"We make a mistake if we see her only as a masturbatory icon for borderline-pederast bearded men, for in a very real sense, she is the Spectacle itself in human form."
"But does anyone actually see her as [a masturbatory icon]?
Well, Hashmal does, at least."
I am not very well read on Situationist theory and I do not have the time to undertake research for a response on a bulletin board. So if the following is way off track with regards to Situationist theory then please let me know. Also, if someone has a reference for the Debord quote it would be most appreciated.
I’m not sure what the spectacle is in terms of some standard definitive meaning. But from the second hand info I’ve picked up over the last couple of years I understand that, at least to some degree, it’s referring to an endless procession of simulacra, a matrix of desires that cannot be fulfilled, always already serving up hollow nothingness disguised as morsels to satiate the ravenous maw of consumerism. So when Debord says that Mathilda is the spectacle incarnate does this mean that she is these ‘empty spectacular desires that cannot be fulfilled’ in human form? If so, it more-or-less sounds like the definition of a masturbatory icon to me. Fervently jerking off over that which we cannot have, the circuit of desire never completed, never fulfilled. A spectacular society offering happiness and fulfilment for only $9.95, a consumer transaction that leaves the promise of happiness and fulfilment turning to a crusty yellow discharge on an old towel. The bearded pederast merely the reflection of the happy consumer in a filthy mirror.
And where do I fit in here? Am I fervently jerking off at the feet of some idolised simulacra?
Well, let me see…
Yes, I find some young girls to be arousing. But I can’t recall ever having jerked off trying to capture their essence in some seedy fantasy. I realise that it is no release of desire, but merely the ensnarement of it within an illusion. The arousal I feel is the joy of admiring the human organism coming into bloom and I make no apologies for that. Any self righteous moralists who find such arousal distasteful can go suck the dick of the high horse they rode in on. Myself, I merely wish to catch a glimpse of the Dionysian spirit as it begins to awaken, to hear the music of Pan as their bodies begin to bloom. I certainly do not wish to fuck these delicate creatures. For I know that such a violation would not allow me to partake in the Dionysian fire that has begun to burn, but merely snuff it out leaving a sad and hollow creature to walk the earth. And it seems to me that those in our society who wish to deny the young their right to dance with Dionysus by enforcing arbitrary age limits, deciding when, how and whom, are also guilty of extinguishing this fire and thereby create a world repressed and doomed. Both bearded pederast and upstanding moral citizens extinguish the fire of life that burns in this young flesh leaving only the embers of an empty simulacrum. However, if the spirit of Bacchus is allowed to reign supreme then Mathilda can shatter the empty dreams of both pederasts and moralists alike. And this is all I wish to see, the birth of Dionysus and the shattering of the endless procession of soul-less simulacra.
But given my previous disclosure of feelings of guilt related to my ‘dirty little thoughts’, is the above the mere rhetoric of a hypocrite?
The mention of my dirty little thoughts was an off-hand remark made with my tongue in cheek, but I’m sure there are those here who would not let this go so easily…
So as far as these ‘dirty little thoughts’ did relate to desires that could not be fulfilled, my wish to fuck the forever unfuckable. Then yes, I should feel guilt. But I never proclaimed to be a saint and nor would I want to be one, which I fear some here do. Nonetheless I realise the danger of falling prey to such illusions and if they do dwell within my soul then I hope that they succumb to a Dionysian dissolution. A dissolution that may be violent and unpleasant if I cannot uproot and resolve them soon.
And in so far as these ‘dirty little thoughts’ were actually thoughts that merely wished to bath in the warm Dionysian glow of youth and were only stained and made dirty by society’s moral hypocrisy then any guilt I felt was undeserved and reflects a society grown sick with its own pretentious moral bullshit.
I am unsure which of these is the more correct. Is it just pretentious rhetoric that I am using to avoid facing myself? Mere simulacra? Maybe my only hope is to invoke a violent Dionysian energy that can shatter any simulacra and hopefully leave me with something intact. Can I stare down the barrel of that gun and face my death? Is that you Mathilda, my angel of death?
Masturbatory icon or the spectacle incarnate? Given my ignorance of Situationist theory I can’t really say. However, I propose another choice. Masturbatory icon or demon of Dionysus with a gun. |
