The ultimate horizon of Apocalypse Now is this insight into how Power generates its own excess, which it has to annihilate in an operation that has to imitate what it fights (Willard's mission to kill Kurtz does not exist in the official record--'it never happened', as the general who briefs Willard points out). We thereby enter the domain of secret operations, of what the Power does without ever admitting it. And does not the same go for today's figures presented by the official media as the embodiments of radical Evil? Is this not the truth behind the fact that Bin Laden and the Taliban emerged as part of the CIA-supported anti-Soviet guerrilla movement in Afghanistan, and behind the fact that Noriega in Panama was an ex-CIA agent? Is not the USA fighting its own excess in all these cases? And was the same not true already of Fascism? The liberal West had to join forces with Communism to destroy its own excessive outgrowth.
Wednesday, November 10, 2004
This Guy Rules
From Welcome to the Desert of the Real by Slavoj Zizek
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5 comments:
That looks good--I'm waiting for that "Staring at goats" book to come out!!!
from way back--three personal fave scary film moments that didn't make it onto that Bravo list:
Amadeus--the end of Don Giovanni when the demon flies over--it's weird, a staged production inside a filmed scene but still harrowing I think.
Full Metal Jacket--when the sniper is writhing on the ground inside the abandoned building--that's messed up.
Prince of Darkness, the whole thing. Come on, I watched this last year at three in the morning and was in tears. That fucked up "transmission" from the future--I can't take it...also the make up is really unsettling--how do you act like you're Satan and an extraterrestial??? It's just plain weird when they lop off her arm with an axe. The whole thing is just really unsettling. I think the Thing is a better film but POD fucking freaks me out more hands down OTM.
everyone is talking about Saw here at Loyola. hmm.
I agree about Prince of Darkness--I think that's one freaky flick! Very claustrophobic, and that teacher who improvises trumpet sounds with his lips is scary as shit too...Seriously, I like that movie a lot, even the ending when he's reaching for the mirror and the way it stops--outstanding.
The others I agree with as well. I might see Saw Friday. After I see Saw I'll say whether or not Saw is worth seeing, because having seen it I'll be able to say so.
(Late post) Thought I would chime in with Zizek - the U.S. also created Saddam, by supporting the Baathist overthrow of Iraq's then Soviet-leaning military leader (killing him with poisoned hanky) and consistently looking the other way while Saddam took over and developed his regime of torture and war.
That book will be mine, and soon!!
(Late post) Thought I would chime in with Zizek - the U.S. also created Saddam, by supporting the Baathist overthrow of Iraq's then Soviet-leaning military leader (killing him with poisoned hanky) and consistently looking the other way while Saddam took over and developed his regime of torture and war.
That book will be mine, and soon!!
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