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“You Can’t Handle the Truth”

Posted by Jeff Allred (he/him/his) on

Humans would like to think that we define ourselves through rational thinking and reason. This is where Sigmund Freud says no. In Sigmund Freud’s The Interpretation of Dreams, he explains that our dreams play a bigger role in our identity than we think. Freud explains that every child’s first object of sexual desire is their opposite- sex parent. Although this may sound farfetched, Freud explains that these feelings of incest lead to a repressive psyche in a human because as we grow older we clearly do not want to have these feelings. Freud interpreted that this repression could lead to homosexuality,neurosis, and/or pedophilia. This is where the concept known as the Oedipus Complex arises from. In the play Oedipus Rex, by Sophocles. Oedipus ends up killing his father and marrying his mother. Freud says that this story still resonates with us today “only because it might have been ours- because the oracle laid the same curse upon us before our birth as upon him” (816). Freud explains that in order to interpret our minds deepest impulses we must acknowledge the latent content of our dreams. This is what the interpreter of the dream should pay attention to. Before there was latent content, all interpretation was seen through the manifest content, which is what we could remember from our dreams. Latent content is the most essential information to understand the unconscious details of our dreams. This is our “true desire”. Sometimes humans can not handle the intensity of our wants and we want to condense and displace the content of our dream. Condensation is a method where the repressed part of the dream returns in hidden ways. In dreams, multiple dream-thoughts are often combined into a single element of the manifest dream. According to Freud, every dream seems to be put together out of two or more impressions or experiences. According to Freud, displacement is the principle means used in the dream- distortion to which the dream thoughts must submit under the influence of the censorship. An example of displacement could be if a man is angry with his boss at work, but he cannot express this anger properly, so he goes home and hits his wife. The wife in turn hits one of the children, possibly disguising this as a punishment. Displacement almost is a reminder of the line in the movie Few Good Men, “you can’t handle the truth”.

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what’s a rebus?

Posted by Jeff Allred (he/him/his) on

In case anyone’s not clear on the “rebus” analogy in Freud’s stuff on dreams, here’s an example:  free-beer-rebus

The broader point is that the manifest content of a dream contains a network of signs that seem nonsensical when read “straight’ but prove, on further examination, to contain a disguised or coded meaning.

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We Don’t Really Know What We Want

Posted by Jeff Allred (he/him/his) on

In Sigmund Freud’s The Interpretation of Dreams, he explains that every child’s first object of sexual desire is their opposite-sex parent.  Around the same time of this discovery, they will start resenting their same-sex parent.  However, seeing that incest is a taboo topic, most people have to repress that sexual craving, which, according to Freud, might lead to neurosis, homosexuality, and pedophilia.  He coined this concept as the Oedipus complex, after the play Oedipus Rex, written by Sophocles around 429 BCE.  In the play, Oedipus kills his father and unknowingly marries his mother.  Freud claims that Oedipus Rex is a story that still moves us today “only because it might have been ours – because the oracle laid the same curse upon us before our birth as upon him” (816).  He goes on to say that Shakespeare’s Hamlet “has its roots in the same soil as Oedipus Rex,” meaning that Hamlet experiences the same incestuous desires as Oedipus (817).  The difference, however, is that Hamlet is aware of his desire for his mother, which Oedipus was oblivious of.  Hamlet is forced to repress his forbidden desires, and the resulting neurosis he experiences are what Freud calls the “inhibiting consequences” of that repression.  Another reason for Hamlet keeping his desire hidden is that it was written within a much different society than Oedipus Rex, during the time of “the secular advance of repression in the emotional life of mankind” (817).  

In an attempt to “interpret the deepest layer of impulses” within the mind, Freud presents the new idea of latent content as what the interpreter of dreams should focus on.  Up until that point, all dream interpretation was through the manifest content, that is, the censored content of the dreams we remember.  Latent content, on the other hand, is what lies beneath the surface of manifest content.  It is the unconscious, a void which we can only know through its effects.  Our true desires are in the form of latent content, or ‘dream thoughts.’  However, our ego can’t always handle the truth of our wants.  In that case, the mind transcribes our dream thoughts into dream content through a process of condensation and displacement.  An example might be that we desire to murder our friend, but since murder is not an acceptable behavior or thought in our society, we might displace the image of wanting to see him dead in our dream with seeing a dead dog.  

Freud’s ideas about the unconscious were certainly revolutionary for his time, and though many of his theories have been debunked, he is credited with getting people to look below what is on the surface.

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Intersex vs. Means of Reproduction

Posted by Jeff Allred (he/him/his) on

Foucault’s History of Sexuality was written during the age of the sexual revolution. A time of sexual expression and liberation that prompted Foucault to challenge the mentality of this movement, questioning if they were truly ever sexually oppressed in the first place. He refers 18th century Victorian era where he produces his “repressive hypothesis” that claims since the rise of the bourgeoise, any time spent on purely recreational activities were disapproved. This meant that sex was dealt as a private and intimate encounter that only serves a purpose of reproduction. Anything beyond the intention of sexual reproduction or the congregation two people of the same sex was condemned. Since sex was privatized and demonized in the eyes of the public, the “repressive hypothesis” began to establish outlets for “improper” and “unconventional” sexual ventures that would allow people to express their desires and fear. This includes mental hospitals, brothels, and psychotherapy. Foucault develops the repressive hypothesis in order to develop his notion of productive power.

Steven Marcus referred to the purveyors of these places as “Other Victorians”. These people were able to escape the repressive sexual discourse by creating their own sources for sexual liberation. Foucault gives credit to Freud for having assisted in the concept of the “sexuality possible” but it’s discourse remained within the academic and medical field, leaving it unable to fully impact the mainstream culture. Foucault adds that sexual repression must be discussed because of our history that allows any liberal discourse on sexuality to be misunderstood as a matter of political liberation rather than an intellectual analysis. The “repressive analysis” was a concept that Foucault was able to utilize to grant revolutionary importance on the discourse of sexuality. This makes the repressive analysis seem defiant and integral to our personal liberation.

He touches upon the emerging sexualization of children and the identities of homosexuals. Foucault touches upon the linkage of sexuality to truth, making sexuality a sort of indicator of identity. Sexuality became a category much like ethnic or racial categories that norms had perpetuates. His argument was that homosexuality was not discovered but produced through a dialectical exchange. This led to the classification of homosexuality that invited people to suppress and regulate them. It also led to the demonization of sexualities that were viewed as “unproductive” which links to the capitalistic means of reproduction.

The ontological categorization of homosexualities makes me question how people who were born intersex were treated. Intersexuality involves people who were born with ambiguous genitalia and or secondary sexual characteristics that do not fit into the dimorphic platonic binary. The ontological regulation that intersex people face is immediate within their lives starting at birth. Many people born intersex had parents who were persuaded by doctors to perform gender reassignment surgery. Doctors viewed intersexuality as a genetic mutation or a mistake that could be corrected with their medical assistance. Parents of intersex children would be overwhelmed with the medical jargon that their doctors would spew and end up consenting to the surgery even though their children were perfectly healthy. Parents often consented to the surgery in fear the lives of their child was at jeopardy or sheer ignorance. This left many children to be brought up as genders they weren’t originally assigned and perpetuates the existence of happy go lucky heterosexuals. This is indicative how social norms and means of reproduction hindered the lives of children to fit into a dimorphic mold. These children often suffered emotionally and ended up abandoning their genders into adulthood.
The definition of intersex are people who do not fit into the binary of gender. This means that they cannot be categorized due to their ambiguous genitalia and secondary sex organs. But due to the preconceived notions of gender being heavily influenced in our lives before we’re even born (sex reveal parties, baby showers, etc) society thinks it acceptable to identify people through their gender even if their gender is ambiguous. This leads to powers such as traditional intellectuals and juridical powers to identify and or correct a person’s gender so they can align with the means of reproduction.
It also brings up the discourse of queer people who are also in an ambiguous part of the spectrum of sexuality by refusing to fit into the binary as well. They refuse to even be involved with gender and therefore denounce being identified by it completely. Even though they identify as queer they are still subscribing to a label or categorization that attends to a certain social group and attributes. Even though it’s a unique social group, no one can escape the norm. Queer is supposed to challenge and reject the notion of social norms but by doing so, they are still in relation to the norm. As a social group they’re aligning themselves with other groups which allows competition, comparisons, expectations, and goals to arise.
Foucault claims that sex has never been a taboo in Western culture and therefore never repressed. His focus on how and why sexuality was made an object of discussion goes beyond sexuality itself and towards the power we find in knowledge. In search for this answer, the theory of power becomes foundational for this concept. Knowledge is power in which it allows you to understand your stance and position in the world in relation to others. Power is used for social control of the individual and the social body (i.e. the Victorian era establishing social norms around sex). In reality, sex is not actually repressed because it spawned a network of platforms used to talk about sex. The economy discourse of sed proves that a prohibition produces more of something. Power not only prohibits but produces more of something. The more hidden sex became, the more time people spent searching for ways to avoid talking about sex or frequent the platforms of sexual expression (psychiatry, brothels, mental wards, etc). The idea of knowledge producing power an hegemony caused the two type of powers to form: Juridical and Normative.
Juridical power has to do with the law. Foucault refers to this as a “Right to Death” which operates through prohibition laws and punishments. This type of power takes things away by force as punishment which is exercised over the public in order to demand obedience. This type of power is found in official institutions like legislative bodies, police, government, etc. Juridical power is something that is scarce that is exercised over people that allows power to be given or taken away.  Normative power aka “Power over life” involved the distribution of the norm. Power of life operates through the micromanaging of life so that more life is produced. This power therefore works through multiplication and is neither good or bad power. This power isn’t located in official institutions and can’t be rid of. It is inside and outside us and has no center. This power is part of a larger dynamic of power relations.

The dichotomy of these schools of power indicated that Foucault believed we must go further below the surface to exercise power. He was able to indicate and recognize how these powers manifest within these two concepts (bio/political powers) to depict how power knowledge controls us.

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Freud isn’t (Necessarily) Wrong: The Study of Literature in Meltzer’s Unconscious

Posted by Jeff Allred (he/him/his) on

In Unconscious, by Françoise Meltzer, the writer discusses different opinions regarding psychoanalytic theory, mainly those of Sigmund Freud and Jacques Lacan. Telling us the different ways in which our thinkers conceive of the unconscious, we are told that Freud first created a topographic model of the mind, in which consciousness and the unconscious are separated by a repression barrier that keeps us from accessing the latter. Freud also sees it through “hydraulic” metaphors, in which the unconscious, burdened by tension, needs to “’leak through’” or “’seek outlets’”(Meltzer 151). When he finally revises his model into the tripartite model, in which he creates the categories of id, ego, and superego, Lacan and other French psychoanalysts begin to disagree with him, believing that the topographic model is more correct. Our writer tells us that “one can see that the choice of models for the mind, and therefore the choice of metaphors and rhetorical devices used to describe psychic activity, are highly politicized in subsequent psychoanalytic theory”(Meltzer 152).

But, Meltzer says this relates to something else: the study of literature. We argue about and discuss literature not only over basic plot and narration, but we pay extra attention to the smallest of details; we look at those same “slips of the tongue, puns, jokes, and ‘gaps’”(Meltzer 157) in narratives as a psychoanalyst would look at in a person. We expect these to have deeper meaning than what our narrators tell us directly. Like those who believe in the unconscious, readers and critics believe there is much more information underneath the surface.

Even Freud, in trying to explain his theories, analyzes Oedipus and Hamlet, great literary characters. However, Freud’s psychoanalytic theory comes into a problem when it runs into literature. Although a lover of narratives himself, he takes stories and explains them away using his theories, specifically “The Uncanny” by E. T. A. Hoffmann, in which a man named Nathaniel is terrified of the Sandman, whom he believes will gouge out his eyes. Eventually killing himself because he believes one of the “sandmen” wants him to jump off a tower, the story ends quite tragically.

Meltzer tells us that Freud explains this using the idea of Fetishism, in which the protagonist’s fear is not of having his eyes gouged out, but of castration, and that the fear narrated in the book is just a product of repression and displacement. By attempting to give a diagnosis to the protagonist, however, Freud seems to “solve” the book like a math equation, something scary for literature lovers everywhere.

Lacan, in his conception of psychoanalytic theory, draws heavily from the ideas of Saussure and Jakobson. Using their ideas on linguistics to parallel the ideas of the conscious and unconscious, he tells us that the unconscious is “structured like a language”(Meltzer 159), even using metonymy to explain the displacement of desire within the mind.

As Meltzer says, “there is something in the reader-critic who would like to keep some texts uncanny, and that resists the notion that any discipline (especially one outside of literary studies) can claim to “decipher” the “real” meaning of the text”(Meltzer 155). Literature (and most subjects within the humanities), is complex and unquantifiable. The reason we continue to study the same texts over and over is exactly for this reason. If we can suddenly “solve” the narratives we truly love, what is the point of continuing to study it?

However, a straight rejection of Freud’s theory cannot be made without raising another. By creating a barrier between psychoanalytic theory and literature, we can no longer use literature to help explain other fields either. We also must decide what else falls outside of the literary realm, and what falls within it. When we build a wall, we must decide who and what to keep out, and also where to put it. If one really wants to get at the “truth”, of literature, shouldn’t all answers be accepted and considered?

As I said before, literature is something that cannot be quantified. Especially today, with technology allowing us to write publically whenever we like, and when we have films, news and art in wide availability, everything is literature and everything can be analyzed. By creating boundaries and saying that some theories and ideas fall outside of literature, we constrict our ability to look at the field in different ways. If we want to discover a little bit more about the workings of the human mind, both within psychoanalytic theory and literature, it is necessary to take into account the thoughts surrounding them that aren’t considered “literary” in the traditional sense.

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Mirror Mirror, On The Wall: Jacques Lacan’s “The Mirror Stage”

Posted by Jeff Allred (he/him/his) on

Mirror Mirror, On The Wall

In Jacques Lacan’s “The Mirror Stage As Formative” he explains what happens to us as babies during what he calls “the mirror stage” and why it has an impact on our entire adult lives. He says that when infants reach a certain age, approximately six to eighteen months, they are finally able to recognize themselves in a mirror. This may just seem like a cute, non-important milestone however that is not the case. Once babies reach this stage, it has a crucial affect on their mental development. Lacan says that up until that point, babies have a very limited understanding of the world. They know the faces, smells and sounds of their loved ones but they do not actually know themselves, nor do they really care. Once they have an image of what they look like, this image will stay with them and help them make sense of their world. They have the version of themselves in their heads and then once they can understand the image in the mirror they have a complete, whole picture of themselves. Lacan also addresses the fact that if the image in their minds do not mesh with the image in the reflection, it can cause a lacking “sense of self.” I think that what this stage actually means is that this is when babies become actual humans.

One of the main components that separates us as humans from animals is that we are aware that people have their own perceptions of us and once we are able to recognize how we look from the exterior, that is not only important but tends to matter a lot to us. I think that this concept applies to people of any age. For example, in movies or TV shows whenever a character needs to do a little bit of self-reflection, it shows them looking into a mirror, deep in thought. This idea of seeing ourselves from the exterior can cause us to take a minute and try to gather and align our sense of self with our actual self. Does someone seriously not recognize their actions until they look in a mirror? No! people think and make conscious decisions constantly. Why do we need to view ourselves from the outside to have a complete sense of self? Humans care what other humans think. It is as simple as that. Additionally, coming from a Nietzsche perspective, we are told from very early on what is “right” and what is “wrong” and we grow up with regulations and structures already in place. We act accordingly, or don’t, but regardless of what we do, we are aware of how society views the world and what the shared basic beliefs are. In comparison, animals do not act based on the presumptions of others, they act strictly from within. They never do anything to please other animals or say things because they are polite. As humans, because we are aware that people have their own perceptions of us, we habitually tend to view ourselves from the outside-in. This need for people to accept, like, approve, agree etc. with us is really just a need for us to improve our own self-image and so that the views we have of ourselves are accurate with how the world sees us.

Once babies reach this “mirror stage” I think that this is simply when they become different than animals. This is when they begin the path of being human. They are able to view themselves from the exterior and from then on they will have the struggle that all humans share of trying to align our self images with our actual selves.

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Blog Post #5: The idea of Self-Identity and Race in “The Fact of Blackness”

Posted by Jeff Allred (he/him/his) on

In Fanon’s The Fact of Blackness, Fanon argues that the term “blackness” in not an original identity, but one that is forced upon the individuals that are labeled as black people. “Blackness” is determined by the physical traits of a being, the darker you are the more you fit the identity of “blackness.” This term is used to isolate and ultimately alienate the black man from the rest of the society. The black man does not have the opportunity to to create an identity for himself, rather he is subjected to the ideas and portrayal that someone else has for him. Fanon focuses on the concept of self-identity, realizing that he is an object amongst other objects, having no control over his own free will. The black man finds it difficult to grasp his own reality because of the social constraints put upon him.

The black man knows that he cannot be overlooked. He cannot hide the color of the skin, he cannot be anonymous. The label of “blackness” constantly shadows him. Compared to the white man, he will always be considered inferior. The judgements and criticisms that people have weigh him down. Fanon explains that no matter how many good qualities or talents that the black man may have, people will always denounce him for the color of his skin. He begins to feel ashamed of the criticisms hurled at him, realizing that he will never be good enough for them. This makes him have less control over his own identity.

The black man has already become “blackened” by society even before he can create an identity for himself. His existence only lives on what society makes of him, rather than making an identity for himself. Everyone holds the right to be proud of their background and race, but that becomes hard to do when the society around you treats you and your people less than equal. This ultimately makes one’s self-identity become a burden on them.

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Hey class! Check out this song:

Posted by Jeff Allred (he/him/his) on

I was listening to this song by California hip hop supergroup Living Legends, and it felt it very appropriate to our class. In this song I hear everything from Marx to Fanon and Foucault. Maybe even a little Nietzsche? Check it out!

YouTube link: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=N4V_Q7qsZLw

[Hook: Bicasso]
It’s a kid on the corner of his block
And there’s a genius in his room with a deep thought
It’s a grower in the hills with a crop
But if they all come together what they got?
A little power unified to make a knot
Well of course
And if a plan to expand is endorsed for some more
Lend a hand, pay attention and explore
We all in this people we all in this…

[The Grouch]
Well now I don’t know where you’ve been
But if you got here I’ll let you in
Welcome you with open arms, now let’s begin
Set the scene, serious as fuck minus the mean
Build up your esteem and get to growing
I’m showing fools a place where they can come
And erase the dumb deeds they’ve done
Cause ever since I was young I’ve been shown I wasn’t alone
I roamed with my unhoned skill
And anyone who talked down on me
I knew they didn’t know the deal
My belief was way larger than life
Taking charge with the might in my mind
And recognizing that in other mankind
I knew I was on the right path, see
Combating a fight, wrath raging for way too long
And you might say you’re strong, proud, loud and so on
Steadily doing damage every time you get your flow on
I build in Oakland, Chicago and everywhere else I go
There’s people who know exactly what I mean
More than a scene, great minds think alike
So when you find hate it ain’t tight
Decipher the paint right
Get your sights set on what’s important
Quit distorting the big picture
When will it hit ya?

[Hook]

[JC]
A rich man in a poor man’s body
That’s what I was growin’ up, hustlin’ for the buck
Mentally torn between just to be or not to be
It gotta be it betta be betta days ahead of me
Cheddar cheese, luxuries, was never gave to me
Instead I shift from home to home, feelin’ lone was I prone
From the destiny in which I lay to wallow
I live for today and give a fuck about tomorrow
The sorrow and hatred is my only perception
Because all my memories is filled with lies and deception
The stressin’, deprived of a childhood and adolescence
Learned my lesson, now it’s all good
I never thought I’d see the streets there’s so many hoods
My heart done broke so many times, boy it’s harder than wood
It’s been a long road, but you know the game unfolds
I listen to the stories told by the cats of old
Tryin’ to tell me I don’t know about strugglin’
Like in the slave days, but ain’t shit changed
Instead we ain’t wearin’ chains, huh
I feel the same pain but it’s escalated
Niggas feel free, but still ain’t emancipated
So gettin’ faded is what’s left off the green leaf
Hindering the mind, but when I’m high I feel fine
Been in the wrong place at the wrong time
All the time
Tryin’ to journey into the light
But the dark ain’t far behind
I’m at a color disadvantage but I manage
To make it work for me by the use of my talents
And use common sense to gain dollars and cents
And ain’t ashamed it’s what I do
Until the day I repent

[Hook]

[Luckyiam]
I stay humble through the many of fumbles I found trouble
And trouble it doubles in cities amongst the rubble
I learned from my mistakes to miss another
Resembling ignorance, isn’t it all in the struggle?
Got you wondering, why?
You wanna bubble so you hustle
Building the muscle that’s not needed
So the other one you ignore it
And feed it more fantasy and you store it, in the bubble
(Your circumference of comfort)
“Ghetto fabulous” important in society
A circle of clubbing and girl fucking amounts to really nothing
While we fronting for the public
We shove it down the throats of our kids and watch em love it
And got the nerve to wonder why shit’s fucked up
The government lucked up, by giving fools the right to bear arms
Cause we shoot each other down at the last call…
What the fuck y’all???
Shit…

[Hook]

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Your questions addressed (if not always answered)

Posted by Jeff Allred (he/him/his) on

[note: updated at noon on Monday with stuff from today’s class]

Very quickly, I wanted to address some of your index cards from last time:

 

MODE OF INSTRUCTION: a couple of you addressed the general question of how I teach the material. Two students mentioned that I talk too fast, making it hard to digest the concepts and take good notes. One went further, expressing frustration that I digress and/or fail to address arguments and questions squarely. I will certainly try to slow down and have more discipline about sticking to the main line of arguments. There are two limitations, however, that are hard to completely overcome:

a) insofar as I successfully get you to participate, there will be some digression, since inevitably you students raise unpredictable and sometimes tangential questions/exceptions/issues, and that’s fantastic. It’s my job to keep us on topic, but I don’t want to do so with such a strong hand, that it turns into a lecture with 25 passive students. So I’ll keep working on this and feel free to check in via notecard/office hours/email if you have ongoing concerns

b) this stuff is really, really hard. There’s only so clear it can be to someone who’s coming at it for the first time. As the Culler reading that we read in September states, “theory” is a body of knowledge in which each piece assumes knowledge about a lot of other pieces. So I hope some things become clearer as we go (e.g., Lacan becomes clearer after reading Saussure and Althusser), but inevitably we will all feel like we’re missing some aspects of mastery by the end of the course (including myself).

What is a camera obscura in the Marxist sense? Are there modern analogues to this metaphor?

Interesting question. Marx’s metaphor uses a familiar technology of the era and emphasizes that “ideology” is something that the subject is within in some sense: as with Plato’s cave metaphor, Marx emphasizes that ideology gives us the real, but in ways that also cut us off from its context. I’m not sure what’s a better analogy in the 21st C: ideology so saturates everyday life for us in ways that Marx couldn’t have anticipated. Our smartphones and TVs and tablets make me think that the “screen” is the best candidate: the space that combines fantasy and reality (illusion/allusion as Althusser says), that connects us to others while dissociating us, that provides us with a wealth of information and an equal wealth of disinformation.

You say Benjamin views “distraction” positively, yet that he warns that it can be used by fascism. So is distraction positive or negative?

This may have been a moment I rambled/went too quickly. For Benjamin, “distraction” names the opposite of “absorption,” the mode of attention that he associates with “aura.” The auratic art object takes us over, especially in a ritual context, and turns off our critical capacities to a great extent. B likes “distraction” (his example is the way people process the “program” of a building, through semi-conscious, practical navigation of the structure over and over) because it fails to dominate our consciousness and allows for a more critical mode of perception. Fascism manages to make the mechanically reproduced object (the films of Riefenstahl, the radio addresses of Hitler, the poster art of Goebbels) spectacular or “aesthetic” in ways that create the ritualized “absorptive” reaction that is associated with aura. Benjamin proposes a counter-force in the form of art that is “politicized,” fostering a critical response, whereby part of us distractedly thinks about the ideologies behind the work of art, the institutions that produced it, and so on, even as we’re experiencing the film or photograph or poster. It’s debatable whether all his assumptions about aura, absorption, etc. hold up, but I think if B were reading over my shoulder, he’d agree that the above captures his argument.

Very long question on “aura”: to paraphrase, can 21stC cultural technologies recreate “aura” for old images. For example, the experiment in which 3D printing was used, along with complex algorithms, to paint a Rembrandt-like portrait.

This is a cool question and anticipates the work of Kittler and other theorists of new media, which we’ll look at in December. Within the terms of Benjamin’s argument, the vanishing of aura in the era of “mechanical reproducibility” is a one-way street. But subsequent critics have examined the phenomenon with more nuance, especially in light of digital technologies that really make us question the idea of any kind of “original” or “authenticity.” Jean Baudrillard, the French poststructuralist, joked that Disneyland exists in order to distract us from the fact that Los Angeles doesn’t really exist (i.e., it’s all simulation, copies of copies that have no original). The example you choose would seem better positioned to prove the theoretical argument that, in the era of mechanical reproduction, the media themselves are more important than the texts they communicate: Marshall McLuhan memorably summed this up, “The medium is the message.” Here, a focus on Rembrandt as “message” is trumped by the algorithms and the printing tech as “medium.”

Is the three-layered model of experience that Althusser takes from Jacques Lacan (REAL-IMAGINARY-SYMBOLIC) similar to Nietzsche’s work on language as a “prison house”?

Damn, you’re good. It’s certainly the case that Lacan emphasizes that the price the subject pays for becoming an “individual” is subjection to the “symbolic” (basically what Saussure calls “langue,” the rules that govern what makes a sensible statement in language, or any other sign system). In a revision of Freud’s Oedipus complex, Lacan argues that the subject gives up his/her primary relationship to the mother, with its pre-linguistic, image-based and unbounded state, for a more bounded self that must ask for recognition from others via the rules of the Symbolic. And having to know and be known through the pre-given terms of the symbolic (or ideology in Althusser’s terms) confines one in various frustrating ways. So, for example, as Fanon faces the ideology of race and color, he finds himself very much “imprisoned” and unable to experience a full, free subjectivity.

Is interpellation essentially just internalizing and “individuating” that which is socially ingrained in us?

Yes. If I’m understanding you, the “hailing” of ideology demands that we answer, and our answer “subjects” us to the terms of the dominant ideology, but in ways that make us feel like we’re exercising free choice. When I choose a wife and say “I do,” I feel free but ignore the fact that I didn’t choose the heteronorm (the expectation that a man will choose a woman), the custom of marriage itself, the formulation “I do,” and so on.

Which comes first, an ideology or its material embodiment? Can we know? Does it matter?

On some level, it’s unknowable and doesn’t matter: ideology always combines what we think of as “spiritual” and “material” aspects. Althusser emphasizes the materiality of ideology because he’s working against several centuries of Western thought that privileges ideas over materialities. His point is that what makes ideology so powerful is not that its ideas or arguments are so compelling; it’s that they are conveyed through everyday rituals and practices that we hardly notice but that are all the more powerful for that reason. Hence the genuflection in church, the handshake, the standing in line at the DMV, the purchase of a moccacchino (sp?).

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The Black Man Finding His Tune in the Face of Whiteness

Posted by Jeff Allred (he/him/his) on

Frantz Fanon states that, even though his spirit is filled with a desire to attain, he finds that he is simply “an object in the midst of other objects”. In “The Fact of Blackness”, Fanon delves into this “crushing objecthood”, as he sheds light on the evident oppression and undeniable resilience of the black man.

 

Fanon opens the discussion with the term Ontology, which on a basic level, has to do with the nature of being. It is a set of concepts and categories in a subject area that show the properties between them, such as the relation between the white man and the black man. Fanon states, “not only must the black man be black; he must be black in relation to the white man” (1) Essentially, the relation between the two will always result in the inferiority of the black man; the lesser man.

 

As the piece progresses, Fanon dives into this concept of consciousness and the importance of finding his “tune”. His narration comes alive with first hand accounts of racism and an overwhelming fear and discomfort in the white man’s world. He says that, “the real world challenged my claims. In the white world the man of color encounters difficulties in the development of his bodily schema. Consciousness of the body is solely a negating activity. It is a third-person consciousness. The body is surrounded by an atmosphere of certain uncertainty” (2) Fanon then discusses the actions he would have to take to reach for cigarettes and matches, if he chooses to smoke. He states that these actions are not out of habit, but of implicit knowledge. He says, “a slow composition of my self as a body in the middle of a spatial and temporal world—such seems to be the schema. It does not impose itself on me; it is, rather, a definitive structuring of the self and of the world—definitive because it creates a real dialectic between my body and the world.” (2) Soon after, he goes into racial epidermal schema, which he claims is what tears down this basic corporeal schema and sets the black man apart. It forces him to be aware of his body in the “triple person”. He states that he exists triply, by occupying space, moving towards the other, and the evanescent other. His use of this word is clever, as he calls it “hostile but not opaque, transparent…” (3) It is not only the other, but the sneaky and prevalent form of the other that lingers and keeps the black man down.

 

“I was responsible at the same time for my body, my race, for my ancestors. I subjected myself to an objective examination, I discovered my blackness, my ethnic characteristics; and I was battered down by tom-toms, cannibalism, intellectual deficiency, fetishism, racial defects, slave-ships, and above all else, above all: “Sho’ good eatin’.” (3)

 

I found this striking because Fanon is able to include the heavy burden that sets the black man apart in just a few lines. He includes all the stereotypes and misconstrued ideas that are linked to the existence of the black man. His ability to make the argument personable and honest allows the reader to identify with his struggle and see just how irrational the white man is.

 

Fanon continues to discuss how all he wishes to be is a man that can help build the world together. It is this innocent and simple gesture that further proves how the white man “unmercifully imprisoned” him and countless others. Fanon mentions the time in which a child feared him, assumed he would eat him, simply because he was shivering from the cold. This is the most obvious form of racism, as it is explicit and straightforward. However, Fanon is able to include other forms of it, such as the subliminal or passive aggressive forms.

One of the ways he does this is by comparing the black community to the Jewish community. He states, “the Jew is disliked from the moment he is tracked down. But in my case everything takes on a new guise. I am given no chance…I am the slave not of the “idea” that others have of me but of my own appearance” (5) Although there was, and still is today, plenty of Antisemitism, it does not compare to the discrimination towards the black man, as it has to do with a dislike towards their beliefs or ideals rather than their appearance. Another instance of racism that Fanon discusses is what many consider the “back-handed compliment” type, which is rather passive aggressive and is most of the time worse than the obvious, straight forward kind of racism. He includes some examples, such as, “Oh I want you to meet my black friend…Aime Cesaire, a black man and a university graduate…Marian Anderson, the finest of Negro singers….Dr. Cobb, who invented white blood, is a Negro…Here, say hello to my friend Martinique (be careful, he’s extremely sensitive)…” (5) I found this interesting, as it is something that was clearly prevalent in the fifties, and still is today. By structuring sentences this way, there is more damage done, as the ‘compliment’ is completely shrouded by the very obvious tinge of racism. This is still seen today, for example, when individuals say things like “oh, she’s pretty for a black girl”. Fanon follows these examples by saying, “when people like me, they tell me it is in spite of my color. When they dislike me, they point out that it is not because of my color. Either way, I am locked into the infernal circle” (5) Ignorance is the greatest factor when it comes to situations such as these.

 

Fanon discusses many different aspects that tie into the inferiority of the black man, but it is refreshing to see how his words can still find the ability to be optimistic and resilient. I enjoyed his method of writing, as it encouraged me to feel sympathize, while still informing me on the cold, hard facts. I specifically liked one of the closing lines, where he says, “my Negro consciousness does not hold itself out as a lack. It is. It is its own follower” (16) Eventually, he comes to terms with how the world has rejected him based on color prejudice and he decides to to move back towards unreason. He regresses, in order to make the white man more irrational than himself. As he closes out the piece, he includes songs and poems that reflect on the black experience. The words depict the struggle and pain that the black man has faced, and continues to face today, but above all, it shows strength and perseverance. He says, “the white man, I could see, was resentful. His reaction time lagged interminably…I had won. I was jubilant”. (14)

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