A Study Guide by Katy Marriner
OBSESSED WITH G WALKIN
oria Vict ar Films, Film ng St ustralia, Flami en A Scre ©2010
A STUDY GUIDE by Katy Marriner
http://www.metromagazine.com.au
http://www.theeducationshop.com.au Featuring notorious writer and cultural provocateur Will Self, Obsessed with Walking follows Self on a 120-mile trek from Los Angeles Airport to the heart of Hollywood, and interrogates the meaning of walking in a globalised, industrialised world. This study guide to accompany Obsessed with Walking (2010), a Flaming Star Films production, has been written for middle and senior secondary students. It provides information and suggestions for learning activities in English, Geography, Literature and Media. Obsessed with Walking has a running time of 26 minutes 30 seconds. SCREEN EDUCATION
2 os Angeles International Airport. A jumbo jet lunges onto the tarmac and taxis to the terminal. L An unusually tall and very thin man strides out of the terminal onto Century Boulevard. It’s Will Self, the novelist once notorious for his addictions and excesses but now known for his eccentric walking habits.
Will has already walked from his home in South London to Heathrow. Now he’ll trek 120 miles across LA to Hol- lywood for a book he’s writing about the impact of the environment on the human psyche.
Will chooses a route through the grittiest suburbs, the ‘un-places’ and the ‘interzones’, in search of a new kind of urban beauty. As he walks, he muses on the power of walking to connect us to place, time and memory and evokes the spirit of other walkers whose art has changed the way we think, see and hear: Rebels like Guy Debord and the Situationists (a pack of hard-living French bo- hemians who tried to overturn the urban order in 1950s Paris with the dérive – a walk without a route, destination or purpose. Amazingly, they almost succeeded when their ideas sparked the Paris riots of 1968) and Will’s enemy, the eighteenth-century poet and walker, William Wordsworth, whose poetry inspired a craze for walking in the English Lake District and, Will believes, kick-started international tourism.
For Will, walking has become an obsession, as it was for the Australian composer, Percy Grainger, who prepared for performances by walking to the edge of exhaustion and pain.
Five days after he set out on foot, Will threads his way through the crowds on Hollywood Boulevard’s Walk of Fame. But home again in London, he discovers that this walk has been a turning point in his personal journey.
Part lament and part travelogue, Obsessed with Walking explores both the outer journey and the inner journey made through walking – traversing the physical world and traversing the spirit and the imagination.1 SCREEN EDUCATION
3 About the filmmakers Director’s Statement Rosie Jones | Writer, director and editor The idea for Obsessed with Walking began when I came across a fascinating book by the American writer, Re- Since graduating from the Victorian College of the Arts Film becca Solnit that explored the social and cultural devel- School in 1985, Rosie Jones has established a reputation as opment of walking as a leisure activity. Though I’d always an award-winning documentary writer, director and editor. been a keen walker, I’d never consciously thought about its history. I started voraciously reading and researching, Jones other films includeWestall ’66: A Suburban UFO all the while thinking about its potential as an unusual but Mystery, Holy Rollers, and Visions of Yankalilla. Her editing very accessible documentary. credits include numerous single documentaries and series commissioned by Australian and international broadcast- I was searching for a charismatic central character with a ers. She is currently in production on a feature documentary journey that could form the structure for a meditation on about the battle between government, big business and walking. I wanted the form of the film to reflect the form community over the St Kilda Triangle development, The of a walk – fluid and diverging – but I needed a strong Triangle Wars. story with a solid narrative arc around which I could weave historical material. Lavinia Riachi | Producer
When I discovered that the writer Will Self had become an BBC trained, Lavinia Riachi has over twenty-one years’ ex- avid walker after giving up serious drugs a few years ago, I perience in television and film production. She has worked was very excited. I’d always been a fan of his dark humour with a variety of British, American, Australian and European and edgy satires and now he was writing a regular column Broadcasters and Production Companies, on a wide range about walking, called Psychogeography, for The Independ- of productions: from reality and observational to docudra- ent. mas and archive-based historical documentaries.
As you’d expect, Will had some provocative ideas about Sharyn Prentice | Executive producer walking. He’d also started doing an eccentric series of walks from international airports to the centre of major Sharyn Prentice is an independent producer who, through cities. For example: South London to Heathrow/JFK to her company Flaming Star Films, has developed and Manhattan, which he then wrote about. When I heard he produced award-winning documentaries and edgy half- was planning to walk from Los Angeles Airport to Hol- hour documentaries in Australia and internationally for lywood, I knew I had found the dynamic central narrative. over twenty years. Her recent credits include A Thousand Encores: The Ballets Russes in Australia, Tasmanian Devil: Los Angeles is famous for being car-centred, danger- the Fast and Furious Life of Errol Flynn, See What Happens ous, choked with traffic and hostile to pedestrians. Not and Beyond the Royal Veil. only would it be a challenging walk in its own right but it would provide the raw material for a new book Will was planning to publish in September 2010 – Walking to Hol- lywood. I approached Will and he agreed to be filmed. – Rosie Jones2 SCREEN EDUCATION
4 Will Self zines including The Independent and the New Statesman, Self Will Self was born in 1961 and raised in what he likes to is a vital part of the contemporary debate about cities and call an ‘effortlessly dull’ north London suburb by ‘intellectu- how we live in them. His latest book, Walking to Hollywood ally snobbish’ parents. When he graduated from Oxford will be published in September 2010. University, Self worked as a copywriter and a New States- man cartoonist before publishing his first collection of short stories in 1991. Psychogeography
Self’s fiction includes short-story collections:The Quantity The origins of psychogeography can be found in the Situ- Theory of Insanity (1991), Grey Area (1994), Design Faults in ationist Movement of the 1950s. the Volvo 760 Turbo (1998), Tough, Tough Toys for Tough, Tough Boys (1998), Dr Mukti and Other Tales of Woe (2004), Gritty, earnest and very cool, the Situationists came up with Liver: A Fictional Organ with a Surface Anatomy of Four subversive and inflammatory ideas while lounging about in Lobes (2008) and The Undivided Self (2008). He is also the cafes, drinking vast quantities of wine. One of their revolu- author of an illustrated novella, The Sweet Smell of Psycho- tionary techniques was the dérive, a drift on foot without a sis (1996) and Cock and Bull (1992) a volume of two novellas. route, purpose or destination that was meant to challenge Self’s novels are: My Idea of Fun (1993), Great Apes (1997), the goal-oriented walks of city commuters. The Situationists How the Dead Live (2000), Dorian (2002) and The Book of would absorb the urban ambience and use the informa- Dave (2006). His most recent novel is The Butt (2008). tion to produce new pedestrian-derived maps of the city. Though their ideas may sound absurd, their tracts against Self’s non-fiction includesPerfidious Man (2000), an examina- cars and their ideas for urban design still influence contem- tion of modern masculinity, and Sore Sites (2000), a collection porary city planners. of writings about architecture. In addition, Self has published collections of journalism: Junk Mail (1995), Psychogeography was defined in 1955 by Situationist Guy Feeding Frenzy (2001), Psychogeogra- Debord as the study of the precise laws and specific effects phy (2007) and Psycho Too (2009). of the geographical environment, consciously organised or not, on the emotions and behaviour of individuals. A regular columnist for numer- ous newspapers and maga- The recent resurgence of interest in psychogeography has SCREEN EDUCATION
5 Using Obsessed with Walking in the classroom Teachers may select from the following activities to support students’ viewing and close analysis of Obsessed with Walking. . What are the benefits of walking?
Given Will Self’s reputation as a writer of provoca- . Does your family ever leave the car at home and take tive and often satiric fiction and non-fiction, teachers a walk? should preview the online resources to assess their suitability for use with the classes they teach. . Do you think walking is the best way to discover a place?
. Do you always walk directly from A to B or are you more inclined to take a less predictable route to your destina- tion? come primarily from the UK, with writers and filmmak- ers such as Will Self, Iain Sinclair, Peter Ackroyd, Stewart . Stroll, amble and wander are all synonyms for walk. Home and Patrick Keiller documenting their unorthodox Working as a class, add more synonyms to the list. pedestrian wanderings. Psychogeographic ideas are evident retrospectively in the writing of William Blake and Thomas . Draw a map of one of your favourite or often taken De Quincey, and the rise of the flâneur on the streets of walks. Forget about BOLTSS and all the other conven- nineteenth-century Paris. tions of mapping. Aim for a more personal map of your experience. Before viewing After viewing Teachers may like to pose some or all of these questions to discuss the merits of taking a walk. The questions can . Did you enjoy Obsessed with Walking? Share one be revisited after watching Obsessed with Walking. of your favourite moments from the documentary with the class. . When was the last time you went for a walk? . After watching Obsessed with Walk- . Do you walk to school? ing, what comments would you make about the purpose of the . Do you walk around your neighbourhood? documentary? SCREEN EDUCATION
6 ‘My life’s like the Truman Show. Isn’t yours?’
Will Self Self’s columns about his psychogeographic experiences can be located online at
The website provides information about Self’s writing, Did you find the columns you read entertaining? public appearances and current preoccupations. Based on your reading of a variety of Self’s columns, Read reviews of Self’s fiction and non-fiction; read write a description of Self’s brand of journalism. recent and also archived columns for newspapers and periodicals and read introductions that Self has written . Self has described himself as a modern flâneur. for other books. What is a flâneur? View the seventy-one photographs of Self’s writing room at
Read archived essays about Self. Having watched Obsessed with Walking, what words would you use to describe Self? Read, watch and listen to interviews with Self. . ‘My life’s like The Truman Show. Isn’t yours?’ – Self . Self sees himself as a moral satirist and as a social rebel. His novels are written for an adult audience and intend What prompts this comment? to challenge readers’ perceptions of the world. The nar- ratives are often shocking and disturbing. What point is Self endeavouring to make?
Have you ever read a novel by Will Self? . ‘I’m a terrible solipsist and far too bound up in my own thoughts and perceptions.’ – Self Self’s non-fiction and his columns for newspapers and periodicals are more accessible for a teenage audience. Do you think Obsessed with Walking shows this self- evaluation to be true? SCREEN EDUCATION
7 . When Self returns to London, Rosie Jones, the director Psychogeography of Obsessed with Walking, interviews him about the trip to Los Angeles and the writing of Walking to Hollywood. ‘Will Self doesn’t do ordinary walks.’ – Narrator
Share your impressions about Self’s writing room with In 1997, Will Self was famously kicked off British Prime the class. Minister John Major’s plane for allegedly snorting heroin in the bathroom. After that, Self quit using drugs and began Self explains his habits as a writer: walking.
‘I tend to write first drafts as early in the morning as Like many urban dwellers, Self felt profoundly dislocated possible.’ from his environment before he started walking. To combat this compromised reality, Self now walks everywhere. His ‘I always write a complete draft before I start revising.’ acute observations form his own unique brand of psycho- geography. ‘I like to write on the typewriter rather than the computer.’ Self’s column called ‘Psychogeography’ started out in the Read Self’s ten rules for writing at
Find out more about Will Self at: . ‘The kind of psychogeography I practice really works for me. It inspires my prose, it soothes my soul. It makes http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Will_Self it possible for me to deal with the hideousness of the http://www.contemporarywriters.com/authors/?p=auth88 globalized man-machine matrix.’ – Will Self
http://www.guardian.co.uk/books/2008/jun/11/willself This quotation is taken from an interview in which Self http://www.independent.co.uk/opinion/columnists/will-self/ speaks at length about his interest in psychogeography. http://www.literateur.com/2010/02/an-interview-with-will-self/ http://www.newstatesman.com/writers/will_self SCREEN EDUCATION
8 The interview can be read online at
. Self visited Google’s Mountain View headquarters in Cali- Is it really still possible to wander through the modern fornia to discuss his book, Psychogeography. The event city as Baudelaire did through the arcades of nineteenth- took place on 29 October 2007 as part of the Authors@ century Paris? Google program. Watch the speech at
Self acknowledges that walking is an obsession for him. . The most famous psychogeographic map is Debord’s Guide Pychogéographique de Paris. What does Self claim as the benefits of walking? View an image of this map at
Unlike most travellers, Self carries no luggage. . Cyclists, dog walkers, joggers, couriers also rely on mental mapping to navigate the urban environment. Can What does Self take with him when he walks? you add to this list? Interview one of these people about the way they navigate the urban environment. What do you take with you when you walk? . Use the internet to find out more about psychogeog- . It is not uncommon to hear reports of people walking raphy. Begin your research at
What do you think separates a psychogeographic act from these acts? Is it a difference in intent or in out- come? SCREEN EDUCATION
9 The Situationists
‘… insufferably pretentious Marxists.’ – Will Self
‘A pack of hard-living French radicals led by the char- ismatic Guy Debord, they inspired Will Self’s interest in walking. The Situationists combined avant-garde art with politics and cartography. Their aim was to destroy capitalism and transform urban space. Their method was the dérive.’
. Dada + Surrealism + Anarchy = Situationist Interna- tional
Write an explanation to match this equation.
. What do you think of the Situationists and their view of society?
. ‘Debord’s principal and indeed only work, the Society of the Spectacle, I think is an astonishing book, summed up by a graffito I once saw in a shopping mall in England which just said “Work Consume Die.”’ – Will Self
Drawing on Obsessed with Walking, explain why Self is interested in and inspired by the Situationists.
. Working in a small group, use PowerPoint to create a presentation about one of the following subjects:
– The Situationists – Guy Debord – Society of the Spectacle – The Paris riots of May 1968
Your presentation should use text and images. You may use audio and video resources. Limit your presentation to five slides. Liaise with other groups to ensure that you are not duplicating information. SCREEN EDUCATION
10 Wordsworth
‘The patron saint of tourism.’ – Will Self
Eighteenth-century Romantic poet and stout-legged walker, William Wordsworth, inspired a craze for walking on the pic- turesque slopes of the English Lake District. Perversely, Self claims to find beauty in the industrial suburbs, in rubbish, in the ganglands of South Central, wherever the traveller seek- ing beautiful landscapes wouldn’t go.
. What is your view of William Wordsworth? Percy Grainger HIKING
To help you answer this question, spend time finding out Other obsessive walkers more about Wordsworth. Begin your research at
Ackroyd’s London: The Biography, is an extensive and thor- Do you agree? ough discussion of London through the ages. . Writing as Wordsworth, stand up to Self. You may . Find out more about Peter Ackroyd. Begin your research express your defence in prose or verse. at
. Who else walks obsessively?
Use the internet to make a list of other notable psychoge- ographers.
Share the results of your research with others in the class.
Write a profile for one of the psychogeographers on the list and post it to the class’ psychogeography blog. SCREEN EDUCATION
11 Walking to Hollywood
‘Los Angeles, city of dreams and city of cars. There’s a saying that only the poor and the crazy ever walk here.’ – Narrator
In Obsessed with Walking, Will Self navi- gates an idiosyncratic route through Los Angeles, gathering research material for a new book, Walking to Hollywood.
. ‘The broad route I’m taking is certainly intended to be a biopsy of the reality of Los Angeles.’ – Will Self
As soon as Self’s plane touches down at LAX, he heads off down Century Boulevard. Then it’s onto the buttery lawns and mock doric columns of Baldwin Hills, where Self finds himself disconcertingly reminded of his youth. Self walks through South Central, infamous for deathly skirmishes between the Bloods and Crips gangs and then discovers the serene beauty of Echo Park. On Wilshire Boulevard, the first street ever designed to be viewed through a car windscreen, Will muses on how technology has changed the way we see and interact with the world. He notes the absence of the Ambas- sador Hotel and the spot where Robert Kennedy was assassinated in 1968, before arriving at the iconic Grauman’s Chinese Theatre on Hollywood Boulevard.
What does Self observe as he investigates Los Angeles?
. What did you see, think and feel as you pounded the sidewalks of Los Angeles with Self?
Create a psychogeographic map of the walk that you are taken on in Obsessed with Walking.
Much like the Situationists, begin by cutting up a map of Los Angeles. Download or draw images that show what you saw. Write short paragraphs describing your experi- ence of LAX, Baldwin Hills, South Central, Echo Park, Wilshire Boulevard and Hollywood Boulevard.
. Walking to Hollywood is the story of Self’s walk around Los Angeles.
Part memoir and part invention, a description of Walking to Hollywood can be located at
Watch the teaser for Walking to Hollywood filmed by Bloomsbury at
12 ‘It’ll all work out fine. I’ll get a narrative out of it because that’s what I do.’
Heart of Darkness Self: ‘Perhaps a crisis of some sort, But I mean crisis is just part of evolution, isn’t it? ‘It’ll all work out fine. I’ll get a narrative out of it because that’s what I do.’ – Will Self What did you make of this exchange? Why do you think Rosie Jones chose this moment to end Obsessed with . What happens when Will Self returns to London? Walking?
. ‘It wasn’t what I expected, but it certainly shows that Behind the scenes walking can have a profound effect on the human psy- che.’ – Rosie Jones, filmmaker . Do you think Obsessed with Walking is the most apt title for the documentary? Is this the title you would have Self claims that Walking to Hollywood is an investigation chosen? into a personal heart of darkness as much as anything else. . What expectations does the opening sequence create? How are you positioned as a viewer to regard Will Self Why do you think Self uses the term ‘heart of darkness’ and Los Angeles? to describe his journey? . Fenella Kernebone is the narrator of Obsessed with Heart of Darkness (1902) is a novella written by Joseph Walking. Conrad. If you have not read the novella, you may need to complete some research about the narrative and its meaning before you can answer the question about Self.
. Jones: ‘It sounds a bit like some sort of crisis.’ SCREEN EDUCATION
13 Working as a class, discuss the role Kernebone plays in ing with sweat within an hour. We had a small production telling the story of Obsessed with Walking. team but quickly learned that we had to leap into the car and race ahead of Will or we’d be left with shots of his Obsessed with Walking is a short documentary. Its running feet and back disappearing into the distance. time is 26 minutes 30 seconds. – Rosie Jones
. As a class discuss the demands of crafting such a format. Working as a class and by drawing on moments and aspects of the documentary, make a list of the likely . What strategies does the filmmaker use to allow us to challenges of filmingObsessed with Walking. connect with Will Self? . Why do you think the closing credit sequence shows . What strategies does the filmmaker use to explain the Self leaving his home and taking a walk? concept of psychogeography? . Visit the production company’s website at
– Re-enactments Endnotes – Archival footage 1 Obsessed with Walking press kit, Flaming Star Films, – Animation 2010 – Graphics 2 Ibid. – Stills – Black and white
. Will is well over six feet tall and a very fast walker, as our director of photography quickly discovered! Carrying a very heavy camera and running to keep up, he was pour- SCREEN EDUCATION
14 This study guide was produced by ATOM. (© ATOM 2010) [email protected] For more information on Screen Education magazine, or to download other study guides for assessment, visit
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