Modernism Unit10th Grade Honors

  1. Introduction to Modernism
  2. Time period
  3. Key elements and characteristics
  4. Artists and authors
  5. Micro- Research
  6. Artist and Authors – Who are they and what was their contribution?
  7. Present info in one to 2 articles
  8. Midnight in Paris
  9. Discussion questions
  10. Short Story Unit
  11. Gertrude Stein “Composition as Explanantion”
  12. Hemingway: “Hills Like White Elephants” and “Snows of Kilimanjaro”
  13. Fitzgerald: “Winter Dreams”
  14. TS Eliot: Love Song of Prufrock

Midnight in Paris

Summary: Hollywood screenwriter, Gil Pender, is trying to write a novel of literary significance. Vacationing in Paris with his fiancé and future in-laws, he is overwhelmed by nostalgia for the period of the Lost Generation, the 1920s, when brilliant American writers and visual artists from all over Europe lived and worked in Paris. While taking a midnight stroll Gil is magically transported to the 1920s where he meets Hemingway, F. Scott Fitzgerald, Salvador Dali and other famous writers and artists of the period. Through these encounters Gil learns that he needs to change the course of his life and that although he must live in the present, he can shape his life according to the values that had drawn him into the past.

Discussion Questions for movie:

  1. What is the difference between the world that Gil Pender inhabits in the present and the world that he sees in his midnight travels back in time? How does this relate to the theme of the movie?
  2. Nostalgia is a sentimental longing for the past. In this film Gil Pender is nostalgic for the Paris of the 1920s. Paul, the man who sleeps with Gil's fiancé, is also quite knowledgeable about the past. Gil calls Paul a pedantic pseudo-intellectual. Paul, obviously with Gil in mind, has the following to say about nostalgia.

PAUL: You know, nostalgia is denial.Denial of the painful present.
INEZ: Oh, Gil is a complete romantic. He would be more than happy living in a complete state of perpetual denial.
PAUL: And the name of this fallacy is called "golden-aged thinking."
INEZ: Touche.
PAUL: The erroneous notion that a different time period is better than the one one's living in. It's a flaw in the romantic imagination of those people who find it difficult to cope with the present.

By the end of the movie, Gil's view of the 1920s has changed to some extent. He talks about a dream that he lived in the past when there were no antibiotics, dishwashers, or 911. What is the scriptwriter trying to tell us about the uses of the past?

  1. The Gertrude Stein character says, "It's the artist's job not to succumb to despair but to find an antidote to the emptiness of existence." Gil Pender says that, "[I]t's my job as a writer to try and come up with reasons why despite life being tragic and unsatisfying, it's still worth it." Steve Chbosky, author of The Perks of Being a Wallflower describes art as a love song from the artist to the audience/reader. For him, the artist describes shared life experiences and feelings, which establishes a sense of community between people. He states that when he is able to do that, he feels infinite.1 There have been thousands of different ways that artists have described what they do. What do you think is the role of an artist?
  1. William Faulkner said, "The past is never dead. It's not even past." In what sense is this statement true and in what sense is it not true? Explain your reasoning.
  1. What factors in Gil's present life make him feel dissatisfied and drawn to the Paris of the 1920s?
  1. What seems to be so attractive about the life Gil sees in Paris when he travels backwards in time?
  1. Why does Adriana, with Gil in tow, arrive in La Belle Epoque of the 1890s when she travels back in time? It's the same reason that the detective found himself in the 18th century.
  1. Adriana asks Gil: "Surely you don't think the 20s are a golden age?" Gil responds, "To me they are." What does this tell you?