Zizek!
He only has one shirt
Posted by: ThirteenDamnDollars, September 14, 2005 10:42 PM
Astra Taylor
Sunday September 11th, 6:30PM
ROM Theater
In the first few minutes of Zizek!, before the opening credits, Lacanian-Marxist, Slovenian presidential candidate and all-'round trouble maker Slavoj Zizek makes a convincing case that love is evil.
This pretty much par for the course, both with the man and the documentary. I left this screening feeling as if my brain had grown and was now too small for my head. Zizek is a coversational fire hose, knocking everyone in the room over with ideas and provacations.
This is a lovingly rendered portrait of a flawed human with a powerful intellect.
An academic rock star, the Elvis of cultural theory
Posted by: Task, September 14, 2005 01:11 PM
Tuesday, September 13 7:15 PM ROYAL ONTARIO MUSEUM
Presented in glorious digital, this movie (at an hour ten) is too short. Slavoj Zizek is a compelling and entertaining man, I could have watched another hour about him. Still, I trust the editing job that was done, perhaps more would have been overkill.
Imagine a man with the superpower of continuously generating a massive electrical charge. Everywhere he goes, he's discharging against any nearby conductive surfaces. Keep an image of this man in your mind. Now, instead of "a massive electrical charge", put in "ideas". In place of "conductive surfaces" is "people he can talk to". "Discharging" in this case is "talking". This is Zizek. Constantly talking, arms waving around wildly, generating more interesting ideas than you can keep up with.
I think the reason that he's "popular" is because he is able to take really good ideas and say them in a way that anyone can understand them. This he does continuously and repeatedly. So you can listen to him for a little while, or read one of his books, and you'll have some interesting things to remember and talk about at the next cocktail party. In other words: He thinks, so other people don't have to.
I can't think of anything that people would appreciate more than not having to think for themselves. Except perhaps not having to do anything at all.
I definitely enjoyed this movie, and it makes me hopeful. As long as there's at least one guy thinking up interesting thoughts, we've all got a chance.