Salo

I watched Salo recently and it was pretty much as disturbing as I'd expected. I'm sure it was much more sensational in the 70's when the wonder that is the Internet hadn't already doused our senses to the explicit, but I guess its the assault on the senses made by someone like Pasolini that makes way for all the other shit.

As for which side of the fence I sit on when it comes to the film, I'm going to say that I enjoyed it. All debauchery aside, the film makes a fantastic case for how those in power (I'll branch off here and say that I obviously don't think everyone in power acts as such) tend to fuck us over however they please. The sexuality and sodomy in the movie isn't actually central to the narrative, it's just the most effective way for Pasolini to get his point across, as it drew the most attention. For most of us, I think its easier to understand oppression and punishment a little better when it doesn't take a form we're familiar with, and that's the approach he takes. The idea is that once you gain enough power you're ushered into a life that is essentially anarchistic, with morals and camaraderie thrown out the window for whatever reckless desire you can pursue insofar as its in your best interest. Pasolini, a communist, really believed that those in power revel in anarchy, but my point of departure is where he never really follows this up with a solution. Communism obviously doesn't work, so while I find his approach and perspective on this issue amenable, I'm left hanging when it comes to any sort of rectification. Maybe we're all just fucked? Pasolini wasn't one to believe in hope or Utopian principles (he thought they were both foolish), so all I can imagine is that he desired society to be structured in such a way that the powerful don't get too powerful, which is in stride with what the last 2,000 years of humanity have been working towards.

As far as the film itself goes, its not just the philosophical undertones which make it worth watching. Pasolini did a remarkable job of creating a claustrophobic effect for the viewer, making us feel as though we're no safer than those being violated through a myriad of guises. The film is remarkably spartan and leaves the viewer with little else to focus their attention on; often we find ourselves in an ornate room or hall but it is either hardly decorated or not at all. We're left marvelling at the architecture, but are offered no amenities of common household decor. When we do (rarely) see elegance, its always in the chambers of the ruling class, and even then the experience of what has come before it leaves the decorations feeling as empty a vessel as the wealthy elite themselves. It is there because at some point long ago it paid tribute to their status, but has now become entirely worthless, unrecognized and vapid. Adding to this focus on humanity rather than surroundings is the way the interactions are shot. Rarely will you see a character walk off screen or the camera following them as they move about. Instead each scene is shot with a very close intensity, drawing ever more heavily on our sympathies for those being abused as it seems there is never an escape. This all adds up to create a fantastic case once we reach the climax of the film, where we watch the elites perform acts of sodomy and torture on their subjects. By this point in the film, the viewer has become so accustomed to this feeling that there is no escape that the scene gains a strange, almost limbo like surreality (also, if you've ever wanted to see a dude get his dick seared off with a hot poker, this would be your chance). The viewer is placed in much the same place as the elites in the scene, where we watch from a vantage point in the house looking out over the yard where the debauchery occurs, ourselves doing as little to combat the oppression we see daily as the elites as they lap up the scene with delight.

All told, what underpins the film is simple and yet it is Pasolini's additions to the piece and clearly guided purpose in making it which render it truly remarkable. In almost every aspect he commands attention and holds the viewer at his demand, not unlike the ruling class displayed in the film. I've never read the original piece by the Marquis de Sade, but I can't imagine it travelling much further beyond what Pasolini offers here in terms of contemplation and depth. I mean, there are so many ways to demonstrate how the ruling class fucks us, but in the end we're all still just getting fucked.

Before we start, if we start

I've decided to start a blog. I don't know if I can say or make sense of why I've taken now to be the time to begin this, but as with all things I suppose you have to start somewhere. This will be that point.

I'm not sure I know how to express it, so I'll say that I'm now filled with postmodern vigor. This used to be a term I tried to avoid in that I thought it was a little too arbitrary and argumentative, but maybe I've learned to be kinder to myself and not be so apprehensive about defining myself (though I would hardly say thats what this is). I guess I just have a problem with making statements rather than simply acting as I should; as setting myself up to make myself some sort of strawman rather than expressing myself through a voluminous example in life. This doesn't mean I have a strict code of conduct I follow and morals and all that bullshit (since we all know I have a storied career as a characteristic "asshole"), it just means that there are things I find practical and impractical, in my best interest and not in my best interest, worthwhile pursuits and non-worthwhile pursuits. In essence, my life has become about finding the right tool for the job and familiarizing myself with and trying to improve those tools I do use. Sure, I love a few good laughs, but I've always been tepid when it comes to sharing what I value most. I dunno, it always seems as though those things are bastardized or distorted once I talk about them out loud, like some sort of terrific muted scream. I couldn't say whether this agent acts as my soul or my conscience, that indisputable aspect of human thought that places value into the various aspects of my life, but I guess the concept will do for now.

This all gets weird, since I've have such a lax concept of value and structure in a philosophical sense Its always been hard trying to make statements, because I always viewed the approaches I could conceive myself taking as being too self righteous and pompous. Honestly, until I read philosophers like Rorty, Vattimo, Heidegger and Wittgenstein I think I always held the same belief structure, I just didn't know how to say it. For me, postmodernism isn't just a thought that came to mind but instead the logical progression of whats come before it in Western thought. I in no way think it to be the finality of thought or some sort of trump card to make Philosophy omnitient, but instead a stepping stone to use until someone else comes up with something better. At its core, the postmodern is the simple abandonment of metaphysics (including epistomology and ontology). Concepts like weak thought, hermeneutics (though in a grander scope than that article indicates and without the pseudoscientific bullshit), pluralism, and generally looking at and valuing things as they are and as they rationally could be rather than how things could ideally be in the absence of some sort of inexorable concept or ideology.

All this adds to being not much and not nearly as clearheaded as I'd like it to be, but this is the first posting as such on my blog and it'll have to do in the wake of anything more coherent coming from my lecherous tongue. I'm vile, irrihensible and contradictory, but I'll be damned if I don't do it in a dramatic and entirely entertaining fashion. I'll try and flesh out ideas and concepts as things progress (obviously), but as the scope for this thing is fairly vague in my mind right now I'll just have to develop a cadence as I move along. Expect things to be somewhat turbulent and sporatic for a while. This didn't happen because of New Years.