by Wolfmoon Lady » Sat Jul 01, 2006 1:32 pm
Nice one, Dugoboy. It's time we considered the implications of fascism as a 'male-dominated cult.'<br><br>Friend catcher, thanks for posting about The Night Porter. It has been many years since I saw or thought of that film.<br><br>As for Sontag, her voice is needed now, more than ever. I greatly miss her insight and articulacy. Sad to know she's gone. However, her writing continues to inspire one to dig deeper into the wormpile, beyond the bright brilliant facade, of what passes for beauty and aesthetics in western culture.<br><br>RE: Fascinating Fascism by Susan Sontag, republished in: Under the Sign of Saturn (New York, 1980), 73-105.<br><br>Sontag's superb essay is well observed and tightly argued. Those who have not seen Triumph of the Will or Olympia should do so. Afterward, watch the Republican National Convention of 2004 (the greatest cum-ralley produced in recent memory).<br><br>The following passage (from part 2 of Sontag's essay, which examines the fascination with Nazi regalia) provides the context of what I'm getting at:<br><br><!--EZCODE QUOTE START--><blockquote><strong><em>Quote:</em></strong><hr>... Why has Nazi Germany, which was a sexually repressive society, become erotic? How could a regime which persecuted homosexuals become a gay turn-on?<br><br><!--EZCODE BOLD START--><strong>A clue lies in the predilections of the fascist leaders themselves for sexual metaphors. Like Nietzsche and Wagner, Hitler regarded leadership as sexual mastery of the "feminine" masses, as rape. (The expression of the crowds in Triumph of the Will is one of ecstasy; the leader makes the crowd come.) Left-wing movements have tended to be unisex, and asexual in their imagery. Right-wing movements, however puritanical and repressive the realities they usher in, have an erotic surface. Certainly Nazism is "sexier" than communism (which is not to the Nazis' credit, but rather shows something of the nature and limits of the sexual imagination).</strong><!--EZCODE BOLD END--><br><br>Of course, most people who are turned on by SS uniforms are not signifying approval of what the Nazis did, if indeed they have more than the sketchiest idea of what that might be. Nevertheless, there are powerful and growing currents of sexual feeling, those that generally go by the name of sadomasochism, which make playing at Nazism seem erotic. These sadomasochistic fantasies and practices are to be found among heterosexuals as well as homosexuals, although it is among male homosexuals that the eroticizing of Nazism is most visible. <!--EZCODE BOLD START--><strong>S-m, not swinging, is the big sexual secret of the last few years</strong><!--EZCODE BOLD END-->.<br><br>Between sadomasochism and fascism there is a natural link. <!--EZCODE BOLD START--><strong>"Fascism is theater," as Genet said</strong><!--EZCODE BOLD END-->. As is sadomasochistic sexuality: to be involved in sadomasochism is to take part in a sexual theater, a staging of sexuality. Regulars of sadomasochistic sex are expert costumers and choreographers as well as performers, in a drama that is all the more exciting because it is forbidden to ordinary people. Sadomasochism is to sex what war is to civil life: the magnificent experience. (Riefenstahl put it: "What is purely realistic, slice of life, what is average, quotidian, doesn't interest me." As the social contract seems tame in comparison with war, so fucking and sucking come to seem merely nice, and therefore unexciting. <!--EZCODE BOLD START--><strong>The end to which all sexual experience tends, as Bataille insisted in a lifetime of writing, is defilement, blasphemy. To be "nice," as to be civilized, means being alienated from this savage experience—which is entirely staged.</strong><!--EZCODE BOLD END--><br><br><!--EZCODE BOLD START--><strong>The rituals of domination and enslavement being more and more practiced, the art that is more and more devoted to rendering their themes, are perhaps only a logical extension of an affluent society's tendency to turn every part of people's lives into a taste, a choice; to invite them to regard their very lives as a (life) style.</strong><!--EZCODE BOLD END--> In all societies up to now, sex has mostly been an activity (something to do, without thinking about it). But once sex becomes a taste, it is perhaps already on its way to becoming a self-conscious form of theater, which is what sadomasochism is about: a form of gratification that is both violent and indirect, very mental.<hr></blockquote><!--EZCODE QUOTE END--><br><br>The widespread appeal of Arnold Schwarzenegger is an excellent example of Sontag's central thesis. For example, I seem to recall he arrived at the polling stations in a Hummer, to wild cheers from the crowd. The Hummer's popularity in The Age of Bush is significant (to say the least).<br><br>FYI, check out <!--EZCODE LINK START--><a href="http://www.hummerforums.com/" target="top">Hummer Forums</a><!--EZCODE LINK END--> There is a link posted under 'Sights and Sounds' called 'Hummer Haters.' The poster, named 'Dennis,' issues the usual moronic caveat, "not intended to offend." Warning to RI viewers, you will certainly be offended if you view it.<br><br>See <!--EZCODE LINK START--><a href="http://hummerhater.justgotowned.com/" target="top">Hummer Hater (Just Got Owned)</a><!--EZCODE LINK END-->.<br><br>Also, and this is relevant to the pedophilia thread, consider how the rise in pedophilia among the elites is linked to fascism, rather than intellectualism. Seriously. <br><br>Cheers, all. <p></p><i>Edited by: <A HREF=http://p216.ezboard.com/brigorousintuition.showUserPublicProfile?gid=wolfmoonlady>Wolfmoon Lady</A> at: 7/1/06 11:43 am<br></i>
