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I'm giving you a choice:
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00:01:01,185 --> 00:01:04,594
either put on these glasses
or start eating that trashcan.
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00:01:04,769 --> 00:01:09,112
I already am eating from
the trashcan all the time.
4
00:01:09,287 --> 00:01:12,477
The name of this trashcan
is ideology.
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00:01:13,614 --> 00:01:16,608
The material force
of ideology
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00:01:16,783 --> 00:01:22,120
makes me not see
what I'm effectively eating.
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00:01:22,295 --> 00:01:26,022
It's not only our reality
which enslaves us.
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00:01:26,197 --> 00:01:28,924
The tragedy of
our predicament
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00:01:29,099 --> 00:01:31,928
when we are within
ideology, is that
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00:01:32,103 --> 00:01:35,818
when we think that we
escape it into our dreams -
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00:01:35,993 --> 00:01:39,543
at that point we
are within ideology.
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00:02:16,833 --> 00:02:22,721
They Live from 1988
is definitely one of the
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00:02:22,896 --> 00:02:27,111
forgotten masterpieces
of the Hollywood left.
14
00:02:29,806 --> 00:02:32,960
It tells the story of
John Nada.
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00:02:33,135 --> 00:02:36,139
'Nada' of course is Spanish
means 'nothing'.
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00:02:36,314 --> 00:02:41,101
A pure subject, deprived
of all substantial content.
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00:02:41,276 --> 00:02:45,764
A homeless worker in L.A.
who, drifting around
18
00:02:45,939 --> 00:02:48,943
one day enters into
an abandoned church
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00:02:49,118 --> 00:02:54,565
and finds there a strange
box full of sunglasses.
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00:02:58,307 --> 00:03:03,102
And when he put one of them on,
walking along the L.A. streets
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00:03:03,277 --> 00:03:06,015
he discovers
something weird:
22
00:03:07,183 --> 00:03:12,520
that these glasses function like
critique-of-ideology glasses.
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00:03:18,953 --> 00:03:24,165
They allow you to see
the real message beneath:
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00:03:24,340 --> 00:03:29,328
all the propaganda, publicity
glitz, posters and so on.
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00:03:33,181 --> 00:03:36,252
You see a large publicity
board telling you
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00:03:36,427 --> 00:03:38,500
have your holiday
of a lifetime
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00:03:38,675 --> 00:03:40,260
and when you
put the glasses on
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00:03:40,435 --> 00:03:45,492
you just see just on the white
background a gray inscription.
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00:03:47,273 --> 00:03:51,573
We live, so we are told,
in a post-ideological society.
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00:03:51,748 --> 00:03:54,701
We are interpolated,
that is to say
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00:03:54,876 --> 00:03:57,404
addressed by
social authority
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00:03:57,579 --> 00:04:02,589
not as subjects who should
do their duty, sacrifice themselves
33
00:04:02,764 --> 00:04:05,410
but subjects of pleasures.
34
00:04:05,585 --> 00:04:08,583
Realise your true potential.
35
00:04:08,758 --> 00:04:10,631
Be yourself.
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00:04:11,890 --> 00:04:14,812
Lead a satisfying life.
37
00:04:18,215 --> 00:04:21,865
When you put the
glasses on
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00:04:23,376 --> 00:04:26,551
you see dictatorship
in democracy.
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00:04:26,726 --> 00:04:32,017
It's the invisible order which
sustains your apparent freedom.
40
00:04:33,192 --> 00:04:37,841
The explanation for the existence
of these strange ideology glasses
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00:04:38,016 --> 00:04:42,872
is the standard story of the
Invasion of the Body Snatchers.
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00:04:45,700 --> 00:04:50,187
Humanity is already under
the control of aliens.
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00:04:50,362 --> 00:04:52,398
Hey buddy!
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00:04:52,573 --> 00:04:54,685
You gonna pay for that or what?
45
00:04:59,452 --> 00:05:02,247
Look buddy, I don't want
no hassle today.
46
00:05:02,422 --> 00:05:04,822
Either pay for it
or put it back.
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00:05:06,450 --> 00:05:10,137
According to our common sense
48
00:05:10,312 --> 00:05:15,224
we think that ideology is
something blurring, confusing
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00:05:15,399 --> 00:05:17,592
our straight view.
50
00:05:17,767 --> 00:05:23,301
Ideology should be glasses
which distort our view,
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00:05:23,476 --> 00:05:28,793
and the critique of ideology
should be the opposite -
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00:05:28,968 --> 00:05:33,539
like, you take off the glasses
so that you can finally see
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00:05:33,714 --> 00:05:36,266
the way things really are.
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00:05:36,441 --> 00:05:39,386
This precisely, and here
the pessimism of
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00:05:39,561 --> 00:05:41,188
the film, of They Live
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00:05:41,363 --> 00:05:45,458
is well justified, this precisely
is the ultimate illusion:
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00:05:45,633 --> 00:05:49,807
ideology is not simply
imposed on ourselves.
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00:05:49,982 --> 00:05:55,707
Ideology is our spontaneous
relationship to our social world -
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00:05:56,882 --> 00:05:59,906
how we perceive each meaning
and so on and so on.
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00:06:00,081 --> 00:06:04,285
We in a way
enjoy our ideology.
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00:06:04,460 --> 00:06:05,383
All right.
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00:06:05,558 --> 00:06:08,512
To step out of ideology -
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00:06:08,687 --> 00:06:11,295
it hurts.
It's a painful experience.
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00:06:11,470 --> 00:06:13,764
You must force yourself to do it.
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00:06:13,939 --> 00:06:17,970
This is rendered in a
wonderful way with
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00:06:18,145 --> 00:06:19,885
a further scene in the film
67
00:06:20,060 --> 00:06:25,472
where John Nada tries to force
his best friend, John Armitage
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00:06:26,647 --> 00:06:29,287
to also put the glasses on.
69
00:06:29,462 --> 00:06:31,414
- I don't want to fight you.
- Come on!
70
00:06:31,589 --> 00:06:32,779
- I don't want to fight you.
- Come on!
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00:06:32,954 --> 00:06:34,194
- Stop it!
- No!
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00:06:34,369 --> 00:06:37,112
And it's the weirdest
scene in the film.
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00:06:37,287 --> 00:06:38,890
The fight takes eight,
nine minutes.
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00:06:39,065 --> 00:06:40,573
Put on the glasses!
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00:06:40,748 --> 00:06:44,795
It may appear irrational
because why does this guy
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00:06:44,970 --> 00:06:47,559
reject so violently to
put the glasses on?
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00:06:47,734 --> 00:06:52,931
It is as if he is well aware
that spontaneously he lives
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00:06:53,106 --> 00:06:57,547
in a lie. That the glasses
will make him see the truth,
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00:06:57,722 --> 00:07:00,296
but that this truth
can be painful.
80
00:07:00,471 --> 00:07:05,136
Can shatter many
of your illusions.
81
00:07:07,085 --> 00:07:09,560
This is a paradox
we have to accept.
82
00:07:09,735 --> 00:07:13,203
Put the glasses on!
Put 'em on!
83
00:07:13,378 --> 00:07:17,405
The extreme violence
of liberation.
84
00:07:17,580 --> 00:07:20,429
You must be forced
to be free.
85
00:07:20,604 --> 00:07:23,991
If you trust simply your
spontaneous sense of
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00:07:24,166 --> 00:07:25,173
well-being or whatever -
87
00:07:25,348 --> 00:07:26,755
you will never get free.
88
00:07:26,930 --> 00:07:27,984
Look!
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00:07:28,159 --> 00:07:30,490
Freedom hurts.
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00:07:34,282 --> 00:07:37,688
The basic insight
of psychoanalysis
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00:07:37,863 --> 00:07:43,535
is to distinguish between
enjoyment and simple pleasures.
92
00:07:44,710 --> 00:07:46,682
They are not the same.
93
00:07:48,604 --> 00:07:53,666
Enjoyment is precisely enjoyment
in disturbed pleasure -
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00:07:53,841 --> 00:07:56,729
even enjoyment in pain.
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00:07:56,904 --> 00:08:01,991
And this excessive factor
disturbs the apparently simple
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00:08:02,166 --> 00:08:07,928
relationship between
duty and pleasures.
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00:08:09,823 --> 00:08:14,626
This is also a space
where ideology up to
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00:08:14,661 --> 00:08:19,429
and especially religious
ideology, operates.
99
00:08:22,181 --> 00:08:25,916
This brings me to maybe
my favourite example -
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00:08:26,091 --> 00:08:30,501
the great classical Hollywood film
The Sound of Music.
101
00:08:31,460 --> 00:08:37,399
We all know it's the story
of a nun who is too alive -
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00:08:37,574 --> 00:08:39,648
with too much energy -
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00:08:39,823 --> 00:08:42,048
ultimately sexual energy,
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00:08:42,223 --> 00:08:45,861
to be constrained
to the role of a nun.
105
00:08:46,036 --> 00:08:48,604
Oh, Reverend Mother.
I'm so sorry. I just couldn't
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00:08:48,779 --> 00:08:50,633
help myself. The gates
were open and
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00:08:50,808 --> 00:08:52,070
the hills were beckoning
and before I...
108
00:08:52,245 --> 00:08:54,706
Maria, I haven't summoned
you here for apologies.
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00:08:54,881 --> 00:08:57,072
Oh, please mother do let me
ask for forgiveness.
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00:08:57,247 --> 00:08:59,809
One, two three.
One, two, three.
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00:08:59,984 --> 00:09:02,478
One, two, three.
Step together. Now...
112
00:09:02,653 --> 00:09:07,003
So, Mother Superior sends her
to the Von Trapp family
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00:09:07,178 --> 00:09:09,821
where she takes care
of the children...
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00:09:09,996 --> 00:09:11,860
Under.
115
00:09:12,035 --> 00:09:16,102
- Kurt, we'll have to practice...
- Do allow me, will you?
116
00:09:17,260 --> 00:09:20,583
...and at the same time,
of course, falls in love
117
00:09:20,758 --> 00:09:23,408
with the baron Von Trapp.
118
00:09:28,657 --> 00:09:30,875
And Maria gets too
disturbed by it -
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00:09:31,050 --> 00:09:35,086
cannot control it,
returns to the convent...
120
00:09:35,261 --> 00:09:36,801
Oh there were times when
we would look at each other...
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00:09:36,976 --> 00:09:39,035
Oh, Mother,
I could hardly breathe.
122
00:09:39,210 --> 00:09:40,506
Did you let him
see how you felt?
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00:09:40,681 --> 00:09:42,866
If I did, I didn't know it.
That's what's been
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00:09:43,041 --> 00:09:45,379
torturing me, I was there
on God's errand.
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00:09:45,554 --> 00:09:49,189
No wonder that in old
communist Yugoslavia
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00:09:49,364 --> 00:09:53,090
where I saw this film
for the first time,
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00:09:53,265 --> 00:09:57,223
exactly this scene,
or more precisely
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00:09:57,398 --> 00:10:01,387
the song which follows this
strange hedonist, if you want,
129
00:10:01,648 --> 00:10:03,762
advice from the mother superior:
130
00:10:03,937 --> 00:10:06,850
"Go back, seduce the guy,
follow this path,
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00:10:07,025 --> 00:10:09,618
"do not betray your desire... "
132
00:10:09,793 --> 00:10:14,619
Namely the song which begins
with "Climb every mountain";
133
00:10:14,794 --> 00:10:18,537
the song which is an
almost embarrassing display
134
00:10:18,712 --> 00:10:20,741
and affirmation of desire.
135
00:10:20,916 --> 00:10:24,162
This three minutes were censored.
136
00:10:24,337 --> 00:10:28,557
Climb every mountain
137
00:10:28,732 --> 00:10:32,853
Search high and low
138
00:10:33,028 --> 00:10:37,303
Follow every by-way
139
00:10:37,478 --> 00:10:41,101
Every path you know...
140
00:10:41,276 --> 00:10:45,357
I think the censor was
a very intelligent man.
141
00:10:45,532 --> 00:10:48,641
He knew, as probably
an atheist communist,
142
00:10:48,816 --> 00:10:54,298
where the power of attraction
of catholic religion resides.
143
00:10:55,148 --> 00:10:59,017
'Till you find your dream
144
00:11:00,417 --> 00:11:04,388
If you read intelligent
catholic propagandists
145
00:11:04,563 --> 00:11:09,747
and if you really try to discern,
what deal are they offering you?
146
00:11:09,922 --> 00:11:14,604
It's not to prohibit,
in this case sexual pleasures.
147
00:11:14,779 --> 00:11:18,454
It's a much more cynical
contract, as it were,
148
00:11:18,629 --> 00:11:22,904
between the church as
an institution and the believer
149
00:11:23,079 --> 00:11:26,951
troubled with, in this case,
sexual desires.
150
00:11:27,126 --> 00:11:31,489
It is this hidden obscene
permission that you get -
151
00:11:31,664 --> 00:11:34,139
you are covered by
the divine 'Big Other' -
152
00:11:34,314 --> 00:11:36,322
you can do
what ever you want.
153
00:11:36,497 --> 00:11:38,380
Enjoy.
154
00:11:40,830 --> 00:11:43,395
A dream that will need...
155
00:11:43,570 --> 00:11:46,145
This obscene contract
does not belong
156
00:11:46,320 --> 00:11:48,695
to Christianity as such.
157
00:11:48,870 --> 00:11:54,035
It belongs to catholic church
as an institution.
158
00:11:55,210 --> 00:11:59,797
It is the logic of institution
at its purest.
159
00:11:59,972 --> 00:12:03,820
Climb every mountain...
160
00:12:03,995 --> 00:12:09,365
This is again a key
to the functioning of ideology.
161
00:12:11,540 --> 00:12:16,160
Not only the explicit message:
renounce, suffer and so on,
162
00:12:16,335 --> 00:12:19,547
but the true hidden message -
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00:12:19,722 --> 00:12:24,016
pretend to renounce and
you can get it all.
164
00:12:27,466 --> 00:12:32,347
My psychoanalytic friends are
telling me that typically today
165
00:12:32,522 --> 00:12:37,367
patients who come to the analyst
to resolve their problems
166
00:12:37,542 --> 00:12:42,243
feel guilty, not because of
excessive pleasures,
167
00:12:42,418 --> 00:12:46,493
not because they indulge in
pleasures which go against
168
00:12:46,668 --> 00:12:50,443
their sense of duty or
morality, or what-so-ever.
169
00:12:50,618 --> 00:12:55,693
On the contrary, they feel
guilty for not enjoying enough.
170
00:12:55,868 --> 00:12:59,113
For not being able to enjoy.
171
00:13:33,976 --> 00:13:37,803
Oh my god, one is thirsty
in the desert and
172
00:13:37,978 --> 00:13:41,555
what to drink but Coke?
173
00:13:41,730 --> 00:13:44,200
The perfect commodity.
Why?
174
00:13:44,375 --> 00:13:47,595
It was already Marx who
long ago emphasized that
175
00:13:47,770 --> 00:13:53,274
a commodity is never just a simple
object that we buy and consume.
176
00:13:54,033 --> 00:13:59,041
A commodity is an object
full of theological,
177
00:13:59,216 --> 00:14:02,126
even metaphysical niceties.
178
00:14:02,301 --> 00:14:07,876
Its presence always reflects
an invisible transcendence.
179
00:14:08,051 --> 00:14:13,826
And the classical publicity for Coke
quite openly refers to this
180
00:14:16,001 --> 00:14:18,576
absent, invisible quality.
181
00:14:18,751 --> 00:14:22,826
Coke is 'The Real Thing' or
'Coke - That's it'.
182
00:14:23,001 --> 00:14:25,264
What is that 'it', the 'real thing'?
183
00:14:25,439 --> 00:14:30,514
It's not just another positive
property of Coke -
184
00:14:30,689 --> 00:14:34,191
something that can be
described or pinpointed
185
00:14:34,366 --> 00:14:35,764
through chemical analysis -
186
00:14:35,939 --> 00:14:39,710
it's that mysterious
'something more'.
187
00:14:40,356 --> 00:14:45,708
The indescribable excess
which is the Object-Cause
188
00:14:45,916 --> 00:14:47,997
of my Desire.
189
00:14:49,436 --> 00:14:53,575
In our post-modern,
how ever we call them, societies -
190
00:14:53,750 --> 00:14:56,464
we are obliged to enjoy.
191
00:14:58,085 --> 00:15:02,928
Enjoyment becomes a kind or
a weird, perverted duty.
192
00:15:04,764 --> 00:15:07,780
The paradox of Coke is that
you are thirsty -
193
00:15:07,955 --> 00:15:10,455
you drink it but,
as everyone knows,
194
00:15:10,630 --> 00:15:13,959
the more you drink it
the more thirsty you get.
195
00:15:14,134 --> 00:15:19,171
A desire is never simply
the desire for certain thing.
196
00:15:21,346 --> 00:15:24,839
It's always also a desire
for desire itself.
197
00:15:25,014 --> 00:15:29,404
A desire to continue to desire.
198
00:15:29,579 --> 00:15:33,988
Perhaps the ultimate
horror of a desire is
199
00:15:34,163 --> 00:15:36,891
to be fully filled-in, met,
200
00:15:37,066 --> 00:15:39,988
so that I desire no longer.
201
00:15:40,163 --> 00:15:44,485
The ultimate melancholic
experience is the experience
202
00:15:44,660 --> 00:15:49,101
of a loss of desire itself.
203
00:15:49,276 --> 00:15:54,642
It's not that in some return
to a previous era
204
00:15:54,817 --> 00:15:57,871
of natural consummation
205
00:15:58,046 --> 00:16:02,310
where we got rid of this excess
and were only consuming
206
00:16:02,485 --> 00:16:03,831
for actual needs -
207
00:16:04,006 --> 00:16:06,945
like you were thirsty,
you drank water, and so on.
208
00:16:07,120 --> 00:16:08,543
We cannot return to that.
209
00:16:08,718 --> 00:16:11,365
The excess is with us forever.
210
00:16:11,540 --> 00:16:14,864
So, let's have a drink of Coke.
211
00:16:17,222 --> 00:16:18,921
It's getting warm.
212
00:16:19,071 --> 00:16:22,406
It's no longer 'The Real Coke'
and that's the problem.
213
00:16:22,556 --> 00:16:27,900
You know, this passage from
sublime to excremental dimension.
214
00:16:29,050 --> 00:16:33,770
When it's cold, properly served,
it has a certain attraction -
215
00:16:33,820 --> 00:16:36,814
all of a sudden
this can change into shit.
216
00:16:36,964 --> 00:16:41,088
It's the elementary dialectics
of commodities.
217
00:16:41,338 --> 00:16:45,029
We are not talking about
objective, factual properties
218
00:16:45,279 --> 00:16:51,013
of a commodity. We are talking
only here about that elusive surplus.
219
00:16:58,978 --> 00:17:01,225
'Kinder Surprise egg'.
220
00:17:01,375 --> 00:17:03,929
A quite astonishing commodity.
221
00:17:04,079 --> 00:17:09,169
The surprise of the 'Kinder
Surprise egg' is that
222
00:17:09,319 --> 00:17:14,148
this excessive object,
the cause of your desire
223
00:17:14,298 --> 00:17:18,772
is here materialized.
In the guise of an object -
224
00:17:18,922 --> 00:17:23,692
a plastic toy which fills in
the inner void
225
00:17:23,842 --> 00:17:25,598
of the chocolate egg.
226
00:17:25,748 --> 00:17:30,758
The whole delicate balance
is between these two dimensions:
227
00:17:30,908 --> 00:17:35,008
what you bought, the chocolate
egg, and the surplus -
228
00:17:35,158 --> 00:17:37,893
probably made in some Chinese
gulag or whatever -
229
00:17:37,943 --> 00:17:40,486
the surplus that
you get for free.
230
00:17:40,636 --> 00:17:45,733
I don't think that the chocolate
frame is here just to send you
231
00:17:47,883 --> 00:17:51,828
on a deeper voyage towards
the inner treasure -
232
00:17:51,978 --> 00:17:57,888
the, what Plato calls the 'Agalma'
which makes you a worthy person,
233
00:17:58,038 --> 00:18:01,544
which makes a commodity
the desirable commodity -
234
00:18:01,694 --> 00:18:04,494
I think it's the other way around.
235
00:18:04,544 --> 00:18:09,546
We should aim at the higher goal,
the gold in the middle of an object -
236
00:18:10,696 --> 00:18:15,174
precisely in order to
be able to enjoy the surface.
237
00:18:15,324 --> 00:18:19,377
This is what is the
anti-metaphysical lesson,
238
00:18:19,552 --> 00:18:23,279
which is difficult to accept.
239
00:18:42,524 --> 00:18:47,440
What does this famous
'Ode to Joy' stand for?
240
00:18:47,590 --> 00:18:51,021
It's usually perceived as
a kind of ode to humanity
241
00:18:51,171 --> 00:18:56,890
as such, to the brotherhood
and freedom of all people.
242
00:18:56,966 --> 00:19:01,730
And what strikes the eye here
is the universal adaptability
243
00:19:01,880 --> 00:19:04,912
of this well-known melody.
244
00:19:11,062 --> 00:19:13,613
It can be used
by political movements
245
00:19:13,763 --> 00:19:17,106
which are totally opposed
to each other.
246
00:19:17,356 --> 00:19:22,944
In Nazi Germany it was widely used
to celebrate great public events.
247
00:19:25,294 --> 00:19:28,525
In Soviet Union
Beethoven was lionized
248
00:19:28,675 --> 00:19:32,109
and the 'Ode to Joy' was
performed almost as
249
00:19:32,284 --> 00:19:35,647
a kind of a communist song.
250
00:19:37,556 --> 00:19:42,265
In China during the time
of the great Cultural Revolution -
251
00:19:42,415 --> 00:19:45,620
when almost all western
music was prohibited -
252
00:19:45,770 --> 00:19:48,328
the 9th symphony
was accepted.
253
00:19:48,478 --> 00:19:53,597
It was allowed to play it as a piece
of progressive bourgeois music.
254
00:20:01,058 --> 00:20:04,781
At the extreme right
in South Rhodesia -
255
00:20:04,956 --> 00:20:06,484
before it became Zimbabwe -
256
00:20:06,659 --> 00:20:08,466
it proclaimed independence
to be able
257
00:20:08,641 --> 00:20:12,546
to postpone the
abolishment of apartheid.
258
00:20:13,318 --> 00:20:15,377
Therefore those couple of
years of independence -
259
00:20:15,552 --> 00:20:19,019
South Rhodesia, again
the melody of 'Ode to Joy' -
260
00:20:19,194 --> 00:20:24,788
with changed lyrics of course,
was the anthem of the country.
261
00:20:33,378 --> 00:20:35,071
At the opposite end -
262
00:20:35,246 --> 00:20:38,849
when Abimael Guzman
President Gonzalo,
263
00:20:39,024 --> 00:20:43,573
the leader of 'Sendero Luminoso',
the 'Shining Path',
264
00:20:43,748 --> 00:20:47,504
the extreme leftist
guerrilla in Peru -
265
00:20:47,679 --> 00:20:50,968
when he was asked by
a journalist which piece of music
266
00:20:51,143 --> 00:20:53,201
is his favourite,
he claimed
267
00:20:53,376 --> 00:20:58,732
again Beethoven's 9th
symphony 'Ode to Joy'.
268
00:21:01,154 --> 00:21:03,235
When Germany was
still divided
269
00:21:03,410 --> 00:21:07,160
and their team was appearing
together at the Olympics -
270
00:21:07,918 --> 00:21:12,311
when one of the Germans
won golden medal -
271
00:21:13,187 --> 00:21:15,337
again Old to Joy
was played
272
00:21:15,512 --> 00:21:19,647
instead of either East or
West German national anthem.
273
00:21:19,822 --> 00:21:24,327
And even now today
'Ode to Joy' is the unofficial
274
00:21:24,502 --> 00:21:28,809
anthem of European union.
275
00:21:47,869 --> 00:21:53,803
So it's truly that we can imagine
a kind of a perverse scene of
276
00:21:53,978 --> 00:21:57,359
universal fraternity
where Osama Bin Laden is
277
00:21:57,534 --> 00:22:01,127
embracing President Bush,
Saddam is embracing
278
00:22:01,302 --> 00:22:05,656
Fidel Castro, white races
are embracing Mao Tse Tung
279
00:22:05,831 --> 00:22:08,869
and all together they
sing 'Ode to Joy'.
280
00:22:09,044 --> 00:22:14,363
It works. And this is how
every ideology has to work.
281
00:22:15,538 --> 00:22:17,588
It's never just meaning.
282
00:22:17,763 --> 00:22:22,851
It always has to also work
as an empty container -
283
00:22:23,026 --> 00:22:26,015
open to all
possible meanings.
284
00:22:26,190 --> 00:22:29,947
It's, you know, that
gut feeling that we feel
285
00:22:30,122 --> 00:22:32,799
when we experience something
pathetic and we say:
286
00:22:32,974 --> 00:22:36,617
"Oh my God, I am so moved,
there is something so deep. "
287
00:22:36,792 --> 00:22:38,864
But you never know
what this depth is.
288
00:22:39,039 --> 00:22:41,310
It's a void.
289
00:22:41,485 --> 00:22:43,736
Now, of course
there is a catch here.
290
00:22:43,911 --> 00:22:47,497
The catch is that of course
this neutrality of a frame
291
00:22:47,672 --> 00:22:52,837
is never as neutral
as it appears.
292
00:22:56,637 --> 00:22:59,365
Here, I think the
perspective of Alex from
293
00:22:59,540 --> 00:23:01,947
the Clockwork Orange enters.
294
00:23:02,122 --> 00:23:05,723
We were all feeling a bit
shagged and fagged and fashed.
295
00:23:05,898 --> 00:23:09,215
It having been an evening of
some small energy expenditure,
296
00:23:09,390 --> 00:23:10,501
oh my brothers.
297
00:23:10,676 --> 00:23:13,495
So we got rid of the auto
and stopped off at The Korova
298
00:23:13,670 --> 00:23:15,060
for a nightcap.
299
00:23:15,235 --> 00:23:21,192
Why is Alex, this ultimate
cynical delinquent, the hero of
300
00:23:21,367 --> 00:23:25,031
Clockwork Orange,
why is he so fascinated -
301
00:23:25,206 --> 00:23:26,248
overwhelmed -
302
00:23:26,423 --> 00:23:31,615
when he sees the lady
singing Beethoven's 'Ode to Joy'?
303
00:23:31,790 --> 00:23:34,033
And it was like for a moment,
oh my brothers,
304
00:23:34,208 --> 00:23:37,321
some great bird had
flown into the milk bar
305
00:23:37,496 --> 00:23:40,824
and I felt all the malanky
little hairs on my plott
306
00:23:40,999 --> 00:23:44,493
standing endwise and
the shivers crawling up
307
00:23:44,668 --> 00:23:48,807
like slow malanky lizards,
and then down again.
308
00:23:48,982 --> 00:23:51,652
Because I knew
what she sang.
309
00:23:51,827 --> 00:23:56,410
It was a bit from the glorious
ninth by Ludwig van.
310
00:23:57,860 --> 00:24:02,115
Whenever an ideological
text says: "all humanity,
311
00:24:02,290 --> 00:24:05,193
"unite in brotherhood,
joy" and so on,
312
00:24:05,368 --> 00:24:06,737
you should always ask
313
00:24:06,912 --> 00:24:09,571
"OK, OK, OK, but are this all,
really all
314
00:24:09,746 --> 00:24:12,411
"or is someone excluded?"
315
00:24:12,586 --> 00:24:16,223
I think Alex, the delinquent
from Clockwork Orange,
316
00:24:16,398 --> 00:24:20,473
identifies with this
place of exclusion.
317
00:24:22,150 --> 00:24:25,649
And the great genius
of Beethoven is that
318
00:24:25,824 --> 00:24:29,264
he literally states
this exclusion.
319
00:24:29,439 --> 00:24:33,114
All of a sudden the whole
tone changes into a kind of
320
00:24:33,289 --> 00:24:35,828
a carnavalesque rhythm.
321
00:24:36,003 --> 00:24:40,741
It's no longer this
sublime beauty.
322
00:24:42,665 --> 00:24:45,566
Excuse me brother,
I ordered this two weeks ago -
323
00:24:45,741 --> 00:24:48,582
can you see if
it's arrived yet please?
324
00:24:49,270 --> 00:24:51,173
Just a minute.
325
00:24:56,023 --> 00:25:00,583
We hear this vulgar music
precisely when Alex enters
326
00:25:00,758 --> 00:25:04,457
a shopping arcade and
we can see from his movements
327
00:25:04,632 --> 00:25:06,507
that now he feels at home.
328
00:25:06,682 --> 00:25:10,492
He is like fish in the water.
329
00:25:15,818 --> 00:25:16,801
Pardon me, ladies.
330
00:25:16,976 --> 00:25:18,851
Beethoven is not the
cheap celebrator
331
00:25:19,026 --> 00:25:21,101
of the brotherhood
of humanity and so on -
332
00:25:21,276 --> 00:25:24,028
we are one big happy family
enjoying freedom,
333
00:25:24,203 --> 00:25:25,599
dignity, and so on.
334
00:25:25,774 --> 00:25:27,220
Enjoying that, are
you my darling?
335
00:25:27,395 --> 00:25:30,264
The first part, which is falsely
celebrated today -
336
00:25:30,439 --> 00:25:32,414
you hear it in
all official events -
337
00:25:32,589 --> 00:25:35,533
is clearly identified
with Beethoven
338
00:25:35,708 --> 00:25:39,815
as ideology, and then
the second part tells
339
00:25:39,990 --> 00:25:44,265
the true story of that which
disturbs the official ideology
340
00:25:44,440 --> 00:25:47,807
and of the failure
of the offical ideology
341
00:25:47,982 --> 00:25:50,524
to constrain it,
to tame it.
342
00:25:50,699 --> 00:25:54,441
This is why Beethoven
was doing something
343
00:25:54,616 --> 00:25:56,937
which may appear
difficult to do.
344
00:25:57,112 --> 00:26:00,607
He was already in
the purely musical work
345
00:26:00,782 --> 00:26:03,976
practicing critique
of ideology.
346
00:26:06,989 --> 00:26:11,580
If the classical ideology
functioned in the way
347
00:26:11,755 --> 00:26:15,064
designated by Marx
in his nice formula
348
00:26:15,239 --> 00:26:16,614
from Capital Volume One:
349
00:26:16,789 --> 00:26:18,714
"Sie wissen es nicht,
aber sie tun es. "
350
00:26:18,889 --> 00:26:20,276
"They don't know
what they are doing
351
00:26:20,451 --> 00:26:22,659
"but they are
none the less doing it. "
352
00:26:22,834 --> 00:26:27,274
Cynical ideology functions
in the mode of
353
00:26:27,449 --> 00:26:29,928
"I know very well
what I am doing
354
00:26:30,103 --> 00:26:32,997
"but I am still none
the less doing it. "
355
00:26:36,928 --> 00:26:41,589
This paradoxical constellation
is staged in a beautiful way
356
00:26:41,764 --> 00:26:46,504
in the famous song 'Officer Krupke'
in Bernstein's and Sondheim's
357
00:26:46,679 --> 00:26:48,101
West Side Story.
358
00:26:48,276 --> 00:26:49,891
Hey, you!
359
00:26:50,066 --> 00:26:52,311
- Who me, officer Krupke?
- Yeah, you!
360
00:26:52,486 --> 00:26:53,811
Give me one good
reason for not
361
00:26:53,986 --> 00:26:56,947
dragging you down
to station house, you punk.
362
00:26:57,122 --> 00:26:58,477
Dear...
363
00:26:58,652 --> 00:27:01,614
kindly Sergeant Krupke,
you gotta understand
364
00:27:01,789 --> 00:27:04,771
it's just our bringin' up-ke,
that gets us out of hand.
365
00:27:04,946 --> 00:27:08,064
Our mothers all are junkies,
our fathers all are drunks.
366
00:27:08,239 --> 00:27:10,936
Golly Moses,
natcherly we're punks!
367
00:27:11,111 --> 00:27:14,463
Gee, Officer Krupke,
we're very upset.
368
00:27:14,638 --> 00:27:15,387
We never had the...
369
00:27:15,562 --> 00:27:19,853
The delinquent gang enact
a whole explanation,
370
00:27:20,028 --> 00:27:24,854
as a musical number of course,
of why they are delinquents.
371
00:27:25,029 --> 00:27:27,804
...there is good,
there is untapped good!
372
00:27:27,979 --> 00:27:29,382
Like inside,
the worst of us is good!
373
00:27:29,557 --> 00:27:31,793
Addressing the police officer Krupke,
374
00:27:31,968 --> 00:27:35,783
who is not there but all is
addressed at the police officer.
375
00:27:35,958 --> 00:27:37,033
That's a touchin' good story.
376
00:27:37,208 --> 00:27:38,583
Lemme tell it to the world!
377
00:27:38,758 --> 00:27:40,440
Just tell it to the judge.
378
00:27:40,615 --> 00:27:43,760
So one of them adopts
the position of a judge:
379
00:27:47,186 --> 00:27:50,531
Dear kindly Judge, your Honor,
my parents treat me rough.
380
00:27:50,706 --> 00:27:53,381
With all their marijuana,
they won't give me a puff.
381
00:27:53,556 --> 00:27:55,719
Then the psychological
explanation:
382
00:27:55,894 --> 00:27:57,169
...he shouldn't be here.
383
00:27:57,344 --> 00:28:00,758
This boy don't need a couch,
he needs a useful career.
384
00:28:00,933 --> 00:28:03,909
Society's played him
a terrible trick -
385
00:28:04,084 --> 00:28:05,659
und sociologically
he's sick!
386
00:28:05,834 --> 00:28:06,795
I am sick!
387
00:28:06,970 --> 00:28:07,815
We are sick, we are sick...
388
00:28:07,990 --> 00:28:13,684
The paradox here is how can
you know all this and still do it?
389
00:28:13,859 --> 00:28:17,724
This is the cynical
functioning of ideology.
390
00:28:17,899 --> 00:28:22,388
They're never what they appear
to be cynical brutal delinquents.
391
00:28:22,563 --> 00:28:25,645
They always have
a tiny private dream.
392
00:28:25,820 --> 00:28:28,922
This dream can be many things.
393
00:28:31,330 --> 00:28:34,435
It can even be something
quite ordinary.
394
00:28:34,610 --> 00:28:40,052
Let's take the English riots
of August 2011.
395
00:28:40,227 --> 00:28:43,493
The standard liberal explanation
really sounds like
396
00:28:43,668 --> 00:28:46,893
a repetition of
'Officer Krupke' song.
397
00:28:47,068 --> 00:28:52,675
We cannot just condemn this
riot as delinquent vandalism.
398
00:28:52,850 --> 00:28:56,529
You have to see how these people
live in practically ghettos -
399
00:28:56,704 --> 00:28:58,115
isolated communities -
400
00:28:58,290 --> 00:29:01,315
no proper family life,
no proper education.
401
00:29:01,490 --> 00:29:05,389
They don't even have a prospect
of a regular employment.
402
00:29:05,564 --> 00:29:10,168
But this is not enough
because man is not simply
403
00:29:10,343 --> 00:29:14,234
a product of objective
circumstances.
404
00:29:15,834 --> 00:29:21,051
We all have this margin
of freedom in deciding
405
00:29:22,226 --> 00:29:27,824
how we subjectivise these
objective circumstances
406
00:29:27,999 --> 00:29:30,491
which will of course
determine us.
407
00:29:30,666 --> 00:29:35,716
How we react to them by
constructing our own universe.
408
00:29:38,146 --> 00:29:42,046
The conservative solution
is we need more police.
409
00:29:42,221 --> 00:29:45,197
We need courts, which pass
severe judgements.
410
00:29:45,372 --> 00:29:48,816
I think this solution
is too simple.
411
00:29:49,701 --> 00:29:53,219
If I listen closely to some of
David Cameron's statements
412
00:29:53,394 --> 00:29:56,248
it looked as if OK,
they are beating people,
413
00:29:56,423 --> 00:29:59,612
burning houses, but the
truly horrible thing is
414
00:29:59,787 --> 00:30:03,586
that they were taking objects
without paying for them.
415
00:30:03,761 --> 00:30:06,155
The ultimate things
that we can imagine.
416
00:30:06,330 --> 00:30:09,035
In a very limited way,
Cameron was right -
417
00:30:09,210 --> 00:30:12,637
there was no
ideological justification.
418
00:30:12,812 --> 00:30:17,937
It is the reaction of people
who are totally caught into
419
00:30:18,112 --> 00:30:23,484
the predominant ideology
but have no ways to realise
420
00:30:23,659 --> 00:30:27,815
what this ideology demands
of them so it's kind of
421
00:30:27,990 --> 00:30:33,822
a wild acting out within this
ideological space of consumerism.
422
00:30:35,672 --> 00:30:38,360
Even if we are dealing
with apparently
423
00:30:38,535 --> 00:30:41,424
totally non-ideological
brutality -
424
00:30:41,599 --> 00:30:45,793
I just want to burn houses,
to get objects.
425
00:30:45,968 --> 00:30:51,111
It is the result of a very specific
social and ideological
426
00:30:51,286 --> 00:30:55,668
constellation where big ideology,
striving for justice,
427
00:30:55,843 --> 00:30:59,259
equality etc,
disintegrates.
428
00:30:59,434 --> 00:31:03,100
The only functioning ideology
is pure consumerism
429
00:31:03,275 --> 00:31:08,130
and then no wonder what you
get as a form of protest.
430
00:31:08,750 --> 00:31:12,265
Every violent acting out
is a sign that
431
00:31:12,440 --> 00:31:16,547
there is something you are not
able to put into words.
432
00:31:16,722 --> 00:31:20,949
Even the most brutal violence
is the enacting
433
00:31:21,124 --> 00:31:25,328
of a certain
symbolic deadlock.
434
00:31:27,424 --> 00:31:30,971
The great thing about
the Taxi Driver
435
00:31:31,146 --> 00:31:36,643
is that it brings this brutal
outburst of violence
436
00:31:36,818 --> 00:31:41,318
to its radical
suicidal dimension.
437
00:31:44,825 --> 00:31:46,257
We are not dealing
here with something
438
00:31:46,432 --> 00:31:52,099
which simply concerns
the fragile psychology
439
00:31:53,274 --> 00:31:57,976
of a distorted person,
what Travis in Taxi Driver is.
440
00:31:58,151 --> 00:32:01,513
It has something to do
with ideology.
441
00:32:01,688 --> 00:32:04,063
Listen you fuckers,
you screw-heads.
442
00:32:04,238 --> 00:32:06,815
Here is a man who would
not take it anymore.
443
00:32:06,990 --> 00:32:08,877
Who would not let...
444
00:32:09,052 --> 00:32:12,435
Listen you fuckers,
you screw-heads.
445
00:32:12,610 --> 00:32:15,576
Here is a man who would
not take it anymore.
446
00:32:15,751 --> 00:32:17,880
A man who stood up
against the scum -
447
00:32:18,055 --> 00:32:20,341
the cunts, the dogs,
the filth, the shit.
448
00:32:20,516 --> 00:32:23,313
Here is someone
who stood up.
449
00:32:23,488 --> 00:32:26,741
In the Taxi Driver,
Travis, the hero,
450
00:32:26,916 --> 00:32:31,932
is bothered by the young prostitute
played by Jody Foster.
451
00:32:32,107 --> 00:32:36,305
What bothers him are,
of course as is always the case -
452
00:32:36,480 --> 00:32:38,829
precisely his fantasies.
453
00:32:39,004 --> 00:32:40,551
Fantasies of her.
454
00:32:40,726 --> 00:32:45,180
Victim who of her
hidden pleasures...
455
00:32:45,960 --> 00:32:50,449
And fantasies are not just
a private matter of individuals.
456
00:32:50,624 --> 00:32:55,913
Fantasies are the central stuff
our ideologies are made of.
457
00:32:57,088 --> 00:32:58,989
Don't look at him.
458
00:32:59,164 --> 00:33:03,107
Fantasy is in psychoanalytical
perspective
459
00:33:03,282 --> 00:33:05,417
fundamentally a lie.
460
00:33:05,592 --> 00:33:07,764
Not a lie in the sense that
it's just a fantasy
461
00:33:07,939 --> 00:33:11,521
but not a reality,
but a lie in the sense that
462
00:33:11,696 --> 00:33:16,945
fantasy covers up a certain
gap in consistency.
463
00:33:17,120 --> 00:33:19,683
When things are blurred,
when we cannot really get
464
00:33:19,858 --> 00:33:25,712
to know things, fantasy
provides an easy answer.
465
00:33:28,484 --> 00:33:33,464
The usual mode of fantasy
is to construct a scene -
466
00:33:33,639 --> 00:33:36,352
not a scene where
I get what I desire -
467
00:33:36,527 --> 00:33:41,589
but a scene in which I imagine
myself as desired by others.
468
00:33:46,102 --> 00:33:50,077
Taxi Driver is an
unacknowledged remake of
469
00:33:50,252 --> 00:33:53,104
perhaps the greatest
of John Ford's westerns -
470
00:33:53,279 --> 00:33:56,234
his late classic The Searchers.
471
00:33:56,409 --> 00:34:00,856
- I take many...?
- Scalps.
472
00:34:05,224 --> 00:34:08,459
In both films,
the hero tries to save
473
00:34:08,634 --> 00:34:14,272
a young woman who is perceived
as a victim of brutal abuse.
474
00:34:20,777 --> 00:34:23,583
In The Searchers the
young Nathalie Wood
475
00:34:23,758 --> 00:34:26,932
was kidnapped and lived
for a couple of years
476
00:34:27,107 --> 00:34:32,137
as the wife of an Indian chief.
477
00:34:32,312 --> 00:34:34,911
In Taxi Driver
the young Jodie Foster
478
00:34:35,086 --> 00:34:37,796
is controlled by
a ruthless pimp.
479
00:34:37,971 --> 00:34:40,172
You walk out with those
fucking creeps and lowlifes
480
00:34:40,347 --> 00:34:42,072
and degenerates
out on the streets,
481
00:34:42,247 --> 00:34:44,909
and you sell your little pussy
for nothing, man?
482
00:34:45,084 --> 00:34:47,085
For some low life pimp?
483
00:34:47,260 --> 00:34:50,148
Stands in a hall?
484
00:34:50,323 --> 00:34:51,549
I'm the- I'm square?
485
00:34:51,724 --> 00:34:53,485
You're the one
that's square, man.
486
00:34:53,660 --> 00:34:55,235
I don't go screw and
fuck with a bunch of killers
487
00:34:55,410 --> 00:34:56,756
and junkies the way you do.
488
00:34:56,931 --> 00:35:02,501
The task is always to save
the perceived victim.
489
00:35:03,626 --> 00:35:07,541
But what really drives
this violence of the hero
490
00:35:07,716 --> 00:35:12,597
is a deep suspicion that
the victim is not simply a victim.
491
00:35:12,772 --> 00:35:16,095
That the victim, effectively
in a perverted way
492
00:35:16,270 --> 00:35:22,026
enjoys or participates in what
appears as her victimhood.
493
00:35:22,201 --> 00:35:24,266
So that, to put it very simply -
494
00:35:24,441 --> 00:35:28,691
she doesn't want to be redeemed,
she resists it.
495
00:35:36,095 --> 00:35:38,323
Let's go home, Debby.
496
00:35:42,602 --> 00:35:45,301
And this is the big problem -
497
00:35:45,476 --> 00:35:48,138
if I make an immediate jump
to the political dimension -
498
00:35:48,313 --> 00:35:51,274
the big problem of American
military interventions,
499
00:35:51,449 --> 00:35:54,608
especially so-called
humanitarian interventions.
500
00:35:54,783 --> 00:36:00,392
From Iraq to already
Vietnam half a century ago.
501
00:36:01,567 --> 00:36:04,035
We try to help them,
502
00:36:04,210 --> 00:36:08,469
but what if they really
did not want our help?
503
00:36:08,644 --> 00:36:10,517
The result of this
debilitating deadlock
504
00:36:10,692 --> 00:36:13,428
can only be an
outburst of violence.
505
00:36:17,752 --> 00:36:20,238
We do get, towards
the end of the film
506
00:36:20,413 --> 00:36:24,142
Travis exploding
in a killing spree.
507
00:36:24,317 --> 00:36:29,865
Killing the pimps, all the
people around the young girl.
508
00:36:35,315 --> 00:36:39,310
Violence is never
just abstract violence.
509
00:36:39,485 --> 00:36:44,344
It's a kind of brutal
intervention in the real -
510
00:36:44,519 --> 00:36:49,679
to cover up a certain
impotence concerning
511
00:36:49,854 --> 00:36:52,366
what we may call
cognitive mapping.
512
00:36:52,541 --> 00:36:56,632
You lack a clear picture
of what's going on.
513
00:36:56,807 --> 00:36:58,618
Where are we?
514
00:36:58,793 --> 00:37:03,279
Exactly the same holds
for the terrifying outburst of
515
00:37:03,454 --> 00:37:08,849
violence: Anders Behring Breivik's
murder spree in Oslo.
516
00:37:10,024 --> 00:37:12,964
Exploding a bomb in front
of the government building
517
00:37:13,139 --> 00:37:16,164
and then killing dozens
of young members
518
00:37:16,339 --> 00:37:17,956
of the social democratic party
519
00:37:18,131 --> 00:37:20,996
in an island close to Oslo.
520
00:37:23,617 --> 00:37:26,188
Many commentators
tried to dismiss this as
521
00:37:26,363 --> 00:37:29,580
a clear case of personal insanity.
522
00:37:29,755 --> 00:37:34,486
But I think Breivik's manifesto
is well worth reading.
523
00:37:34,661 --> 00:37:40,380
It is palpably clear
there how this violence -
524
00:37:40,555 --> 00:37:45,985
that Breivik not only theorised
about but also enacted -
525
00:37:46,160 --> 00:37:50,102
is a reaction
to the impenetrability
526
00:37:50,277 --> 00:37:53,052
and confusion of global capital.
527
00:37:53,227 --> 00:37:58,806
It's exactly like Travis Bickle's
killing spree
528
00:37:58,981 --> 00:38:02,550
at the end of the Taxi Driver.
529
00:38:05,198 --> 00:38:07,245
When he is there,
barely alive,
530
00:38:07,420 --> 00:38:11,085
he symbolically with
his fingers points a gun
531
00:38:11,260 --> 00:38:13,069
at his own head.
532
00:38:13,244 --> 00:38:17,169
Clear sign that all this
violence was basically suicidal.
533
00:38:18,119 --> 00:38:20,898
He was on the right path,
in a way -
534
00:38:21,073 --> 00:38:23,266
Travis in the Taxi Driver.
535
00:38:23,441 --> 00:38:25,314
You should have the
outburst of violence
536
00:38:25,489 --> 00:38:28,045
and you should
direct it at yourself
537
00:38:28,220 --> 00:38:33,314
but in a very specific way
at what in yourself
538
00:38:33,489 --> 00:38:38,445
change you, ties you
to the ruling ideology.
539
00:38:50,229 --> 00:38:52,888
Pippin? Pippin?
540
00:38:53,063 --> 00:38:55,704
In Steven Spielberg's Jaws
541
00:38:55,879 --> 00:39:01,346
a shark starts to attack
people on the beach.
542
00:39:01,521 --> 00:39:03,906
What does this attack mean?
543
00:39:04,081 --> 00:39:07,281
What does the shark stand for?
544
00:39:11,342 --> 00:39:14,191
There were different,
even mutually exclusive
545
00:39:14,366 --> 00:39:16,718
answers to this question.
546
00:39:23,076 --> 00:39:25,253
On the one hand
some critics claimed
547
00:39:25,428 --> 00:39:30,020
that obviously the shark stands
for the foreign threat
548
00:39:30,195 --> 00:39:32,516
to ordinary Americans.
549
00:39:32,691 --> 00:39:36,719
The shark is a metaphor
for either natural disaster -
550
00:39:36,894 --> 00:39:39,961
storms or immigrants
threatening
551
00:39:40,136 --> 00:39:42,479
United States citizens
and so on.
552
00:39:42,654 --> 00:39:45,935
On the other hand
it's interesting to note that
553
00:39:46,110 --> 00:39:48,559
Fidel Castro,
who loves the film,
554
00:39:48,734 --> 00:39:52,199
once said that for him
it was obvious that
555
00:39:52,374 --> 00:39:55,049
Jaws is kind of
a leftist Marxist film
556
00:39:55,224 --> 00:39:58,176
and that the shark
is a metaphor for
557
00:39:58,351 --> 00:40:04,017
brutal big capital
exploiting ordinary Americans.
558
00:40:06,867 --> 00:40:09,656
So which is
the right answer?
559
00:40:09,831 --> 00:40:14,912
I claim none of them and
at the same time all of them.
560
00:40:15,087 --> 00:40:18,453
Ordinary Americans, as ordinary
people in all countries
561
00:40:18,628 --> 00:40:20,942
have a multitude of fears.
562
00:40:21,117 --> 00:40:22,948
We fear all kind of things.
563
00:40:23,123 --> 00:40:27,150
We fear maybe,
immigrants or people
564
00:40:27,325 --> 00:40:30,400
whom we perceive as lower
than ourselves attacking us,
565
00:40:30,575 --> 00:40:33,792
robbing us. We fear people
raping our children.
566
00:40:33,967 --> 00:40:37,118
We fear natural disasters,
tornados, earthquakes,
567
00:40:37,293 --> 00:40:41,208
tsunamis; we fear
corrupted politicians.
568
00:40:41,383 --> 00:40:44,458
We fear big companies
which can basically
569
00:40:44,633 --> 00:40:47,785
do with us
whatever they want.
570
00:40:53,958 --> 00:40:54,938
The function of the shark
is to unite all these fears
571
00:40:55,113 --> 00:40:58,411
so that we can in a way
trade all these fears
572
00:40:58,586 --> 00:41:00,970
for one fear alone.
573
00:41:03,406 --> 00:41:04,805
Smile, you son of a...
574
00:41:10,557 --> 00:41:16,187
In this way our experience
of reality gets much simpler.
575
00:41:16,362 --> 00:41:19,763
Why am I mentioning this?
Because isn't it that
576
00:41:19,938 --> 00:41:24,168
for example, the most extreme
case of ideology,
577
00:41:24,343 --> 00:41:26,854
maybe in the history
of humanity -
578
00:41:27,029 --> 00:41:30,541
the Nazi fascist anti-Semitism
579
00:41:30,716 --> 00:41:32,944
work precisely in
the same way?
580
00:41:33,119 --> 00:41:36,673
Imagine an ordinary
German citizen
581
00:41:36,848 --> 00:41:39,400
in the late 20s/early 30s.
582
00:41:39,575 --> 00:41:43,237
His situation is,
in an abstract way
583
00:41:43,412 --> 00:41:46,091
the same as that
of a small child.
584
00:41:46,266 --> 00:41:48,028
He's totally perplexed.
585
00:41:48,203 --> 00:41:52,261
Social authority, symbolic
order is telling him
586
00:41:52,436 --> 00:41:55,891
you are a German worker,
banker, whatever -
587
00:41:56,066 --> 00:41:57,876
but nothing functions.
588
00:41:58,051 --> 00:41:59,991
What does society
want from him?
589
00:42:00,166 --> 00:42:02,494
Why is everything
going wrong?
590
00:42:02,669 --> 00:42:04,567
The way he perceives
the situation
591
00:42:04,742 --> 00:42:06,493
is that newspapers
lie to him.
592
00:42:06,668 --> 00:42:08,708
He lost his work
because of inflation.
593
00:42:08,883 --> 00:42:14,085
He lost all his
money in the bank.
594
00:42:14,260 --> 00:42:17,095
He sees moral degradation
and so on...
595
00:42:17,270 --> 00:42:19,249
So what's the
meaning of this all?
596
00:42:30,789 --> 00:42:34,141
The original fascist
dream is to -
597
00:42:34,316 --> 00:42:37,101
of course as the dream
of every ideology -
598
00:42:37,276 --> 00:42:40,871
to have a cake
and to eat it.
599
00:42:41,841 --> 00:42:45,243
As it was often pointed
out, fascism is,
600
00:42:45,418 --> 00:42:49,724
at it's most elementary,
a conservative revolution.
601
00:42:49,899 --> 00:42:51,928
Revolution: economic
development,
602
00:42:52,103 --> 00:42:54,168
modern industry, yes.
603
00:42:54,343 --> 00:42:56,941
But a revolution which
would none the less
604
00:42:57,116 --> 00:43:02,465
maintain or even reassert
a traditional hierarchal society.
605
00:43:08,806 --> 00:43:11,143
A society which is
modern, efficient,
606
00:43:11,318 --> 00:43:13,667
but at the same time
controlled by
607
00:43:13,842 --> 00:43:18,921
hierarchal values with no
class or other antagonisms.
608
00:43:22,581 --> 00:43:26,004
Now, they have a problem
here, the fascists,
609
00:43:26,179 --> 00:43:30,996
but antagonism, class
struggle and other dangers
610
00:43:31,171 --> 00:43:35,035
is something inherent
to capitalism.
611
00:43:35,210 --> 00:43:37,359
Modernisation,
industrialisation -
612
00:43:37,534 --> 00:43:39,515
as we know from
the history of capitalism -
613
00:43:39,690 --> 00:43:43,491
means disintegration
of old stable relations.
614
00:43:43,666 --> 00:43:46,115
It means social conflicts.
615
00:43:46,290 --> 00:43:52,058
Instability is the way
capitalism functions.
616
00:43:53,045 --> 00:43:56,787
So how to solve
this problem? Simple.
617
00:43:56,962 --> 00:44:01,097
You need to generate
an ideological narrative
618
00:44:01,272 --> 00:44:05,215
which explains how
things went wrong
619
00:44:05,390 --> 00:44:09,353
in a society, not
as a result of the
620
00:44:09,528 --> 00:44:13,335
inherent tensions in the
development of this society
621
00:44:13,510 --> 00:44:18,597
but as the result
of a foreign intruder.
622
00:44:20,678 --> 00:44:26,501
Things were okay until Jews
penetrated our social body.
623
00:44:27,676 --> 00:44:31,476
The way to restore the
health of our social body
624
00:44:31,651 --> 00:44:35,635
is to eliminate the Jews.
625
00:44:38,350 --> 00:44:41,179
It's the same operation
as with
626
00:44:41,354 --> 00:44:43,014
the shark in Jaws.
627
00:44:43,189 --> 00:44:45,629
You have a multitude
of fears
628
00:44:45,804 --> 00:44:49,128
and this multiplicity
of fears confuses you -
629
00:44:49,303 --> 00:44:51,099
like you simply
don't know
630
00:44:51,274 --> 00:44:53,129
what's the meaning
of all this confusion.
631
00:44:53,304 --> 00:44:56,364
And you replace this
confused multitude
632
00:44:56,539 --> 00:44:59,145
with one clear figure:
633
00:44:59,320 --> 00:45:03,093
the Jew. And everything
becomes clear.
634
00:45:03,268 --> 00:45:05,618
The search for cuts in
the social security provision
635
00:45:05,793 --> 00:45:09,163
to lone parent families
in part spurred this report.
636
00:45:09,338 --> 00:45:10,821
The social security
department fears
637
00:45:10,996 --> 00:45:12,056
that the accelerating budget
638
00:45:12,231 --> 00:45:13,614
for single mothers
on benefits
639
00:45:13,789 --> 00:45:15,555
could reach nearly
5 billion pounds
640
00:45:15,730 --> 00:45:17,167
by the end of the decade.
641
00:45:17,342 --> 00:45:19,046
But the issue
of the lone parent
642
00:45:19,221 --> 00:45:20,812
has increasingly been
seen as the heart
643
00:45:20,987 --> 00:45:23,382
of John Major's back to
basics crusade.
644
00:45:23,557 --> 00:45:27,414
Remember, I think around
two, three decades ago -
645
00:45:27,589 --> 00:45:30,028
when the prime minister of
the United Kingdom was
646
00:45:30,203 --> 00:45:31,711
John Major -
647
00:45:31,886 --> 00:45:34,502
there was a kind of
ideological campaign
648
00:45:34,677 --> 00:45:37,116
to return to
morality and so on.
649
00:45:37,291 --> 00:45:41,502
And all the evils of society
650
00:45:41,677 --> 00:45:45,401
were embodied in the
conservative narrative
651
00:45:45,576 --> 00:45:48,633
in the figure of
652
00:45:49,475 --> 00:45:52,180
unemployed single mother.
653
00:45:52,355 --> 00:45:55,237
Like, there is violence
in our suburbs?
654
00:45:55,412 --> 00:45:57,939
Of course, because single
unemployed mothers
655
00:45:58,114 --> 00:46:00,465
cannot take care
of their children -
656
00:46:00,640 --> 00:46:02,810
don't properly educate
them and so on.
657
00:46:04,095 --> 00:46:07,553
We have a lack in our budget,
not enough money -
658
00:46:07,728 --> 00:46:11,895
of course, because we have
to support unwed
659
00:46:12,070 --> 00:46:14,817
single mothers
and so on and so on.
660
00:46:15,570 --> 00:46:17,699
In an ideological edifice
661
00:46:17,874 --> 00:46:21,155
you need some pseudo
concrete image like this
662
00:46:21,330 --> 00:46:23,237
to fixate your imagination,
663
00:46:23,412 --> 00:46:26,159
and then this image
can mobilise us.
664
00:46:32,228 --> 00:46:36,528
Imagine ideology
as a kind of a filter.
665
00:46:36,703 --> 00:46:40,648
A frame, so that if
you look at the same
666
00:46:40,823 --> 00:46:44,813
ordinary reality through
that frame -
667
00:46:44,988 --> 00:46:47,338
everything changes.
In what sense?
668
00:46:47,513 --> 00:46:52,345
It's not that the frame
actually adds anything;
669
00:46:52,520 --> 00:46:57,678
it's just that the frame opens
the abyss of suspicion.
670
00:47:05,944 --> 00:47:08,826
If we look at the anti-Semitic
image of the Jew
671
00:47:09,001 --> 00:47:11,362
it's crucial to notice how
contradictory this figure
672
00:47:11,537 --> 00:47:12,944
of the Jew is.
673
00:47:25,261 --> 00:47:28,142
Jews are at the same time
extra intellectual -
674
00:47:28,317 --> 00:47:30,502
like mathematicians,
whatever -
675
00:47:30,677 --> 00:47:32,083
and vulgar.
676
00:47:38,064 --> 00:47:40,501
Not washing regularly.
677
00:47:46,172 --> 00:47:50,204
Seducing innocent girls all the
time and so on and so on.
678
00:48:48,286 --> 00:48:50,725
This is typical for racism.
679
00:48:50,900 --> 00:48:55,023
You try to imagine how
the other enjoys
680
00:48:55,198 --> 00:48:59,232
all the secret orgies or
whatever, because in racism
681
00:48:59,407 --> 00:49:02,554
the other is not
simply an enemy;
682
00:49:02,729 --> 00:49:06,630
usually it is also
invested with
683
00:49:06,805 --> 00:49:10,529
some specific
perverse enjoyment or
684
00:49:10,704 --> 00:49:13,763
in an inverted way,
the other can be someone
685
00:49:13,938 --> 00:49:18,327
who tries to steal from us
our enjoyment, our...
686
00:49:18,502 --> 00:49:22,844
to disturb, as we usually
put it: our way of life.
687
00:49:24,837 --> 00:49:27,631
We should be here
very precise
688
00:49:27,806 --> 00:49:31,926
not to fall into the usual
trap of disqualifying
689
00:49:32,101 --> 00:49:37,420
all elements out of which
the Nazi ideological edifice
690
00:49:37,595 --> 00:49:42,869
is composed, to disqualify all
them as proto-fascist.
691
00:49:45,837 --> 00:49:48,692
We should never forget that
the large majority
692
00:49:48,867 --> 00:49:53,529
of these elements which we
today associate with fascism
693
00:49:53,704 --> 00:49:57,401
were taken from
the workers' movement.
694
00:50:00,989 --> 00:50:05,863
This idea of large numbers of
people marching together -
695
00:50:06,038 --> 00:50:11,135
this idea of strict bodily
discipline as our duty -
696
00:50:12,154 --> 00:50:17,072
the Nazis directly took this over
from social democracy,
697
00:50:17,247 --> 00:50:18,979
from the left.
698
00:50:19,154 --> 00:50:21,679
Let me just take some other
central concepts
699
00:50:21,854 --> 00:50:23,274
of the Nazi world-view:
700
00:50:23,449 --> 00:50:25,445
the solidarity of the people.
701
00:50:25,620 --> 00:50:28,901
My God, there is nothing bad
in this notion as such.
702
00:50:29,876 --> 00:50:33,553
The problem is solidarity
to what kind of people?
703
00:50:33,728 --> 00:50:36,698
If by people you mean
'Volksgemeinschaft' -
704
00:50:36,873 --> 00:50:38,737
the organic community
of people -
705
00:50:38,912 --> 00:50:41,661
where then the enemy
is automatically
706
00:50:41,836 --> 00:50:43,876
the foreign intruder,
707
00:50:44,051 --> 00:50:47,066
in this case
we are in Nazism.
708
00:50:49,990 --> 00:50:55,104
The crucial thing is to locate
ideology where it belongs.
709
00:50:56,279 --> 00:50:58,939
Let's take a clear example.
710
00:50:59,114 --> 00:51:02,439
The well known song
'Tomorrow Belongs To Me'
711
00:51:02,614 --> 00:51:04,610
from the film Cabaret.
712
00:51:04,785 --> 00:51:09,963
The sun on the meadow
is summery warm
713
00:51:11,138 --> 00:51:16,761
The stag in the forest
runs free...
714
00:51:17,936 --> 00:51:21,453
Some of my friends after
seeing the film -
715
00:51:21,628 --> 00:51:23,173
Bob Fosse's Cabaret -
716
00:51:23,348 --> 00:51:26,027
thought that after
they heard this song
717
00:51:26,202 --> 00:51:29,712
they finally understood
what at it's deepest,
718
00:51:29,887 --> 00:51:34,713
as to its emotional impact,
what fascism is.
719
00:51:34,888 --> 00:51:39,580
But I think this precisely
is the mistake to be avoided.
720
00:51:40,587 --> 00:51:44,070
This song is rather ordinary
popular song.
721
00:51:44,245 --> 00:51:47,259
Incidentally it was composed
while they were
722
00:51:47,434 --> 00:51:50,280
shooting the movie
by a Jewish couple.
723
00:51:50,455 --> 00:51:52,085
Nice irony.
724
00:51:52,882 --> 00:51:57,162
If you look not only at the
music, at the way it is sung,
725
00:51:57,337 --> 00:51:59,595
but even at the words
726
00:51:59,770 --> 00:52:03,204
"awakening of a nation,
tomorrow belongs to me... "
727
00:52:03,379 --> 00:52:06,939
one can well imagine with
a slight change of words
728
00:52:07,114 --> 00:52:10,254
radically leftist,
communist song.
729
00:52:13,191 --> 00:52:18,359
But soon says the whisper:
arise, arise...
730
00:52:26,744 --> 00:52:29,807
The German hard rock
band Rammstein
731
00:52:29,982 --> 00:52:33,416
are often accused of flirting,
playing with
732
00:52:33,591 --> 00:52:36,479
the Nazi militaristic
iconography.
733
00:52:36,654 --> 00:52:39,416
But if one observes
closely their show -
734
00:52:39,591 --> 00:52:42,647
one can see very nicely
what they are doing.
735
00:52:42,822 --> 00:52:48,018
Exemplarily in one of their best
known songs 'Reise Reise'.
736
00:52:55,865 --> 00:52:59,473
Reise, reise,
Seemann reise
737
00:52:59,648 --> 00:53:03,124
Jeder tut's auf seine Weise
738
00:53:03,299 --> 00:53:06,725
Der eine st��t den
Speer zum Mann
739
00:53:06,900 --> 00:53:09,880
Der andere zum Fische dann.
740
00:53:10,055 --> 00:53:13,488
Reise, reise,
Seemann reise...
741
00:53:13,663 --> 00:53:16,803
The minimal elements
of the Nazi ideology
742
00:53:16,978 --> 00:53:20,160
enacted by Rammstein
are something like
743
00:53:20,335 --> 00:53:24,608
pure elements of
libidinal investment.
744
00:53:32,748 --> 00:53:35,434
Enjoyment has to be,
as it were,
745
00:53:35,609 --> 00:53:39,084
condensed in some
minimal tics: gestures,
746
00:53:39,259 --> 00:53:43,154
which do not have any
precise ideological meaning.
747
00:53:44,204 --> 00:53:47,141
What Rammstein does is -
748
00:53:47,316 --> 00:53:52,596
it liberates these elements
from their Nazi articulations.
749
00:53:53,183 --> 00:53:58,890
It allows us to enjoy them in
their pre-ideological state.
750
00:54:10,681 --> 00:54:15,506
The way to fight Nazism
is to enjoy these elements,
751
00:54:15,681 --> 00:54:17,688
ridiculous as they
may appear,
752
00:54:17,863 --> 00:54:22,010
by suspending the
Nazi horizon of meaning.
753
00:54:22,185 --> 00:54:27,381
This way you undermine
Nazism from within.
754
00:54:48,949 --> 00:54:51,802
So how does none the less
ideology do this?
755
00:54:51,977 --> 00:54:56,796
How does it articulate
pre-ideological elements?
756
00:54:56,971 --> 00:55:02,747
These elements can also be
seen as a kind of a bribe.
757
00:55:02,922 --> 00:55:08,209
The way ideology pays us to
seduce us into it's edifice.
758
00:55:08,384 --> 00:55:11,230
These bribes can be
purely libidinal bribes,
759
00:55:11,405 --> 00:55:14,041
all those tics which are
condensed enjoyment.
760
00:55:14,216 --> 00:55:17,356
Or they can be explicit
discursive elements like
761
00:55:17,531 --> 00:55:23,231
notions of solidarity
of collective discipline,
762
00:55:23,406 --> 00:55:27,091
struggle for one's destiny
and so on and so on.
763
00:55:27,266 --> 00:55:32,588
All these in itself are
free floating elements
764
00:55:32,763 --> 00:55:37,882
which open themselves to
different ideological fields.
765
00:55:39,057 --> 00:55:44,517
Let's turn to the high point
of our consumerism.
766
00:55:46,308 --> 00:55:50,141
Let me take a drink...
767
00:55:51,888 --> 00:55:55,381
Some of it -
'Starbucks' coffee.
768
00:55:55,556 --> 00:56:00,416
I am regularly drinking it,
I must admit it.
769
00:56:00,591 --> 00:56:04,578
But are we aware that
when we buy a cappuccino
770
00:56:04,753 --> 00:56:09,869
from 'Starbucks', we also buy
quite a lot of ideology.
771
00:56:10,044 --> 00:56:11,565
Which ideology?
772
00:56:11,740 --> 00:56:14,545
You know when you enter
a 'Starbucks' store
773
00:56:14,720 --> 00:56:17,371
it's usually always displayed
in some posters there,
774
00:56:17,546 --> 00:56:18,809
their message which is:
775
00:56:18,984 --> 00:56:22,354
Yes, our cappuccino is more
expensive than others,
776
00:56:22,529 --> 00:56:24,820
but - and then
comes the story -
777
00:56:24,995 --> 00:56:28,622
we give one percent of
all our income to some
778
00:56:28,797 --> 00:56:31,910
Guatemala children
to keep them healthy.
779
00:56:32,085 --> 00:56:35,250
For the water supply
for some Sahara farmers,
780
00:56:35,425 --> 00:56:39,874
or to save the forests, to enable
organic growing coffee...
781
00:56:40,049 --> 00:56:41,364
whatever, whatever.
782
00:56:41,539 --> 00:56:45,320
Now I admire the ingeniosity
of this solution.
783
00:56:45,495 --> 00:56:49,892
In the old days of
pure simple consumerism
784
00:56:50,067 --> 00:56:53,232
you bought a product
and then you felt bad.
785
00:56:53,407 --> 00:56:55,903
My God, I'm just
a consumerist
786
00:56:56,078 --> 00:56:58,164
while people are
starving in Africa.
787
00:56:58,339 --> 00:57:03,096
So the idea was you had to
do something to counteract
788
00:57:03,271 --> 00:57:05,562
your pure distractive
consumerism.
789
00:57:05,737 --> 00:57:07,926
For example, I don't know,
you contribute
790
00:57:08,131 --> 00:57:09,724
to charity and so on.
791
00:57:09,899 --> 00:57:15,735
What 'Starbucks' enables you
is to be a consumerist and-
792
00:57:16,762 --> 00:57:19,331
be a consumerist without
any bad conscience
793
00:57:19,506 --> 00:57:22,517
because the price
for the counter measure -
794
00:57:22,692 --> 00:57:24,418
for fighting consumerism -
795
00:57:24,593 --> 00:57:28,168
is already included into
the price of a commodity.
796
00:57:28,343 --> 00:57:30,840
Like you pay a little bit more
and you are not just
797
00:57:31,015 --> 00:57:36,621
a consumerist but you do also
your duty towards environment -
798
00:57:37,796 --> 00:57:41,886
the poor, starving people in
Africa and so on and so on.
799
00:57:42,061 --> 00:57:45,585
It's, I think, the ultimate
form of consumerism.
800
00:57:45,760 --> 00:57:49,901
We should not simply
oppose a principal life
801
00:57:50,076 --> 00:57:55,710
dedicated to duty and enjoying
our small pleasures.
802
00:57:57,885 --> 00:58:00,895
Let's take today's capitalism.
803
00:58:01,070 --> 00:58:04,954
We have, on the one hand,
the demands of the circulation
804
00:58:05,129 --> 00:58:09,732
of the capital which push us
towards profit making,
805
00:58:09,907 --> 00:58:15,075
expansion, exploitation and
destruction of nature and,
806
00:58:15,250 --> 00:58:18,775
on the other hand,
ecological demands:
807
00:58:18,950 --> 00:58:23,142
let's think about our posterity
and about our own survival,
808
00:58:23,317 --> 00:58:27,714
let's take care of
nature and so on.
809
00:58:27,889 --> 00:58:31,362
In this opposition between
ruthless pursuit of
810
00:58:31,537 --> 00:58:36,243
capitalist expansion and
ecological awareness -
811
00:58:36,418 --> 00:58:39,582
duty, a strange perverted
duty of course -
812
00:58:39,757 --> 00:58:45,542
duty is on the side
of capitalism,
813
00:58:45,717 --> 00:58:50,680
as many perspicuous
analysts noted.
814
00:58:50,855 --> 00:58:56,588
Capitalism has a strange
religious structure.
815
00:58:56,763 --> 00:59:00,544
It is propelled by this
absolute demand:
816
00:59:00,719 --> 00:59:06,093
capital has to circulate to
reproduce itself to expand -
817
00:59:06,268 --> 00:59:08,764
to multiply itself and
for this goal
818
00:59:08,939 --> 00:59:12,104
anything can be sacrificed,
up to our lives,
819
00:59:12,279 --> 00:59:14,005
up to nature and so on.
820
00:59:14,180 --> 00:59:17,807
Here we have a strange
unconditional injunction.
821
00:59:17,982 --> 00:59:20,222
A true capitalist is a miser
who is ready
822
00:59:20,397 --> 00:59:25,000
to sacrifice everything
for this perverted duty.
823
00:59:33,374 --> 00:59:36,765
What we see here in
Mojave desert
824
00:59:36,940 --> 00:59:40,824
at this resting place for
abandoned planes
825
00:59:40,999 --> 00:59:46,013
is the other side of
capitalist dynamics.
826
00:59:49,198 --> 00:59:52,384
Capitalism is all
the time in crisis.
827
00:59:52,559 --> 00:59:57,162
This is precisely why it appears
almost indestructible.
828
00:59:57,337 --> 00:59:59,525
Crisis is not its obstacle.
829
00:59:59,700 --> 01:00:01,683
It is what pushes
it forwards
830
01:00:01,858 --> 01:00:05,279
towards permanent
self-revolutionising -
831
01:00:05,454 --> 01:00:09,030
permanent, extended
self-reproduction -
832
01:00:09,205 --> 01:00:10,879
always new products.
833
01:00:11,054 --> 01:00:15,555
The other invisible side
of it is waste -
834
01:00:15,730 --> 01:00:19,511
tremendous amount of waste.
835
01:00:20,230 --> 01:00:24,237
We shouldn't react to
these heaps of waste
836
01:00:24,412 --> 01:00:29,426
by trying to somehow
get rid of it.
837
01:00:30,505 --> 01:00:35,283
Maybe the first thing to do
is to accept this waste.
838
01:00:35,458 --> 01:00:38,777
To accept that there
are things out there
839
01:00:38,952 --> 01:00:41,706
which serve nothing.
840
01:00:41,881 --> 01:00:47,203
To break out of this eternal
cycle of functioning.
841
01:00:54,858 --> 01:00:57,273
The German philosopher
Walter Benjamin
842
01:00:57,448 --> 01:01:00,150
said something very deep.
843
01:01:00,325 --> 01:01:03,592
He said that we
experience history -
844
01:01:03,767 --> 01:01:06,572
what does it mean for us to
be historical beings -
845
01:01:06,747 --> 01:01:11,350
not when we are engaged in
things, when things move;
846
01:01:11,525 --> 01:01:14,638
only when we see
this, again,
847
01:01:14,813 --> 01:01:18,183
rest waste of culture being
half retaken by nature -
848
01:01:18,358 --> 01:01:24,119
at that point we get an intuition
of what history means.
849
01:01:28,305 --> 01:01:31,284
Maybe this also accounts
for the redemptive value
850
01:01:31,459 --> 01:01:34,316
of post-catastrophic movies
851
01:01:34,491 --> 01:01:38,015
like I Am Legend and so on.
852
01:01:38,529 --> 01:01:42,279
We see the devastated
human environment,
853
01:01:42,454 --> 01:01:45,105
half empty factories,
machines falling apart,
854
01:01:45,280 --> 01:01:47,622
half empty stores.
855
01:01:47,797 --> 01:01:51,373
What we experience
at this moment,
856
01:01:51,548 --> 01:01:54,507
the psychoanalytic term
for it would have been
857
01:01:54,682 --> 01:01:57,024
the 'Inertia of the Real' -
858
01:01:57,199 --> 01:02:01,751
this mute presence
beyond meaning.
859
01:02:03,241 --> 01:02:04,628
What moments like
860
01:02:04,803 --> 01:02:07,608
confronting planes
here in Mojave Desert
861
01:02:07,783 --> 01:02:09,950
bring to us is
maybe a chance
862
01:02:10,125 --> 01:02:13,825
for an authentic
passive experience.
863
01:02:14,000 --> 01:02:17,062
Maybe without this
properly artistic
864
01:02:17,237 --> 01:02:19,990
moment of
authentic passivity
865
01:02:20,165 --> 01:02:23,638
nothing new can emerge.
866
01:02:25,128 --> 01:02:30,368
Maybe something new only
emerges through the failure,
867
01:02:30,543 --> 01:02:33,913
the suspension of proper
functioning of the
868
01:02:34,088 --> 01:02:36,996
existing network of our life -
869
01:02:37,171 --> 01:02:39,873
where we are.
870
01:02:42,031 --> 01:02:47,323
Maybe this is what we need
more than ever today.
871
01:03:02,119 --> 01:03:06,435
What does the wreck of
the Titanic stand for?
872
01:03:08,593 --> 01:03:10,597
We all know the
standard reading
873
01:03:10,772 --> 01:03:14,480
of the impact of
the sinking of the Titanic.
874
01:03:14,655 --> 01:03:18,765
Not only the film
but the real accident.
875
01:03:19,433 --> 01:03:23,543
This sinking had such an
impact because it happened
876
01:03:23,718 --> 01:03:29,606
in a society still at that point
in all its glitz and glory,
877
01:03:29,781 --> 01:03:34,281
unaware of the decay that
awaited it in the near future -
878
01:03:34,456 --> 01:03:37,313
the World Wars and so on.
879
01:03:37,488 --> 01:03:39,604
But there is something
in excess
880
01:03:39,779 --> 01:03:41,731
of this entire field
of meanings
881
01:03:41,906 --> 01:03:44,762
which is the very
fascinating presence
882
01:03:44,937 --> 01:03:49,438
of the ruin of the Titanic
at the bottom of the ocean.
883
01:03:52,520 --> 01:03:54,524
When James Cameron
organised
884
01:03:54,699 --> 01:03:56,939
a trip to the real
wreck of Titanic
885
01:03:57,114 --> 01:04:00,432
he also made a similar remark.
886
01:04:00,607 --> 01:04:03,977
When the explorers
approached the wreck,
887
01:04:04,152 --> 01:04:07,317
they had this almost
metaphysical experience
888
01:04:07,492 --> 01:04:10,143
that they are approaching
a forbidden territory
889
01:04:10,318 --> 01:04:14,766
in which the sacred and
the obscene overlap.
890
01:04:14,941 --> 01:04:16,513
Yeah, Roger that.
OK, drop down
891
01:04:16,688 --> 01:04:18,825
and go into the first
class gangway door.
892
01:04:19,000 --> 01:04:20,572
I want you guys
working with...
893
01:04:20,747 --> 01:04:24,271
Every effective political,
ideological symbol
894
01:04:24,446 --> 01:04:28,124
or symptom has to rely
on this dimension of
895
01:04:28,299 --> 01:04:31,156
petrified enjoyment.
896
01:04:31,331 --> 01:04:37,115
Of the frozen grimace of
an excessive pleasure in pain.
897
01:04:52,631 --> 01:04:56,228
What am I doing here
in the middle of the ocean -
898
01:04:56,403 --> 01:05:00,389
alone in a boat surrounded
by frozen corpses?
899
01:05:00,571 --> 01:05:01,571
Jack?
900
01:05:01,746 --> 01:05:06,246
I am in a scene from
James Cameron's Titanic...
901
01:05:06,421 --> 01:05:07,428
Jack?
902
01:05:07,603 --> 01:05:13,158
...which is the supreme case of
ideology in recent Hollywood.
903
01:05:15,186 --> 01:05:18,525
Why? Beause
of the imminent
904
01:05:18,700 --> 01:05:20,837
tension to the story
of the film.
905
01:05:21,012 --> 01:05:22,430
- I don't know this dance.
- Neither do I.
906
01:05:22,605 --> 01:05:24,896
Just go with it.
Don't think.
907
01:05:25,071 --> 01:05:26,746
We have at least three levels.
908
01:05:26,921 --> 01:05:30,496
First there is what people
ironically refer to as
909
01:05:30,671 --> 01:05:34,452
James Cameron's
Hollywood Marxism -
910
01:05:36,251 --> 01:05:41,953
this ridiculous fake sympathy
with lower classes.
911
01:05:43,649 --> 01:05:45,601
Up there, first class
passengers -
912
01:05:45,776 --> 01:05:49,197
they are mostly evil,
egotistic, cowardly...
913
01:05:49,372 --> 01:05:51,818
You know I don't
like that, Rose.
914
01:05:51,993 --> 01:05:53,976
...embodied in Kate
Winslet's fianc�
915
01:05:54,151 --> 01:05:56,442
played by Billy Zane.
- She knows.
916
01:05:56,801 --> 01:05:59,422
This whole narrative
is sustained
917
01:05:59,597 --> 01:06:02,761
by a much more
reactionary myth.
918
01:06:05,998 --> 01:06:08,875
Did you see
those guys' faces?
919
01:06:09,050 --> 01:06:13,704
We should ask what role does
the iceberg hitting the ship
920
01:06:13,879 --> 01:06:16,992
play in the development
of the love story?
921
01:06:17,167 --> 01:06:21,770
When the ship docks
I'm getting off with you.
922
01:06:22,695 --> 01:06:24,905
- This is crazy.
- I know.
923
01:06:25,080 --> 01:06:28,450
My claim is here
a slightly cynical one.
924
01:06:28,625 --> 01:06:31,584
This would have been
the true catastrophe.
925
01:06:31,759 --> 01:06:36,156
We can imagine how maybe
after two three weeks of
926
01:06:36,331 --> 01:06:39,033
of intense sex in New York
927
01:06:39,208 --> 01:06:42,475
the love affair would
somehow fade away.
928
01:06:42,650 --> 01:06:45,096
As a paying customer
929
01:06:46,020 --> 01:06:48,795
I expect to get what I want.
930
01:06:51,518 --> 01:06:55,268
Kate Winslet is
an upper class girl -
931
01:06:55,443 --> 01:06:59,225
in psychological
distress, confused,
932
01:06:59,400 --> 01:07:02,666
her ego is in shatters.
933
01:07:02,841 --> 01:07:05,903
And the function
of Leonardo DiCaprio...
934
01:07:06,078 --> 01:07:08,832
Over on the bed,
the couch.
935
01:07:09,007 --> 01:07:14,384
...is simply that he helps her
to reconstitute her ego.
936
01:07:16,559 --> 01:07:18,799
Good. Lie down.
937
01:07:18,974 --> 01:07:21,984
Her self image, literally
he draws her image.
938
01:07:22,159 --> 01:07:23,217
Tell me when it looks right.
939
01:07:23,392 --> 01:07:25,118
Put your arm back
the way it was.
940
01:07:25,293 --> 01:07:28,972
It's really a new version
of one of the old -
941
01:07:29,147 --> 01:07:32,157
favourite imperialist myths.
942
01:07:32,332 --> 01:07:35,343
The idea being that when
the upper class people
943
01:07:35,518 --> 01:07:37,809
lose their vitality
944
01:07:37,984 --> 01:07:41,559
they need a contact
with lower classes.
945
01:07:41,734 --> 01:07:46,902
Basically ruthlessly exploiting
them in a vampire like way -
946
01:07:47,077 --> 01:07:50,088
as it were sucking
from them the life energy.
947
01:07:50,263 --> 01:07:54,557
Revitalised they can join their
secluded upper class life.
948
01:07:54,732 --> 01:07:57,537
My heart was pounding
the whole time.
949
01:07:57,712 --> 01:08:02,059
It was the most erotic
moment of my life.
950
01:08:05,244 --> 01:08:09,251
Up until then at least.
The ship hits the iceberg -
951
01:08:09,426 --> 01:08:15,033
not immediately after sex but
when the couple goes up
952
01:08:16,208 --> 01:08:20,606
to the open space and
decide to stay together.
953
01:08:20,914 --> 01:08:24,202
Oh yes. Hey, look at this.
954
01:08:26,309 --> 01:08:28,723
You know, often in history
955
01:08:28,898 --> 01:08:32,525
the event which may
appear as a catastrophe
956
01:08:32,700 --> 01:08:34,940
saves persons or an idea,
957
01:08:35,115 --> 01:08:37,971
elevating it into a myth.
958
01:08:38,146 --> 01:08:41,105
Remember the intervention
of the Soviet army -
959
01:08:41,280 --> 01:08:46,962
and other Warsaw backed armies
in 1968 in Czechoslovakia -
960
01:08:48,144 --> 01:08:51,997
to strangle the so
called Prague Spring.
961
01:08:52,172 --> 01:08:55,593
The attempt of the Czech
democratic communists
962
01:08:55,768 --> 01:09:00,012
to introduce a more
human faced socialism.
963
01:09:00,783 --> 01:09:04,584
Usually we perceive this
brutal Soviet intervention
964
01:09:04,759 --> 01:09:08,900
as something that destroyed
the brief dream of Prague Spring.
965
01:09:09,075 --> 01:09:12,137
I think it saved the dream.
966
01:09:13,216 --> 01:09:16,658
Either Czechoslovakia would
have turned into an ordinary
967
01:09:16,833 --> 01:09:19,638
liberal capitalist state
968
01:09:19,813 --> 01:09:22,669
or at a certain point - which
was usually the fate of
969
01:09:22,844 --> 01:09:26,420
reformist communists,
the communist in power -
970
01:09:26,595 --> 01:09:28,680
would be obliged
to set a certain limit.
971
01:09:28,855 --> 01:09:31,249
OK, you had you fun,
your freedom -
972
01:09:31,424 --> 01:09:36,078
that's enough, now we
again define the limits.
973
01:09:36,253 --> 01:09:40,086
Again, the paradox is precisely
the Soviet intervention
974
01:09:40,261 --> 01:09:43,323
saved the dream of
the possibility of
975
01:09:43,498 --> 01:09:45,686
another communism
and so on and so on.
976
01:09:45,861 --> 01:09:48,152
So, here again
977
01:09:48,769 --> 01:09:51,851
through the temporal
catastrophe
978
01:09:52,026 --> 01:09:55,962
we have a love story
which is, as it were,
979
01:09:56,137 --> 01:10:00,329
redeemed in it's idea,
saved for eternity.
980
01:10:01,819 --> 01:10:04,541
We can ultimately
read the catastrophe
981
01:10:04,716 --> 01:10:07,244
as a desperate manoeuvre
982
01:10:07,419 --> 01:10:11,221
to save the illusion
of eternal love.
983
01:10:15,125 --> 01:10:18,876
We can see how ideology
works effectively here.
984
01:10:19,051 --> 01:10:21,650
We have two
superficial levels.
985
01:10:21,825 --> 01:10:26,069
All the fascination of
the accident, then
986
01:10:26,244 --> 01:10:29,665
the love story - but all this
which is quite acceptable
987
01:10:29,840 --> 01:10:32,131
for our liberal
progressive minds -
988
01:10:32,306 --> 01:10:35,522
all this is just a trap.
989
01:10:35,697 --> 01:10:39,016
Something to lower
our attention -
990
01:10:39,191 --> 01:10:42,972
threshold, as it were,
to open us up -
991
01:10:43,147 --> 01:10:48,058
to be ready to accept the
true conservative message
992
01:10:48,233 --> 01:10:52,785
of rich people having tried
to revitalise themselves
993
01:10:52,960 --> 01:10:58,796
by ruthlessly appropriating the
vitality of the poor people.
994
01:10:58,971 --> 01:11:00,029
There's no one here, sir.
995
01:11:00,204 --> 01:11:02,701
There is a wonderful detail
which tells everything.
996
01:11:02,876 --> 01:11:03,934
Come back.
997
01:11:04,109 --> 01:11:07,016
When Kate Winslet notices
that Leonardo DiCaprio
998
01:11:07,191 --> 01:11:10,510
is dead, she, of course,
starts to shout
999
01:11:10,685 --> 01:11:12,667
"I will never let go,
I will never let go"
1000
01:11:12,842 --> 01:11:15,853
while at the same moment...
- I will never let go.
1001
01:11:16,028 --> 01:11:19,552
- I promise.
... she pushes him off.
1002
01:11:20,580 --> 01:11:25,872
He is what we may call ironically
a vanishing mediator.
1003
01:11:27,464 --> 01:11:29,930
This logic of the
production of the couple
1004
01:11:30,105 --> 01:11:32,910
has a long history
in Hollywood.
1005
01:11:33,085 --> 01:11:34,503
Whatever the story is about -
1006
01:11:34,678 --> 01:11:37,329
it may be about the end of
the world, an asteroid
1007
01:11:37,504 --> 01:11:40,925
threatening the very
survival of humanity
1008
01:11:41,100 --> 01:11:43,494
or a great war, whatever.
1009
01:11:43,669 --> 01:11:47,964
As a rule we always
have a couple whose
1010
01:11:48,139 --> 01:11:52,279
link is threatened and
who somehow through
1011
01:11:52,454 --> 01:11:57,880
this ordeal at the end
happily gets together.
1012
01:11:59,472 --> 01:12:02,658
This logic does not hold
only for Hollywood films.
1013
01:12:11,032 --> 01:12:14,474
In the late forties,
in Soviet Union,
1014
01:12:14,649 --> 01:12:17,197
they produced arguably
one of the most expensive
1015
01:12:17,372 --> 01:12:18,585
film of all times:
1016
01:12:18,760 --> 01:12:20,793
The Fall of Berlin.
1017
01:12:21,616 --> 01:12:24,698
The chronicle of the
second World War
1018
01:12:24,873 --> 01:12:26,240
from the Soviet standpoint.
1019
01:12:26,415 --> 01:12:28,757
And it's incredible how
closely this film
1020
01:12:28,932 --> 01:12:32,970
also follows the logic of
the production of a couple.
1021
01:12:33,638 --> 01:12:35,487
The story begins just before
1022
01:12:35,662 --> 01:12:37,440
the German attack
on the Soviet Union,
1023
01:12:37,615 --> 01:12:40,317
when the model worker
who is in love
1024
01:12:40,492 --> 01:12:45,763
with a local girl but is too
shy to propose to her,
1025
01:12:45,938 --> 01:12:50,592
is called to Moscow to get
a medal from Comrade Stalin.
1026
01:12:51,414 --> 01:12:56,501
There Stalin notices his
confusion, distress,
1027
01:12:56,676 --> 01:12:59,070
and Stalin gives
him some advice -
1028
01:12:59,245 --> 01:13:01,279
which poetry
to quote and so on.
1029
01:13:01,454 --> 01:13:04,259
This part unfortunately
was lost
1030
01:13:04,434 --> 01:13:08,060
because in the background
of this scene there was Beria -
1031
01:13:08,235 --> 01:13:10,681
a Soviet politician who
after Stalin's death
1032
01:13:10,856 --> 01:13:12,736
became a 'non-person' -
1033
01:13:12,911 --> 01:13:15,099
was shot as a traitor.
1034
01:13:15,274 --> 01:13:19,312
But we know from the
screenplay what was there.
1035
01:13:19,487 --> 01:13:22,087
If Stalin gives you love
advice it has to succeed -
1036
01:13:22,262 --> 01:13:25,220
so the couple embraces.
1037
01:13:33,492 --> 01:13:37,088
He carries her probably
to make love.
1038
01:13:41,815 --> 01:13:44,333
At that very moment
there is the triumphant,
1039
01:13:44,508 --> 01:13:47,210
violent entrance
of the obstacle:
1040
01:13:47,385 --> 01:13:51,217
German planes come,
dropping bombs.
1041
01:14:01,338 --> 01:14:02,983
The girl is taken prisoner.
1042
01:14:08,737 --> 01:14:11,152
The boy of course joins
the Red Army
1043
01:14:11,327 --> 01:14:14,594
and we follow him through
all the great battles.
1044
01:14:14,769 --> 01:14:19,012
The idea being that in a
deeper logic of the film -
1045
01:14:19,187 --> 01:14:21,581
what these battles
were about -
1046
01:14:21,756 --> 01:14:25,126
was really to
recreate the couple.
1047
01:14:25,301 --> 01:14:28,363
The boy has to get his girl.
1048
01:14:28,538 --> 01:14:30,726
This is what happens
at the end,
1049
01:14:30,901 --> 01:14:34,559
but in a very strange
way which reconfirms
1050
01:14:34,734 --> 01:14:39,152
Stalin's role as the supreme
divine matchmaker.
1051
01:14:42,954 --> 01:14:46,756
The scene itself, Stalin
emerging himself into
1052
01:14:46,931 --> 01:14:51,072
a crowd of ordinary people
never happened.
1053
01:14:51,247 --> 01:14:54,360
Stalin was totally paranoid
about flying,
1054
01:14:54,535 --> 01:14:56,775
about taking planes.
1055
01:14:56,950 --> 01:15:01,758
But none the less when he
saw this scene he cried.
1056
01:15:12,239 --> 01:15:17,017
Of course he himself as you
know, wrote the lines.
1057
01:15:17,480 --> 01:15:20,305
When the couple
encounters each other
1058
01:15:20,480 --> 01:15:24,158
the girl first sees Stalin,
1059
01:15:24,333 --> 01:15:27,498
then she turns around
and, surprised,
1060
01:15:27,673 --> 01:15:28,885
sees her lover
1061
01:15:29,060 --> 01:15:31,968
for whom she was waiting
all the time of the war.
1062
01:15:34,434 --> 01:15:37,106
So it's only through
the presence of Stalin
1063
01:15:37,281 --> 01:15:39,983
that the couple
gets reunited.
1064
01:15:52,878 --> 01:15:55,293
This is how ideology works.
1065
01:15:55,468 --> 01:15:57,759
Not the explicit
ideology of the film -
1066
01:15:57,934 --> 01:15:59,814
which we hear at the
end Stalin saying:
1067
01:15:59,989 --> 01:16:02,435
now all the free people
will enjoy peace
1068
01:16:02,610 --> 01:16:03,668
and so on and so on.
1069
01:16:03,843 --> 01:16:08,651
But precisely ideology
at its more fundamental.
1070
01:16:10,706 --> 01:16:15,227
This apparently totally
subordinated motive -
1071
01:16:15,402 --> 01:16:17,282
unimportant in itself -
1072
01:16:17,457 --> 01:16:22,574
the story of a couple, this is
what is the key element,
1073
01:16:22,749 --> 01:16:25,862
which holds the
entire film together,
1074
01:16:26,037 --> 01:16:30,897
that small surplus element
which attracts us,
1075
01:16:31,072 --> 01:16:33,774
which maintains
our attention.
1076
01:16:33,949 --> 01:16:37,165
This is how ideology works.
1077
01:16:38,501 --> 01:16:40,351
Nice.
1078
01:16:41,840 --> 01:16:44,255
Everything clean.
1079
01:16:44,739 --> 01:16:46,670
Oiled.
1080
01:16:48,519 --> 01:16:51,345
So that your action
is beautiful.
1081
01:16:55,044 --> 01:16:56,277
Smooth, Charlene.
1082
01:16:56,452 --> 01:16:58,281
We usually think that
military discipline
1083
01:16:58,456 --> 01:17:02,340
is just a matter of mindlessly
following orders.
1084
01:17:02,515 --> 01:17:04,498
Obeying the rules.
1085
01:17:04,673 --> 01:17:07,324
You don't think - you do
what is your duty.
1086
01:17:07,499 --> 01:17:08,865
It's not as simple as that.
1087
01:17:09,040 --> 01:17:13,797
If we do this, we just
become machines.
1088
01:17:13,972 --> 01:17:16,417
There has to be
something more.
1089
01:17:16,592 --> 01:17:20,591
This more can have
two basic forms.
1090
01:17:20,766 --> 01:17:26,086
The first more benign form
is an ironic distance.
1091
01:17:26,261 --> 01:17:29,174
Best epitomised by the
well known movie
1092
01:17:29,349 --> 01:17:31,634
and TV series'M.A.S.H.'...
1093
01:17:31,809 --> 01:17:32,942
Hawkeye?
1094
01:17:33,117 --> 01:17:35,506
...where the military
doctors are involved
1095
01:17:35,681 --> 01:17:38,123
in sexual escapades,
1096
01:17:38,298 --> 01:17:40,845
make jokes all the time.
1097
01:17:41,211 --> 01:17:44,142
Some people took Robert
Altman's movie M.A.S.H.
1098
01:17:44,317 --> 01:17:48,800
as a kind of antimilitaristic,
satiric product,
1099
01:17:48,975 --> 01:17:50,161
but it's not.
1100
01:17:50,336 --> 01:17:53,039
We should always bear
in mind that these
1101
01:17:53,214 --> 01:17:55,499
soldiers with all their
practical jokes -
1102
01:17:55,674 --> 01:17:58,220
making fun of their
superiors and so on -
1103
01:17:58,395 --> 01:18:01,413
operated perfectly
as soldiers.
1104
01:18:01,588 --> 01:18:03,664
They did their duty.
1105
01:18:03,839 --> 01:18:06,019
This one's for you, babe.
1106
01:18:06,194 --> 01:18:10,206
Much more ominous
is a kind of obscene
1107
01:18:10,381 --> 01:18:15,597
supplement to
pure military discipline.
1108
01:18:15,772 --> 01:18:19,260
In practically all movies
about U.S. Marines,
1109
01:18:19,435 --> 01:18:22,819
the best-known embodiment
of this obscenity
1110
01:18:22,994 --> 01:18:25,593
are marching chants.
1111
01:18:25,768 --> 01:18:29,518
A mixture of nonsense...
- I don't know but I've been told.
1112
01:18:29,693 --> 01:18:32,239
Eskimo pussy is mighty cold.
1113
01:18:32,414 --> 01:18:34,647
...and obscenity.
1114
01:18:36,165 --> 01:18:41,294
This is not undermining,
making fun of military discipline.
1115
01:18:42,445 --> 01:18:46,161
It is it's inner most constituent.
1116
01:18:46,336 --> 01:18:50,016
You take this obscene
supplement away -
1117
01:18:50,191 --> 01:18:54,796
and military machine
stops working.
1118
01:18:54,971 --> 01:18:58,041
Well, no shit.
What have we got here?
1119
01:18:58,216 --> 01:19:00,397
A fucking comedian?
Private Joker.
1120
01:19:00,572 --> 01:19:02,437
I admire your honesty.
1121
01:19:02,612 --> 01:19:04,112
Hell, I like you.
You can come over
1122
01:19:04,287 --> 01:19:06,939
to my house and
fuck my sister.
1123
01:19:07,410 --> 01:19:08,980
You little scumbag!
1124
01:19:09,155 --> 01:19:11,596
I've got your name!
I've got your ass!
1125
01:19:11,771 --> 01:19:13,742
You will not laugh.
You will not cry.
1126
01:19:13,917 --> 01:19:16,307
You will learn by the numbers.
I will teach you.
1127
01:19:16,482 --> 01:19:18,348
Now get up!
Get on your feet!
1128
01:19:18,767 --> 01:19:21,436
You had best unfuck yourself
or I will unscrew
1129
01:19:21,611 --> 01:19:23,477
your head and shit
down your neck.
1130
01:19:23,652 --> 01:19:25,204
- Sir, yes, sir!
- Private Joker,
1131
01:19:25,379 --> 01:19:27,402
why don't you join
my beloved corps?
1132
01:19:27,577 --> 01:19:29,966
I think that the
drill sergeant -
1133
01:19:30,141 --> 01:19:35,177
the way it is played in
an exemplary way in
1134
01:19:36,352 --> 01:19:38,864
Stanley Kubrick's
Full Metal Jacket -
1135
01:19:39,039 --> 01:19:42,580
that the drill sergeant
is rather a tragic figure.
1136
01:19:42,755 --> 01:19:45,877
I always like to imagine
him as the person who
1137
01:19:46,052 --> 01:19:49,959
after his work returns home,
is quite decent and so on.
1138
01:19:50,134 --> 01:19:52,000
This is my rifle,
this is my gun.
1139
01:19:52,175 --> 01:19:55,769
All this obscene shouting
is just a show put on
1140
01:19:55,944 --> 01:19:58,647
not so much to impress
ordinary soldiers
1141
01:19:58,822 --> 01:20:01,787
whom he is training
as to bribe them
1142
01:20:01,962 --> 01:20:04,614
with bits of enjoyment.
1143
01:20:06,445 --> 01:20:09,638
It's not just a question
of these obscenities,
1144
01:20:09,813 --> 01:20:11,522
which sustains the
military machinery;
1145
01:20:11,731 --> 01:20:15,186
it's another more general rule
which holds for
1146
01:20:15,361 --> 01:20:18,692
military communities,
but even more
1147
01:20:18,867 --> 01:20:22,355
I would say, for all
human communities.
1148
01:20:22,530 --> 01:20:26,071
From the largest nations,
ethnic groups,
1149
01:20:26,246 --> 01:20:29,212
up to small university
departments and so on.
1150
01:20:29,387 --> 01:20:33,346
You don't only have
explicit rules.
1151
01:20:33,521 --> 01:20:38,475
You always, in order to become
part of a community,
1152
01:20:38,650 --> 01:20:42,191
you need some implicit
unwritten rules
1153
01:20:42,366 --> 01:20:45,122
which are never
publicly recognised
1154
01:20:45,297 --> 01:20:48,315
but are absolutely crucial
as the point of
1155
01:20:48,490 --> 01:20:51,193
the identification
of a group.
1156
01:20:53,444 --> 01:20:56,113
In the U.K. everyone
knows about
1157
01:20:56,288 --> 01:20:58,520
the obscene
unwritten rituals,
1158
01:20:58,695 --> 01:21:03,544
which regulate life
in public schools.
1159
01:21:03,719 --> 01:21:05,201
That'll be all. Thank
you, Finchley.
1160
01:21:05,376 --> 01:21:07,261
I want to see all whips
in my study after break.
1161
01:21:07,436 --> 01:21:09,615
- Right, sir.
- Oh, how was India? Enjoy it?
1162
01:21:09,790 --> 01:21:10,871
- Jolly good.
- Bridges!
1163
01:21:11,046 --> 01:21:13,436
I'll labor night and day...
1164
01:21:13,611 --> 01:21:18,303
Just think about Lindsay
Anderson's classic 'If... '.
1165
01:21:19,350 --> 01:21:21,391
The public life
is democratic -
1166
01:21:21,566 --> 01:21:24,270
we have professors who
interact with their pupils,
1167
01:21:24,445 --> 01:21:28,090
nice atmosphere,
teaching, friendship,
1168
01:21:28,265 --> 01:21:29,922
spirit of cooperation -
1169
01:21:30,097 --> 01:21:32,905
but then we all know
what happens
1170
01:21:33,080 --> 01:21:35,417
beneath the surface.
1171
01:21:39,343 --> 01:21:43,320
Older pupils torturing, sexually
abusing the younger.
1172
01:21:43,495 --> 01:21:48,554
This same mixture of obscenity
and sadistic violence.
1173
01:21:50,072 --> 01:21:52,427
And again what is
crucial here is
1174
01:21:52,602 --> 01:21:55,358
we should not simply
put all the blame
1175
01:21:55,533 --> 01:21:59,545
or all the enjoyment
on the older pupils.
1176
01:22:02,633 --> 01:22:04,150
The victims even are
1177
01:22:04,325 --> 01:22:08,494
part of this infernal
cycle of obscenity.
1178
01:22:09,174 --> 01:22:12,681
It's as if in order to really be
a member of a community
1179
01:22:12,856 --> 01:22:14,879
you have to render
you hands dirty.
1180
01:22:15,054 --> 01:22:19,328
And I think even the
Abu Ghraib scandal -
1181
01:22:19,503 --> 01:22:23,253
of American soldiers
torturing or
1182
01:22:23,428 --> 01:22:26,759
especially humiliating
Iraqi prisoners -
1183
01:22:26,934 --> 01:22:28,696
is to be read in this way.
1184
01:22:28,871 --> 01:22:32,150
It's not simply, we the
arrogant Americans
1185
01:22:32,325 --> 01:22:34,192
are humiliating others.
1186
01:22:34,367 --> 01:22:37,646
What Iraqi soldiers
experienced there
1187
01:22:37,821 --> 01:22:41,414
was the staging of
the obscene underside
1188
01:22:41,589 --> 01:22:44,868
of the American
military culture.
1189
01:22:46,961 --> 01:22:50,677
In Full Metal Jacket it's
the character of Joker -
1190
01:22:50,852 --> 01:22:52,195
played by
Matthew Modine -
1191
01:22:52,370 --> 01:22:55,388
who is close to what we
would call a normal soldier.
1192
01:22:55,563 --> 01:22:58,162
A M.A.S.H. type of soldier.
1193
01:22:58,528 --> 01:23:00,935
He has proper
ironic distance.
1194
01:23:01,110 --> 01:23:03,447
He proves, at
the end, militarily,
1195
01:23:03,622 --> 01:23:06,274
the most efficient soldier.
1196
01:23:13,234 --> 01:23:14,595
Returning back to me.
1197
01:23:14,770 --> 01:23:17,578
Why then will I soon
shoot myself?
1198
01:23:17,753 --> 01:23:20,457
Something went wrong
there. But what?
1199
01:23:20,632 --> 01:23:21,765
Lock and load!
1200
01:23:21,940 --> 01:23:25,743
I did not just run amok.
1201
01:23:26,266 --> 01:23:28,412
Order.
1202
01:23:30,035 --> 01:23:32,023
This is my rifle.
1203
01:23:32,198 --> 01:23:35,616
There are many like it,
but this one is mine.
1204
01:23:35,791 --> 01:23:38,827
But I got too
directly identified
1205
01:23:39,002 --> 01:23:40,973
with these obscene rituals.
1206
01:23:41,148 --> 01:23:42,595
I lost the distance.
1207
01:23:42,770 --> 01:23:44,584
I took them seriously.
1208
01:23:44,759 --> 01:23:46,607
What in the name
of Jesus H. Christ
1209
01:23:46,782 --> 01:23:48,771
are you animals doing
in my head?
1210
01:23:48,946 --> 01:23:51,545
If you get too close to it,
1211
01:23:51,720 --> 01:23:54,685
if you over
identify with it,
1212
01:23:54,860 --> 01:23:57,930
if you really immediately
become the voice
1213
01:23:58,105 --> 01:24:01,908
of this super ego,
it's self destructive.
1214
01:24:02,083 --> 01:24:03,478
You kill people around you -
1215
01:24:03,653 --> 01:24:06,513
you end up
killing yourself.
1216
01:24:28,547 --> 01:24:30,431
Oh, shh, shh, shh.
1217
01:24:30,606 --> 01:24:34,304
So you think Batman's made
Gotham a better place? Hm?
1218
01:24:34,775 --> 01:24:36,397
Look at me.
1219
01:24:36,572 --> 01:24:38,281
Look at me!
1220
01:24:42,259 --> 01:24:45,818
You see, this is how crazy
Batman's made Gotham.
1221
01:24:45,993 --> 01:24:48,121
You want order in Gotham -
1222
01:24:48,296 --> 01:24:52,517
Batman must take off his
mask and turn himself in.
1223
01:24:52,692 --> 01:24:56,599
Oh, and every day he
doesn't, people will die.
1224
01:24:56,774 --> 01:24:58,692
Starting tonight.
1225
01:24:58,867 --> 01:25:00,211
I'm a man of my word.
1226
01:25:00,386 --> 01:25:03,821
So who is Joker?
1227
01:25:04,450 --> 01:25:09,631
- If we're gonna play games...
Which is the lie he is opposing?
1228
01:25:10,416 --> 01:25:12,667
...I'm gonna need
a cup of coffee.
1229
01:25:12,842 --> 01:25:17,063
Ah, the 'good cop,
bad cop' routine?
1230
01:25:17,238 --> 01:25:18,738
Not exactly.
1231
01:25:18,913 --> 01:25:23,867
The truly disturbing thing
about The Dark Knight
1232
01:25:24,042 --> 01:25:29,293
is that it elevates lie into
a general social principal -
1233
01:25:32,468 --> 01:25:34,648
into the principal
of organisation
1234
01:25:34,823 --> 01:25:36,741
of our social political life.
1235
01:25:36,916 --> 01:25:40,928
As if our societies
can remain stable,
1236
01:25:41,103 --> 01:25:43,650
can function, only
if based on a lie.
1237
01:25:43,825 --> 01:25:46,685
As if telling the truth,
and this telling the truth
1238
01:25:46,860 --> 01:25:51,710
embodies in Joker
means distraction.
1239
01:25:51,885 --> 01:25:53,751
Disintegration of
the social order.
1240
01:25:53,926 --> 01:25:55,111
Never start with the head.
1241
01:25:55,286 --> 01:25:56,810
The victim gets all fuzzy.
1242
01:25:56,985 --> 01:25:58,618
He can't feel the next...
1243
01:25:58,793 --> 01:26:02,229
Toward the end it is
as if lie functions
1244
01:26:02,404 --> 01:26:05,160
as a hot potato passing from
1245
01:26:05,335 --> 01:26:07,777
one person's hand to
another person's hand.
1246
01:26:07,952 --> 01:26:10,394
First there is Harvey Dent.
1247
01:26:11,807 --> 01:26:13,481
So be it. Take the Batman
into custody...
1248
01:26:13,656 --> 01:26:16,622
The public prosecutor
who lies.
1249
01:26:17,250 --> 01:26:20,024
- I am the Batman.
Claiming that he is the real
1250
01:26:20,199 --> 01:26:24,629
person behind Batman's mask.
That he is Batman.
1251
01:26:25,833 --> 01:26:27,299
Then we have Gordon -
1252
01:26:27,474 --> 01:26:30,125
honest policeman,
Batman's friend, who
1253
01:26:30,300 --> 01:26:34,469
fakes, stages his
own death.
1254
01:26:41,639 --> 01:26:45,040
Five dead.
Two of them cops.
1255
01:26:45,215 --> 01:26:46,820
You can't sweep that off.
1256
01:26:46,995 --> 01:26:52,263
At the end, Batman himself
takes upon himself...
1257
01:26:52,438 --> 01:26:55,298
- But the Joker cannot win.
... the crimes, murders committed
1258
01:26:55,473 --> 01:26:59,695
by Harvey Dent, the public
prosecutor turned criminal...
1259
01:26:59,870 --> 01:27:02,887
Gotham needs
its true hero.
1260
01:27:03,830 --> 01:27:08,731
...in order to maintain
the trust of the public
1261
01:27:08,906 --> 01:27:11,104
into the legal system.
1262
01:27:11,279 --> 01:27:14,454
The idea is if the ordinary
public were to learn
1263
01:27:14,629 --> 01:27:18,309
how corrupt was or
is the very core of our
1264
01:27:18,484 --> 01:27:21,624
legal system then everything
would have collapsed -
1265
01:27:21,799 --> 01:27:25,549
so we need a lie
to maintain order.
1266
01:27:25,724 --> 01:27:27,329
A hero.
1267
01:27:27,504 --> 01:27:31,149
Not the hero we deserved,
but the hero we needed.
1268
01:27:31,324 --> 01:27:35,179
Nothing less than
a knight, shining.
1269
01:27:35,354 --> 01:27:36,854
There's nothing new in this.
1270
01:27:37,029 --> 01:27:40,046
This is an old
conservative wisdom
1271
01:27:40,221 --> 01:27:44,338
asserted long ago by
philosophers from Plato
1272
01:27:44,513 --> 01:27:47,059
especially, and then
Immanuel Kant,
1273
01:27:47,234 --> 01:27:48,996
Edmond Burke and
so on and so on.
1274
01:27:49,171 --> 01:27:52,555
This idea that the truth
is too strong.
1275
01:27:52,730 --> 01:27:56,428
That a politician should
be a cynicist who,
1276
01:27:56,603 --> 01:28:00,039
although he
knows what is true,
1277
01:28:00,214 --> 01:28:04,749
tells to ordinary people what
Plato called 'a noble fable' -
1278
01:28:04,924 --> 01:28:06,058
a lie.
1279
01:28:06,233 --> 01:28:10,977
Um, the United States
knows that Iraq
1280
01:28:11,152 --> 01:28:13,803
has weapons of
mass destruction.
1281
01:28:13,978 --> 01:28:15,740
The U.K. knows
that they have
1282
01:28:15,915 --> 01:28:17,048
weapons of mass destruction.
1283
01:28:17,223 --> 01:28:18,985
Any country on
the face of the earth
1284
01:28:19,160 --> 01:28:20,869
with an active
intelligence program
1285
01:28:21,044 --> 01:28:24,271
knows that Iraq has weapons
of mass destruction.
1286
01:28:24,446 --> 01:28:27,568
Which could be activated
within forty five minutes
1287
01:28:27,743 --> 01:28:30,185
including against his
own Shia population.
1288
01:28:30,360 --> 01:28:33,587
The choice is his and
if he does not disarm,
1289
01:28:33,762 --> 01:28:37,407
the United States of America
will lead a coalition
1290
01:28:37,582 --> 01:28:40,338
and disarm him
in the name of peace.
1291
01:28:40,757 --> 01:28:43,897
Let's be frank.
We can have a state -
1292
01:28:44,072 --> 01:28:46,304
public system of power -
1293
01:28:46,479 --> 01:28:50,230
as legitimate as you want
submitted to critical press,
1294
01:28:50,405 --> 01:28:53,161
democratic elections and
so on and so on,
1295
01:28:53,336 --> 01:28:56,824
apparently just
serves us.
1296
01:28:56,999 --> 01:28:59,912
But nonetheless, if you
look closely into
1297
01:29:00,087 --> 01:29:05,774
how even the most democratic
state power functions
1298
01:29:05,949 --> 01:29:09,123
in order for it to display
true authority,
1299
01:29:09,298 --> 01:29:12,787
and power needs authority,
there has to be, as it were,
1300
01:29:12,962 --> 01:29:17,916
between the lines all the
time this message of:
1301
01:29:18,091 --> 01:29:20,951
"Yeah, yeah, yeah, we are
legalised through elections
1302
01:29:21,126 --> 01:29:25,191
"but basically we can do with
you whatever we want. "
1303
01:29:25,976 --> 01:29:28,592
Because that's what
needs to happen.
1304
01:29:29,377 --> 01:29:32,989
Because sometimes,
truth isn't good enough.
1305
01:29:34,192 --> 01:29:36,548
Sometimes people
deserve more.
1306
01:29:39,635 --> 01:29:41,415
Sometimes people
deserve
1307
01:29:41,590 --> 01:29:43,404
to have their
faith rewarded.
1308
01:29:43,579 --> 01:29:45,654
One of the
great platitudes -
1309
01:29:45,829 --> 01:29:47,015
which are popular today
1310
01:29:47,190 --> 01:29:51,916
when we are confronted
with acts of violence -
1311
01:29:52,091 --> 01:29:56,279
is to refer to Fyodor
Dostoyevsky's
1312
01:29:56,454 --> 01:29:59,366
famous statement from
'The Brothers Karamazov':
1313
01:29:59,541 --> 01:30:03,710
"If there is no God then
everything is permitted. "
1314
01:30:03,885 --> 01:30:06,867
Well, the first problem with
this statement is that
1315
01:30:07,042 --> 01:30:10,217
Dostoyevsky, of course,
never made it.
1316
01:30:10,696 --> 01:30:13,514
The first one who used
this phrase as
1317
01:30:13,689 --> 01:30:15,747
allegedly made by
Dostoyevsky was
1318
01:30:15,922 --> 01:30:17,980
Jean-Paul Sartre in '43,
1319
01:30:18,155 --> 01:30:21,809
but the main
point is that this
1320
01:30:21,984 --> 01:30:24,946
statement is simply wrong.
1321
01:30:25,121 --> 01:30:28,456
Even a brief look at our
predicament today
1322
01:30:28,631 --> 01:30:30,742
clearly tells us this.
1323
01:30:34,305 --> 01:30:36,060
It is precisely:
1324
01:30:36,235 --> 01:30:41,058
if there is God, that
everything is permitted
1325
01:30:41,233 --> 01:30:44,036
to those who not
only believe in God
1326
01:30:44,211 --> 01:30:47,545
but who perceive
themselves as instruments,
1327
01:30:47,720 --> 01:30:50,736
direct instruments
of the divine will.
1328
01:30:52,278 --> 01:30:56,000
If you posit or perceive
or legitimise yourself
1329
01:30:56,175 --> 01:30:58,765
as a direct instrument
of the divine will,
1330
01:30:58,940 --> 01:31:03,657
then of course all narrow
petty moral considerations
1331
01:31:03,832 --> 01:31:06,156
disappear.
1332
01:31:08,602 --> 01:31:11,261
How can you even think
in such narrow terms
1333
01:31:11,436 --> 01:31:15,674
when you are a direct
instrument of God?
1334
01:31:16,046 --> 01:31:19,609
This is how so-called religious
fundamentalists work,
1335
01:31:19,784 --> 01:31:21,683
but not only them.
1336
01:31:21,858 --> 01:31:25,724
Every form of so called
totalitarianism
1337
01:31:25,899 --> 01:31:29,553
works like that even
if it is presented
1338
01:31:29,728 --> 01:31:33,381
or if it presents
itself as atheist.
1339
01:31:33,556 --> 01:31:35,083
Let's take Stalinism.
1340
01:31:35,258 --> 01:31:40,932
Officially Stalinism was based
on atheist Marxist theory,
1341
01:31:41,107 --> 01:31:45,877
but if we look closely at
the subjective experience
1342
01:31:46,052 --> 01:31:50,450
of a Stalinist
political agent,
1343
01:31:50,625 --> 01:31:52,562
leader, we see that
1344
01:31:52,737 --> 01:31:55,236
it's not a position of
an arrogant master,
1345
01:31:55,411 --> 01:31:57,097
who can do
whatever he wants.
1346
01:31:57,272 --> 01:32:01,244
It's, on the contrary, the
position of a perfect servant.
1347
01:32:01,419 --> 01:32:05,339
In a Stalinist universe
there definitely is
1348
01:32:05,514 --> 01:32:09,380
what in psychoanalytic theory
we call the 'Big Other'.
1349
01:33:18,346 --> 01:33:21,271
This 'Big Other' in the
Stalinist universe
1350
01:33:21,446 --> 01:33:23,558
has many names.
1351
01:33:25,100 --> 01:33:27,599
The best known of them
are the necessity of
1352
01:33:27,774 --> 01:33:30,257
historical progress
towards communism
1353
01:33:30,432 --> 01:33:32,916
or simply history.
1354
01:33:33,091 --> 01:33:34,884
History itself is the 'Big Other'.
1355
01:33:35,059 --> 01:33:39,510
History as the necessary
succession of historical stages.
1356
01:34:02,747 --> 01:34:06,044
A communist experiences
himself as simply
1357
01:34:06,219 --> 01:34:10,138
an instrument whose
function is to actualise
1358
01:34:10,313 --> 01:34:12,637
a historical necessity.
1359
01:34:16,944 --> 01:34:19,550
The people, the
mythic people -
1360
01:34:19,725 --> 01:34:23,591
whose instrument the
totalitarian leader is -
1361
01:34:23,766 --> 01:34:28,589
are never simply the actually
existing individuals,
1362
01:34:28,764 --> 01:34:30,291
groups of people and so on.
1363
01:34:30,466 --> 01:34:35,076
It's some kind of imagined
idealised point of reference
1364
01:34:35,251 --> 01:34:39,490
which works even when,
for example in
1365
01:34:39,665 --> 01:34:42,362
rebellions against
the communist rule
1366
01:34:42,537 --> 01:34:44,329
like in Hungary '56,
1367
01:34:44,504 --> 01:34:48,795
when the large majority
of actually resisting people
1368
01:34:48,970 --> 01:34:52,305
raises up, is opposed
to the regime.
1369
01:34:52,837 --> 01:34:56,293
They can still say: "No,
these are just individuals,
1370
01:34:56,468 --> 01:34:59,058
"they are not
the true people. "
1371
01:34:59,377 --> 01:35:00,813
When you are accused
of: "My God,
1372
01:35:00,988 --> 01:35:03,099
"how could you have been doing
all of these horrible things?"
1373
01:35:03,274 --> 01:35:05,014
You could have said,
and this is the
1374
01:35:05,189 --> 01:35:07,300
standard Stalinist excuse:
1375
01:35:07,475 --> 01:35:10,544
"Of course my heart bleeds
for all the poor victims,
1376
01:35:10,719 --> 01:35:13,468
"I am not fully
responsible for it.
1377
01:35:13,643 --> 01:35:17,403
"I was only acting on
behalf of the 'Big Other'".
1378
01:35:24,103 --> 01:35:26,975
"As for myself, I like cats,
1379
01:35:27,150 --> 01:35:28,570
"small children",
whatever -
1380
01:35:28,745 --> 01:35:30,856
this is always part
of the iconography of
1381
01:35:31,031 --> 01:35:32,824
a Stalinist leader.
1382
01:35:33,887 --> 01:35:36,758
Lenin in Stalinism is
always presented as
1383
01:35:36,933 --> 01:35:40,428
someone who likes small
children and cats.
1384
01:35:40,603 --> 01:35:41,603
The implication being -
1385
01:35:41,778 --> 01:35:44,894
Lenin had to order many
killings and so on, but
1386
01:35:45,069 --> 01:35:46,489
his heart
was not there -
1387
01:35:46,664 --> 01:35:48,829
this was his duty
as instrument of
1388
01:35:49,004 --> 01:35:52,019
historical progress and
so on and so on.
1389
01:35:53,136 --> 01:35:55,742
The way to undermine
Stalinism is not simply
1390
01:35:55,917 --> 01:35:58,241
to make fun of the
leader which can be,
1391
01:35:58,416 --> 01:36:00,846
up to a point
even tolerated.
1392
01:36:01,021 --> 01:36:04,409
It is to undermine
this very reference,
1393
01:36:04,584 --> 01:36:08,329
mythic reference which
legitimises the Stalinist leader:
1394
01:36:08,833 --> 01:36:09,886
the people.
1395
01:36:30,198 --> 01:36:32,485
This is how I read
1396
01:36:32,660 --> 01:36:36,632
the by far best work
of Milo� Forman -
1397
01:36:36,807 --> 01:36:39,982
his early Czech films.
1398
01:36:52,425 --> 01:36:55,084
Black Peter,
The Loves of a Blond,
1399
01:36:55,259 --> 01:36:58,168
and Firemen's Ball
where he mocks
1400
01:36:58,343 --> 01:37:01,465
precisely the
ordinary people.
1401
01:37:03,964 --> 01:37:06,091
In their daily
conformission,
1402
01:37:06,266 --> 01:37:09,122
stupidity, egotistic lust
1403
01:37:09,297 --> 01:37:11,249
and so on and so on.
1404
01:37:21,405 --> 01:37:24,648
It may appear that this is
something very arrogant -
1405
01:37:24,823 --> 01:37:27,573
but no, I think that
this is the way to
1406
01:37:27,748 --> 01:37:31,455
undermine the entire structure
of the Stalinist universe.
1407
01:37:31,630 --> 01:37:34,645
To demonstrate not that
leaders are not leaders,
1408
01:37:34,820 --> 01:37:36,241
they are always ready to say:
"Oh, but we are just
1409
01:37:36,416 --> 01:37:37,783
"ordinary people like you. "
1410
01:37:37,958 --> 01:37:41,558
No! That there is no
mythic people
1411
01:37:41,733 --> 01:37:45,705
which serves as the
ultimate legitimisation.
1412
01:37:55,755 --> 01:37:58,095
So what is the 'Big Other'?
1413
01:37:58,270 --> 01:38:03,572
This basic element of
every ideological edifice?
1414
01:38:03,747 --> 01:38:07,560
It has two quite
contradictory aspects.
1415
01:38:07,735 --> 01:38:09,208
On the one hand,
of course,
1416
01:38:09,383 --> 01:38:13,143
the 'Big Other' is the secret
order of things like
1417
01:38:13,318 --> 01:38:16,440
divine reason, fate
or whatever,
1418
01:38:16,615 --> 01:38:19,099
which is controlling
our destiny.
1419
01:38:19,274 --> 01:38:21,545
But it is maybe the least
interesting aspect
1420
01:38:21,720 --> 01:38:23,178
of the 'Big Other'
1421
01:38:23,353 --> 01:38:25,426
as the agents, which
guarantees meaning
1422
01:38:25,601 --> 01:38:26,809
of what we are doing.
1423
01:38:28,138 --> 01:38:30,478
Much more interesting
is the 'Big Other'
1424
01:38:30,653 --> 01:38:33,987
as the order of appearances.
1425
01:38:35,742 --> 01:38:38,241
Many things which
are prohibited
1426
01:38:38,416 --> 01:38:40,581
are not simply
prohibited but
1427
01:38:40,756 --> 01:38:44,728
they should not happen
for the 'Big Other'.
1428
01:38:46,430 --> 01:38:49,035
A supreme
example of this
1429
01:38:49,210 --> 01:38:52,864
agency of the 'Big Other'
as the agency of
1430
01:38:53,039 --> 01:38:57,862
appearance is the
prattling busybody
1431
01:38:58,037 --> 01:39:02,967
in David Lean's masterpiece,
Brief Encounter.
1432
01:39:03,142 --> 01:39:04,988
At the very beginning
of the film,
1433
01:39:05,163 --> 01:39:08,337
the two lovers, Celia Johnson
and Trevor Howard,
1434
01:39:08,512 --> 01:39:11,528
arrange for their last
meeting in a cafeteria
1435
01:39:11,703 --> 01:39:13,389
of a small train station.
1436
01:39:13,564 --> 01:39:15,250
Laura, what a lovely surprise.
1437
01:39:15,425 --> 01:39:16,425
Oh, Dolly.
1438
01:39:16,600 --> 01:39:18,228
My dear, I've been shopping
till I'm dropping.
1439
01:39:18,403 --> 01:39:20,195
My feet are nearly off,
and my throat's parched.
1440
01:39:20,370 --> 01:39:21,685
I thought of having
tea in Spindle's
1441
01:39:21,860 --> 01:39:23,333
but I was terrified
of losing the train.
1442
01:39:23,508 --> 01:39:26,364
- Oh, dear.
- This is Dr. Harvey.
1443
01:39:26,539 --> 01:39:28,278
- How do you do?
- Would you be a perfect dear
1444
01:39:28,453 --> 01:39:29,873
and get me my cup of tea?
I really don't think I could
1445
01:39:30,048 --> 01:39:31,357
drag my poor old bones
over to the counter.
1446
01:39:31,532 --> 01:39:33,914
Why is this situation
so interesting?
1447
01:39:34,089 --> 01:39:38,647
Because on the one hand we
cannot but experience
1448
01:39:38,822 --> 01:39:42,635
this annoying lady as
a brutal intruder.
1449
01:39:42,810 --> 01:39:44,124
- There's your train.
- Yes, I know.
1450
01:39:44,299 --> 01:39:45,347
Oh, aren't you coming
with us?
1451
01:39:45,522 --> 01:39:46,729
No, I go in the opposite
direction.
1452
01:39:46,904 --> 01:39:48,218
- My practice is in Churley.
- Oh, I see.
1453
01:39:48,393 --> 01:39:49,813
I'm a general practitioner
at the moment.
1454
01:39:49,988 --> 01:39:51,462
Dr. Harvey's going out
to Africa next week.
1455
01:39:51,637 --> 01:39:52,791
Oh, how thrilling.
1456
01:39:52,966 --> 01:39:56,992
Instead of the two lovers
being allowed at least their
1457
01:39:57,167 --> 01:39:59,066
final moments alone,
1458
01:39:59,241 --> 01:40:01,246
they have to maintain
the appearances
1459
01:40:01,421 --> 01:40:03,426
that nothing is happening
between them,
1460
01:40:03,601 --> 01:40:06,085
that they are just acquaintances
and so on and so on.
1461
01:40:11,668 --> 01:40:13,423
He'll have to run,
or he'll miss it.
1462
01:40:13,598 --> 01:40:15,550
He's got to get right over
to the other platform.
1463
01:40:16,081 --> 01:40:19,272
This precisely is the function
of the 'Big Other'.
1464
01:40:19,447 --> 01:40:23,260
We need for our stability,
a figure of 'Big Other'
1465
01:40:23,435 --> 01:40:26,504
for whom we maintain
appearances.
1466
01:40:26,679 --> 01:40:28,508
And I arrived at the station
with exactly half
1467
01:40:28,683 --> 01:40:31,449
a minute to spare.
My dear, I flew.
1468
01:40:31,624 --> 01:40:34,958
But are things really
as simple as that?
1469
01:40:35,133 --> 01:40:37,245
The next scene, the
scene of Celia Johnson
1470
01:40:37,420 --> 01:40:40,169
totally desperate, she knows
she will never again
1471
01:40:40,344 --> 01:40:41,765
see her lover.
1472
01:40:41,940 --> 01:40:43,413
Yes, he's a nice creature.
1473
01:40:43,588 --> 01:40:46,922
- You known him long?
- No, not very long.
1474
01:40:47,507 --> 01:40:48,715
I hardly know him
at all, really.
1475
01:40:48,890 --> 01:40:51,533
Well, my dear, I've always
had a passion for doctors.
1476
01:40:51,708 --> 01:40:55,643
Then we hear the line of
Celia Johnson's thought.
1477
01:40:56,068 --> 01:40:58,621
I wish I could trust you.
1478
01:40:59,046 --> 01:41:01,864
I wish you were
a wise, kind friend
1479
01:41:02,039 --> 01:41:03,710
instead of a gossiping
acquaintance I've known
1480
01:41:03,885 --> 01:41:06,437
casually for years and never
particularly cared for.
1481
01:41:06,612 --> 01:41:09,628
What is the nature of this
deadlock of Celia Johnson?
1482
01:41:09,803 --> 01:41:12,978
She is split between
the two figures
1483
01:41:13,153 --> 01:41:15,902
in the film
of the 'Big Other'.
1484
01:41:16,434 --> 01:41:19,039
On the one hand
it's her husband -
1485
01:41:19,214 --> 01:41:21,857
the ideal listener, but
1486
01:41:22,032 --> 01:41:25,314
it's out of question
to confess to him.
1487
01:41:33,715 --> 01:41:35,310
Fred.
1488
01:41:35,736 --> 01:41:37,597
Fred.
1489
01:41:38,341 --> 01:41:39,937
Dear Fred.
1490
01:41:40,734 --> 01:41:43,287
There's so much that
I want to say to you.
1491
01:41:44,031 --> 01:41:46,105
You're the only one in the
world with enough wisdom
1492
01:41:46,280 --> 01:41:47,966
and gentleness
to understand.
1493
01:41:49,029 --> 01:41:51,263
Wild horses wouldn't drag
me away from England
1494
01:41:51,438 --> 01:41:53,071
and home and all the
things I'm used to.
1495
01:41:53,246 --> 01:41:55,783
I mean, one has one's roots
after all, hasn't one?
1496
01:41:55,958 --> 01:41:57,591
Oh, yes, one has
one's roots.
1497
01:41:57,962 --> 01:42:01,206
On the other hand, you
have here this stupid
1498
01:42:01,381 --> 01:42:04,184
person who is available
as a confessor,
1499
01:42:04,359 --> 01:42:07,853
but there is not even
an elementary trust.
1500
01:42:08,028 --> 01:42:10,246
I wish you'd stop talking.
1501
01:42:10,421 --> 01:42:13,436
I wish you'd stop prying and
trying to find things out.
1502
01:42:13,611 --> 01:42:15,297
I wish you were dead.
No, I don't mean that.
1503
01:42:15,472 --> 01:42:17,850
That was silly and unkind,
1504
01:42:18,232 --> 01:42:20,721
but I wish you'd stop talking.
- My dear, all her hair
1505
01:42:20,896 --> 01:42:23,060
came out, and she said the
social life was quite,
1506
01:42:23,235 --> 01:42:25,772
quite horrid. Provincial, you know,
and very nouveau riche.
1507
01:42:25,947 --> 01:42:27,102
- Oh, Dolly.
- What's the matter, dear?
1508
01:42:27,277 --> 01:42:28,596
Are you feeling ill again?
1509
01:42:28,771 --> 01:42:30,824
So that's the tragedy
of our predicament.
1510
01:42:30,999 --> 01:42:34,014
In order to fully
exist as individuals
1511
01:42:34,189 --> 01:42:37,099
we need the fiction
of a 'Big Other'.
1512
01:42:37,274 --> 01:42:41,512
There must be an agency
which, as it were,
1513
01:42:41,687 --> 01:42:43,852
registers our predicament.
1514
01:42:44,027 --> 01:42:49,328
An agency where the truth of
ourselves will be inscribed,
1515
01:42:49,503 --> 01:42:52,360
accepted. An agency
to which to confess.
1516
01:42:52,535 --> 01:42:55,603
But what if there is
no such agency?
1517
01:42:55,778 --> 01:43:01,559
This was the utmost despair
of many women raped -
1518
01:43:01,734 --> 01:43:03,898
in the post Yugoslav war -
1519
01:43:04,073 --> 01:43:05,972
in Bosnia in
the early nineties.
1520
01:43:06,147 --> 01:43:09,588
They survived their
terrible predicament
1521
01:43:09,763 --> 01:43:12,938
and what kept them alive was
the idea I must survive
1522
01:43:13,113 --> 01:43:14,533
to tell the truth.
1523
01:43:14,708 --> 01:43:19,691
If/when - if they survived they
made a terrible discovery:
1524
01:43:19,866 --> 01:43:22,562
there is no one to
really listen to them.
1525
01:43:22,737 --> 01:43:25,381
Either some ignorant
bored social worker
1526
01:43:25,556 --> 01:43:27,348
or some relative
1527
01:43:27,523 --> 01:43:30,645
who usually made
obscene insinuations like
1528
01:43:30,820 --> 01:43:32,559
are you sure you were not
enjoying a little bit -
1529
01:43:32,734 --> 01:43:34,053
the rape and so on
and so on.
1530
01:43:34,228 --> 01:43:37,611
They discovered
the truth of what
1531
01:43:37,786 --> 01:43:41,386
Jacques Lacan claims:
there is no 'Big Other'.
1532
01:43:41,561 --> 01:43:44,417
There may be
a virtual 'Big Other'
1533
01:43:44,592 --> 01:43:46,225
to whom you
cannot confess.
1534
01:43:46,400 --> 01:43:49,734
There may be a 'Real Other'
1535
01:43:49,909 --> 01:43:51,383
but it's never
the virtual one.
1536
01:43:51,558 --> 01:43:54,414
We are alone.
1537
01:44:11,163 --> 01:44:14,513
I think Kafka was right
when he said that
1538
01:44:14,688 --> 01:44:19,140
for a modern secular
non-religious man
1539
01:44:20,203 --> 01:44:24,404
bureaucracy, state bureaucracy
is the only remaining
1540
01:44:24,579 --> 01:44:28,232
contact with the
dimension of the divine.
1541
01:44:32,273 --> 01:44:35,038
It is in this scene
from Brazil
1542
01:44:35,213 --> 01:44:37,272
that we see
the intimate link
1543
01:44:37,447 --> 01:44:40,675
between bureaucracy
and enjoyment.
1544
01:44:41,472 --> 01:44:44,184
What the impenetrable
omnipotence of
1545
01:44:44,359 --> 01:44:46,258
bureaucracy harbours
1546
01:44:46,433 --> 01:44:48,332
is divine enjoyment.
1547
01:44:53,437 --> 01:44:55,404
My name's Lowry,
Mr. Warren, Sam Lowry.
1548
01:44:55,617 --> 01:44:58,754
The intense rush of
bureaucratic engagement
1549
01:44:58,929 --> 01:45:00,296
serves nothing.
1550
01:45:00,471 --> 01:45:02,269
Glad to have you on board.
1551
01:45:04,231 --> 01:45:08,804
It is the performance of
its very purposelessness
1552
01:45:10,240 --> 01:45:12,739
that generates
an intense enjoyment
1553
01:45:12,914 --> 01:45:16,514
ready to reproduce
itself forever.
1554
01:45:22,151 --> 01:45:23,799
Between you and
me, Lowry, this... no, no!
1555
01:45:23,974 --> 01:45:25,713
...departement... tell Records
to get stuffed!
1556
01:45:25,888 --> 01:45:27,362
...is about to be
upgraded and the...
1557
01:45:27,537 --> 01:45:30,074
Ah!
1558
01:45:30,249 --> 01:45:31,403
Here we are.
1559
01:45:31,578 --> 01:45:34,381
Your very own number
on your very own door.
1560
01:45:34,556 --> 01:45:37,252
And behind that door,
your very own office.
1561
01:45:37,427 --> 01:45:40,549
Congratulations, DZ-015.
1562
01:45:40,724 --> 01:45:42,303
Welcome to the team.
1563
01:45:42,478 --> 01:45:45,653
Yes. No. Cancel that.
Send two copies to Finance.
1564
01:45:45,828 --> 01:45:48,578
The adverse of that is
a wonderful scene
1565
01:45:48,753 --> 01:45:51,662
more towards the
beginning of the film.
1566
01:45:51,837 --> 01:45:53,736
Harry Tuttle, heating
engineer, at your service.
1567
01:45:53,911 --> 01:45:56,394
The hero who has a problem
in his apartment
1568
01:45:56,569 --> 01:46:01,234
with plumbing tries to get
the State agency to fix it.
1569
01:46:01,409 --> 01:46:03,520
Are you from
Central Services?
1570
01:46:03,695 --> 01:46:06,498
Of course, two guys come,
they just want forms
1571
01:46:06,673 --> 01:46:08,784
to fill in, they do nothing.
1572
01:46:08,959 --> 01:46:10,539
I called
Central Services.
1573
01:46:10,714 --> 01:46:14,527
And then the ultimate
subversive figure comes:
1574
01:46:14,702 --> 01:46:18,621
a kind of clandestine plumber,
played by Robert De Niro...
1575
01:46:18,796 --> 01:46:21,918
Just a minute. What was that
business with the gun?
1576
01:46:22,093 --> 01:46:24,949
Just a precaution, sir.
Just a precaution.
1577
01:46:25,124 --> 01:46:28,086
...who tells him: "Just tell me
what is the problem"
1578
01:46:28,261 --> 01:46:30,532
and promises quickly
to fix it.
1579
01:46:30,707 --> 01:46:35,318
This of course is the ultimate
offense to bureaucracy.
1580
01:46:35,493 --> 01:46:37,711
Are you telling me
this is illegal?
1581
01:46:43,772 --> 01:46:45,102
Thanks.
1582
01:46:45,277 --> 01:46:48,026
Listen kid, we're all in
it together.
1583
01:46:48,201 --> 01:46:49,201
Go on.
1584
01:46:49,376 --> 01:46:52,121
In the ordinary
theological universe
1585
01:46:52,296 --> 01:46:54,886
your duty is imposed
onto you by God
1586
01:46:55,061 --> 01:46:57,758
or society or another
higher authority, and
1587
01:46:57,933 --> 01:47:00,575
your responsibility
is to do it.
1588
01:47:02,065 --> 01:47:05,095
But in a radically
atheist universe
1589
01:47:05,270 --> 01:47:09,349
you are not only responsible
for doing your duty,
1590
01:47:09,524 --> 01:47:13,816
you are also responsible
for deciding
1591
01:47:13,991 --> 01:47:15,836
what is your duty.
1592
01:47:18,708 --> 01:47:21,952
There is always
in our subjectivity,
1593
01:47:22,127 --> 01:47:24,557
in the way we
experience ourselves -
1594
01:47:24,732 --> 01:47:28,598
a minimum of hysteria.
1595
01:47:28,773 --> 01:47:32,001
Hysteria is what? Hysteria
is the way
1596
01:47:32,176 --> 01:47:35,883
we question our social,
symbolic identity.
1597
01:47:36,058 --> 01:47:39,180
You're sure it's God? You're
sure it's not the devil?
1598
01:47:39,552 --> 01:47:42,424
I'm not sure. I'm not
sure of anything.
1599
01:47:42,599 --> 01:47:44,710
If it's the devil, the devil
can be cast out.
1600
01:47:44,885 --> 01:47:46,518
But what if it's God?
1601
01:47:46,693 --> 01:47:49,070
You can't cast out
God, can you?
1602
01:47:49,708 --> 01:47:53,431
What is hysteria at
it's most elementary?
1603
01:47:53,803 --> 01:47:57,419
It's a question addressed
at the authority which
1604
01:47:57,594 --> 01:47:59,758
defines my identity.
1605
01:47:59,933 --> 01:48:05,554
It's: "Why am I what you are
telling me that I am?"
1606
01:48:06,139 --> 01:48:09,596
In psychoanalytic theory,
hysteria is much more
1607
01:48:09,771 --> 01:48:11,722
subversive than perversion.
1608
01:48:11,897 --> 01:48:14,594
A pervert has no
uncertainties while again
1609
01:48:14,769 --> 01:48:17,359
the hysterical position
is that of a doubt,
1610
01:48:17,534 --> 01:48:20,603
which is an extremely
productive position.
1611
01:48:20,778 --> 01:48:25,175
All new inventions come
from hysterical questioning,
1612
01:48:25,350 --> 01:48:29,163
and the unique character
of Christianity is that
1613
01:48:29,338 --> 01:48:32,673
it transposes this
hysterical questioning
1614
01:48:32,848 --> 01:48:36,555
onto God himself
as a subject.
1615
01:48:41,340 --> 01:48:44,477
Who's that? Who's following
me? Is that you?
1616
01:48:46,551 --> 01:48:49,635
This is the ingenious
idea of
1617
01:48:49,810 --> 01:48:52,719
The Last Temptation of Christ -
1618
01:48:56,017 --> 01:48:58,834
as Kazantzakis' novel and
Scorsese's film -
1619
01:48:59,009 --> 01:49:02,557
namely the idea that
when Jesus Christ
1620
01:49:02,732 --> 01:49:06,758
in his youth is told
that he is
1621
01:49:06,933 --> 01:49:10,958
not only the Son of God,
but basically God himself,
1622
01:49:11,133 --> 01:49:13,138
he doesn't simply accept it.
1623
01:49:13,313 --> 01:49:16,807
This is for Jesus Christ, boy,
1624
01:49:16,982 --> 01:49:19,626
traumatic news like, my God,
why am I dead?
1625
01:49:19,801 --> 01:49:21,327
Am I really dead?
1626
01:49:24,464 --> 01:49:27,070
How did we come to
that unique point,
1627
01:49:27,245 --> 01:49:31,430
which I think, makes
Christianity an exception?
1628
01:49:32,653 --> 01:49:36,003
It all began with
the Book of Job -
1629
01:49:36,178 --> 01:49:39,672
as we all know things
turn out bad for Job.
1630
01:49:39,847 --> 01:49:41,108
He loses everything.
1631
01:49:41,283 --> 01:49:45,681
His house, his family, his
possessions and so on.
1632
01:49:46,053 --> 01:49:49,509
Three friends visit him
and each of them
1633
01:49:49,684 --> 01:49:54,082
tries to justify
Job's misfortunes.
1634
01:49:54,561 --> 01:49:56,847
The greatness of Job is that
1635
01:49:57,022 --> 01:50:01,739
he does not accept this
deeper meaning.
1636
01:50:03,069 --> 01:50:08,546
When, towards the end of the Book
of Job, God himself appears,
1637
01:50:09,184 --> 01:50:12,427
God gives right to Job.
1638
01:50:12,602 --> 01:50:15,724
He says everything that the
theological friends
1639
01:50:15,899 --> 01:50:18,223
were telling Job is false;
1640
01:50:18,398 --> 01:50:20,776
everything that Job
was saying is true.
1641
01:50:20,951 --> 01:50:23,488
No meaning in catastrophes.
1642
01:50:25,827 --> 01:50:30,294
Here we have the first step
in the direction of
1643
01:50:30,469 --> 01:50:33,856
delegitimizing suffering.
1644
01:50:36,462 --> 01:50:39,812
Father stay with me,
don't leave me.
1645
01:50:44,012 --> 01:50:47,469
The contrast between
Judaism and Christianity
1646
01:50:47,644 --> 01:50:52,946
is the contrast between
anxiety and love.
1647
01:50:57,891 --> 01:51:02,145
The idea is that the Jewish
God is the God of the
1648
01:51:02,320 --> 01:51:06,771
abyss of the other's desire.
Terrible things happen,
1649
01:51:06,946 --> 01:51:10,280
God is in charge
but we do not
1650
01:51:10,455 --> 01:51:14,854
know what the 'Big Other',
God, wants from us.
1651
01:51:15,029 --> 01:51:18,523
What is the divine desire?
1652
01:51:20,862 --> 01:51:23,574
To designate this
traumatic experience
1653
01:51:23,749 --> 01:51:27,775
Lacan used the Italian
phrase 'che voglio'?
1654
01:51:27,950 --> 01:51:30,859
"What do you want?"
This terrifying question:
1655
01:51:31,034 --> 01:51:33,624
but what do you
want from me?
1656
01:51:37,346 --> 01:51:41,334
The idea is that Judaism
persists in this
1657
01:51:41,509 --> 01:51:45,269
anxiety, like God remains
this enigmatic
1658
01:51:45,444 --> 01:51:47,236
terrifying other.
1659
01:51:47,411 --> 01:51:50,108
And then Christianity
resolves
1660
01:51:50,283 --> 01:51:52,713
the tension through love.
1661
01:51:52,888 --> 01:51:56,154
By sacrificing his son,
God demonstrates
1662
01:51:56,329 --> 01:51:58,084
that he loves us.
1663
01:51:58,259 --> 01:52:00,211
So it's a kind
of a imaginary,
1664
01:52:00,386 --> 01:52:04,040
sentimental even,
resolution of a situation
1665
01:52:04,215 --> 01:52:07,177
of radical anxiety.
1666
01:52:26,532 --> 01:52:29,935
Father, forgive them.
1667
01:52:30,110 --> 01:52:32,115
If this were to be the
case, then Christianity
1668
01:52:32,290 --> 01:52:35,678
would have been a kind of
ideological, reversal
1669
01:52:35,853 --> 01:52:38,868
or pacification of the
deep, much more
1670
01:52:39,043 --> 01:52:41,633
shattering Jewish insight.
1671
01:52:41,808 --> 01:52:44,877
But I think one can read
the Christian gesture
1672
01:52:45,052 --> 01:52:47,961
in a much more radical way.
1673
01:52:49,716 --> 01:52:52,428
This is what the sequence
of crucifixion
1674
01:52:52,603 --> 01:52:55,276
in Scorsese's film shows us.
1675
01:52:55,451 --> 01:52:59,438
What dies on the
cross is precisely
1676
01:52:59,613 --> 01:53:02,456
this guarantee
of the 'Big Other'.
1677
01:53:02,631 --> 01:53:06,930
The message of Christianity
is here radically atheist.
1678
01:53:07,105 --> 01:53:10,051
It's the death of Christ
is not any kind of
1679
01:53:10,226 --> 01:53:12,965
redemption of commercial
affair in the sense of
1680
01:53:13,140 --> 01:53:15,618
Christ suffers to
pay for our sins.
1681
01:53:15,793 --> 01:53:18,011
Pay to whom?
For what? And so on.
1682
01:53:18,186 --> 01:53:22,173
It's simply the disintegration
of the God which
1683
01:53:22,348 --> 01:53:26,491
guarantees the meaning
of our lives.
1684
01:53:26,666 --> 01:53:29,093
And that's the meaning
of that famous phrase:
1685
01:53:29,268 --> 01:53:31,226
"Eli Eli lama sabachthani?"
1686
01:53:31,401 --> 01:53:34,868
"Father, why have you
forsaken me?"
1687
01:53:36,845 --> 01:53:42,140
Father, why have you
forsaken me?
1688
01:53:50,943 --> 01:53:53,805
Just before Christ's
death, we get
1689
01:53:53,980 --> 01:53:56,771
what in psychoanalytic
terms we call
1690
01:53:56,946 --> 01:54:00,100
subjective destitution.
1691
01:54:01,349 --> 01:54:04,262
Stepping out totally of
the domain of
1692
01:54:04,437 --> 01:54:07,176
symbolic identification,
1693
01:54:08,580 --> 01:54:12,794
cancelling or suspending
the entire field
1694
01:54:12,969 --> 01:54:14,563
of symbolic authority,
1695
01:54:14,738 --> 01:54:17,893
the entire field
of the 'Big Other'.
1696
01:54:23,564 --> 01:54:25,749
Of course, we cannot know
1697
01:54:25,924 --> 01:54:30,535
what God wants from us
because there is no God.
1698
01:54:35,426 --> 01:54:38,079
This is the Jesus Christ
who says,
1699
01:54:38,254 --> 01:54:42,553
among other things,
"I bring to earth not peace. "
1700
01:54:42,728 --> 01:54:44,530
"If you don't hate your
father, your mother,
1701
01:54:44,705 --> 01:54:46,247
"you are not my follower. "
1702
01:54:46,422 --> 01:54:49,368
Of course this does not mean
that you should actively
1703
01:54:49,543 --> 01:54:51,189
hate or kill your parents.
1704
01:54:51,364 --> 01:54:54,467
I think that family relations
stand here for
1705
01:54:54,642 --> 01:54:57,485
hierarchic social relations.
1706
01:54:57,660 --> 01:54:59,617
The message of Christ is:
1707
01:54:59,792 --> 01:55:03,987
I'm dying but my death
itself is good news.
1708
01:55:04,162 --> 01:55:07,630
It means you are alone,
left to your freedom,
1709
01:55:07,805 --> 01:55:10,439
be in the Holy Ghost,
1710
01:55:10,959 --> 01:55:14,601
Holy Spirit, which is just
the community of believers.
1711
01:55:14,776 --> 01:55:16,474
It's wrong to think that
1712
01:55:16,649 --> 01:55:21,052
the second coming will be
that Christ as a figure will
1713
01:55:21,227 --> 01:55:23,029
return somehow.
1714
01:55:23,204 --> 01:55:26,099
Christ is already here when
1715
01:55:26,274 --> 01:55:29,844
believers form an
emancipatory collective.
1716
01:55:30,019 --> 01:55:32,654
This is why I claim that
1717
01:55:33,278 --> 01:55:36,712
that the only way really
to be an atheist
1718
01:55:36,887 --> 01:55:39,729
is to go through Christianity.
1719
01:55:39,904 --> 01:55:43,527
Christianity is much
more atheist than
1720
01:55:43,702 --> 01:55:47,221
the usual atheism which
1721
01:55:47,396 --> 01:55:49,874
can claim there is no
God and so on -
1722
01:55:50,049 --> 01:55:53,308
but none the less
retains a certain trust
1723
01:55:53,483 --> 01:55:56,117
into the 'Big Other', this
'Big Other' can be called
1724
01:55:56,292 --> 01:55:59,187
natural necessity,
evolution or whatever.
1725
01:55:59,362 --> 01:56:03,453
We humans are none
the less reduced to a
1726
01:56:04,025 --> 01:56:08,448
position within a harmonious
whole of evolution or whatever,
1727
01:56:08,623 --> 01:56:11,569
but the difficult thing
to accept is again -
1728
01:56:11,744 --> 01:56:13,598
that there is no 'Big Other'.
1729
01:56:13,773 --> 01:56:19,165
No point of reference which
guarantees meaning.
1730
01:56:33,264 --> 01:56:38,154
We are in John
Frankenheimer's Seconds,
1731
01:56:38,329 --> 01:56:42,264
a neglected Hollywood
masterpiece from 1966-
1732
01:56:42,439 --> 01:56:45,334
from the very heart
of the hippy era
1733
01:56:45,509 --> 01:56:48,507
which preached
unrestrained hedonism.
1734
01:56:48,682 --> 01:56:52,253
Realise your dreams,
enjoy life fully.
1735
01:56:52,428 --> 01:56:56,571
The film is the story of a late
middle age businessman
1736
01:56:56,746 --> 01:57:00,005
leading a gray, totally
alienated life,
1737
01:57:00,180 --> 01:57:02,710
and then he decides
at some point
1738
01:57:02,885 --> 01:57:05,155
that he has enough of it.
1739
01:57:05,330 --> 01:57:08,589
Through one of his
friends he contacts
1740
01:57:08,764 --> 01:57:11,971
a mysterious agency,
which offers him a deal.
1741
01:57:12,146 --> 01:57:15,196
They will reorganise
his life so that
1742
01:57:15,371 --> 01:57:17,590
he will be reborn.
1743
01:57:25,290 --> 01:57:27,578
The cost runs in the
neighborhood of
1744
01:57:27,753 --> 01:57:29,660
thirty thousand dollars.
I know this seems
1745
01:57:29,835 --> 01:57:32,833
rather high but in
addition to the rather
1746
01:57:33,008 --> 01:57:36,111
extensive cosmetic
renovation by way of
1747
01:57:36,286 --> 01:57:39,336
plastic surgery for you,
CPS has to provide
1748
01:57:39,511 --> 01:57:42,146
a fresh corpse that
perfectly matches your
1749
01:57:42,321 --> 01:57:45,423
physical dimensions and
medical specifications.
1750
01:57:45,598 --> 01:57:46,672
CPS?
1751
01:57:46,847 --> 01:57:49,273
Oh, Cadaver
Procurement Section.
1752
01:57:49,689 --> 01:57:54,424
They use some corpse; they
change it to look like
1753
01:57:54,599 --> 01:57:58,846
his own body. They plant this
corpse, stage a pseudo accident
1754
01:57:59,021 --> 01:58:01,395
so that police think he is dead.
1755
01:58:01,570 --> 01:58:03,476
Now, mister Wilson, you
represent something
1756
01:58:03,651 --> 01:58:05,713
of a milestone around here.
1757
01:58:07,118 --> 01:58:12,165
And then, the agency
organises an ultimate life
1758
01:58:14,974 --> 01:58:18,044
in a nice villa somewhere
around L.A. -
1759
01:58:18,219 --> 01:58:21,997
they even organise a nice
lady who conveniently
1760
01:58:22,172 --> 01:58:24,755
stumbles upon him when
he is taking a walk
1761
01:58:24,930 --> 01:58:26,836
along the beach.
1762
01:58:29,073 --> 01:58:31,310
He is thus reborn...
1763
01:58:31,830 --> 01:58:34,275
no longer as a boring
businessman but as a
1764
01:58:34,450 --> 01:58:37,553
modernist painter...
1765
01:58:37,728 --> 01:58:38,783
Tony Wilson.
1766
01:58:38,958 --> 01:58:40,726
...called Tony Wilson,
1767
01:58:40,901 --> 01:58:45,721
played by none other
than Rock Hudson.
1768
01:58:49,987 --> 01:58:53,473
So, the woman, Nora,
his new love,
1769
01:58:53,648 --> 01:58:57,011
tries to engage him in life,
even takes him to some
1770
01:58:58,519 --> 01:59:01,016
wine orgy where
people get drunk,
1771
01:59:01,191 --> 01:59:03,358
dance naked and so on.
1772
01:59:03,533 --> 01:59:06,011
Everything seems OK,
1773
01:59:08,092 --> 01:59:13,971
but Tony Wilson starts
to miss his old life.
1774
01:59:15,428 --> 01:59:20,110
More and more he is
haunted by his past.
1775
01:59:20,285 --> 01:59:22,711
Finally he breaks down,
1776
01:59:22,886 --> 01:59:25,781
approaches again
the agency,
1777
01:59:25,956 --> 01:59:28,590
telling them that
he wants to return
1778
01:59:28,765 --> 01:59:31,035
to his old life.
1779
01:59:33,533 --> 01:59:36,498
The boss of this
mysterious company,
1780
01:59:36,673 --> 01:59:39,048
a kind of kindly cruel...
- Hello, son.
1781
01:59:39,223 --> 01:59:41,441
...superego paternal figure
1782
01:59:41,616 --> 01:59:43,626
tells him the truth.
1783
01:59:43,801 --> 01:59:46,799
He disappointed them
by not being able to
1784
01:59:46,974 --> 01:59:49,765
adapt himself to
his new life.
1785
01:59:49,940 --> 01:59:52,314
You know, I sure hoped
you'd make it,
1786
01:59:52,489 --> 01:59:54,655
find your dream come true.
1787
01:59:54,830 --> 01:59:55,830
What?
1788
01:59:56,005 --> 01:59:58,089
I said, I sure hoped
you'd make it,
1789
01:59:58,264 --> 02:00:00,274
find your dream come true.
1790
02:00:00,449 --> 02:00:03,708
You can call it wishful
thinking, son,
1791
02:00:03,883 --> 02:00:05,945
but life is built on wishing.
1792
02:00:06,120 --> 02:00:08,650
You've got to just keep
plugging away at them.
1793
02:00:08,825 --> 02:00:10,887
You can't give up...
1794
02:00:11,356 --> 02:00:15,465
and you can't let the mistakes
jeopardize the dream.
1795
02:00:15,640 --> 02:00:17,026
So what went wrong here?
1796
02:00:17,201 --> 02:00:19,627
The problem was
that his past
1797
02:00:19,802 --> 02:00:22,801
in it's material
existence was erased.
1798
02:00:22,976 --> 02:00:24,674
Well, here's your
transportation.
1799
02:00:24,849 --> 02:00:26,078
- What?
- Surgery, sir.
1800
02:00:26,253 --> 02:00:30,690
He lived in a totally new
environment, new job,
1801
02:00:30,865 --> 02:00:32,634
new friends and so on.
1802
02:00:32,809 --> 02:00:36,536
What remained the same
were his dreams -
1803
02:00:36,711 --> 02:00:40,542
because when the company
organised his rebirth,
1804
02:00:40,717 --> 02:00:44,132
when the company
provided a new existence
1805
02:00:44,307 --> 02:00:47,617
for him, they simply
followed his dreams.
1806
02:00:47,792 --> 02:00:50,999
His dreams were
wrong dreams -
1807
02:00:51,174 --> 02:00:55,681
and this is quite a deep lesson
for the theory of ideology.
1808
02:00:55,856 --> 02:00:57,502
Just remember, son. We've
got to keep plugging away
1809
02:00:57,677 --> 02:01:00,676
at the dream. The mistakes teach
us how. It wasn't wasted.
1810
02:01:00,851 --> 02:01:02,059
Remember that.
1811
02:01:02,234 --> 02:01:05,462
On the way to the operation
hall, he discovers
1812
02:01:05,637 --> 02:01:07,543
the horrible truth.
1813
02:01:07,718 --> 02:01:12,902
He will not be reborn
but he will be used as a
1814
02:01:13,077 --> 02:01:18,104
cadaver for another person
who wants to be reborn.
1815
02:01:22,025 --> 02:01:24,139
We should draw a line
of distinction
1816
02:01:24,314 --> 02:01:27,001
within the very field
of our dreams.
1817
02:01:29,238 --> 02:01:32,307
Between those who
are the right dreams
1818
02:01:32,482 --> 02:01:36,261
pointing towards a dimension
effectively beyond
1819
02:01:36,436 --> 02:01:40,163
our existing society
and the wrong dreams:
1820
02:01:40,338 --> 02:01:43,025
the dreams which
are just an idealised
1821
02:01:43,200 --> 02:01:46,563
consumerist reflection,
1822
02:01:46,738 --> 02:01:49,892
mirror image of our society.
1823
02:01:52,285 --> 02:01:55,147
We are not simply
submitted to our dreams -
1824
02:01:55,322 --> 02:01:58,164
they just come from
some unfathomable
1825
02:01:58,339 --> 02:02:01,442
depths and we can't
do anything about it.
1826
02:02:01,617 --> 02:02:04,511
This is the basic lesson
of psychoanalysis
1827
02:02:04,686 --> 02:02:06,488
and fiction cinema.
1828
02:02:06,663 --> 02:02:09,714
We are responsible
for our dreams.
1829
02:02:09,889 --> 02:02:12,731
Our dreams stage
our desires,
1830
02:02:12,906 --> 02:02:16,321
and our desires are
not objective facts.
1831
02:02:16,496 --> 02:02:19,286
We created them,
we sustained them,
1832
02:02:19,461 --> 02:02:21,680
we are responsible for them.
1833
02:02:21,855 --> 02:02:24,385
This is an area of ancient
lakebeds deposited
1834
02:02:24,560 --> 02:02:26,778
five to ten million years ago.
1835
02:02:30,108 --> 02:02:33,802
The scene of mass orgy
in Zabriskie Point
1836
02:02:33,977 --> 02:02:36,975
is a nice metaphor
of what went wrong
1837
02:02:37,150 --> 02:02:40,409
with the 1960s
hippy revolution.
1838
02:02:42,802 --> 02:02:47,796
It's crucial that Zabriskie Point
was made in 1970
1839
02:02:47,971 --> 02:02:50,866
when the authentic
revolutionary energy
1840
02:02:51,041 --> 02:02:56,069
of the sixties was already
losing its strength.
1841
02:02:57,369 --> 02:03:00,543
This orgy is somewhere
between subversion
1842
02:03:00,718 --> 02:03:03,248
of the existing
social order
1843
02:03:03,423 --> 02:03:06,838
and already the
full estheticised
1844
02:03:07,013 --> 02:03:09,648
reincorporation
of this allegedly
1845
02:03:09,823 --> 02:03:15,214
transgressive activities into
the hegemonic ideology.
1846
02:03:16,203 --> 02:03:19,012
Although Antonioni
meant this
1847
02:03:19,187 --> 02:03:23,382
as a kind of transcendence
of the existing constraints,
1848
02:03:23,557 --> 02:03:26,452
we can easily
imagine this shot
1849
02:03:26,627 --> 02:03:29,730
in some publicity campaign.
1850
02:03:30,822 --> 02:03:33,839
The first step to freedom
is not just to
1851
02:03:34,014 --> 02:03:37,117
change reality to
fit your dreams -
1852
02:03:37,292 --> 02:03:39,458
it's to change
the way you dream.
1853
02:03:39,633 --> 02:03:43,516
And again, this hurts
because all satisfactions
1854
02:03:43,691 --> 02:03:47,314
we have come from
our dreams.
1855
02:03:47,522 --> 02:03:49,759
The great supreme
commander chairman Mao
1856
02:03:49,934 --> 02:03:52,361
issued a world shaking
call to us:
1857
02:03:52,536 --> 02:03:55,170
you should pay attention
to state affairs
1858
02:03:55,345 --> 02:03:58,291
and carry the great proletarian
Cultural Revolution
1859
02:03:58,466 --> 02:04:00,008
through to the end.
1860
02:04:02,870 --> 02:04:05,263
One of the big problems
of all great
1861
02:04:05,438 --> 02:04:09,217
revolutionary movements
of the 20th century -
1862
02:04:09,392 --> 02:04:12,338
such as Russia,
Cuba or China -
1863
02:04:12,513 --> 02:04:15,824
is that they did change
the social body,
1864
02:04:18,269 --> 02:04:22,796
but the egalitarian communist
society was never realised.
1865
02:04:22,971 --> 02:04:25,813
The dreams remained
the old dreams
1866
02:04:25,988 --> 02:04:29,767
and they turned into
the ultimate nightmare.
1867
02:04:30,652 --> 02:04:33,513
Now what remains of
the radical left
1868
02:04:33,688 --> 02:04:35,958
waits for a magical event
1869
02:04:36,133 --> 02:04:40,306
when the true revolutionary
agent will finally awaken.
1870
02:04:40,481 --> 02:04:44,422
While the depressing lesson of
the last decades is that
1871
02:04:44,597 --> 02:04:48,553
capitalism has been the true
revolutionising force.
1872
02:04:48,728 --> 02:04:52,153
Even as it serves only itself.
1873
02:04:55,303 --> 02:05:00,568
How come it is easier for us to
imagine the end of all life on earth -
1874
02:05:00,743 --> 02:05:02,934
an asteroid hitting the planet -
1875
02:05:03,109 --> 02:05:07,408
than a modest change
in our economic order?
1876
02:05:07,583 --> 02:05:12,505
Perhaps the time has come
to set our possibilities straight
1877
02:05:12,680 --> 02:05:16,522
and to become realists
by way of demanding
1878
02:05:16,697 --> 02:05:21,318
what appears as impossible
in the economic domain.
1879
02:05:23,152 --> 02:05:27,536
The surprising explosion of
Occupy Wall Street protests,
1880
02:05:27,711 --> 02:05:30,437
the mass mobilisation in Greece,
1881
02:05:30,612 --> 02:05:32,997
the crowds on Tahrir square -
1882
02:05:33,172 --> 02:05:38,203
they all bear witness for the hidden
potential for a different future.
1883
02:05:38,378 --> 02:05:41,979
There is no guarantee that
this future will arrive.
1884
02:05:42,154 --> 02:05:46,096
No train of history on which
we simply have to take a ride.
1885
02:05:46,271 --> 02:05:50,949
It depends on us,
on our will.
1886
02:05:57,489 --> 02:06:01,737
In revolutionary
upheavals some energy
1887
02:06:01,912 --> 02:06:06,751
or rather some utopian dreams
take place, they explode -
1888
02:06:06,926 --> 02:06:12,816
and even if the actual result
of a social upheaval is just a
1889
02:06:12,991 --> 02:06:18,387
commercialised everyday life,
this excess of energy,
1890
02:06:20,562 --> 02:06:26,272
what gets lost in the result,
persists not in reality, but
1891
02:06:26,447 --> 02:06:31,306
as a dream haunting us
waiting to be redeemed.
1892
02:06:31,481 --> 02:06:34,108
In this sense,
whenever we are engaged
1893
02:06:34,300 --> 02:06:36,795
in radical
emancipatory politics
1894
02:06:36,970 --> 02:06:41,651
we should never forget
as Walter Benjamin put it
1895
02:06:42,732 --> 02:06:43,732
almost a century ago -
1896
02:06:43,907 --> 02:06:48,836
that every revolution, if it is an
authentic revolution,
1897
02:06:49,011 --> 02:06:52,127
is not only directed
towards the future
1898
02:06:52,302 --> 02:06:57,310
but it redeems also
the past failed revolutions.
1899
02:06:58,485 --> 02:07:03,177
All the ghosts, as it were; the living
dead of the past revolution
1900
02:07:03,352 --> 02:07:07,821
which are roaming around,
unsatisfied, will finally
1901
02:07:07,996 --> 02:07:11,868
find their home
in the new freedom.
1902
02:07:12,656 --> 02:07:17,193
[MOVIE IS NOT OVER YET!]
1903
02:09:59,760 --> 02:10:04,002
I may be freezing to death
but you'll never get rid of me.
1904
02:10:04,252 --> 02:10:09,208
All the ice in the world
cannot kill a true idea.
154247
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