🌹The Rose & Skull: Lovers in a Dangerous Time ☠️
The Year of Living Dangerously
I suggest you watch the 1982 film The Year of Living Dangerously (Weir, 114 minutes; about $5 on Google Play). While there are many key differences between the novel and film, Mel Gibson and Sigourney Weaver give excellent performances. While it was shot in the Philippines (not Indonesia), the atmosphere and scenery are captivating — especially the rice terraces, which were shot in Northern Luzon.
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Video 3: Context & Chapter 1
In the following video I start by outlining some of the resources for a final comparative essay, which students wrote in 2020 and 2021. You can see four of these essays in Betrayal and Good Intentions and Sex Trade and Orientalism.
I also go through the following material which should help you understand the background and major themes in the novel: Colonialism & the Cold War for the larger geopolitical context; Context for demography and religion, the Wayang, the Indonesian economy, and the Hotel Indonesia; Sukarno’s Year for information about the main political figure in the novel; Essay & Article for a sample essay on poverty and an article on religion, cultural synthesis, and Weir’s film; A Tricky Narrative for a narrative graphic and a narrative timeline; Hinduism for some of the Hindu references in the novel.
At the 25 minute mark I give a reading of the first chapter, focusing on the wayang (puppet theatre), the dalang (puppet master), the betjaks (pedicabs), the Hotel Indonesia, Billy, and Hamilton.
Student Responses
3A ❧ Examine a specific instance of contrast in Chapter 2. This contrast can be of any sort — in settings, colours, images, places, or ideas; levels of wealth, status, or power; between skepticism and political idealism; between personalities, cultures, or nationalities; between idealism and reality, expectation and outcome, symbol and reality; etc. Make sure that you don’t just point out the contrast, but also explain why this contrast provides insight into what the author is suggesting or exploring.
3B ❧ How are betjaks used to push readers into questions of morality and economics? ❧ Compare the opening scene (or scenes) of the novel and film. ❧ Show how one image or idea in the first two chapters works out later in the novel ❧ Compare Fowler and Hamilton in terms of journalistic and/or psychological detachment.
3C ❧ Take a series of images or references in the first chapter and explain how they work. ❧ Draw (or put into a graph) the imagery in the first chapter, and write a brief explanation (minimum 50 words) beneath. ❧ In Chapter One, what images (or references or spatial details) help us to appreciate the contrast between what happens inside the Hotel and what happens outside it?
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Video 4: Betjaks & Puppets
In the following video I focus on the following in the early and middle parts of the novel: betjaks, the Wayang, Hamilton, Sukarno, Billy, and Ibu.
Responses
3D ❧ The film leaves out Vera and the James Bond theme. What difference does this make? ❧ Compare the treatment of Jill in the novel and the film. ❧ Creative option: create a scenario in which Hamilton stayed to watch the Wayang on the outskirts of Bandung, in which Kumar is not quite so loyal to Hamilton, or in which Hamilton is not quite so unaware, impetuous, or driven.
3E ❧ Compare the novel to the film in terms of the treatment of Kumar, Curtis, or Henderson. Or, compare the novel and film in terms of two of these three characters (for example, you might compare the way the novel and film differ in their treatment of both Kumar and Henderson). ❧ Creative option: Rework a short, specific dialogue between Jill and Hamilton. Remember to make an insightful point and to give the location of the dialogue in the novel.
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Video 5: Insight & Empathy
In this week’s video I look at the following in the later parts of the novel: Hamilton on the outskirts of Bandung, betjaks and Ibu in the funeral scene, and the narrator’s use of puppetry, sound, and imagery.