but

> From: lauf-s <lauf-s@xxxxxxxxxxx> Subject: Re: agree, but
>
> Patrick,
>
> Regarding civic involvement I'll try to answer this way. When reading about
> the ancient Roman Triumphs, it is always noted that the whole city shut
> down, and all the population went to stand along the route of the Triumph
> parade to watch. I was initially skeptical of this, especially the notion of
> a whole city shutting down, and everyone going to see a single event. Maybe
> it did happen then, but it seemed hard to believe that something like that
> could happen in modern times. Diana's funeral changed my 'perception' of
> this.
>
> [Yes, as I write this, I realize that there are indeed several such
> occassions to be noted in modern time, the JFK funeral for example.)

and many others. not only for burials.
>
> Quickly, the other details reenacted are:
> -- Diana's coffin drove through several arches, one of which was indeed a
> Triumphal arch.
> -- four real Princes accompanied the procession.
> -- the 'spoils' of Diana's work were present in all the representitives of
> her charities that walked in the procession behind the Princes.
> -- the route of the coffin passed numerous military monuments, of whcih at
> least one represented a tableau of soldiers, much like the battle
> tableax(sp?) that were part of the ancient Triumph parade (the precursor I'm
> sure of today's parade floats).
> -- the procession ended at Westminster Abbey, what one can easily refer to
> as the most sacred place in London; the ancient Triumph ended at the Temple
> of Jupitur, the most sacred place in ancient Rome.
>
So such precisions "éclairent ma lanterne". But a still critical answer
would be that those are mere coincidences. Many other possible reenactments
of Roman triumphs were not detailed or even esquissed in the Diana funeral.
And the triumphal ticket parades in NewYork are of the same kind.
 But certainly there is not the important point.
I remember , personnally, such event as effectively a rare event with
"grande pompe et parade". Probably an occasion when a world of illusion
seemed to be reenacted in a kind of mediatic eerie. Few could actually
believe then that such symbol, already destructed by the voracious quest of
public scrutiny into his private life was really/royally lying in state.


> As I'm writing this I'm reminded of the movie A SPECIAL DAY (I think that's
> the title). It starred M. Mastrioni and S. Loren, and the day was in Rome
> when Hilter came to visit Musolini (two grim reenacters if there ever were
> any). All of Rome went to see the parade, and Mastrioni and Loren found
> themselves to be the only people in their apartment building, and the story
> of the movie goes on from there.
I also saw such, and I try to remember now why those two were not at the
reenactment.
Mastro I think for some "deviance" (?) but Sophia ?
I remember better the presence of the sound.  music. triumphant. and the
crowd , cheering. and some speeches, orchestrated.

Btw one ( hitler) was also the reenactment of the other. Musso. This one was
probably the first real roman re-triumphalist, reinventing many "details" as
the fascism from the fascio... but he failed completely in trying to give to
his Italian country a sense of old roman military glory, excepted with the
destruction of Abyssinia, endorsed by a "Société des Nations" mother of a
similar ineffective peacekeeping ONU. (Slobodan Milosevitch was not exactly
Musso or HItler,but...)

>Maybe when you see something in a movie it
> still feels just a bit unreal, just a play reenactment.

let me stop here: what is real in a movie ?(not a documentary,of course) , I
mean what's real of the final impact when seeing it ?) : the impression left
in the spectator's mind ? Is such a real impact?

> Maybe what struck me
> so much about Diana's funeral is that it was just like a movie, but indeed
> real.
I just said before the illusion of similar event.
The impact caused by the media on the faraway spectators.
For the Londonian bystanders the anxious expectation of a last scrutiny over
the kind of getaway to his last private place, on  sept 6, 1997. throwing
some flowers.
The driver of the carosse stayed impassible. From time to time he had to
clear the front window to stay on the road.
>
> Steve
>
> ps
> John Young just coined the term "exenactments". I wonder if some events that
> immediately remind one of a movie but are indeed real could be called
> exenactments. Events like September 11 maybe?

Do you mean 9/11 was eventually inspired to his authors(?) by let's say The
Independance Day ? I read some papers about such theory.
Some years ago kids were killed after repeating a deadly video game/play
when walking in the middle of some heavy traffic.

If the movie is based on real events,and a later event repeats such, the
later could be named so, or meaby just a remake. Remake or reenactment
sounds the same...
But generally events never repeat themselves in so an exact manner and
therefore we derived the generally consensed phrase about the non-repetition
of history.
?¼?