This blog wouldn't exist without the contirbution of several people to contemporary culture : David Foster Wallace, Henry Rollins, Chuck Klosterman, Bill Simmons and Joe Rogan come to mind. These people are doing something important, they are democratizing critical thinking. They are making it cool and (somewhat) sexy, a wanted commodity in this global market economy. All these guys owe a little bit to Slovenian philosopher/theorician Slavoj Zizek, who really was the first to shed any kind of concerns about finding mass culture pertinent. Now that public intellectuals are becoming a thing again, Mr. Zizek wants a piece of the pie. Can't blame him, really. If that means he's going to keep shooting clever, insightful and polarizing documentaries such as THE PERVERT'S GUIDE TO IDEOLOGY, I don't have any issues with his ambitions.
THE PERVERT'S GUIDE TO IDEOLOGY is the sequel to THE PERVERT'S GUIDE TO CINEMA, thing I ignored until I made a little research for this review. Since I greatly enjoyed the movie, I don't think it's necessary to watch the first one in order to enjoy the second. There might be overlapping points that makes a chronological viewing of both films more fun, but everything about THE PERVERT'S GUIDE TO IDEOLOGY is complete in itself, so don't worry about that. So what's the movie about, really? It consists of over two hours of Slavoj Zizek talking and explaining how movies are reinforcing prevailing ideologies, from Nazi propaganda iconic film TRIUMPH OF THE WILL to Christopher Nolan's THE DARK NIGHT. Of course, it's a viewing that requires you to be curious about what you're being fed by the Hollywood machine, but if you are, it's awesome.
That begs the question : why would you deconstruct movies like that? Doesn't it ruin the magic? Author Les Edgerton might've just came up with the best possible answer to that existential quandary when a student asked him if taking creative writing class would ruin reading for him. I'm paraphrasing here: ''You're a basketball fan, young man. Is that right? Does it ruin the sport for you to know how a pick-and-roll operates? Or to understand what a 2-3 zone defense is? Of course not, it makes you appreciate the sport on a deeper level, that's all.'' The process of deconstructing movies and narratives in general has the same effect. It helps you understand when you're being sold crap and when you're sitting through something special better. That might seem obvious when said like that, but some movies can be pretty insidious with their message, especially when they are trying to vehicle ideology-based values. Guard dogs like Slavoj Zizek are important and films like THE PERVERT'S GUIDE TO IDEOLOGY are critical in fighting that fallacy that one has to ''turn off his brain'' to enjoy movies.
I'm aware I'm not discussing the actual content of THE PERVERT'S GUIDE TO IDEOLOGY, so far. I'm trying to sell you the process of deconstruction because I believe it's a healthy exercise for serious moviegoers. As far as content goes, you're bound to disagree with something over the thorough ideological analysis of 25 movies. There were movies I hadn't seen being analyzed, but among the most convincing points Slavoj Zizek made was his theory about the movie JAWS and why it was interpreted in such conflicted ways all over the world. He claims that the shark doesn't symbolizes an enemy in particular, but symbolizes the fears of the people, gives it shape and to a certain degree, a material existence. Zizek astutely ties this narrative process with how the Nazis singled out Jewish people as the enemy in the events leading to World War II. He's not saying that JAWS is a metaphor for World War II (it would be pretty Nazi of him to compare Jewish people to a bloodthirsty shark), but simply that the same process was used in creating the mythological figure of the enemy. That it's a very convincing way of validating your cause.
I could discuss the theories of THE PERVERT'S GUIDE TO IDEOLOGY all day, but I'm going to stop here and let you experience them for yourself. Going through over more than one theory would be spoiling the experience. Just remember that Hollywood movies are not dimestore fantasies. They've never been. They are complicated construction with political and ideological undertones that are sometimes deliberately placed by the movie director and/or screenwriter(s) and sometimes they are a byproduct of how the world they grew in shaped their perception of society. Nothing is devoid of intent and it's a fun, borderline life-affirming activity to try and see through the fiction. Slavoj Zizek is not always right in THE PERVERT'S GUIDE TO IDEOLOGY, his theory are wild and tinted with his own background, but he makes several good points about movies you've grown up with and like I previously said, it's the exercise of thinking critically about your entertainment that matters, hence the THE PERVERT'S GUIDE TO IDEOLOGY's tagline: we are responsible for our dreams.
I could discuss the theories of THE PERVERT'S GUIDE TO IDEOLOGY all day, but I'm going to stop here and let you experience them for yourself. Going through over more than one theory would be spoiling the experience. Just remember that Hollywood movies are not dimestore fantasies. They've never been. They are complicated construction with political and ideological undertones that are sometimes deliberately placed by the movie director and/or screenwriter(s) and sometimes they are a byproduct of how the world they grew in shaped their perception of society. Nothing is devoid of intent and it's a fun, borderline life-affirming activity to try and see through the fiction. Slavoj Zizek is not always right in THE PERVERT'S GUIDE TO IDEOLOGY, his theory are wild and tinted with his own background, but he makes several good points about movies you've grown up with and like I previously said, it's the exercise of thinking critically about your entertainment that matters, hence the THE PERVERT'S GUIDE TO IDEOLOGY's tagline: we are responsible for our dreams.