by Brian Bergen-Aurand There is no doubt that at this point in history the neurotic, the pervert, and the psychotic cannot be adequately defined in terms of drives, for drives are simply the desiring-machines themselves. They must be defined in terms of modern territorialities. The neurotic is trapped within the residual or artificial territorialities of … Continue reading
Monthly Archives: August 2014
Reading The Pink Book
by Brian Bergen-Aurand The concept of “obscenity” is tested when we dare to look at something that we desire to see but have forbidden ourselves to look at. When we feel that everything has been revealed, “obscenity” disappears and there is a certain liberation. When that which one had wanted to see isn’t sufficiently revealed, … Continue reading
Touching On: Eyes, Hands, and Screens
by Brian Bergen-Aurand The mise-en-scène of the blind is always inscribed in a theater or theory of the hands. ~Jacques Derrida, Memoirs of the Blind It is a question of touch, of touching the screen or being touched by what one sees on screen, or both. It is a question of the relation between how … Continue reading
The Filmic Experience
by Brian Bergen-Aurand The Myths of Blind Cinema Imagine film, or more precisely, the filmic experience in relation to three figures: Gyges, Butades, and Medusa (in contrast to Polyphemus). These three figures, or more precisely, the relations among these three figures raise for us the possibility of addressing the flimic experience in terms of a man … Continue reading
Democracy, Borrowing, Lending, and Sharing (part 2)
by Brian Bergen-Aurand To censor comes from the Sanskrit śamsati, with its references to “recites, praises,” and śasa “song of praise.” To censor something is to praise it, to recite its praises as a thing worthy for its affect and effect. To censor is to give credence to the idea that things, ideas, books, and … Continue reading
Foreign Influence 