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Žižek and Cinema - Vol 1.3

Žižek’s Choice

Sheila Kunkle – Vermont College, Montpelier, Vermont, UnitedStates

It should not surprise us that the one film Žižek would take with him to a desert

island is the 1! melodrama The Fountainhead , "ased on the famous no#el "$ %$n

&and'1  (hile &and)s proto*fas+ist work posits the egotisti+al ar+hite+t oward &oark

-.ar$ Cooper/ as a s$m"ol of un+ompromising indi#idualism against a +ut*throat and

+onformist world, Žižek finds in him an ethi+al hero who "e+omes a su"0e+t of +omplete

freedom'  &and)s hea#$*handed s+reenpla$, like her idios$n+rati+ philosoph$, portra$s

all men as either powerful and +orrupt or weak and su"missi#e, and &oark stands alone

in his integrit$ "e+ause he opts out of this dualism "$ "e+oming his own self*made man'

2inding himself on the #erge of po#ert$ after "eing "la+klisted for his uni3ue talent,

&oark refuses a handout of mone$, de+laring, 4I neither ask for nor offer help'5 e is

interested neither in profit nor +harit$, "ut he is more than a self*made man' In Žižek)s

6a+anian reading &oark "e+omes a su"0e+t +ompletel$ free of the need of a "ig 7ther,

for he has no +on+ern for what others think of him or his work8 he +ares onl$ that his

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+reations are not altered and that he "e allowed to keep on working'   Un+on+erned with

his role in ushering in an entirel$ new era of modern ar+hite+ture, &oark is nonetheless

unstoppa"le in his determination to design and remain true to his +reations8 he is in

Žižek)s words, a 4"eing of dri#e5 -19: ;9/'

In a rare instan+e &oark negotiates the parado< of himself as a su"0e+t destitute

of an 7ther who would re+ogni=e and +onfer meaning on his +reations, and he does so

without going crazy ' 2urther, and similarl$ strange, it is onl$ at this #er$ moment of

su"0e+ti#e destitution that an authenti+ +onne+tion with others "e+omes possi"le,

"e+ause what &oark)s "eing of pure dri#e and the %+t of destro$ing one of his own"uildings does, is to re#eal that what we take as uni#ersal standards of 0usti+e and

 0udgment are +onfigured in a #irtual realm8 to +onfront this is to "e offered a glimpse of

something traumati+ $et possi"l$ eman+ipating' >he +onne+tion, then, "etween all men

that Žižek has in mind is not one of empath$ "orn of mutual suffering, "ut rather a

4"ene#olen+e5 "orn of freedom, freedom from the #irtual hold of an 7ther that we treat

as uni#ersal and a"solute' &eferring to the +ourtroom s+ene where &oark is "eing tried

"$ a 0ur$ of his peers, Žižek 3uotes at length from &and)s work:

&oark stood "efore them as ea+h man stands in the inno+en+e of his own mind'?ut &oark stood like that "efore a hostile +rowd – and the$ knew suddenl$ that nohatred was possi"le to him' 2or the flash of an instant, the$ grasped the mannerof his +ons+iousness' @a+h asked himself: do I need an$one)s appro#alA – doesit matterA – am I tiedA %nd for that instant, ea+h man was free – free enough tofeel "ene#olen+e for e#er$ other man in the room' It was onl$ a moment8 themoment of silen+e when &oark was a"out to speak' -3uoted in Žižek, 19: ;B*;/D

ere, utilitarian +al+ulations of 0usti+e and moral +ulpa"ilit$ gi#e wa$ to a fleeting

re+ognition that &oark)s ethi+s offer a kind of +omplete freedom, e#en if his +hara+ter

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appears at first as an automaton and his a+tions seem a"surd' %s Žižek repeatedl$

shows, 4this inhuman dimension is for 6a+an at the same time the ultimate support of

ethi+s5 -Žižek, EE9/, "e+ause what su"0e+ts su+h as &oark do is to +onfront us in

#arious forms with 4the latent monstrosit$ of "eing human5 - ibid /, and from this we

re+onfigure a wa$ to go on'

?ut if, as 6a+an re+ogni=ed in his reformulation of Fostoe#sk$, .od)s death

signals a uni#ersal immo"ilit$ -if .od is dead, then nothing is permitted/, then how do

we grasp &oark)s ethi+s and his a"ilit$ to keep +reatingA >he answer lies in the

re+ognition that &oark, under +onditions of +omplete freedom, keeps on +reating"e+ause in this #er$ a+t he ensures the spa+e for +reation itself' (hat Žižek sees in

&oark is similar to what he sees in man$ fi+tional +hara+ters who 4full$ assume the

parado< of human e

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minimal paralla< +onstellation is that of a simple frame: all that has to inter#ene in the

&eal is an empt$ frame, so that the same things we saw Gdire+tl$) "efore are now seen

through the frame5 -EE: /' In the logi+ of parallahe unpleasant weird effe+t of su+h short +ir+uits shows that the$ pla$ a

s$mptomal role in our s$m"oli+ uni#erse: the$ "ring home the impli+it, ta+it prohi"ition

on whi+h these uni#erses rel$5 -EE: 1*1D/'

>his logi+ of paralla< re3uires a +ontingent uni#erse of en+ounters where a

parado

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take to "e rationalit$, reason, and sanit$' ?$ wa$ of filmi+ referen+es this essa$ offers a

+loser look at the +onditions of this 4impossi"le5 spa+e of +hoi+e8 that is, the +ontingen+$

of our e

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+ommits an %+t maintains an ethi+s whi+h +an no longer "e a++ounted for in terms of

fidelit$ to a pre*ehere is neither guilt nor

remorse e

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trans+endent, order of "eing5 -EEB: 1E1/' %t the moment of an authenti+ %+t,

meanings and delimiters of madness and sanit$ do not appl$' (hat is opened up in the

wake of an authenti+ %+t is not another realm outside of the su"0e+t of a new ethi+s, "ut

an internal re*marking of the su"0e+t)s e

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she relates to Clarissa -Mer$l Streep/ a"out her de+ision, 4It)s what $ou +an "ear ''' it

Jfamil$ life was death, I +hose life'5

It is in this %+t where, like &oark, 6aura "e+ame the +ause of herself, and where

free will and determinism were +om"ined in a wa$ that went "e$ond the "inar$' 6aura

ena+ted a ?artle"$ ethi+s "e+ause she neither tried to fit in nor "e+ame politi+i=ed in

order to work for the eman+ipation of mid*+entur$ %meri+a)s housewi#es and mothers8

instead, she simpl$ said no' 6ike ?artle"$ she disengages, and as su+h her 4refusal

isn)t so mu+h the refusal of a determinate +ontent as, rather the formal gesture of

refusal as su+h'5 er 4no5 takes the form of 4a signifier*turned o"0e+t, a signifierredu+ed to an inert stain that stands for the +ollapse of the s$m"oli+ order5 -Žižek, EE:

D;!*;B/' In The Hours this is seen when Clarissa and her daughter -Claire Fanes/

+onfront 4the monster5 6aura, talk with her and finall$ find that she isn)t a monster at all'

?ut there is a definite ina"ilit$ to +onfigure 6aura in 4normal5 ethi+al terms' Lo one

+ould fathom how her a+t of a"andonment might work to re+onfigure notions of motherl$

lo#e itself or how mothers who +ome to a limit and a"andon their +hildren might

somehow "e +hoosing a good o#er another e#il'   (hat she did and what remained

ineoni Collette/, who wanted nothing more than to

"e+ome the 3uintessential wife and mother' er e

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#oluptuous "od$, her perk$ attitude/ were all met with a sudden and unehere are, as Žižek writes, onl$

4partial and +ontingent knots – s$mptoms -3uilting points, points of gra#itation/ Jthat +an

generate a limited and fragile +o*ordination "etween the two domains''''5 -EEE: 11/'

(hat)s +ru+ial for Žižek here, is not to think of radi+al +ontingen+$ as 4ontologi+al

openness5 or the a"ilit$ to +hoose 4the +orre+t path5 of alternati#e future realities, "ut

rather the a"ilit$ to assume 4a self*referentialit$ of knowledge,5 a tautolog$ of +ausalit$

and su"0e+thood -Žižek, EE: E!8 and Žižek, EED: 1E/'

Herhaps nowhere is this uni#erse of +ontingen+$ more #i#idl$ portra$ed than in

Haul aggis)s EEB film Crash, whose plot summar$ reads: 42or two da$s in 6os

1E

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 %ngeles, a ra+iall$ and e+onomi+all$ di#erse group of people pursue li#es that +ollide

with one another in unehandie Lewton and >erran+e oward/ who ha#e "een pla$full$

ha#ing se< while dri#ing' &$an pulls them o#er and pro+eeds to degrade and demean

them, fondling the wife se

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4larger for+es5 su+h as ra+ism are ena+ted in e#er$da$ +ontingent en+ounters' >his

4unseen5 stru+tural +onne+tion is re#ealed in #arious en+ounters in this film' 2or

eomm$ -&$an Hhillippe/

and 6ieutenant Fi

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his re3uest, as 6t' Fi

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6aw, and as Žižek relates, 4>his o"s+ene ehis &eal, as

Žižek makes +lear in his response to udith ?utler)s +riti+isms, e

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to see the real as alread$ #irtual, to see how the material real world +an "e separated

from itself' It is the su"0e+t that must deal with the #oid at its +ore, "$ means of desire,

dri#e, and, more rarel$, "$ re+onfiguring the parameters of "oth'

 %n film that illustrates this is &o"ert Oemekis)s 1 film Cast !way , where >om

anks) +hara+ter Chu+k Loland finds that the fears he fa+es, the loneliness, the

isolation, and the loss he e

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within himself as he "e+ame the +ause of his own e

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1Endnotes:

 Žižek de+lares this +hoi+e in .l$n Fal$)s Con"ersations with #i$e%  -EE!: B1/'

2 >he +ru+ial differen+e "etween Žižek and &and is in the wa$ ethi+s is +on+ei#ed' 2or thelatter, reason is treated as an a"solute -as stated in &and)s !tlas Shrugged  and

throughout &and)s writings/, whereas to the former reason is +aught up in the twists andturns of the moe"ius strip of the su"0e+t)s uni#erse8 therefore, what is reasona"le and sanenow ma$ not "e so in another setting or another time' (hat resonates with Žižek in termsof &oark as a su"0e+t is his re*setting of ethi+al "oundaries rather than indi#idualisti+defian+e of same' Cru+iall$, &oark is not interested at all in ushering in a new era forar+hite+ture, or lea#ing his mark for posterit$8 he is interested onl$ in +ontinuing to designand +reate whate#er the out+ome' %s he sa$s in one s+ene: 4I don)t work in order to ha#e+lients8 I ha#e +lients in order so that I +an work'5

3 Signifi+antl$ &oark is found not guilt$, whi+h also signals a kind of momentar$ re+ognitionthat his %+t was done in another dimension of ethi+s' I would argue also that the

authenti+ +onne+tion that su+h freedom allows is found in the une

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 9 In this sense 6aura did the impossi"le, "e+ause her a"andonment +an "e seen as a gift,sin+e it was a +hoi+e she made a"o#e sui+ide and the murder of her un"orn +hild' (e-so+iet$/ e3uate su+h an a+t to "e against motherhood, as a +ruel and inerans' ?' 2ink'Lew ork: Lorton'

Žižek, Sla#o0' -19/' The !byss o( Freedom6!ges o( the World ' %nn %r"or: Uni#ersit$of Mi+higan Hress'

Žižek, Sla#o0' -EEE/' The Fragile !bsolute or, Why is the Christian 'egacy WorthFighting For7  Lew ork: Verso'

Žižek, Sla#o0' -EE1a/' 48l n9y a :as de ra::ort religieux '5 'acanian in%  1;: ;E*1EB'

Žižek, Sla#o0' -EE1"/' Fright o( ;eal Tears& -rzyszto( -ieslows%i .etween Theory andPost4Theory ' 6ondon: ?2I Hu"lishing

Žižek, Sla#o0' -EE/' Welcome to the he MI> Hress'

Žižek, Sla#o0' -EE9/' 4?adiou: Lotes 2rom an 7ngoing Fe"ate'5 8nternational )ournalo( #i$e% Studies  1'' Qhttp:NNwww'Žižekstudies'orgR'

Žižek, Sla#o08 ?utler, udith8 6a+lau, @rnesto' -EEE"/' Contingency, Hegemony,=ni"ersality& Contem:orary