Rushkoff, I've Given You All and Now I'm Mr. Nobody

“We cannot go back. That’s why it’s hard to choose. You have to make the right choice. As long as you don’t choose, everything remains possible.” (Dormael, Mr. Nobody). The film Mr. Nobody abandons a traditional, linear narrative structure by allowing the viewer to explore the several different lives lead by Nemo Nobody, the last mortal alive. Avoiding a linear narrative by creating many potential storylines through one person’s life, Director Jaco Van Dormael captures the endless possibilities one is presented throughout one’s lifetime.

One of the first scenes consists of Nemo as a one hundred and seventeen year old man who is attempting to recollect his past. At the age of nine, Nemo was faced with an impossible choice- to live with his mother or to live with his father after they separated. The two possibilities are explored, both of which are followed by the possibilities of marrying three different women in three different lives, and subsequently his deaths which are caused by either driving off of the side of the road into a lake, crashing his bike into a tree, and even by being inside of a combusting spaceship on a mission to spread one of his three wives’ ashes on Mars after she was blown up on their wedding day. If any part of this plot sounds confusing to you, then Dormael is doing his job of directing a nonlinear narrative correctly. Douglas Rushkoff states, “There is plot-there are many plots- but there is no overarching story, no end. There are so many plots, in fact, that an ending tying everything up seems inconceivable, even beside the point.” (Rushkoff 34). Rushkoff, referring to the many different aspects in the plots of fantasy, exemplifies the endless options that the fantasy genre leaves to the reader. Although the different possible outcomes of Nemo’s life (or lives) are shown, Dormael does not directly give the viewer a straight answer as to which life was really led by Nemo. By leaving this aspect of the plot unsaid, Dormael follows both the ideals made by Rushkoff and the theme of his film: there are endless possibilities.

Pulp Fiction, a film described by Rushkoff as an example of a nonlinear narrative, has a lot in common with Mr. Nobody in terms of multiple story lines. Rushkoff explains that, “On one level we are confused; on another, we are made privy to new kinds of information and meaning. The reordering of sequential events allows us to relate formerly nonadjacent moments of the story to one another in way we couldn’t if they had been ordered in linear fashion.” (Rushkoff 34). By showing the events that happened in each and every one of Nemo’s lives, Dormael demonstrates to the viewers how the idea of multiple storylines allows them to fall together in order to create one general plot by parting from the idea of linear narratives.

Another way that Mr. Nobody differs from a traditional narrative is not only the fact that it shows the past, but how the future is described. Due to the discovery of how to create renewable cells, humans accomplish their goal by becoming immortal. Because of this immortality and Nemo’s lack of it, the movie features events taking place in year 2092, and therefore exemplifies to the viewer the ways in which people communicate in the future. Each immortal, along with their stem cell compatible pig, watches Nemo recollect on each life he lived. By the time one of the futuristic eye-like cameras film Nemo saying his last words, the whole world is alerted with holograms and every television zeros in. 

Mr. Nobody explores the themes shared with Douglas Rushkoff in Present Shock by pushing the boundaries of traditional narratives. Dormael explores the different ways in which narratives can be told in Mr. Nobody, a movie that holds multiple paths, bending the ideals of traditional narratives. “Every path is the right path. Everything could have been anything else and it would have just as much meaning.” (Dormael, Mr. Nobody)

Works Cited

Mr. Nobody. Dir. Jaco Van Dormael. Perf. Jared Leto. Pan-Européenne, 2009. Film

Rushkoff, Douglas. Present Shock: When Everything Happens Now. N.p.: n.p. Print

The Art of Feasting

While reading A Moveable Feast, one could say that Hemingway didn’t care much for what others thought; he was straightforward and by looking at what he said about the authors when he wrote the memoir years later, one can assume that he might have taken advantage of their friendships by deliberately pointing out their faults to the reader. For example, Hemingway often described Scott Fitzgerald as a drunkard to the reader by making statements such as, “[But] when he was drunk he would usually come to find me and, drunk, he took almost as much pleasure interfering with my work as Zelda did interfering with his. This continued for years but, for years too, I had no more loyal friend than Scott when he was sober.” (Hemingway 46).  By talking negatively about those he is observing, Hemingway takes the risk to clear up any potential miscommunications with the reader and instead establishes an honest tone. According to Hemingway, “you had to be prepared to kill a man, know how to do it and really know that you would do it in order not to be interfered with.” (Hemingway 28). The ways in which Hemingway was brought up most likely had an effect on his blunt style and lack of concern for others.

Ernest Hemingway’s writing style could very well be described as untraditional, as it is laid back compared to the style of other authors. His subdued tone could be either a product of the time period in which he wrote the book, his depression, or a combination of the two. It is also possible that Hemingway's series of electroshock therapy is a contributor to the ways in which his perception of time is altered, or how he remembers information in general. “There are many sorts of hunger… Memory is hunger.” (Hemingway 57).

We study how information is communicated through language in class, and that is why I believe we read A Moveable Feast. By studying the ways in which Hemingway chose to make connections with the reader, we can attempt to make similar connections with our readers in the future.

Works Cited

Hemingway, Ernest. A Moveable Feast. New York: Charles Scribner's Sons, 1964. Print.