The Supernatural, Orality and Postcolonial Melancholia in Non
Total Page：16
File Type：pdf, Size：1020Kb
Otherworldly Storytellers: The Supernatural, Orality and Postcolonial Melancholia in Non- Indigenous and Indigenous Films in Québec Kester Dyer A Thesis In The Mel-Hoppenheim School of Cinema Presented in Partial Fulfillment of the Requirements For the Degree of Doctor of Philosophy (Film and Moving Image Studies) at Concordia University Montreal, Québec, Canada October 2018 © Kester Dyer, 2018 CONCORDIA UNIVERSITY SCHOOL OF GRADUATE STUDIES This is to certify that the thesis prepared By: Kester Dyer Entitled: Otherworldly Storytellers: The Supernatural, Orality and Postcolonial Melancholia in Non-Indigenous and Indigenous Films in Québec and submitted in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the degree of Doctor Of Philosophy (Film and Moving Image Studies) complies with the regulations of the University and meets the accepted standards with respect to originality and quality. Signed by the final examining committee: Chair Dr. Alessandra Renzi External Examiner Dr. Karine Bertrand External to Program Dr. Daniel Salée Examiner Dr. Masha Salazkina Examiner Dr. Luca Caminati Thesis Supervisor Dr. Thomas Waugh Approved by ________________________________________ Dr. Masha Salazkina, Graduate Program Director November 14, 2018 Dr. Rebecca Taylor Duclos, Dean Faculty of Fine Arts ! """! ABSTRACT Otherworldly Storytellers: The Supernatural, Orality and Postcolonial Melancholia in Non-Indigenous and Indigenous Films in Québec Kester Dyer, Ph.D. Concordia University, 2018 To this day, Québec cinema bears the reputation of a national corpus that shuns the supernatural as means of narrative and formal expression. Indeed, documentary and realist models have long dominated this film tradition. However, surprising incursions of the supernatural have occurred with increasing frequency in Québec films since the late 20th century. While these occurrences might be understood to mirror the continued collective malaise linked to Québec’s failure at achieving nation-statehood, more nuanced accounts can be gained from an approach that juxtaposes individual film texts authored by both non-Indigenous and Indigenous filmmakers. The current doctoral dissertation, as a collection of case studies drawn from previous publications and conference papers, uncovers textual and contextual explanations for the shift in emphasis that saw a more frequent foregrounding of the supernatural in Québec cinema since the 1990s. It also seeks to explicate the pronounced stress placed on interculturality as a theme associated with supernatural motifs. At the same time as it explores such stylistic change, the group of readings gathered here also considers reasons for the persistence of melancholia as sentiment that pervades much of Québec cinema. As such, this study asks whether the supernatural works subversively within this geopolitical context and, if so, against which dominant interests? Likewise, it asks whether orality, a storytelling framework that has been said to characterize Québec cinema throughout its history, can also offer oppositional potential. When these two traditionally compatible ideas, orality and the supernatural, combine in contemporary Québec cinema, how do their alleged resistant capacities trigger alternative understandings of ! "#! Québec society and nationhood? Through observations of cinematic frameworks for intercultural fantasies, gendered intergenerational religious traditions, encounters between radical Québec filmmaking and Indigenous practices, and the haunting provocations of Indigenous Cinema as an emergent means of contestation, this study seeks to understand the underlying colonial histories and structures that underpin manifestations of the supernatural and melancholia in Québec. Thus, this study helps to delineate an underexamined mode in Québec film studies, and re-inserts it into considerations of longstanding narrative devices. In addition, the project critiques Québec’s underplayed colonial past, as well as its anxieties concerning immigration and propensity for identity appropriation, while nevertheless investigating Québec’s potential for alliance with Indigenous efforts at decolonization and challenges to the nation-state paradigm. ! #! ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS Writing this thesis would not have been possible without the help and support of many people. I was extremely privileged to have a dedicated and caring mentor in Thomas Waugh, whose committed approach to intellectual enquiry and contagious affection for film have been an inspiration as well as a model for me. Thank you, Tom for your unwavering support, reassurance, and lucid advice. I would also like to thank the members of my committee, Masha Salazkina, Luca Caminati, Karine Bertrand and Daniel Salée, for taking the time to consider this thesis. Tom, Masha and Luca are among the several professors at Concordia, who generously helped me develop my ideas and skills. I would like to thank all those teachers for their encouragement. I was fortunate enough to collaborate on several research projects during my time as a graduate student and cannot underestimate the value of these experiences. I am grateful to Tom, Luca, Dan Cross, Joshua Neves, and especially Liz Miller (the most positive and energetic person I have ever known) for generously involving me in the activities of the Concordia Documentary Centre, which led to an enriching collaboration Liz and I have since enjoyed with Wapikoni Mobile at Concordia. Needless to say, this contributed immensely to my reflection on issues addressed in this thesis. Likewise, I would like to thank all Wapikoni filmmakers and staff who participated in our projects at Concordia and/or agreed to be interviewed for this thesis, including Raymond Caplin, Tshiuetin Vollant, Kevin Papatie, Jani Bellefleur-Kaltush, Élisa Moar, Delia Gunn, Lina Jane Gunn, Craig Commanda, Naomi Condo, Jemmy Echaquan Dubé, Mélina Quitich-Niquay, Eden Mallina Awashish, Maïlys Flamant, Christopher Grégore-Gabriel, Audrey Campeau, Marie-Ève Bergeron, Étienne Gagnon Lalonde ! #"! and, of course, Manon Barbeau. I also want to thank Yves Sioui Durand and Simon Lavoie who agreed to be interviewed in spite of their very busy schedules. The Mel Hoppenheim School of Cinema has been an amazing department to be part of, and that is in large part due to all the friends and graduate student colleagues, who have made scholarly work as much fun as it should be. For this, I would especially like to thank Zach Melzer, Rachel Jekanowski, Joel Hughes, Fulvia Massimi, Adam Szymanski, and Julie Ravary. At l’Université de Montréal, I want to extend a special thank you to Germain Lacasse for welcoming me into his graduate seminar and for generously sharing his knowledge and ideas. I also want to thank SSHRC and FRQSC for the financial support that made this research possible. Finally, I would like to thank my family, my parents Claudette and Peter, as well as my mother-in-law, Margurita. Most of all, I want to thank my very special children Oisín and Caoimhe, who will now have to get used to having a dad who is not a student, and my wonderful wife Olivia, without whose patience, support and love, none of this would be possible. This thesis is dedicated to the memory of my father-in-law, Oliver Ward, always a passionate seeker of knowledge. ! #""! TABLE OF CONTENTS LIST OF FIGURES ix INTRODUCTION 1 CHAPTER ONE: FANTASIZED INTERCULTURAL SPACES: IDEALIZED AND MARGINALIZED TRANSNATIONAL IDENTITIES 34 Section 1: Local/Global Storytellers: The Supernatural Bonimenteur in Québec 34 Section 2: Léolo’s Fantasized Italy: Family Romance and Accented Cinema 44 Section 3: Kim Nguyen: Accented Cinema, Orality and the Supernatural 74 Section 4: Urban Vampires vs. Rural Ghosts, Clones and Zombies: Race, Identity, and Memory 84 Section 5: Recasting Québec/France as Intercontinental Haunting in Café de Flore 100 CHAPTER TWO: INTERGENERATIONAL RELIGIOUS TRADITIONS: MELANCHOLIA AND THE MIRACULOUS 109 Section 1: Miracles and Myths: La vraie nature de Bernadette 109 Section 2: Photography, the Archive and Griffintown 132 Section 3: Faith and Québec’s Catholic Legacy in La neuvaine 142 Section 4: Women’s Ghosts, Intergenerational Haunting, and Sexuality 151 CHAPTER THREE: RADICAL QUÉBÉCOIS AND INDIGENOUS CINEMAS 175 Section 1: “Against National Orthodoxy”: 24 heures ou plus and Fourth Cinema 175 Section 2: Melancholia, Québec Nationhood, and Archiving Kanehsatake: 270 Years of Resistance 201 ! #"""! CHAPTER FOUR: INDIGENOUS CINEMA: HAUNTING QUÉBEC 218 Section 1: Indigenous Cinema, Hamlet and Québécois Melancholia 218 Section 2: Landscape, Trauma, and Identity in Le torrent 240 Section 3: A Transportable/Transnational Cinema: Wapikoni Mobile 271 Section 4: “Refusal” in Tracey Deer’s Mohawk Girls Television Series 291 CONCLUSION 296 WORKS CITED 328 FILMOGRAPHY 357 PREVIOUS PUBLICATIONS AND CONFERENCE PAPERS INCLUDED IN THESIS 364 ! "$! LIST OF FIGURES Fig. 1. La bête lumineuse (Pierre Perrault, 1983) 38 Fig. 2. Cornouailles (Pierre Perrault, 1994) 38 Fig. 3. Maelström (Denis Villeneuve, 2000) 40 Fig. 4. Un pays sans bon sens! (Pierre Perrault, 1970) 41 Fig. 5. Léolo (Jean-Claude Lauzon, 1992) 47 Fig. 6. Léolo (Jean-Claude Lauzon, 1992) 50 Fig. 7. Léolo (Jean-Claude Lauzon, 1992) 54 Fig. 8. Soleil glacé (Kim Nguyen, 1999) 77 Fig. 9. Soleil glacé (Kim Nguyen, 1999) 77 Fig. 10. Le marais (Kim Nguyen, 2002) 81 Fig. 11. La peau blanche (Daniel Roby, 2004) 88 Fig. 12. Les affamés (Robin Aubert, 2017) 96 Fig. 13. Les affamés (Robin Aubert, 2017) 97 Fig. 14. Café de Flore (Jean-Marc Vallée, 2010) 104 Fig. 15.