the piano teacher “pain itself is merely a consequence of the desire for pleasure, the desire to...
TRANSCRIPT
THE PIANO TEACHER
“Pain itself is merely a consequence of the
desire for pleasure, the desire to destroy, to
annihilate; in its supreme form, pain is a
variety of pleasure.” (107)
“The opposite sex always wants the exact opposite.” (143)
PEEP SHOWS
PEEP SHOWS
shame, voyeurism, anonymity
simultaneously public and private, nameless, reductive
power, control, domination
shame, disgust, pleasure, mediation of desire through
other
auto-/allo-eroticism | objectification | subjectivity
the Gaze – Laura Mulvey (Sartre, Lacan, Zizek)
PEEP SHOWS
immigration, race, ethnicity
class, economics, urban life
gender and sexual politics
shame, secrecy, anonymity,
privilege, power
the GAZE | Objectification
(subjectivity)
Precedents and Consequences
for Erika
PEEP SHOWS
I – 44-45 and 47-49 and 52-56• antecedent – the country cousin and first reported cutting • subsequent – sees other young people in groups, flirting,
dating, etc.
Erika goes to porn theatre 105-108• greater violence, sadism, blurred interior/exterior – where
is the mystery of women’s desire (and male desire for it)?
then to the park for some live-action voyeurism 140-141
PEEP SHOWS
I – 44-45 and 47-49 and 52-56• antecedent – the country cousin and first reported cutting • subsequent – sees other young people in groups, flirting,
dating, etc.
Erika goes to porn theatre 105-108• greater violence, sadism, blurred interior/exterior – where
is the mystery of women’s desire (and male desire for it)?
then to the park for some live-action voyeurism 140-141
A LETTER ALWAYS ARRIVES
typically letters are love letters
romance, epistolary novels – seduction by words,
images
long-distance seduction – even in Les Liaisons
Dangereuses
commitment, affirmation, oath
the epistolary tradition in novels – record of truth,
interiority, privacy, tenderness, detail, subjectivity, desire
A LETTER ALWAYS ARRIVES
In The Piano Teacher this all gets overturned
antecedent to the letter – the bathroom
“seduction” 175ff.
then the letter – 214 ff.
and its consequences – c. 272ff.