1. Ararat
Anna, Emily, Honda, Julie

2. Outline Introduction Armenian genocide Atom Egoyan Structure Theme
Analysis
Characters
Parallel—family relation
Ani & Raffi
Gorky & his mother
David & Philip
Trauma
Personal trauma
Historical trauma
Retelling history
Symbol
Conclusion

3. 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

4. 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

5. 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

6. Atom Egoyan Experience “Atom”
 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

7. Structure
 Framed as scenes
 Film-within-the-film
Theme
 Historical trauma
 Family relation

8. 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

9. 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

10. 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

11. Family Relation

12. 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.”

13. Presentation Script
(Talk a little about the poem plot.)
Ani thinks the girl is crazy, while Raffi thinks she is just saying things angrily.
After taking away his mother/Ani heart, he runs away, runs to his girlfriend.
Ani goes to the airport to see whether Raffi is okay.
“my poor boy…”
Foreshadowing not just the relation between A&R but G&his mother.

14. 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.

15. Presentation Script tries to find his origin (a spiritual voyage.)
First, we know our origin through parents.
Raffi from Ani. And he goes to find out more because of Celia.
Then he wants to know the “facts,” the truth to him.
Goes to Turk..making film.
But what origin his looking for
Like Raffi’s having the experience of been in the dark room
He feels the ghost of his father.

16. Gorky & his mother Where Ani and Raffi’s relation extend Gorky
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.

17. Presentation Script Ani was projected that Raffi would leave her
So did Gorky and his mother.
Like In Celia’s case, she is kind of confused
Self/other, past/present.
Gorky
A way of missing his mother.
Repetition
Kind of psychological

18. 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.

19. Presentation Script To the film-maker Pomegranate means sth.
Luck/a power to imagine.
We have our feelings toward things, which are not objects anymore.

20. David & Philip (2) The issue brought by “Amen.”
Religion, gender, and race.
Christianity.
Homosexual.
Toni
David
Issue
Lover
Philip
Ali

21. Presentation Script
David asks Toni to say grace, and the problem comes up.
What David thinks is like when his being a customs officer.
What is okay, what is not.
Ali doesn’t believe in God and the relation between Philip and Ali.
Until when he interrogates Raffi.

22. David & Philip (3) Raffi telling David his story. David buys it
Influence
Raffi
Tolerance
David
Philip
Raffi telling David his story.
Through Words, tapes, journal.
David buys it
Let him go, without punishment.
Reminds him of Philip.
Develops tolerance
Cans of film=heroin.
Issue between Philip and him.
Gender, religion.

23. Presentation Script
Telling a story that plays out in four time periods during (keeps changing his story.)
Giving historical effect
the customs inquisition
during the filmmaking process a year earlier
during the actual holocaust in ,
during Gorky's painting of a pivotal work, around 1940
David buys it
The more Raffi tells his stories, the closer he comes to the truth.
“I can’t punish him for being honest.”
“That’s what he told me. That’s what I need to believe” Raffi.
That’s the moment, in the dark room, he feels the ghost of his father.

24. Presentation Script In here, Raffi remind him of his son.
Develop a kind of tolerance.
Cans of heroin.
Religion, gender, and race.
The issue between his family is no more.

25. The wound only speaks when we look back
Trauma
The wound only speaks when we look back

26. 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.

27. 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)

28.  refusing to believe Ani’s explanation(1:16:10) Ani: “Listen, I didn’t see him fall…”  intention to destroy the painting: Displacement

29. Gorky
- survivor, witness of the war
- the image of mother’s hands (18:00/22:40)
- being silent, only communicate with the painting
- wiping off his mother’s hands with his hands: from brush to hands (16:52/1:25:40)
- unfinished hands: opened wound
- the usage of oil paint: repetition compulsion

30. 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

31. Retelling History
“finding a way to articulate history, identifying what it means to you and what it might mean to others”

32. Film within the film Representation of history/past Gorky in the film
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

33. Raffi and the film initiation to find his origin
connection with the past
 to understand his position/cultural identity

34. Questioning History Interpretation 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

35. Symbols

36. Pomegranate—cultural father Cans  emotional items
Relate to his mother/Armenia
Cans
 emotional items
 meaningless objects (state apparatus)
Mt. Ararat
National and religious identity

37. Unfinished hands — open wound Hands
Mother’s touch
unity

38. Conclusion Button Sewing button  symbolizes “wound”
 Stitch parts and facts together
 Healing wound

39. 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