Derrida

Jacque Derrida comes off as a simple man with a complex mind. This man with fluffy grey hair and an over-sized over coat who uses humor as a distraction. A strategy used throughout the film to turn the attention from him to those who observe him through the lens. During his lecture he sarcastically announces to his class to not be "alarmed" by the "archiving machines" filming the class. When walking he comments on the style of the film guy or even just the simple fact that he should pay attention before he falls. 

I found the interviews to be the most humorous portions of the film. To me, this is when we truly get to see the real Derrida. I love the fact that he refuses to portray himself in the way that the film crew wants him to behave. He doesn't give the type of answers that an interviewer wants him to respond to. One instance, a woman interviewer asked him a general question about "love". He stated that he "could not answer such a generalized question. I'm not going to answer that." He then continued to slightly insult the interviewer by telling her what she should have asked or giving her several chances to re-phrase the question to give it more depth such as the difference between "the  who" and "the what" concepts of love. He basically could have conducted the interview by himself. 

He also has a good way of putting off a question that he has no interest of answering. He will either blatantly refuse to answer the question or will drift off into another realm of thought, distracting everyones' thought process. Derrida is good at leading the conversation so that he is able to answer the question on his own terms.

One thing I noticed though is that besides all the humor, Derrida always seems to manage to give insight on something. Whether it is about love, forgiveness, or the parts of the human body. Everything he says, whether it seems silly or doesn't make sense at first, has some type of meaning and message and I respect that most about Derrida. Even though I was not given the chance to meet him, I feel like I have learned a lot about him and a lot of insight on life that I has never even crossed my thought process.