Mjume

"One might ask the extent to which Bakhtin's understanding of language leads to ideological reading, and the answer is, I think, that it enables ideological reading substantially. It assumes that language determines and is determined by cultural formations, that it is a material production of a particular time and place, that it has the world-view of the speaker embedded in it, that monoglossia mystifies experience by disappearing all experience and perspective other than that taken by the language, that social control can be exercised through cultural formations (language, art), that revolution, demystification, oppositional thought is healthy and necessary."

"Perhaps, the opposition of Lynch's "straight" hero and Highsmith's "normal" Ripley determines the extreme coordinates of today's late capitalist ethical experience - with the strange twist that it is Ripley who is uncannily "normal," and the "straight" man who is uncannily weird, even perverted. How, then, are we to break out of this deadlock? Both heroes have in common the ruthless dedication to pursue their goal, so the way out may seem to be to abandon this common feature and plea for a more "warm," compassionate humanity ready to accept compromises. Is, however, such a "soft" (in short: unprincipled) "humanity" not the predominant mode of subjectivity today, so that the two films merely provide its two extremes?"

I love this statue. Pity about the surroundings.

It's not necessary to be religious or prudish to be made uncomfortable by the spectacle of someone being tortured being additionally humilitated. Despite him being a major religious icon, I respect some of Jesus' teachings, which adds to my discomfort at this site. I'm not saying this to conmdemn people who don't feel the same way as me, just to explain (to myself as well as anyone else) why I don't like this site.