Slavoj Žižek: Cinema and Ideology (lecture / live performance)

Slavoj Žižek at Kiasma Theater, Helsinki, 1 Dec 2009.

Slavoj Žižek: Cinema and Ideology (lecture / live performance). Kiasma Theater, Helsinki, 1 Dec 2009.

The house was packed, and there were two extra spaces with monitors and loudspeakers for those who were not able to fit in the theatre.

Žižek was in full swing with his non-stop repartee, full of associations, a modern incarnation of the classical figure of a philosopher who can inspire an audience with his speech. His range is admirable, with associations around the world and through history. He is also very topical, with insight in our cyber-world.

 He is amusedly aware of his public image as a showman. His appearances are a kind of an intellectual marketing tour for his books.

His articles are stimulating, and the substance of his original thinking is in his serious books, which I have not read, but I know I would love to.

I don't know how much I agree with Žižek, but it feels worthy to respond to his intellectual stimulation and provocation.

Žižek is a prolific writer, and it was interesting to hear that he suffers from a writer's block. This he avoids by conscious self-deception. First he takes notes in full sentences. At a certain point he realizes that he has covered everything. Then he edits his notes, and thus he has accomplished a manuscript by skipping the phase of writing!