Derrida

This past week I have really enjoyed watching Derrida and how he acts in front of the camera. Also, I finally realized that he is one of the guys on the front of the Barry book! One of the things that I really picked up on in this biography was the fact that Derrida was very aware of the film crew and that his life was being recorded.

I think that there is always some sort of irony when someone is trying to document anything that is true. Everyone is bound to act a different way when they know they are being watched then when they know they are alone. There is no possible way to record the “true” Derrida if he knows that he is being recorded. The directors must have realized this and I think they did take advantage of it. They wanted to see how he would act when put in the awkward situation of having a camera in your face all day. They wanted to know if he would shut down and not enjoy the experience, or if he would open up and enjoy having the spotlight on him.

The directors wanted the biography to be obvious. They constantly had shots just of the camera equipment and of Derrida looking at himself in an interview. The purpose of the biography was to record Derrida, not to tell of his life, but to just let him speak. This format is a metaphor about some of Derrida’s ideas but it also represents the directors. When Derrida told the director that this was her biography, it really made me think. At first I did not really get it, but then I realized that he meant the director’s style and form showed in the biography. It displayed her talents as a director just as much as it displayed the ideas of Derrida.

Overall, I really enjoyed this movie and I found it really interesting to see how he responded to the “American” questions. I got completely pulled in by him, and I liked the format of the obvious biography.