PSU

Douglas Coupland

BOOK SUMMARY

CRITICAL COMMENT

Do you ever feel torn between two or more priorities? Why or why not?

Girlfriend in a coma

CREATIVE COMPONENT

Hey Nostradamus

"In Hey Nostradamus!, Coupland takes an insightful look at religion, loss and forgiveness and how everyone is always looking for, as he puts it, the 'equation that makes it all equate.' " --Calgary Herald

Shampoo Planet

"In Shampoo Planet, Coupland locks on to their younger brothers and sisters, the vid-kids or 'global teens': that worldwide pack of Benetton babies hurtling through an endless arcadia of cineplexes and supermalls. Hyper from too much sugar in their Woozle Pups, they are 'fizzy and unreal' and now, with recession baring its teeth, they face extinction and fadeout into a 'postshopping world of frozen escalators'."

- Elizabeth Young, The Independent

Girlfriend in a coma

“Coupland tries to convince us that we can break out of the vicious cycle that is our meaninglessness if only we probed deeply and a hard enough. Then will we get out of our miserable lives.” - GedankenTravelExperiment

GIRLFRIEND IN

A COMA

-Jared who dies of leukemia

-Karen and Richard have sex

-Karen falls into coma cause of alcohol

-Karen gives birth to Meagan in a coma

-Karen is in coma for 17 years

-Wendy and Linus get married

-Pam,Hamilton and Richard get addicted to

drugs

-Karen awakens

-World ends except the 7 people are alive

-Jared fixed everyone's lives

BIOGRAPHY

SHAMPOO PLANET

-Canadian novelist, sculptur, and editor

-born Baden-Baden, Germany, on December 30th 1961

-moved to Vancouver, Canada

-first book in 1991, Generation X---Douglas Coupland's

-novels mainly consist about postmodern religion, human sexuality and pop culture.

-Tyler, the protagonist

-Mother Jasmine, Sister Daisy,Brother Mark

-His mother and dad get divorced

-Tyler and Anna-Louise in a relationship

-Grandparents are wealthy but wont share the wealth

-Lancaster, Washington becomes boring

-Grandparents lose their fortune, his mother becomes a salesperson, and his relationship with Anna-Louise becomes rough.

-Moves to Los Angeles, where he struggles

HEY

NOSTRADAMUS

THESIS

AUDIO-VISUAL

0:00-1:09

3:00-3:41

4:33-end

-Divided into 4 parts which is narrated in the first person.

-The 4 parts span 15 years from 1988 to 2003.

-The story begins when 3 young teens go on a shooting rampage in the school cafeteria.

-One of the victims was Cheryl

-Jason couldn't save Cheryl and he still struggles to accept it and move on,

-Jason's father a strict religious heartless man has an impact on Jason's life

-Heather narrates the third part

-Fourth part is narrated by Reg, Jason's father

Canadian author, Douglas Coupland displays that an individual is in control of their own destiny, which is exposed in the books, Girlfriend in a coma, Shampoo planet, and Hey Nostradamus. These books portray that in order to be able to control ones destiny, the will to change, sacrifices committed and decisions made, are factors that play a huge role.

“Well, the phrase I would use now is that I'm quite open about the future. I'm curious.”

www.youtube.com/watch?v=_iecpJNbghk

Hey Nostradamus

SUBTOPIC 1

Hey Nostradamus

Jason couldn't save Cheryl his so-called "wife" when the three gunmen were shooting in the cafeteria. After eleven years he still has trouble getting over it and trying to move on. After the media's conflict where they accused him of killing Cheryl family, and the separation of his parents, it got worse for him to handle. Later on his older brother Kent who Reg adores dies while driving on the highway. Jason is very torn up he feels very lonely to the point where he feels like he should run away from everything. It's not clear whether he just leaves, or he goes missing, but his thoughts would make us believe that he left on his own will.

SUBTOPIC 3

Girlfriend in a coma

When an individual is willing to change, they are capable in controlling their own destiny.

-Richard uses Karen as an excuse to to change, hence his life is a

complete mess.

-“Did you use Karen and me as an excuse for you not to continue your life? Did you bail out of life?” - page 273

-He does not understand what's wrong with that

The decisions made whether to take the right path or the easy path affects the individual’s destiny.

QUESTION

Richard used his best friend Jared's death and his girlfriend Karen's falling into coma as an excuse to fall into doing bad deeds; such as being an alcoholic and now he uses this reason as an excuse not to change.

Richard fails to see whats wrong with this, why do you think so?

Do you think it is okay to blame your actions on a tragic event for your own benefit?

SUBTOPIC 2

Shampoo Planet

The sacrifices made in order to achieve something has an impact on ones destiny

Shampoo Planet

-The protagonist, Tyler, tell his mom to change

-"You wait for fate to bring about the changes in life which you should be bringing about by yourself."

-She wanted to become modernized like other parents but she sat around and waited for someone to feel sympathy on her

-If she did not obtain the will to change by herself and made an impact on her life to become a new person.

-He has a hard time choosing what to do with his own life.

-"Your refusal to acknowledge the dark side of humanity makes you prey to that dark side."

Tyler is a really lazy person and hence Tyler tries to take the easy path.

- Tyler does not have the quality to do it himself so he needs to change that himself and begin taking the right path.

Question

If a big obstacle arrived in the path of your goal, would you take the easy way out displaying the worst traits of humanity or would you take the long, harder way?

Hey Nostradamus

"The words of a broken man in his little apartment somewhere on the edge of the New World. Let me change tactics. Maybe I can see myself better."

Jason's father Reg is a very religious and narrow-minded person. When Jason goes missing Reg finally realizes after everything that has happened that he was the kind of the main reason as to why Jason went missing. Jason's stressed over everything, and his father didn't help him in his situation. When Reg opened his eyes and understood that he was the problem he changed for the better. He started to care about his son and family. He did everything in his power to find his son Jason.

Girlfriend in a coma

Question

Did any incident occur which had an effect on other people's lives?

-Pamela and Hamilton, made the easy decisions

-”I mean what’s the point of being efficient it’s when you’re taking the easy way out and leading an efficiently blank life?” – page 208.

-Pamela and Hamilton thought being drug dealers was an efficient and easy career, instead of taking the right path, they traveled on the easy path, which effected their lives in a way that they were both had been addicted and it was illegal.

Hey Nostradamus

"He has to make sacrifices so he sacrificed his family one by one."

Reg who strongly believes in his religion and thinks he's immensely powerful in the household. Slowly in the novel Reg's personality comes with a little twist. He seems like the guy who would be there for you no matter what happens, but in the end he'll always sell you out to his religion. Reg claims that one of his twin granddaughters has no soul and should be gone, on top of all that he says this at his first son's funeral.

CANADIAN THEMES

BIBLIOGRAPHY

Girlfriend in a coma

"Douglas Coupland On the Future's Pandemic of Boredom | Motherboard ." Motherboard | Science. Technology. Design. Culture.. N.p., n.d. Web. 19 Dec. 2011. <http://motherboard.vice.com/2010/10/15/douglas-coupland-on-the-future-s-pandemic-of-boredom--2>.

Douglas Coupland - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia." Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia. N.p., n.d. Web. 19 Dec. 2011. <http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Douglas_Coupland>.

-Karen had given birth to Meagan

-Richard got an addiction to drugs, alcohol and was not stable to take care of Meagan

-The only liable person to take care of Meagan was Karen’s mother; she took care of Meagan for 17 years, when she could have been resting in her old age.

-When Karen’s mother sacrificed her old age to take care of Meagan she gained her daughter Karen back, which had an impact on her life.

Shampoo Planet

Hey Nostradamus!

Girlfriend in a coma

Shampoo Planet

-Tyler was there to help her mother through her emotionally depressing state when she got divorced second time.

-Tyler, her son, is usually isolated from his family but this time around he sacrificed his own personal time and did not go to work to help his mom through this mess.

-Furthermore, from his sacrifice of his time and counselling his mother, she regain confidence and was stable.

Karl. "GedankenTravelExperiment: Review of Douglas Coupland's Girlfriend in a Coma." GedankenTravelExperiment. GedankenTravelExperiment , 11 July 2002. Web. 21 Dec. 2011. <http://philosophicalkarl.blogspot.com/2002/08/review-of-douglas-couplands-girlfriend.html>.

Isolation

-The painted door and Hey Nostradamus isolation is shown in both of these stories

-Ann is very isolated she lives with her husband very far from the city or town

-Jason was lost in his own world and isolates himself from everyone.

Discovering yourself

-Wedding Gift and Hey Nostradamus

-When time came for Kezia to make her own decision, she took charge immediately and knew what was right for her, she became more religious along with it.

-Jason looses himself after the death of his girlfriend Cheryl

-When he finds Heather his new girlfriend he finds himself back into that same happy feeling.

-Physical isolation

-Tyler's mom is physically isolated from everyone because she does not fit in

-Kate from Crow Lake is isolated because since she got a university degree and became a teacher, she cannot relate from any of her siblings.

Loss of innocence

-Tyler's mom because when she married again, she thought Dan would not leave her except when he did, he took her innocence with her.

-This is also true for Kate and her siblings in Crow Lake because they were all innocent and did not expect that something bad would happen to them.

Physical isolation -Crow Lake and Girlfriend in a coma

-Karen is physically isolated when she goes into coma

-Kate also physically isolates herself when she moves out

Physical loss of innocence- Crow Lake and Girlfriend in a coma

-Karen and Richard both lose their virginity

-Matt and Mary also both lose their virginity

Question

"BOOK REVIEW / Consuming Macpassions: Shampoo Planet - Douglas Coupland: Simon & Schuster, pounds 14.99 - Arts & Entertainment - The Independent." The Independent | News | UK and Worldwide News | Newspaper . N.p., n.d. Web. 21 Dec. 2011. <http://www.independent.co.uk/arts-entertainment/book-review--consuming-macpassions-shampoo-planet--douglas-coupland-simon--schuster-pounds-1499-1475950.html>.

"Shampoo Planet: Shampoo Planet: Douglas Coupland: Books | chapters.indigo.ca." Canada's online bookstore - Books, Toys, Music, DVDs, Games | chapters.indigo.ca. N.p., n.d. Web. 21 Dec. 2011. <http://www.chapters.indigo.ca/books/Shampoo-Planet-Shampoo-Planet-Douglas-Coupland/9780671755065-item.html?cookieCheck=1>.