Why Susan Boyle Has Captured Hearts Around the World.(an excerpt from a piece by Tina Brown)
I don't agree with this entirely. But I like it and want to remember it. It captures, I think, one of Zizek's emphases on ideology and cynicism, namely, his clear rejection of cynicism and his oft-repeated point that the Real appears in gaps in the Symbolic. Miracles do happen.
But perhaps we should also ask ourselves about the globality of the yearning and the avatar of its appearance. What about the pirates? Are they not, too, avatars of global yearning? Do they appear as such to some but not to others? And in what ways does the very supposition that an avatar can have this globality already imply the very impossible of 'the' global exposing thereby the specificity of worlds?
And what about our receptivity to epiphanies from the news? It makes sense to emphasize the conditions of receptivity of such epiphanies and many are now accustomed to looking at these conditions in media environments. Brown's turn toward affective habitats of longing and disappointment (she emphasizes women's) suggest that they produce particular conditions of receptivity. It makes me think of the people waiting for a miracle, a messiah, a prophet, and finding them already among them. And it makes me worry about the potential dark side of such finding, the way that some kinds of receptivity may take the place of others.
Will Susan Boyle's epic moment last week on Britain's Got Talent (not a BBC show) turn out to be a choreographed piece of TV manipulation? Probably. But that'll just mean that something false gave rise to something true.
Captain Richard Phillips of the good ship Maersk Alabama—and Sully Sullenberger splashing down his crippled airliner in the Hudson River—broke through the poisonous smog of economic depression and Wall Street skullduggery with a reminder that pure individual heroism is a daily occurrence if we know where to look for it. Susan Boyle is another avatar of global yearning.
The YouTube clip of Susan's angel voice soaring from the unkissed mouth of that scrunchy-faced, eyebrow-enforested, unprepossessingly dumpy representative of anonymous humanity was the third irresistible message to us all to get over ourselves. Until things get better, we will all go on being unusually receptive to such epiphanies from the news. They remind us what uncomplicated strength of character looks like.
The YouTube clip of Susan's angel voice soaring from the unkissed mouth of that scrunchy-faced, eyebrow-enforested, unprepossessingly dumpy representative of anonymous humanity was the third irresistible message to us all to get over ourselves. Until things get better, we will all go on being unusually receptive to such epiphanies from the news. They remind us what uncomplicated strength of character looks like.
I don't agree with this entirely. But I like it and want to remember it. It captures, I think, one of Zizek's emphases on ideology and cynicism, namely, his clear rejection of cynicism and his oft-repeated point that the Real appears in gaps in the Symbolic. Miracles do happen.
But perhaps we should also ask ourselves about the globality of the yearning and the avatar of its appearance. What about the pirates? Are they not, too, avatars of global yearning? Do they appear as such to some but not to others? And in what ways does the very supposition that an avatar can have this globality already imply the very impossible of 'the' global exposing thereby the specificity of worlds?
And what about our receptivity to epiphanies from the news? It makes sense to emphasize the conditions of receptivity of such epiphanies and many are now accustomed to looking at these conditions in media environments. Brown's turn toward affective habitats of longing and disappointment (she emphasizes women's) suggest that they produce particular conditions of receptivity. It makes me think of the people waiting for a miracle, a messiah, a prophet, and finding them already among them. And it makes me worry about the potential dark side of such finding, the way that some kinds of receptivity may take the place of others.
Yes, of course there is cynicism, but I'm worried that the event of hope can't function without background of failure or disaster. Boyle is great, but how cleverly marketed was that presentation on YouTube? Raise the spectre of failure, promise and then deliver hope, and you've got 'em.
Posted by: james | April 21, 2009 at 03:42 PM
Miracles do happen, and I think accepting (and celebrating) that possibility goes a long way to putting a lid on the cynicism that Zizek says functions as the strongest ideology of today. Denying that anything good happens is no way to win friends to the Left. 1) It's demonstrably false and 2) it plays into a vulgar, deterministic picture that would have us believe that it's no good trying to act to change things.
I think, when confronted with such fantastic stories, it's always good to say "yes, but what are the political implications?" We can avoid the cynical trap by granting that, yes, "miracles can happen" for individuals. Some really do achieve a material status greater than their ancestors on the merits of their hard work. But the Left critic should be quick to point out that what makes such stories so magical is that certain rare individuals - by chance and merit - have risen above a background of misery and drudgery that the rest of their class peers are more or less doomed to live out. The structures of class oppression are left in place.
Posted by: Coleman | April 22, 2009 at 10:00 AM
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ro9ufVuuNb0
Posted by: Paul | April 27, 2009 at 01:57 PM