This thesis examines the fragile perimeter that separates an illusory reality from the supposedly more authentic Real it conceals, which forms a key focus of Slavoj Žižek’s work, and in this thesis I offer a study of the relations between this aspect of Žižek’s work and film theory. In particular, this thesis is an elaboration on and interrogation of Žižek’s employment of the Lacanian notion of the Real in critiques of the inadequacy of 1970s and 1980s film theory and its widespread adoption of a Lacanian model of film-spectator relations. By way of illustration, I consider the microgenre of films released between the years 1998 to 2000 that includes the Matrix trilogy, David Fincher’s Fight Club, Peter Weir’s The Truman Show, and Alex Proyas’ Dark City, which are all similarly fascinated by the border between a fake reality and an ostensibly more genuine real. However, I also argue that this cycle of films does more than illustrate a fascination with that which is in excess of signification: this cycle of films equally participates in the reappraisal of this important phase of film theory. This thesis proceeds from a consideration of Žižek’s assertion that Lacanian psychoanalysis is missing from the dominant field of film theory. To assess this claim, I re-examine the era of political modernism. From this it becomes clear that what Žižek is noting is not the total absence of Lacanian psychoanalysis, but, rather, an absence of the version of Lacan to which he is drawn. This thesis considers aspects of the Real that contaminate the form and matter of these films, in addition to the thematic exploration of the shadowy world beyond reality. In pursuing this investigation, this thesis utilises the insights of the deconstructive work of Jacques Derrida, to consider the terms ‘form’, ‘content’ and ‘matter’. These words are ubiquitous in film studies, and I aim to explicate not their final meaning, but the way in which the Real interrupts the very stability of vocabulary used in film studies. I interrogate the concepts of gaze and voice as privileged instances of the way in which the Real can rupture the symbolic in narrative film. Without seeking to reject these aesthetic figures, through critical readings of key theories of embodiment, the grotesque and the abject (such as those of Marks, Shaviro, Sobchack, Bakhtin and Kristeva), I suggest how the body and its representation provides a more sustained motif where the Real leaves its trace in these films. This thesis proposes that it is above all through such representations that these films offer a response to the themes with which politically modernist film theory has been historically concerned. The Edge of the Construct films achieve this in their evocation of an intolerable namelessness at the centre of the human subject and the social world it inhabits. / Thesis(Ph.D.) -- School of Humanities, 2008

Este trabalho tem por objetivo construir um diálogo teórico entre a alienação do fetichismo da mercadoria, em Marx, e algumas categorias da psicanálise. A noção marxista clássica de ideologia, concebida como o desconhecimento e a distorção da consciência necessariamente produzidos pelas condições efetivas da realidade social, é criticada pelo filósofo esloveno Slavoj iek, ao trazer para o campo da ideologia a noção psicanalítica de fantasia. Entretanto, realizamos uma primeira problematização dessa elaboração do filósofo por dirigir a sua crítica a essa noção de ideologia, remetendo-a ao fetichismo da mercadoria. Mostramos que esse conceito de ideologia a que a sua crítica se dirige se adéqua justamente à noção de ideologia desenvolvida por Marx e Engels nA ideologia alemã, e não ao fetichismo da mercadoria, visto que o fetichismo comporta uma noção mais complexa que não se resume a um mero desconhecimento da realidade e a uma distorção socialmente necessária da consciência. Retornamos a O capital de Marx para mostrar as imbricações da fantasia no fetichismo da mercadoria e para mostrar que a sujeição que atinge os sujeitos sob a alienação fetichista é da ordem do inconsciente. No contexto da relação entre fetichismo da mercadoria e inconsciente, problematizamos também aquilo que denominamos uma generalização a que iek incorre, ao defender a tese de que a alienação fetichista teria se deslocado genericamente do saber para o fazer humano. Dessa forma, concluímos que a formulação marxiana, Não o sabem, mas o fazem, continua atual e exercendo o seu poder ideológico, dependendo das condições sócio-simbólicas em que os sujeitos se inserem e são inseridos. Para compreender o sentido da noção de fantasia no campo da ideologia, empreendemos uma breve apresentação da noção freudiana da fantasia até uma compreensão lacaniana, em sua dimensão de gozo e de objeto a, elaborada por iek. O filósofo realiza uma distinção entre sintoma e fantasia para dizer que a ideologia não se estrutura na forma do primeiro, mas sim da segunda, em que a fantasia ideológica, em sua dimensão real, estrutura a realidade social. Na direção da pista deixada por iek, seguimos rumo às operações lacanianas de alienação e separação para pensar possibilidades do sujeito fazer frente à ideologia. Apresentamos, então, um estudo dessas operações em Lacan, e elaboramos, por nossa própria conta e risco, uma articulação delas com o fetichismo da mercadoria, tentando mostrar as determinações mútuas entre fetichismo e inconsciente. Da mesma forma que a fantasia ideológica e a operação da alienação operam um fechamento imaginário da abertura possibilitada pela separação, essa operação permite uma abertura desejante entre sujeito e Outro, lugar de onde se poderia partir para uma crítica possível à ideologia / This paper aims to build a theoretical dialogue amongst the alienation of commodity fetishism in Marx, and some categories of psychoanalysis. The classical Marxist notion of ideology, conceived as the ignorance and the distortion of consciousness necessarily produced by the actual conditions of social reality, is criticized by the Slovenian philosopher Slavoj iek, in bringing to the field of ideology the psychoanalytic notion of fantasy. However, we perform an initial questioning of his elaboration, for he addresses his critique to this notion of ideology, reporting it to the commodity fetishism. We show that this concept of ideology that his criticism is addressed precisely fits in the notion of ideology developed by Marx and Engels, in The German Ideology, and not in the commodity fetishism, since the fetishism involves a more complex notion that is not summed to a mere ignorance of reality and to a socially necessary distortion of conscious. We return to Marxs Capital to show the imbrications of fantasy in commodity fetishism and to show that the subjection, which reaches the subjects under the fetishist alienation is of the order of the unconscious. In the context of the relationship between commodity fetishism and unconscious, we also problematize what we call a generalization that iek incurs in defending the thesis that fetishist alienation would have generically shifted from the human knowing to the human making. Thus, we conclude that the Marxian formulation, We are not aware of this, nevertheless we do it, is still present and exerting its ideological power, depending on the socio-symbolic conditions in which the subjects insert themselves and are inserted. To understand the meaning of the notion of fantasy in the field of ideology, we undertake a brief presentation of the Freudian notion of fantasy to a Lacanian understanding, in its dimension of enjoyment and the object little-a, elaborated by iek. The philosopher makes a distinction between symptom and fantasy to say that ideology is structured not in the form of the former, but of the latter, in which the ideological fantasy, in its real dimension, structures the social reality. Towards the clue left by iek, we turn to the Lacanian operations of alienation and separation to think of possibilities to the subject to cope with ideology. Then we present a study of these operations in Lacan, and prepare at our own risk, an articulation of these psychic operations with commodity fetishism, trying to show the mutual determinations between fetishism and unconscious. Just as the ideological fantasy and the operation of alienation carry out an imaginary closure of the opening made possible by the separation, this operation allows a desiring gap between subject and Other, a place from which one could depart for a possible critique of ideology

Jan Havel Sigmund Freud and Karl Marx - theit vision of human and their legacy Abstrakt: This paper is about how Marx and Freud see a human being. Besides introduction, methodology and cunclusion there are three main parts. These are the chapters "Genesis of Marx's and Freud's vision of human", Evolution of marxism and psychoanalysis" and "Comparison of the vision of human". "Genesis of Marx's and Freud's vision of human" speaks about predecessors of both authors and about things that had an impact on their work. Chapter "Genesis of Marx's and Freud's vision of human" shows how were both ideas changing during history. In the chapter "Comparison of the vision of human" are examined ideas and thoughts of other authors and connections between their work and the work of Marx and Freud are shown. This paper also includes attachements that include short biographies of chosen authors and also a list of qutations from primary sources of literature.

L’insécurité routière est un problème de santé publique. Il n' y a pas de recherche qui a exploré la psychanalyse de Zizek pour comprendre le comportement du conducteur. Cette recherche est basée sur l'approche interdisciplinaire dans le cadre du mouvement "Transformative Social Marketing". La contribution théorique présente une nouvelle vision du comportement basée sur des concepts psychanalytiques de Slavoj Zizek pour comprendre le comportement du conducteur, comme une première en Théorie marketing. Elle présente trois groupes basés sur la triade Réel-Symbolique-Imaginaire qui oriente le comportement vers le respect/non respect du code de la route. La contribution méthodologique est "la carte psychanalytique" qui tient compte de la complexité du comportement. La contribution pratique est l'acte authentique, provenant du conducteur pour personnaliser le message adéquat dans sa voiture ainsi que le changer en utilisant la technologie "VANet" en tenant en compte de l'aspect routinier de l'acte de conduire. / The disobedience of traffic rules is a public health problem. There is an absence of understanding driving behavior from Zizekian psychoanalysis. The general scope of this research is based on the interdisciplinary approach in a Transformative Social Marketing. The theoretical implication presents a new view of human behavior inspired from Zizekian psychoanalysis (based on "conscious/unconscious" in a continuous process, Real-Symbolic-Imaginary Triad, Reflexivity, Interpassivity, authentic act). Three groups (Pleasing, Care, Refuge) emerge from the Real-Symbolic-Imaginary Triad that orients behaviors to obey or disobey traffic rules. The methodological implication is the "psychoanalytic map" as a new methodological tool for more understanding the complexity of driving behavior. The practical implication is an authentic act, emerged from the driver, to choose a personalized message which changes after a period using VANet technology.

The purpose of this project was to articulate a definition and understanding of the emerging genre of rogue cinema through the lens of rhetorical theory. To this end, I lay out a theoretical groundwork based principally on the works of Kenneth Burke and Slavoj Zizek to build a definition and to analyze the works of four filmmakers whose work could be considered rogue: Alejandro Jodorowsky, Dusan Makavejev, Lars von Trier and Werner Herzog. The first chapter is dedicated to articulating the theorists I use and showing how they can be used to examine rogue films. The second chapter is dedicated to the films of Jodorowsky, focusing in particular on his films Fando y Lis, El Topo and The Holy Mountain, looking at how these films form a critique of our conventional views of religion and spirituatity. Chapter three looks at Makavejev's films WR: Mysteries of the Organism and Sweet Movie and discusses how they undermine the capitalist/communist dichotomy that has defined most of 20th century politics. Chapter four examines Lars von Trier's films Europa and Dancer in the Dark, framing them in particular with the Dogme movement and looking at how von Trier rebels against cinematic convention. The last chapter looks at Herzog's films Aguirre: Wrath of God and Stroszek and discusses how Herzog blends fiction and reality in ways that question our cultural and moral values. Since little has been written on rogue cinema to date my aim here has been to help develop rogue cinema as a concept and begin the work of building a theoretical basis for the idea of this as a genre. In my conclusion I suggest avenues for future scholars to expand on this idea and discuss what further work needs to be done for rogue cinema to become an accepted idea.

This thesis brings the philosophies of Jean-Luc Nancy, Slavoj Zizek and Bruno Latour into conversation around the cynosure of ecological rhetoric. It argues for a renewed contemplation of political ecology, one that relinquishes the concept of Nature in favour of the overtly politicized notion of a world in common. By tracing, for the first time, the intersections between these three thinkers’ respective philosophies of nature, this thesis strives to articulate a philosophical framework that can live up to the ecological challenges of the contemporary Anthropocene. / Graduate / 0422 / 0401 / 0298

This dissertation examines the films of David Cronenberg which all conduct a consistently thorough examination of the relationship between the ideologically constituted Cartesian subject and the disciplinary structures that surround, control and limit this subject. Cinema, because of the presence of both film form and narrative content, functions as a double articulation of this disciplinary activity. Each film’s narrative disciplines, on screen, the bodies contained within the plot, even as each film’s form disciplines both the way in which these cinematic bodies are delivered to an audience, and the way the audience’s own viewing practices are controlled and composed. Thus it becomes vital to explore the mechanisms implicated in these processes, and to gain an understanding of how Cronenberg’s cinema works to highlight and critique them. The primary assertion of this thesis is that Cronenberg’s work functions as a particular style of resistance to hegemony that Slavoj Žižek labels‘heresy’. For Žižek,heresy occurs not when one disobeys one’s ideological requirements, but when one over-fulfills them, thereby extending these ideological demands and disciplinary discursive structures out to a site of logical absurdity. In assessing and charting this territory, the thesis is constructed in the following manner. The first chapter,which outlines my methodology, applies itself to a brief examination of Cronenberg’s least discussed commercial feature (Fast Company). Chapter Two is concerned with charting the disciplines applied to the body in Shivers, Rabid and The Fly, while Chapter Three continues a focus on Cronenberg’s movement and play with framing devices as a means of subverting a stable spectatorial position, utilising eXistenZ, Spider and The Dead Zone as examples. Chapter Four explores the manner with which heretical adherence to a single ideological construction pushes the protagonists towards large-scale disciplinary violations, as detailed in Crash, M. Butterfly and Dead Ringers while the fifth chapter examines notions of discipline and recuperation is focused on Naked Lunch, Scanners and The Brood. A final sixth chapter compares Cronenberg’s most recent film, A History of Violence, with Videodrome in order to explore the changing face of his disciplinary ambivalence and its relationship to a broader cinematic industry.

This dissertation examines the films of David Cronenberg which all conduct a consistently thorough examination of the relationship between the ideologically constituted Cartesian subject and the disciplinary structures that surround, control and limit this subject. Cinema, because of the presence of both film form and narrative content, functions as a double articulation of this disciplinary activity. Each film’s narrative disciplines, on screen, the bodies contained within the plot, even as each film’s form disciplines both the way in which these cinematic bodies are delivered to an audience, and the way the audience’s own viewing practices are controlled and composed. Thus it becomes vital to explore the mechanisms implicated in these processes, and to gain an understanding of how Cronenberg’s cinema works to highlight and critique them. The primary assertion of this thesis is that Cronenberg’s work functions as a particular style of resistance to hegemony that Slavoj Žižek labels‘heresy’. For Žižek,heresy occurs not when one disobeys one’s ideological requirements, but when one over-fulfills them, thereby extending these ideological demands and disciplinary discursive structures out to a site of logical absurdity. In assessing and charting this territory, the thesis is constructed in the following manner. The first chapter,which outlines my methodology, applies itself to a brief examination of Cronenberg’s least discussed commercial feature (Fast Company). Chapter Two is concerned with charting the disciplines applied to the body in Shivers, Rabid and The Fly, while Chapter Three continues a focus on Cronenberg’s movement and play with framing devices as a means of subverting a stable spectatorial position, utilising eXistenZ, Spider and The Dead Zone as examples. Chapter Four explores the manner with which heretical adherence to a single ideological construction pushes the protagonists towards large-scale disciplinary violations, as detailed in Crash, M. Butterfly and Dead Ringers while the fifth chapter examines notions of discipline and recuperation is focused on Naked Lunch, Scanners and The Brood. A final sixth chapter compares Cronenberg’s most recent film, A History of Violence, with Videodrome in order to explore the changing face of his disciplinary ambivalence and its relationship to a broader cinematic industry.

This dissertation examines the films of David Cronenberg which all conduct a consistently thorough examination of the relationship between the ideologically constituted Cartesian subject and the disciplinary structures that surround, control and limit this subject. Cinema, because of the presence of both film form and narrative content, functions as a double articulation of this disciplinary activity. Each film’s narrative disciplines, on screen, the bodies contained within the plot, even as each film’s form disciplines both the way in which these cinematic bodies are delivered to an audience, and the way the audience’s own viewing practices are controlled and composed. Thus it becomes vital to explore the mechanisms implicated in these processes, and to gain an understanding of how Cronenberg’s cinema works to highlight and critique them. The primary assertion of this thesis is that Cronenberg’s work functions as a particular style of resistance to hegemony that Slavoj Žižek labels‘heresy’. For Žižek,heresy occurs not when one disobeys one’s ideological requirements, but when one over-fulfills them, thereby extending these ideological demands and disciplinary discursive structures out to a site of logical absurdity. In assessing and charting this territory, the thesis is constructed in the following manner. The first chapter,which outlines my methodology, applies itself to a brief examination of Cronenberg’s least discussed commercial feature (Fast Company). Chapter Two is concerned with charting the disciplines applied to the body in Shivers, Rabid and The Fly, while Chapter Three continues a focus on Cronenberg’s movement and play with framing devices as a means of subverting a stable spectatorial position, utilising eXistenZ, Spider and The Dead Zone as examples. Chapter Four explores the manner with which heretical adherence to a single ideological construction pushes the protagonists towards large-scale disciplinary violations, as detailed in Crash, M. Butterfly and Dead Ringers while the fifth chapter examines notions of discipline and recuperation is focused on Naked Lunch, Scanners and The Brood. A final sixth chapter compares Cronenberg’s most recent film, A History of Violence, with Videodrome in order to explore the changing face of his disciplinary ambivalence and its relationship to a broader cinematic industry.

This dissertation examines the films of David Cronenberg which all conduct a consistently thorough examination of the relationship between the ideologically constituted Cartesian subject and the disciplinary structures that surround, control and limit this subject. Cinema, because of the presence of both film form and narrative content, functions as a double articulation of this disciplinary activity. Each film’s narrative disciplines, on screen, the bodies contained within the plot, even as each film’s form disciplines both the way in which these cinematic bodies are delivered to an audience, and the way the audience’s own viewing practices are controlled and composed. Thus it becomes vital to explore the mechanisms implicated in these processes, and to gain an understanding of how Cronenberg’s cinema works to highlight and critique them. The primary assertion of this thesis is that Cronenberg’s work functions as a particular style of resistance to hegemony that Slavoj Žižek labels‘heresy’. For Žižek,heresy occurs not when one disobeys one’s ideological requirements, but when one over-fulfills them, thereby extending these ideological demands and disciplinary discursive structures out to a site of logical absurdity. In assessing and charting this territory, the thesis is constructed in the following manner. The first chapter,which outlines my methodology, applies itself to a brief examination of Cronenberg’s least discussed commercial feature (Fast Company). Chapter Two is concerned with charting the disciplines applied to the body in Shivers, Rabid and The Fly, while Chapter Three continues a focus on Cronenberg’s movement and play with framing devices as a means of subverting a stable spectatorial position, utilising eXistenZ, Spider and The Dead Zone as examples. Chapter Four explores the manner with which heretical adherence to a single ideological construction pushes the protagonists towards large-scale disciplinary violations, as detailed in Crash, M. Butterfly and Dead Ringers while the fifth chapter examines notions of discipline and recuperation is focused on Naked Lunch, Scanners and The Brood. A final sixth chapter compares Cronenberg’s most recent film, A History of Violence, with Videodrome in order to explore the changing face of his disciplinary ambivalence and its relationship to a broader cinematic industry.