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• Eroticism Meets Tango

• By: Teresa Yuh-yi Tan

•

112/04/08 Teresa Yuh-yi TAN 2

Writer/Director/Musician/dancer/Choreographer

Sally Potter (1949 - )

•

• Style

–Wry humour (satire) and the bold look at gender, sexuality and the English class system

04/08/23 Teresa Yuh-yi TAN 3

Writer/Director/Musician/Choreographer Sally Potter (1949 - )

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• Films– The feminist

experimental film, Thriller (驚悚 ,1979)

– London Story (1980), – Gold Diggers (1983),

Potter’s first feature.– Orlando ( 美麗佳人歐蘭

朵 ,1992)– The Tango Lesson (夢幻舞神 , 1997)

– The Man Who Cried (縱情四海 2000)

– Yes (the latest project, based on the 911 Event)

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Discussion Question

• The film's broken into many numbered tango lessons. What are the tango lessons that Sally Potter has learned in the film?

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3 Stages1. I ≠ You: To Live from Death (Lesson 1-4)

– Fashion film or a detour to tango• To Lean how to walk backward• Sally and her 3 teachers

– the multilingual environment: English, French, Spanish

2. I + You: Continuity and Discontinuity (Lesson 5-8)

– The motif of identity in the world of tango

3. I = You: Sacred Eroticism (Lesson 9-12) – “Jacob Wrestling with the Angel.”

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Lesson 1-2: Just find your center

• Lesson1: A tango lesson from Pablo– To walk backward– “Just find your

center.”– The young woman

in yellow dies– The blonde falls

• Lesson 2: – SP joins a milonga.– The woman in red

falls.

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Lesson 3• A crack in the house that is demolished• A tango lesson from Gustavo and

Fabian in Buenos Aires – A pair of high heeled dancing shoes– Ganchos and boleo – In the public world of the milonga– A good dancer

• The pressure from the film production• The woman in red pulls out a gun yet

she falls.

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Lesson 4• A lesson from Pablo

– She follows well.

• They dance in a deserted Parisian dance salon, the world of their own.

• “I didn’t choose the tango. The tango chose me.”—Pablo

• A tango waltz in the banks of the Seine

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Discussion Questions 1. Why does SP give up her original story about

the fashion industry and want to start a new story about tango?

– What is the function for the subplot of the three female models dressed in red, yellow, blue working in a fashion business?

2. Why did the director Sally Potter choose to shoot the scenes in English, Spanish and French? What does the multilingual environment suggest?

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The Fashion Subplot• The fashion subplot

– The glamorization of death– The model represent the designer’s muse– The producers consider that the story limits

the market– People in the film speaks in French instead of

English—it means that the film will lose 75 percent of the market

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Definition of Eroticism 1

• Eroticism

– “assenting to life even in death” (Erotism 11)

– “Eroticism opens the way to death.” (Erotism 24)

– “a psychological quest independent of the natural goal: reproduction and the desire for children” (Erotism 11)

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Definition of Eroticism 2• Eroticism

– “the domain of eroticism is the domain of violence, of violation” (Erotism 16)• “to destroy the self-contained character

of the participators as they are in their normal lives.” (Erotism 17)

– “a breaking down of established patterns, the patterns, I repeat, of the regulated social order basic to our discontinuous mode of existence as defined and separate individuals” (Erotism 18).

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3 Stages1. I ≠ You: To Live from Death (Lesson 1-4)

– Fashion film or a detour to tango• To Lean how to walk backward• Sally and her 3 teachers

– the multilingual environment: English, French, Spanish

2. I + You: Continuity and Discontinuity (Lesson 5-8)

– The motif of identity in the world of tango

3. I = You: Sacred Eroticism (Lesson 9-12) – “Jacob Wrestling with the Angel.”

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Lesson 5• “I feel I’m a Jew”—SP

– A tear runs down each of their cheeks

• SP leaves for Hollywood– SP reads Martin Buber’s

book I and Thou – Pablo reads the book

about Marlon Brando

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Lesson 6• SP gives up a script that

she don’t want to make into a film.

• SP comes up an idea to make a film about tango.

• An improvised choreography—a danse de cuisine—a female director’s gaze

• Pablo asks SP to dance with him in Paris show.

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Lesson 7• Pablo intentionally

ignores SP’s date for the New York Eve.

• They define their relationship more clearly and set some limits.

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Lesson 8

• They agree that it’s better to sublimate the attraction into the work

• Yet Pablo falls onto Sally’s bed and Sally sighs.

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Dis/Continuity

• “If the union of two lovers comes about through love, it involves the idea of death, murder or suicide. This aura of death is what denotes passion. On a lower level than this implied violence—a violence matched by the separate individual’s sense of continuous violation—the world of habit and shared egotism begins, another mode of discontinuity, in fact” (Erotism 20-21)

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Sexual Plethora and Death

• “But feeling of self necessarily varies as the self concerned withdraws into its discontinuity. This withdrawal is greater or lesser according to the facilities available for objective discontinuity, in inverse ratio to those available to continuity” (Erotism 100).

• “One might even say that the fuller the erotic pleasure, the less conscious we are of the children who may result from it. On the other hand, the depression following upon the final spasm may give a foretaste of death, but he anguish of death and death itself are at the antipodes of pleasure” (Erotism 102).

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Some Features of Tango• Tango is a macho dance?– The man follows almost as much as he leads. And the

woman leads almost as much as she follows. • Since Argentine tango is almost entirely improvisational,

there needs to be clear communication between partners• A striking characteristic of tango is in the shape and feel of

the embrace.– In close embrace, the leader and the follower's chests are

in contact and they are dancing with their heads touching or very near each other.

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• Martin Buber’s I and Thou proves to be a

key to understanding the deeper appeal of the tango dance.

– the two fundamental dialogues--the "I-Thou" and the "I-It“

– “I-Thou” is a relationship of mutuality and reciprocity, while “I-It” is a relationship of separateness and detachment.

– Similar to Bataille’s notion of continuity and discontinuity

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3 Stages1. I ≠ You: To Live from Death (Lesson 1-4)

– Fashion film or a detour to tango• To Lean how to walk backward• Sally and her 3 teachers

– the multilingual environment: English, French, Spanish

2. I + You: Continuity and Discontinuity (Lesson 5-8)

– The motif of identity in the world of tango

3. I = You: Sacred Eroticism (Lesson 9-12) – “Jacob Wrestling with the Angel.”

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Lesson 9• SP and Pablo are rehearsing

with criticizing attitude.

• They discuss the issue of jealousy.

• A stage performance with Pugliese’s “La Yumba.”

– Just follow and not to block my freedom to move

– Looking vs. being looked at

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Lesson 10• Delacroix’s Painting

“Jacob wrestling with the Angel”– Pablo takes up the

position of the Angel.

– Sally presses herself against him like Jacob.

• A baptism becomes a ritual for a truce.

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Lesson 11• Sally considers that she

should take a position to lead.

• They are looking for a dancing studio.

• They dance all four together in an abandoned department store.

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Lesson 12• Sally sees Pablo on the screen.

• They go to a synagogue.– Pablo does not feel at

home.

• The reason for their meeting– To leave a trace while

they are dancing

– “I am you.”

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Discussion Questions• Why does the relationship between SP

and Pablo change after they agree to be each other’s partner? And How?

• Why does SP and Pablo imitate the same gesture shown in Delacroix’s paint of “Jacob Wrestling with the Angel.” What does the gesture suggest? And What is the original meaning for the painting?

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Anguish and Eroticism

• The glimpse of continuity involves anguish since there is a sense of shame attached to extreme pleasure.

• Bataille suggests that eroticism and death cannot be separated, but rather that one presupposes the other: “Anguish, which lays us open to annihilation and death, is always linked to eroticism; our sexual activity finally rivets us to the distressing image of death, and the knowledge of death deepens the abyss of eroticism” (Botting and Wilson 245)

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Transgression

• “The transgression does not deny the taboo but transcends it and completes it.” (Erotism 63).

• “Human society is not only a world of work. Simultaneously—or successively—it is made up of the profane and the sacred, its two complementary forms. • The profane world is the world of taboos. • The sacred world depends on limited acts of

transgression. It is the world of celebrations, sovereign rulers and God ” (Erotism 67-68).

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Sacrifice

• “This sacramental element is the revelation of continuity through the death of a discontinuous being to those who watch it as a solemn rite” (Erotism 82).

• “The greatest anguish, the anguish in the face of death, is what men desire in order to transcend it beyond death and ruination” (Erotism 87).

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From Religious Sacrifice to Eroticism

• “This inversion is meaningful if we now consider the similarity between the act of love and the sacrifice. Both reveal the flesh.

– Sacrifice replaces the ordered life of the animal with a blind convulsion of its organs.

– So also with the erotic convulsion; it gives free rein to extravagant organs whose blind activity goes on beyond the considered will of the lovers. ” (Erotism 92).

• “The urges of the flesh pass all bounds in the absence of controlling will. Flesh is the extravagance within us set up against the law of decency” (Erotism 92).

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Definition of Eroticism

• 3 Forms of Eroticism– Physical

• A heavy, sinister quality• “The separateness of the individual in a rather

selfish and cynical fashion” (Erotism 19).– Emotional

• Less constrained• Reciprocal affection of the lovers

– Religious• “The concern is to substitute for the individual

isolated discontinuity a feeling of profound continuity” (Erotism 15).

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「身體情色」 --暴力與死亡的結合

• 迥異於文明社會中的理性訴求，情色經驗是一種逾越禁忌的快感，讓我們重拾那被文明枷鎖所束縛的原始感官體驗，巴氏認為這種內在的經驗 (inner experience) 是情色最重要的來源，他說：「情色主義是人內在生活的面相」 (《情色主義 19 》 )。

• 由此可見，情色不僅僅只是對於所欲求對象外在肉體上的渴望，同時也是一種強烈的內在欲求，這種內在欲望以一種壓抑生成的語言，醞釀一股激進的暴力，力量之大幾乎可摧毀主體的自主性 (《情色主義 17》 )。

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「身體情色」 --暴力與死亡的結合

• 巴氏於是揭發了一種主體瀕臨生死的弔詭言說：「情色開啟死亡的大道」，因為體認到死亡逼近，所以生命倍感豐沛 (《情色主義 19 》 )。

• 同時，「死亡能將無聊的生命，添增炫麗的色彩」，因此情色內在的經驗，以一種強烈的手段，引領主體體驗一種他者的歷程－死亡《過度的幻覺 239》。

• 對於巴氏而言，欲望的極限即是死亡。在兩性歡愉的性高潮中，愛人們不計一切的消耗體力，達到一種近乎毀滅的小死，這種義無反顧的反生產模式，才能獲得真正的快樂。

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死亡與情色 :《情慾飛舞》探戈原初場景

• 匕首之舞：在探戈早期的文化中，男恩客在妓院爭風吃醋，引發殺機而匕首相向，是常見的戲碼，然犧牲者往往是女性，

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死亡與情色 :《情慾飛舞》探戈原初場景

• 如影片中的兩位女主角馬利歐前妻羅卡及新女友艾連娜。艾連娜最後在舞台上挨了一刀，雖為戲中戲的橋段，但也藉此點出情色與死亡的不可分的關係。

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「情感情色」 --夢幻與靈魂的踰越• 「情感情色」是一種浪漫的熱情，因為它的炙熱是身心兩方面的融和，強調主體與他者的融合互惠關係，但當這種關係無法企及時，便會產生一種內在的焦慮，巴氏說：「愛就是與所愛心靈相疊：當戀愛時，寂寞的靈魂渴望與愛人的靈魂融為一體」 (《情色主義 19 》 )。

• 「情感情色」欲求這份親密感，得到時會有ㄧ種前所未有的滿足感，但失去時，又感受到一股嚴重的失落感。根據巴氏的說法，這種滿足感來自於「自我意識的完成」 (《被詛咒的共享意識 57 》 )。

• 而此處的自我意識乃指主體在當下的自由意識中，享受全然的自主權 (sovereignty)，毫不考慮可能產生的附加經濟效益。然而這種自我的完成所帶來的並非單純的快樂而是為愛受折磨的苦痛，雖然兩個孤單的靈魂曾經相遇，但是分離的苦楚卻是必然的宿命。

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「情感情色」 --夢幻與靈魂的踰越• 情色經驗是所有感情中最濃烈的ㄧ種，因為它展現了踰越的快感，打破了一般理性行為的侷限，在不可能踰越與無法抑止這種愉悅的欲望之間，遂產生情色觀。有別於猥褻的色情，情色觀讓主體理解到逾越禁忌的可行性，掙脫傳統的社會與文化包袱，「情色打破既有的規範，雖然這些規則對我們獨立自主的個性養成幫助甚大」 (《情色主義 18 》 )

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《情慾飛舞》的男性幻想之眼 /演

• 導演索拉藉著戲中戲將舞台的劇情與現實融合為一體，或也可說明舞台上所發生的事情可能是現實生活的預告。觀眾隨著馬利歐進入男性創作者的中年危機，是危機也是轉機。

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《情慾飛舞》的男性幻想之眼 /演• 導演最擅長結合寓言、夢想、象徵來表達馬利歐的內在世界，他活在一個幻想的探戈電影世界，情緒貫穿台上台下，現實與虛幻在鏡子反射的輔助、投影片的交疊使用，觀眾步入了顏色的隧道，來到了一個幻想糾結的慾望原點。談玉儀 40

「神聖情色」 --犧牲的祭壇

• 情色與宗教之間存在一種互為因果又水火不容的弔詭觀係，神聖情色可視為一種拋棄自我、愛戀他者的意念。巴氏認為宗教中有關「神聖」的概念是一種無法制約、追求至高行為的表現，「宗教歷史學所謂的神聖乃指犧牲者為宗教捐軀，此舉讓旁觀者感受到一股強烈與捐軀者認同的感受」，這種主體與犧牲者認同的「神聖」想法早已超越令人恐懼的死亡 (《情色主義 22 》 )。

• 神聖情色將個人死生置之度外，關於一己的安危已不重要，因此能坦然面對死亡，並以一種超越死亡的情懷來達到天人共一的神聖境界。超越死亡才能重生，巴氏試圖闡明聖潔／猥褻、生／死等表面上雖相反，實際上卻是一體的情色理論，因為能跨越生死的禁忌，所以才能「在個人主義的社會中尋求到一種合而為一宗教替代品」 (《情色主義 15 》 )。

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《情慾飛舞》的祭壇• 探戈是索拉在這部片中最大的主題與譬喻，透過探戈舞曲不斷的前進與後退的特質，他表達「無法遺忘歷史傷痛、向前邁進愛情」的主題。

• 《情》片中的戲中戲高潮之處在於導演馬力歐藉著舞蹈形式再現阿根廷人民遭迫害的歷史，也透過舞蹈呈現先民拓荒的情景，過去有不堪回首的創傷，也有充滿希望的憧憬。

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《情慾飛舞》的祭壇• 對於這段傷痛的過去，導演一段引言讓人玩味：「過去無法毀滅，歷史一直重演，其中上演的劇碼就是想毀滅過去。」相對於這段沉重的歷史屠殺事件是馬利歐無法忘懷前妻的心結，一段無法面對分手的心境，讓自己的心懸在過去，只會讓彼此陷於愛情的泥沼之中。

• 人生的際遇就像探戈中不可預期的特質，除了引領與跟隨之外，還可能有意料之外的出招與接招的樂趣，生命必須在一種無法預期的偶然性中，重新蘊孕ㄧ股新的契機。

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我是你 ?

• Sally Potter 的電影《夢幻舞神》以探戈作為情色譬喻與巴氏看法雷同，皆表示情色是踰越暴力、想像、儀式、犧牲與死亡的再現。對於巴氏而言，「身體情色」以暴力或甚至死亡的方式讓主體擺脫既有僵化的思考模式；「情感情色」則尋找主體曾經擁有的親密感；「神聖情色」在犧牲奉獻的祭壇上發光發亮。

• 呼應 Potter影片中探戈課程三階段，「我非你」、「我和你」、「我是你」

• 皆為主體內在的極致經驗，擺盪於主體與他者融合與分離之間，以踰越之姿超越死亡與禁忌。

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Works Cited• Botting Fred and Scott Wilson eds. The Bataille Reader. Oxford:

Blackwell Publishers Ltd., 1997.• Bataille, Georges. Erotism: Death and Sexuality. 1957. San Francisco:

City Lights Books, 1986.• ---. Inner Experience. New York: SUNY P, 1988.• ---. The Accursed Share: The History of Eroticism and Sovereignty. Vol.

II & III. Trans. Robert Hurley. New York: zone, 1991.• The Tango Lesson. DVD. Dir. Sally Potter. Perf. Sally Potter and Pablo

Veron. 1997.• Tango. DVD. 1999. Dir. Carlos Saura. Perf. Miguel Ángel Solá and

Cecilia Narova. Mía Maestro, Juan Carlos Copes, Carlos Rivarola. Sony Picture, 1999.

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