tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-718363357363343340.post4147932600461124549..comments2022-05-09T09:20:48.004-07:00Comments on Film of the Month Club: Hara's Naked Victims Mourn On.Chris Caglehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11896423565458620046noreply@blogger.comBlogger6125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-718363357363343340.post-65351756561097810402008-05-22T04:36:00.000-07:002008-05-22T04:36:00.000-07:00"I hope I don't come across too much as someone th..."I hope I don't come across too much as someone that is consumed by theory."<BR/><BR/>No, Edwin. See, this is exactly what I like about Chris' vision for this site: the opportunity for academics and cinephiles to start up a dialogue. So, thank you for your quotations and explanation--they were very helpful. <BR/><BR/>Harry, I like it that Hara and Okuzaki were both of use to each other in furthering their ends, they were deeply beneficial to each other's purposes. Without Okuzaki, the film wouldn't exist.girishhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/05079328617099035797noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-718363357363343340.post-57221650332478701542008-05-21T23:40:00.000-07:002008-05-21T23:40:00.000-07:00There is an Oedipus conflict of nationwide dimensi...There is an Oedipus conflict of nationwide dimension there, where Hirohito plays the surrogate father who must be killed...<BR/><BR/>Yes that's interesting how clever he is in incorporating cinema in his discourse. But I definitely think he would express his anger in public any which way. He obviously uses Hara more than Hara uses him. That's why I'm not really impressed by the film, Hara is prisoner of the control freak that is Okusaki.HarryTuttlehttps://www.blogger.com/profile/10721542203087536185noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-718363357363343340.post-17255050437474668242008-05-21T17:17:00.000-07:002008-05-21T17:17:00.000-07:00Harry - I believe you have already hit the nail on...Harry - I believe you have already hit the nail on the head. It is this trauma, that the narcissistic conversion appeals to, or converts from in mourning work. Derrida is quite the Freudian on this concept. I think Okuzaki is the most vivid example of this I have seen. <BR/><BR/>What is also interesting is how this kind of narcissism might relate to <A HREF="http://filmofthemonthclub.blogspot.com/2008/05/okuzakis-shtick.html" REL="nofollow">Brian's revealing post on "autoperformance"</A>. Can we assume that Okuzaki would autoperform without Hara's camera gaze? Historically, in light of Okuzaki's prolific protests, pre-filming, the gaze of the public is enough. Autoperfomative narcissism anyone?Anonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-718363357363343340.post-72991746472537065312008-05-21T14:28:00.000-07:002008-05-21T14:28:00.000-07:00Thanks for the Derrida cameo video, I liked it.Wha...Thanks for the Derrida cameo video, I liked it.<BR/><BR/>What does "narcissistic conversion" mean?<BR/>I don't see Okuzaki's narcissism as much as egocentricity and megalomania (although it is when he pretends to speak for the people of Japan or for God). I think he was traumatised by what happened to him during the war, and experienced a "narcissistic wound" that hit him on a personal level (outside the war context, in relation to his own childhood). This would explain why he takes all this so personally and is overreacting while everyone else around him (even victim's relatives who are more directly concerned than him) seem more fatalistic and reserved. It's his (shameful) narcissistic trauma that speaks here and the war crimes are only a convenient catalyst (for public display).<BR/><BR/>Though I'm not questioning the justness of his cause. It's just unusual that in a country ravaged by the war death toll and a defeat humiliation, his campaign would get so little support, that he would be the only victim ready to stand up. There doesn't seem to be a popular movement to back him up and call for public accountability.HarryTuttlehttps://www.blogger.com/profile/10721542203087536185noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-718363357363343340.post-36411187749307252732008-05-21T06:53:00.000-07:002008-05-21T06:53:00.000-07:00Thanks Girish, I hope I don't come across too much...Thanks Girish, I hope I don't come across too much as someone that is consumed by theory. Nonetheless, SOM is fresh in my mind as it featured heavily on a paper I recently completed.<BR/><BR/>The line comes from this passage:<BR/><BR/>'In proposing this title, <I>Specters of Marx</I>, I was initially thinking of all the forms of a certain haunting obsession that seems to me to organize the <I>dominant</I> influence on discourse today. At a time when a new world disorder is attempting to install its neo-capitalism and neo-liberalism, no disavowal has managed to red itself of all of Marx's ghosts. Hegemony still organizes the repression and thus the confirmation of a haunting. Haunting belongs to the structure of every hegemony. But I did not have in mind first of all the exordium of the <I>Manifesto</I>.' p.46<BR/><BR/>I see Okuzaki belonging to a native minority --those believing that Hirohito and his senior command were wrong-- in a post-war period. Okuzaki is haunting the silent majority, by refusing to conform to his hegemonizers. In this sense he is a ghost.<BR/><BR/>There are other interesting ways in which Derrida believes ghosts come into being. Relating more the discussions of documentary, photography and film as technology and media. Has anyone seen Ken McMullen's <I>Ghost Dance</I> (1983) ? Derrida makes a rather dapper cameo in it to explain this fascinating concept. <A HREF="http://youtube.com/watch?v=0nmu3uwqzbI" REL="nofollow">A clip of which can be found here</A>. Does this help?Anonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-718363357363343340.post-25710851954376510482008-05-21T04:49:00.000-07:002008-05-21T04:49:00.000-07:00Hi Edwin -- Thanks for this thought-provoking post...Hi Edwin -- Thanks for this thought-provoking post.<BR/><BR/>I haven't read "Specters of Marx" and wanted to ask you about this line: ‘haunting belongs to the structure of every hegemony’. I'm curious: what exactly does Derrida mean here? and how is Okuzaki a ghost? Thanks.girishhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/05079328617099035797noreply@blogger.com