| The
chameleon-man
"Zelig"
chameleon
noun 1 a small LIZARD (= a type of reptile)
that can change color according to its surroundings 2
(often disapproving) a person who changes their behavior or
opinions according to the situation (definition from the OXFORD
- Advanced Learner's Dictionary).
The definition presented above is extremely representative
for us to clearly understand the idea of the film "Zelig",
made by the well-known and controversial North-American movie-maker,
Woody Allen. Zelig is, after all, the name of the main character,
performed by Woody Allen himself, present to all as a real
chameleon-man, capable of changing his personality and appearance
according to the environment in which he is standing.
It
doesn't seem to be an original idea. Some readers can say
that know people who can perfectly imitate the accents, gestures,
faces, voices and clothing of any person, it doesn't matter
who is the person they must copy and his (or hers) personal
characteristics. There are artists specialized on developing
this kind of art on stage, on television and even on the classrooms
in which we work.
But
Zelig is not an artist capable of unforgettable performances.
He is, according to the diagnosis of dr. Eudora Fletcher (Mia
Farrow), a very special case of a person with multiple personalities.
It
is obvious that the movie goes beyond the notion of multiple
personalities. We can see that because Allen's character is
able to become a chinese, a black man or even a fat person
on their physical conditions and inherit their cultural and
ethnic background. If the movie was not this way it wouldn't
have the signature of Woody Allen, it wouldn't be one of his
comedies.
A
very different story, explored in a comic way, presented to
the spectators in a non-conventional pattern of movie making,
that leads people to reflect and laugh, carries Woody Allen's
style of creating movies.
But,
in what way can we think about Leonard Zelig's case, this
intriguing being that carries with himself the fate of being
the chameleon-man? Is he the result of a complex and changing
society (the movie takes place in the 1920's)? Are his problems
diseases of the contemporary age, where people keep running
with a lot of intensity to accomplish their daily routines
and have to adapt constantly to new inhabits, situations and
people? On what way can psichology analyzes multiple personality
cases? What is there inside of us that ressembles Zelig?
Don't
lose the opportunity to watch it!
The
film
In
the middle of the 1920´s, when the "American Way
of Life" is being born, when the press lives by publishing
scandals and shocking news that allow it to sell more and
more papers, appears among many stand out personalities the
figure of the chameleon-man, Leonard Zelig (Woody Allen).
Identified
slowly, because he assumes different faces and habits in the
same place (He seemed to be a gangster, one of the bosses
of the "Cosa Nostra", with the typical appearance
and gestures of a violent mobster and, in the same day, people
saw him as a black musician of a jazz and blues band that
was playing for the people that were attending the night club
in which the gangsters met), Zelig turns out to be notorious
and is studied with curiosity by doctors, psychologists and
researchers of universities specialized on health studies
so that they can be able to detect the "illness"
that affects him.
Among
all diagnosis, of varied species, there are ideas of psychological
and psychiatric diseases and, attempts to associate his problem
to physical illness, provinient from malfunctioning organs.
Some of the prognosis estimate a very short living time for
the famous patient (whose photos are in many papers, of varied
tendencies, specially the sensationalists).
The
only person that really seems to care about Zelig is doctor
Eudora Fletcher (Mia Farrow). She tries hardly to discover
the reasons of the illness that affects Zelig and falls in
love with the chameleon-man…
So
that everything seems more realistic in the movie, Zelig is
presented in various moments sided by known personalities
of the north-american society of the 1920's, such as president
Woodrow Wilson, baseball player Babe Ruth, movie star Charles
Chaplin or the writer F. Scott Fitzgerald.
Woody
Allen reveals all of his creativity on filming Zelig's story
as a "pseudo-documentary" (this may not be very
pleasant to many spectators), besides that, to make people
believe he is producing a film on the 1920's he presents the
story in black and white alternating with depositions of famous
people (like writers Saul Bellow or Susan Sontag and Psychologist
Bruno Bettelheim). Guaranteed fun!
For
teachers
1-
Use the stylish resources proper of the movie "Zelig",
of Woody Allen, to increase the interest of your students
about the story, its details, the context in which the actions
are taking place, the famous personalities that appear on
the screen and the life-style of the United States in the
1920's. Ask them what they think of the fact that the story
was shown and told in a documentary form, the reasons that
made the movie-maker work with photos in some parts of the
film, why the movie is presented in black and white in certain
moments and in color in others…
2-
Make a survey among your students to find out if they know
people that have the symptons of multiple personality. What
motivated them to think about these known people as multiple
personality persons? What occasionate the arising of people
that have behaviors like that? In what way this behavior problem
is described by the specialists? After you are informed by
those known cases that were told by the students, ask them
to research more information on the internet, in libraries
or on a field research with interviews with psychologists
and psychiatrists.
3-
It is possible to say that modern times have set a chaotic
rhythm of life to most people. There is a small amount of
time to eat, we spend many hours in the traffic of the big
cities, we don't sleep well because of the rush in our daily
activities, we have brief periods of our day to dedicate to
our families or friends, we work and eat at the same time,
among many situations that could stand as examples of our
mad, mad contemporary world. In what way does it psychologicaly
affect people? What about spending some time to reflect about
this question?
4-
What was the "American Way of Life"? Why can we
say that this way of living was established on the 1920's?
If we think that there is a close relation between the expression
"American Way of Life" and the idea of consumption,
we can say that the concept (of "American Way of Life")
overcame the frontiers of the United States and was imposed
to the western world? Through an exercise such as the one
mentioned above we can find out more about ourselves and allow
our students to comprehend in a better way the origin of some
of our behaviors and habits…
João Luís Almeida Machado
Master Degree in Education, Arts and History
of Culture (Universidade Presbiteriana Mackenzie, em São
Paulo); Professor at Faculdade Senac in Campos do Jordão;
Middle and High School teacher; writes weekly columns for
the website Planeta Educação
Send e-mails, comments, suggestions and critics for:
profjoaoluis@planetaeducacao.com.br
Technical Information
Zelig
Country/Year of production:- EUA, 1983
Length of time/Gender:- 79 min., Comédia
Director: Woody Allen
Screenwriter: Woody Allen
Cast:- Woody Allen, Mia Farrow, John Buckwalter,
Marvin Chatinover, Stanley Swerdlow, Paul Nevens, Sol Lomita
.
Links
In
portuguese:-
http://www.adorocinema.com/filmes/zelig/zelig.htm
http://www.cineguia.com.br/index.shtml?cod_filme=CNA5133&rg=0/
In
English:-
http://www.rottentomatoes.com/m/Zelig-1024428/
http://us.imdb.com/Title?0086637
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