he chooses for his color Western tourist.
film's lush backdrop suggests a "The movie is very muchabout
more romantic interpretation of these brothers who are not even
the real. really tuned into listening to each
At Monday's interview (which other or paying attention to each
also included Schwartzman and other, much less learning about
Waris Ahluwalia, who plays the this. place where they've gone and
Darjeeling's surly head steward), are meant to discover themselves
Anderson admitted he's "never in," Anderson said. "These broth-
felt more foreign" as a visitor than ers are perhaps more close-mind-
in India, but he also said that he's ed, more self-absorbed than even
never felt more welcomed. It's a we are, I think."
strange sense he feels is common Oldest brother Francis, Wilson's
among people who have traveled character, for example, refers to
there. the train attendant ' Schwartz-
"I feel like people who've vis- man's character fancies as "Sweet
ited India, if they like it, they Lime."
probably really love it," Anderson -Early on in the film, Schwartz-
said. "And they probably go back, man's Jack seduces Rita (a.k.a.
and it becomes something big. I "Sweet Lime") in the train bath-
feel people who spend time there, room. There's a Gayatri Spivak
if they meet someone else who's quote about imperialism - "the
gone there as a visitor they feel white man saving the brown
like they've got something that woman from the brown man." And
they share that they can't quite if you're familiar with Spivak, you
even express." can't help but think of that during
Punjab-born, New York-raised Jack and Rita's on-train fling. The
Ahluwalia understands Ander- film tells us that Rita is using him
son's cinematic treatment. Ahlu- as a reason to leave her relation-
walia, a jewelry designer who also ship with Ahluwalia's character,

and that he's pursuing her in an
effort to forget his ex-girlfriend.
"Thanks for using me," Jack says
as he leaves her, but it's hard, to
believe it wasn't mostly the other
way around.
A reporter at the roundtable
asked' about the correlation of
Jack's mustache (an impressive,
adult-film-star worthy decoration)
and the character's sexual appe-
tite.
"I can't answer your question
head-on, but I'll give you a side
thing," Schwartzman said, "which
is that if you're going to have a
mustache, India's the place to have
it."
People in the village where
they were filming would go up to
Schwartzman and tell him he had
"a mustache like the maharajah";
the children called him "India
Jack."
"I liked having no shoes and a
mustache, because it kind of felt.
like I was blending in a little bit,"
he said.
There's a danger of acciden-
tal exoticization there. India, it
seems, has a certain effect on peo-
ple; it's this bare-foot embodiment
of the exotic, of the spiritual. What
makes Francis's frequent, awk-
ward proclamations not just silly
but uncomfortable to watch is that
alot of Westerners do see India the
way the Whitmans do.
In the film, India is simply the
vehicle for which the brothers
can "find themselves." Francis's
encouragement of a made-up
ritual involving peacock feath-
ers and enforcement of prayer at
"one of the most spiritual places
in the world," among other things,
comes off equal parts offensive
and embarrassingly endearing.
When Adrien Brody's character,
middle brother Peter, talks about
how the country smells ("It's ...
spicy"), it seems more OK, maybe a

4

Wes Anderson spoke last October about his newest film, "The Darjeeling Limited."
little backward, if adorably so. But es, but in doing so, he risks turning
that may reflect more on Brody the his rosy view of India into nothing
actor - a new addition to the Wes more than a caricature of the real
Anderson film family - than Peter thing.
the character. Certainly, Anderson is smart
Perhaps the key is not to see enough to have recognized the
"India" as real-world India in "The potential criticism from the likes
Darjeeling Limited," but to see it as of Slate and Shameless magazines
another character, to paraphrase as he was making the film. But with
Ahluwalia. "Darjeeling," he only achieves his
Anderson plays with the setting desired result by sacrificing sensi-
just as he does other filmic devic- tivity for style.

4
4

For parties, Catherine is
totally the new Greenwood

Kerrytown isn't just
for hipsters and R.C.
kids anymore
By KIMBERLY CHOU
Associate Arts Editor
Oct. 1, 2007 - We're a month into
school. It's a good time to break out
of the comforts of your neighbor-
hood and party with a different
social set - and by that I mean it's

abouttotime to venture into march-
ing band territory.
Fred Flintstone costume? Check.
Tuba? Check. ihibitions? Gone.
Seekingconfirmationofthefabled
brass section parties rumored in the
Daily's erstwhile party column a
few years ago, High Society sent a
few representatives into the thick
of the Southeast neighborhood last
week after the Win over Penn State.
A marching band alum dressed as
Fred Flintstone and a couple of horn
players addressed our eager band-
party-related queries. Keep this in

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mind nexttime you're around South
Division and Hill Streets on a week-
end night:
Best parties?
Toss-up between the trumpets
and trombones ("biggest section").
Coolest section?
Drumline (they're basically sep-
rate from the rest of the band, which
apparently enables a sexy sense of
mystery).
Hottest girls?
Not sure if we're allowed to
divulge. But piccolos, we hear, are
usually pretty cute.
Is a mace (what a drum major
carries) the same thing as a baton
(what a twirler carries)?
No.,
After clarifying those mysteries,
we turned north.
Rerrytown provided some reli-
able party fare this past weekend
(some prep for 24 Hour Theater,
some chill music including the
debut of the Kerrytown DJ Collec-
tive featuring the Daily's own Lloyd
H. Cargo) and then something of a
different stripe - which we'll now
explain a la NPR's "FreshAir," since
the radio program's host, Ter
Gross, spentcaneveningat theMich-
igan Theater Saturday.
It's late September. You're walk-
ing back to your house in Kerry-
town from the bar (the Wolverines
have justwonanotherfootballgame
and everyone is celebrating), and
you hear "Soulja Boy" blasting from
a house on Thayer Street. Are those
"RUSH" signs? And why are girls
arrhythmically gyrating against a
guy holding on to dear life by their
belt loops?
Kerrytown, atleasttheperiphery,
seems to be filling with "dudes."
High Society ended up at a faux-
fraternity party in gray area north
of Huron Street that's not quite the
white-collar ghetto of med students
directly north or the Kerrytown of
the RC expatriates to the west. Lots
of barreled beverage ("Miller Lite,"
a friend guessed. "It's the Camel
Light of beer!"). Lots of kids grind-
ing past 3 a.m. in the basement to an
iPod blend including "The Love You
Save" and "Crank That." Weird? A
little bit. But the house's attempt to
spell out "RUSH (STREETNAME)"
in Greek letters gets points for cre-
ativity.
Another choice that night: You
could have celebrated with the foot-
ball team after its win in Evanston.
Several players were spotted at a
familiar South University Avenue
watering hole, dancing to a song
they had apparently made up (not
the infamous "Measly Penny" rap
but something involving a chorus of
"LIGHTS OUT").
But after all of that social experi-
mentation, it's always good to know
Greenwood is still going to have
guys running down the street with
giant cloth vaginas - which was
a recent sight in my neck of the
woods. Enthusiastic onlookers had
the opportunity to run through the
thing, like a modified victory arch.
Sounds like they were breaking out
the costume before Halloween - or
has someone been stealing props
from Planned Parenthood again?

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