Steven ShaviroWayne State University

shaviro@shaviro.com

Some Revisionary Thoughts on Eastern European Film

Three Films

I Taxidermia (Gyorgy Palfi, Hungary, 2006)

I WR: Mysteries of the Organism (Dusan Makavejev,Yugoslavia, 1971)

I Life and Death of a Porno Gang (Mladen Djordjevic, Serbia,2009)

All three of these films. . .

I . . . explicitly portray sex, violence, and extreme visceral states.

I . . . present allegories of social/political/economic forms of life.

I . . . are concerned with the politics and economics of affect, orwith the affective implications of politics and economics.

1989

Viewing Eastern European films today, in the West. . .

I Before 1989I Films are critical of “actually existing socialism”. . .I . . . to the extent they can be, given state censorship.I But what they value, advocate, or idealize. . .I . . . is not anything like what we, today, in the West,

understand as capitalism.

I After 1989I Films are critical of actually existing capitalism. . .I . . . which has been a disappointment, compared to the hopes

from before 1989.I Because Eastern European countries have experienced the

transition to capitalism only recently. . .I . . . capitalism does not seem given, and “natural,” the way it

does in the West.I Rather, capitalism, like socialism, seems bizarre and alien.

Capitalist Realism (Mark Fisher)

I “It is easier to imagine the end ofthe world than it is to imagine theend of capitalism.”

I We are haunted by “the widespreadsense, not only that capitalism isthe only viable political andeconomic system, but that it isnow impossible even to imagine acoherent alternative to it.”

I It seems as if “the future harboursonly reiteration and repermutation.Could it be that there are nobreaks, no ‘shocks of the new’ tocome?”

The Communist Hypothesis (Alain Badiou)

I “The communist hypothesis is thata different collective organization ispracticable, one that will eliminatethe inequality of wealth and eventhe division of labor.”

I “ ‘Communism’ as such. . . is whatKant called an Idea, with aregulatory function, rather than aprogram.”

I “A pure Idea of equality.”

I But what does it mean tounderstand “communism” only inpolitical terms, rather thaneconomic ones?

Utopia: Politics and Economics (Fredric Jameson)

I “The radical break or secession of Utopia from politicalpossibilities as well as from reality itself. . . accurately reflectsour current ideological state of mind.”

I Utopia is “a meditation on the impossible, on the unrealizablein its own right.”

I “It has often been lamented that Marxism seems to be apurely economic theory, which makes little place for a properlyMarxian political theory. I believe that this is the strength ofMarxism, and that political theory and political philosophy arealways epiphenomenal. . . There can never be satisfactorypolitical solutions or systems; but there can be bettereconomic ones, and Marxists and leftists need to concentrateon those.”

Taxidermia

Taxidermia 1: Masturbation

Vendel Morosgovanyi

Taxidermia 2: Speed Eating

Kalman Balatony

Taxidermia 3: Auto-Taxidermy

Lajos Balatony

Taxidermia: Life and Art

Taxidermia’s Three Regimes

Morosgovanyi Kalman LajosFascism/Feudalism Socialism CapitalismHierarchical/Aristocratic Mass Public PrivateMilitary chain of command Prestige/Privilege Atomistic IsolationWar Sports ArtMasturbation/Murder Feeding/Regurgitation Taxidermy/EviscerationRank Connections MoneyObsession/Compulsion Engorgement/Exhibitionism Anorexia/Masochism

WR: Mysteries of the Organism

WR: Polarities/Sexpol

Wilhelm Reich Josef Stalin (impersonator)

WR: America

Tuli Kupferberg, “Kill for Peace”

WR: Yugoslavia

Milena exhorts the crowd to sexual and social revolution

WR: Vladimir Ilyich

“Nothing is lovelier than the Appassionata. I could listen to it all day.Marvelous, superhuman music. With perhaps naive pride, I think: ‘Whatwonders men can create!’ – But I can’t listen to music. It gets on mynerves! It arouses a yearning in me to babble sweet nothings, to caresspeople living in this hell who can still create such beauty. But nowadays,if you stroke anybody’s head, he’ll bite your hand off! Now you have tohit them on the head. Hit them on the head, mercilessly, though inprinciple we oppose all violence.”

WR: Sex and Revolution

“Cosmic rays streamed through our coupled bodies. We pulsated to thevibrations of the universe. But he couldn’t bear it. . . Comrades, evennow I’m not ashamed of my communist past.”

Life and Death of a Porno Gang

Eros and Thanatos

Marko

Porno Cabaret

First performance for a country audience

The Porno Gang / The Common

Tripping on mushrooms in the forest

Trauma

Putting an end to the horror

Snuff

Making a snuff film with a suicidal victim

Damage

Radioactive cows

End of the Porno Gang

Sacrifice

Marko and Una, the last survivors, decide to end it all

Peace (?)

Suicide in the Roman ruins

Conclusions?

“Be unrealistic; demand the possible.”– Anindya Bhattacharyya