Montreal%20--%20in%20Historical%20and%20Administrative%20Perspectives

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Montreal -- in Historical and Administrative
Perspectives

• The Battle of Quebec 1756-1763

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Historical Perspectives

• Two solitudes and St. Laurence Blvd.
• the Quebec separatist movement
• Cultural Activities
• The Canvas of Time

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Montreals City map and cityscapes

Three major buildings Churches, skyscrapers and
triplexes or duplexes with steep stairways.
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Images of Montreal

• Images Montreal (an exhibition)
• A blog

-- Outdoor café -- churches
Sherbrooke stairways
La Place Ville-Marie old new
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Two solitudes and St. Laurence Blvd.

• Two Solitudes by Hugh MacLennan 1945 (e.g. Views
  from the Typewriter)
• The French live in the east, the English, in the
  west, and the Portuguese, Italians, Greeks,
  Chinese, and Blacks in between.
• (ref. Between the Solitudesbeginning, 358,600
  Bill 178)
• Catholic church major influence in politics
  until Quiet Revolution in 1960s.

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the Quebec separatist movement

• (Duplessis orphans)
• 1960 Quiet Revolution the end of the political
  domination of Catholic church.
• ???????????,???????????
• 1967Charles de Gaulle Vivre le Quebec libre!
  ? Separatist Movement ?????????????,???????????,?
  ?????????????World Expo 67 in Montreal
• 1968the Parti québécois ??????,????????????????
  ??
• 1970October Crisis ????????,?????????(FLQ)???????
  ??,?????????(Trudeau)??????,??????????????

• ?????60 Francophone pl, but English was the
  official language
• 1969 --Two official languages

e.g. Black Sheep Denys Arcand 7)
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Two referendums

• 1980referendum 59 Non ?????????????,?????????
  ?, ????????????,????????????(referendum),????59??
  ???? Themes of loss of passion and
  masculinity.
• 1995 50.58 "No", 49.42 "Yes"(e.g.
  Referendum/Take 2 8)

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Montreal Distinct Cultures

• Outgoing and friendly summer of
  festivals(fêtes), outdoor café.
• Montreal is a city that loves the summertime,
  yet also makes the most of winter. It is a city
  whose people enjoy participating in community
  events, are not afraid to try something new, and
  have a deep attachment to their Quebecois
  cultural heritage (Sobol 85)
• Really open?

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Montreal Distinct Cultures

• film and theatre tradition
• long theatrical tradition and experimentation
  (at least 10 major theatres now) e.g. cirque du
  soleil, Robert Lepage 9 - 11
• documentary (direct cinema or cinéma verité) or
  docudrama.
• Eat, party and talk a lot. le gang (e.g. Jesus
  of Montreal, The Decline of the American Empire)

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THE CANVAS OF TIME

• History
• changes of the meanings of J. Viger and his
  portraits,
• the historical periods, and
• the canvas itself.

from Montreal vu par (1991) made for the 350
anniversary of Montreal.
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The Canvas of Time

• 1832, Jacque Viger the first mayor.
• The years covered in the film
• 1850, 1880, 1889, 1912, 1940, 1967, 1992
• Why is Viger important? What does he symbolize?
• Why are these moments significant to Montreal?
  How is Viger looked at in different periods?

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The Canvas of Time Montreals History and
Historic Images

• 1) What historical periods are covered?
• 2) Pay attention to usage of the stage, and, as
  its backdrop, the painting, documentaries,
  historic photos, fire, firework as well as real
  humans. What do they mean?
• 3) Painting A cherished portrait, can come
  alive, watch the census-taker, paint the sister,
  being thrown out, the painters canvas (while
  Viger appears as an actor in the studio.)

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The Canvas of Time Viger in History

• Viger as a historical figure
• The first mayor, worked on its sanitation system
  and census. (background railroad)
• Respect Truth Nothing is more important than
  truth.
• Old, knows that he is big-bellied, and that the
  painter will beautify him.

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Aging

• Portrait ?
• backstage image

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The Canvas of Time Viger as History

• see notes (1) (2)
• Portrait called the first mayor, an object
  with no spiritual value, wifes father (a
  smuggler), a nun with mustache, taken for ones
  lover, father to be thrown out, geezer

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Viger in Historical Moments

• Vigers Meanings

• Public History

• Viger-senile, fat, clumsy, and becoming history
• Remembered by the servant and the census
  taker/train
• Adieu MontrealViger? Death (of TB) of another
  government officialkeepers of order vs.
  neighborhood ridden with TB
• Immigrants means of survival Viger with beard
  (nun with a beard)
• Viger seen as a smuggler

• 1. 1850 -- the making of the portrait
• 2. 1880 -- the senile servant with the portrait
  meeting the census-taker
• 3. 1889 -- the death of the census-taker
• 4. 1912 -- the immigrant's on strike, not paying
  the rent, ?? the rich, like hockey, not
  appreciating Montreals history
• 5. In a tavern political corruption (of
  aldermen and their friendsa gang of 23)

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Viger in Historical Moments (2)

• Vigers Meanings

• Public History

• 6. Catholic Education, War and illicit love
  Vigers portraitno spiritual value symbol of
  love
• 7. Free love and rebellion a new sense of
  identity
• Vigermy father
• missing quiet revolution, referendum
• 8. 1992 another blank canvas (history as
  palimpsest)

• 6. 1940 -- a woman's getting the portrait from a
  Catholic school for her lover, who is going to
  the war,
• 7. 1967 -- young couple's throwing out the
  portrait,
• 8. 1992 -- the studio.

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Traces of De-Centering and Reconstructions

• Reconstructions
• Scene (1) interior
• Scene (2) Viger and train in the background
• Scene (3) ends with Viger and census-taker in
  the filmic background
• Photo of immigrants
• Newspaper
• Viger painting in the background
• Viger as a character
• Viger as a neon image

• Views from the center(s) to the margins
• Scene 2 the census-taker is more active than the
  husband, who reads the names mechanically
• Nothing is more beautiful than truth

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Historical Moments Front Stage and Background

1. History as an object of dialogue
2. History with emotional depth
3. History as archive
4. History revised

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Historical Moments Front Stage and Background
(2)

5. History as fiction 6. History as palimpsest
(???)
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The Canvas of Time Themes

• What are the implications of "Nothing is more
  beautiful than truth"?
• What is turned to nothingness?
• -- administrators efforts in keeping the order
• -- history? for re-creation

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Note (1) Luduc

• "What interested me was to take the city as a
  subject, rather than as a setting.
•  I quickly realized that, like most Montrealers,
  I didn't know the history of my city, which can
  be really fascinating.  I became interested in
  Jacque Viger, Montreal's first mayor. 
• A film is often a number of coincidences.  This
  one came about with the discovery of Jacque
  Viger, who seemed to be a fascinating character. 
  
• We also wanted to make the viewer smile.  I've
  mostly made 'serious' films, and I felt as though
  a change of tone was in order."  (Leduc)

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Note (2) Viger (1787 -1858 ) Mayerthe citys
builder and archaeologist

• French-Canadian antiquarian and archaeologist,
• During the war of 1812 he served as captain in
  the "Voltigeurs" under de Salaberry.
• He was elected the first Mayor of Montreal
  (1833), and strove to improve its sanitary
  condition.
• Although he wrote little, his reputation as an
  archaeologist was universal, and the greatest
  contemporary historians of France and the United
  States have drawn from his collection of MSS.,
  the fruit of forty years research. He compiled a
  chronicle under the title of "Sabretache" (28
  vols.), wherein he gathered plans, maps,
  portraits, with valuable notes illustrating many
  contested historical points.
• He was the founder of the "Historical Society of
  Montreal". Pius IX honoured him with the
  knighthood of the Order of St. Gregory the Great.