(no subject)

[adiva_calandia]

Oh f-list, you're my only hope!

I'm working on a paper for my China and Its Neighbors class about representations of Tibet in Western and Chinese culture (how Orientalist attitudes are or aren't reflected in both, how a region's struggle for independence becomes commercialized, etc). Since I like doing my own analyses of stuff, my primary sources include Seven Years in Tibet, Kundun, and Dreaming Lhasa.

Now, Twin Peaks fans (I'm lookin' at you, agonistes and gao): How would you personally describe the way Lynch uses Tibet as a narrative device/character element? And if I were going to look at a specific episode or two, what would you recommend?

Thank you, folken. :D

(Doing research for this kind of shamefully makes me want to go out and buy some prayer flags. The commercial cultural system: you're part of it!)

Comments

[adiva_calandia]

Yes! This article I'm reading actually talks about them, and how people tend to view Richard Gere/Steven Seagal/Brad Pitt's involvement with the movement skeptically and cynically, as purely a PR move, but people are more accepting of musicians' motives. Possibly because musicians are often seen as being more authentic performers than actors? . . . But that's a sociological discussion for another time.

[agonistes]

-- ooh, jumping around, this reminds me. There's a book I read (that covers Steven Seagal in particular) called Re-Enchantment: Tibetan Buddhism Comes to the West, by Jeffrey Paine, that talks about how Tibetan Buddhism became a PR point for the Dalai Lama in the West -- and how, without doing that, Tibetan culture wouldn't stand much of a chance. It might be useful for your purposes...?

[adiva_calandia]

Oooh, they even appear to have that here in the library. I'll check it out!