Controversial Slovenian made
popular through his YouTube videos spoke to huge crowd in Madrid
periodista
Madrid 30 JUN 2017 - 13:55 CEST
To be able to put together a
logical speech that combines porn with subjectivism, scatology with the
refoundation of the political left, or French psychoanalyst Jacques Lacan with
German-American film director Ernst Lubitsch, and then to throw in a dose of
regional jokes and Taylor Swift references – this is not something that just
anyone can manage. But the Slovenian thinker Slavoj Žižek, 68, has turned it
into an art form. Or into a show, as his detractors like to say.
Žižek is a controversial
philosopher, an agitator who thrives on political incorrectness. His erudition,
command of theory and vast cultural knowledge have made him a modern-day Sartre
of sorts, at least when it comes to his ability to penetrate the public sphere,
say his supporters.
Simultaneously, his
overwhelming communications skills, use of language (as far removed as one can
imagine from that of academia) and familiarity with pop culture have helped
Žižek take his message to twenty- and thirtysomethings who are angry at the
current state of affairs and at the neoliberal paradigm. He has connected with
them because of what he stands for.
Oh, and because of his YouTube
videos.
Some people think that the
character created by Žižek and its viral nature have overtaken Žižek the
thinker
His viral speeches, including
a hilarious one in which he explains the differences between French, English
and German thought by analyzing toilet design in each of these countries,
partly helps to explain the long lines on Wednesday outside the Círculo de
Bellas Artes, a major cultural center in downtown Madrid, to hear Žižek’s A Plea for Bureaucratic
Socialism. The venue was filled to capacity and around 500 people were left
out, according to organizer estimates.
The case of Carlos Fulgado, an
18-year-old physics student, helps explain the phenomenon. He showed up shortly
before 5pm to make sure he would get a good spot for an event due to start at
7.30pm. Fulgado says he found Žižek in a “mainstream” way: from hearsay and by
watching snippets of his YouTube videos, most particularly extracts from The
Pervert’s Guide to Cinema and The Pervert’s Guide to Ideology, two
documentaries which he hosted and wrote the script for.
Fulgado says he attempted to
read In Defense of Lost Causes, but this was a little too hardcore for a reader
who was 15 at the time. Since then, however, he has already made it through
eight to 10 volumes by his favorite thinker.
“He has subverted the classic way of accessing
philosophy,” the 18-year-old says.
“Instead of speaking from an
ivory tower, he appeals to hipsters. He knows how to empathize with young
people, through references to David Lynch and Starbucks.”
On Wednesday, Fulgado was the
first attendee to rush to shake Žižek’s hand when the latter showed up at
Círculo de Bellas Artes.
But there was someone who had
arrived there before him. Pablo Castellano, a 24-year-old philosophy student,
had been standing in line since 3.45pm. He confessed that he had not read
Žižek’s most important work, but that he was very familiar with his YouTube
material.
“He is very popular among
philosophy school students, but academically he has no presence whatsoever; he
is not studied,” he noted.
Death throes of capitalism
There is no question that
Žižek can really draw crowds. Nearly 500 people had packed the room to hear his
digression in favor of a socialist bureaucracy. His main idea: that following
the rebellion
in the public squares, we now need an invisible machinery to deal with the
important things in our everyday lives, such as health and education.
Žižek proclaimed that we are
witnessing the death
throes of capitalism, attacked the vacuity of newly elected French
president Emmanuel Macron, took aim at globalization, and called upon the Left
to fight for a moral majority.
The whole thing was peppered
with references to people like Malcolm X, and delivered in a style reminiscent
of Italian comedy actor Roberto Benigni in terms of accent, seduction, and
ability to make people laugh.
The audience watched a
brilliant, chaotic, incisive monologist who displayed a full array of nervous
tics that make him a Character with a capital C: he grabbed his nose, stuck his
tongue out of the side of his mouth, pulled on his shirt and pushed his hair
back compulsively while he gave rein to his counter-current thoughts.
At a meeting with the press at
the Reina Sofía Museum, Žižek said that he finds it very hard to give a serious
talk to more than 40 people at a time, but that it is essential to expand
the limits of philosophy. “The time has come to revisit the major
metaphysical questions. We do not live in the era of superficiality. There is
an audience for great, serious theoretical work.”
Some people think that the
character created by Žižek and its viral nature have overtaken Žižek the
thinker. But the fact remains that there is a thinker indeed behind the
character.
English version by Susana Urra.
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