Mario's filmic function
Eighteen in May, Mario Incandenza’s designated function around Enfield Tennis Academy is filmic: sometimes during A.M. drills or P.M. matches he’ll be assigned by Coach Schtitt et al. to set up an old camcorder or whatever video stuff’s to hand on a tripod and record a certain area of court, videotaping different kids’ strokes, footwork, certain tics and hitches in serves or running volleys, so the staff can show the tapes to the kids instructionally, letting the kids see on the screen exactly what a coach or prorector’s talking about.
Context
The half-page card that settles what E.T.A. does with the Incandenza son who didn't drill and couldn't play: a "designated function" — a job, not a cure — behind the lens of the body-factory he can't compete in. Honest caveat: the scene never mentions Mario's body; the theme here is entirely structural, carried by that one quiet institutional phrase.