The Pervert’s Guide to Ideology (2013)
Most people would go watch a movie, get immersed in its fantasy for a while, forget their daily aches and pains, re-live their fantasies and then come back to earth; but not all. Some dissected, analyse and read the fine prints and between the lines. One of them, besides yours truly is modern day ‘Rock Star’ Czech philosopher Slavoj Zizek.
He glides through some famous and not-so-famous movies to try to read the real messages imparted by them. The films he chose range from famous blockbusters like ‘Jaws’, ‘Sound of music’ and ’Titanic’ to obscure ones like ’Seconds’ and Russian movie ‘Fall of Berlin’.
In his typical engaging hand gesture and tics, he dissects the ideologies behind of some of the most seemingly innocent movies. Zizek himself is the narrator, and he tells his story in the background of the movie’s recreated set.
They say that cinema is the alternative platform of reality. We project our inner unfilled or desired feelings on the silver screen.
1988 film ‘They Live' shows the real meaning of the ideology of modern living is shown. The protagonist finds a box of sunglasses. When donned, the wearer ‘sees’ the reality of things around him. An advertisement poster depicting a voluptuous model in bikini actually says procreate and have kids. It also shows the indifferent attitude of people who want to see the world the way they want to look at it and resist any attempts to understand the real meaning of things. The invisible order of apparent freedom just suits them fine. We enjoy the illusion. The painful truth, when liberated, can only be done with extreme violence, a revolution.
1965 'The Sound of Music’ takes a swipe at the institution of organised religion. On the one hand, it makes it followers feel guilty of enjoying simple pleasures in life. In a contradictory way, through a song (Climb Every Mountain), it encourages everyone to attain greater heights in everything they do, including having pleasure!
Coca-Cola and many of the commodities of the capitalistic world pushes one to attain the unattainable - the Real Thing. The advertisements put it to us that it is our duty to enjoy. A desire for the unknown, a desire to desire some more!
It is interesting how Beethoven’s 9th Symphony ‘Ode to Joy’ is universally accepted by people of different political ideologies to push their agendas. Hitler, Stalin, China, Guzman leftists in Peru all use this song to promote solidarity amongst its members against the others, inadvertently unifying their select group of people against the people whom they consider enemies! This is all done with self-interest. In ‘Clockwork Orange’ (1971), this song is placed in various bizarre chords to highlight its schizophrenic nature. Interestingly, the second part of this symphony is indeed chaotic in its composition. Ode to Joy became a big boys’ club song to unite a common enemy. Talking about the enemy, ‘Jaws’ (1976) is not just a horror movie but a movie that tells a story of people different ideas (on killing the shark) but a tale of people getting together against a common intruder. This intruder (the metaphor for the shark) can be immigrants, communism, people of different skin colour, belief or even capitalism. In fact, Jaws turns out to be Fidel Castro’s movie.
The delinquents in ‘West Side Story’ (1961) tell their story of how they become trapped in the conundrum of police brutality, poverty and lack of opportunity. The people in the lower rung of the social strata know they are doing it wrong, but they are still doing it anyway. Even the powers that be the sociologists are aware of this vicious cycle. Are we merely objects of circumstances? Do we all have the margin of freedom to react and to construct our own fate? Is increasing surveillance, police presence and harsher punishments the way to kerb this problem? Is there a concerted effort to maintain the status quo to preserve the hierarchy? We always these same stories whenever there is civil unrest.
‘Taxi Driver’ (1976) depicts violence as a symbolic deadlock and fantasy fundamental helps certain deficiencies in our reality. Not everyone who is perceived to be a victim is actually a real victim. Perhaps they enjoy their helplessness and do not want to be redeemed as seen John Wayne classic ’The Searchers’ (1955). How is this related to real life? Look at the American military intervention in Vietnam and Iraq to liberate their population from tyranny. The outcome of these wars showed that the people there did not want to be helped. They were quite happy with their life.
Conflict is said to be the basis of capitalism. The mere fact that there is conflict is a fertile ground for new ventures and moving of capital. Crisis pushes it to revolutionise itself.
Movies like ’Triumph of Will’ (1935), ’The Eternal Jew’(1940) and ‘Cabaret’ (1972) are overt fascist movies with hate message spewed all over them.
In modern day consumerism, the guilt of over-indulging and over-spending is offset by cleverly justifying their ‘spendthriftness’ by giving away measly sum to ’noble’ charity cause. Capitalistic expansion seems to have taken precedence over ecological awareness. Wastage and thrash are accepted as a necessary by-product of progress.
Walter Benjamin who is often quoted to have said that ‘History is written by the victors’ is also known to have said ‘history is appreciated when we see our stages of waste being taken over by nature’. This is why doomsday nihilistic movies are quite a hit, e.g., ‘I am Legend’ (2009).
‘Titanic’ (1997) crudely and cruelly reminds one of the suspended grimaces in the pleasure of pain. Incidentally, this theme appears more than once in Mahabharata. Stories of sages taking a form of deer engaged in a sexual activity and being hit by a stray or intended shot of arrow are common occurrences. The mammoth unsinkable streamliner built at the height of glitz of mankind’s engineering feats when the world was a peaceful place before it fought its two wars hit a snag on its maiden voyage. It also smells of Hollywood Marxism where fake sympathy is shown to the lower classes. The upper-class members are still seen ruthlessly abusing the latter, but the illusion of eternal love is the vanishing mediator.
Many atrocities and unkind gestures are done towards fellow man are justified as being done for 'The Other’, a somewhat vague end towards which everything seems to head. Stalin’s brutal actions (The Fall of Berlin, 1949) and Czech invasion by Soviet (Oratorio for Prague, 1968) are justified by this excuse.
You always have explicit unmentionable rules (Bro Code) to keep the group intact (Full Metal Jacket, 1987). Public life seems democratic but beneath the surface lurks sadistic rituals and victimisation (If, 1968). Are the actions of the military in Abu Ghraib prison a reflection of the obscenity of the forces?
Our society only can only function in a lie. As seen in ‘Dark Knight’ (2008), telling the truth in the form of Joker is a distraction. Lies are needed to maintain order. The system would actually collapse if the real truth is revealed.
Jean Paul Sartre had apparently said, ‘If there is no God, then everything is permitted’. Religion is said to maintain sanity in society. If one were to scrutinise daily global, he would not disagree that “if there is God, then everything is permitted’. Many atrocities, murder and heinous crimes are committed by its congregation using religion as its shield. Hence, it does not matter if a person is religious or atheist, man justifies his actions.
Stalinism often quotes ’The Big Other’, a vague entity loosely associating history to help the nation towards success and progress. It is the ‘Big Other’ that we need to maintain our appearance. It is an agency to confess, tell our predicament and justify our actions. Like a rape victim or a whistle-blower who cannot wait to tell his whole story so that his woe would not befall on others, he is hoping for the ‘Big Other’. The truth is that there is nobody out there to listen, like Jacque Lacan, said, “We are all alone”!
For a non-religious secular man in the modern era, bureaucracy is the only contact remotely close to divinity - ‘Brazil’ (1985). People engaged in administration enjoy positions of spiritual states doing acts of purposelessness and serving nobody. They decide what is right in an atheist / secular society.
‘The Last Temptation of Christ’ (1988) again debunked the idea of the ‘Big Other’. We are all in subjective destitution as evidenced by the famous line, ‘Why have you forsaken me?’
We are responsible for our dreams but unfortunately, we have to dream the correct dream as we are responsible for our dream and it outcome (Seconds, 1966). Are we to just make do with what we have and not dream too much? Do we need to change our dreams? (Zabriskie Point, 1970)
Be a realist, the change is within us!
Most people would go watch a movie, get immersed in its fantasy for a while, forget their daily aches and pains, re-live their fantasies and then come back to earth; but not all. Some dissected, analyse and read the fine prints and between the lines. One of them, besides yours truly is modern day ‘Rock Star’ Czech philosopher Slavoj Zizek.
He glides through some famous and not-so-famous movies to try to read the real messages imparted by them. The films he chose range from famous blockbusters like ‘Jaws’, ‘Sound of music’ and ’Titanic’ to obscure ones like ’Seconds’ and Russian movie ‘Fall of Berlin’.
In his typical engaging hand gesture and tics, he dissects the ideologies behind of some of the most seemingly innocent movies. Zizek himself is the narrator, and he tells his story in the background of the movie’s recreated set.
They say that cinema is the alternative platform of reality. We project our inner unfilled or desired feelings on the silver screen.
1988 film ‘They Live' shows the real meaning of the ideology of modern living is shown. The protagonist finds a box of sunglasses. When donned, the wearer ‘sees’ the reality of things around him. An advertisement poster depicting a voluptuous model in bikini actually says procreate and have kids. It also shows the indifferent attitude of people who want to see the world the way they want to look at it and resist any attempts to understand the real meaning of things. The invisible order of apparent freedom just suits them fine. We enjoy the illusion. The painful truth, when liberated, can only be done with extreme violence, a revolution.
1965 'The Sound of Music’ takes a swipe at the institution of organised religion. On the one hand, it makes it followers feel guilty of enjoying simple pleasures in life. In a contradictory way, through a song (Climb Every Mountain), it encourages everyone to attain greater heights in everything they do, including having pleasure!
Coca-Cola and many of the commodities of the capitalistic world pushes one to attain the unattainable - the Real Thing. The advertisements put it to us that it is our duty to enjoy. A desire for the unknown, a desire to desire some more!
It is interesting how Beethoven’s 9th Symphony ‘Ode to Joy’ is universally accepted by people of different political ideologies to push their agendas. Hitler, Stalin, China, Guzman leftists in Peru all use this song to promote solidarity amongst its members against the others, inadvertently unifying their select group of people against the people whom they consider enemies! This is all done with self-interest. In ‘Clockwork Orange’ (1971), this song is placed in various bizarre chords to highlight its schizophrenic nature. Interestingly, the second part of this symphony is indeed chaotic in its composition. Ode to Joy became a big boys’ club song to unite a common enemy. Talking about the enemy, ‘Jaws’ (1976) is not just a horror movie but a movie that tells a story of people different ideas (on killing the shark) but a tale of people getting together against a common intruder. This intruder (the metaphor for the shark) can be immigrants, communism, people of different skin colour, belief or even capitalism. In fact, Jaws turns out to be Fidel Castro’s movie.
The delinquents in ‘West Side Story’ (1961) tell their story of how they become trapped in the conundrum of police brutality, poverty and lack of opportunity. The people in the lower rung of the social strata know they are doing it wrong, but they are still doing it anyway. Even the powers that be the sociologists are aware of this vicious cycle. Are we merely objects of circumstances? Do we all have the margin of freedom to react and to construct our own fate? Is increasing surveillance, police presence and harsher punishments the way to kerb this problem? Is there a concerted effort to maintain the status quo to preserve the hierarchy? We always these same stories whenever there is civil unrest.‘Taxi Driver’ (1976) depicts violence as a symbolic deadlock and fantasy fundamental helps certain deficiencies in our reality. Not everyone who is perceived to be a victim is actually a real victim. Perhaps they enjoy their helplessness and do not want to be redeemed as seen John Wayne classic ’The Searchers’ (1955). How is this related to real life? Look at the American military intervention in Vietnam and Iraq to liberate their population from tyranny. The outcome of these wars showed that the people there did not want to be helped. They were quite happy with their life.
Conflict is said to be the basis of capitalism. The mere fact that there is conflict is a fertile ground for new ventures and moving of capital. Crisis pushes it to revolutionise itself.
Movies like ’Triumph of Will’ (1935), ’The Eternal Jew’(1940) and ‘Cabaret’ (1972) are overt fascist movies with hate message spewed all over them.In modern day consumerism, the guilt of over-indulging and over-spending is offset by cleverly justifying their ‘spendthriftness’ by giving away measly sum to ’noble’ charity cause. Capitalistic expansion seems to have taken precedence over ecological awareness. Wastage and thrash are accepted as a necessary by-product of progress.
Walter Benjamin who is often quoted to have said that ‘History is written by the victors’ is also known to have said ‘history is appreciated when we see our stages of waste being taken over by nature’. This is why doomsday nihilistic movies are quite a hit, e.g., ‘I am Legend’ (2009).
‘Titanic’ (1997) crudely and cruelly reminds one of the suspended grimaces in the pleasure of pain. Incidentally, this theme appears more than once in Mahabharata. Stories of sages taking a form of deer engaged in a sexual activity and being hit by a stray or intended shot of arrow are common occurrences. The mammoth unsinkable streamliner built at the height of glitz of mankind’s engineering feats when the world was a peaceful place before it fought its two wars hit a snag on its maiden voyage. It also smells of Hollywood Marxism where fake sympathy is shown to the lower classes. The upper-class members are still seen ruthlessly abusing the latter, but the illusion of eternal love is the vanishing mediator.
Many atrocities and unkind gestures are done towards fellow man are justified as being done for 'The Other’, a somewhat vague end towards which everything seems to head. Stalin’s brutal actions (The Fall of Berlin, 1949) and Czech invasion by Soviet (Oratorio for Prague, 1968) are justified by this excuse.You always have explicit unmentionable rules (Bro Code) to keep the group intact (Full Metal Jacket, 1987). Public life seems democratic but beneath the surface lurks sadistic rituals and victimisation (If, 1968). Are the actions of the military in Abu Ghraib prison a reflection of the obscenity of the forces?
Our society only can only function in a lie. As seen in ‘Dark Knight’ (2008), telling the truth in the form of Joker is a distraction. Lies are needed to maintain order. The system would actually collapse if the real truth is revealed.
Jean Paul Sartre had apparently said, ‘If there is no God, then everything is permitted’. Religion is said to maintain sanity in society. If one were to scrutinise daily global, he would not disagree that “if there is God, then everything is permitted’. Many atrocities, murder and heinous crimes are committed by its congregation using religion as its shield. Hence, it does not matter if a person is religious or atheist, man justifies his actions.
Stalinism often quotes ’The Big Other’, a vague entity loosely associating history to help the nation towards success and progress. It is the ‘Big Other’ that we need to maintain our appearance. It is an agency to confess, tell our predicament and justify our actions. Like a rape victim or a whistle-blower who cannot wait to tell his whole story so that his woe would not befall on others, he is hoping for the ‘Big Other’. The truth is that there is nobody out there to listen, like Jacque Lacan, said, “We are all alone”!
For a non-religious secular man in the modern era, bureaucracy is the only contact remotely close to divinity - ‘Brazil’ (1985). People engaged in administration enjoy positions of spiritual states doing acts of purposelessness and serving nobody. They decide what is right in an atheist / secular society.‘The Last Temptation of Christ’ (1988) again debunked the idea of the ‘Big Other’. We are all in subjective destitution as evidenced by the famous line, ‘Why have you forsaken me?’
We are responsible for our dreams but unfortunately, we have to dream the correct dream as we are responsible for our dream and it outcome (Seconds, 1966). Are we to just make do with what we have and not dream too much? Do we need to change our dreams? (Zabriskie Point, 1970)
Be a realist, the change is within us!
Comments
Post a Comment