DAILY BOOK REVIEW
Iconoclast Žižek’s
‘Paradise’ incites
Slovenian
philosopher discusses
contemporary politics
By KARL WILLIAMS
Online Arts Editor
It is said that a philosopher’s
work is his life, and personal-
ity and biography are irrelevant.
But
in
the
peculiar
case
of
Slovenian
Communist
philosopher
and
cultural
theorist Slavoj
Žižek, person-
ality interjects.
Described
in The New York Times as the
“Elvis of Cultural Theory,” Žižek
occupies a fascinating place in
public life: the celebrity philoso-
pher, a role which he uses and
abuses with relish. Among his
many provocations, he has told
students that they’ll get an A if
they spare him the agony of read-
ing their shitty papers; he has
written a catalog for Abercrom-
bie and Fitch, where half-naked
youth graze in an idyll of flowers
and Hegelian dialectics. He has
also hung a picture of Stalin so
it’s the first thing one sees in his
apartment (at one point in this
book he writes, “better the worst
of Stalinism than the best of the
liberal-capitalist welfare state”).
Furthermore, he has starred in
documentaries (“The Pervert’s
Guide to Ideology” is on Netflix)
where he applies generous layers
of Marx, Hegel and Lacan to Hol-
lywood classics.
Inevitably, this Falstaff of phi-
losophy lends himself to carica-
ture, in which his critics indulge.
However, Žižek’s books fascinate
as much, if not more, than the
man, and if they don’t quite turn
readers over to Communism,
they’ll compel them to question
their basic political assumptions.
There’s a reason he has been
called the most dangerous phi-
losopher in the West. His latest
work “Trouble in Paradise: From
the End of History to the End of
Capitalism,” released in the US
after publication in the U.K. last
year, is no exception.
In “Trouble in Paradise,” Žižek
tackles his usual suspects: West-
ern neoliberal capitalism — or
capitalism with a human face. He
covers the possibility of ecological
catastrophe, popular entertain-
ment, global protests, political
cynicism and indifference, glo-
balization, the Arab spring, the
2008 financial crash and, of
course, the possibility of a Com-
munist emancipatory revolution.
He supplements them with some
new characters: the suicide rate
in South Korea, Psy’s music video
for “Gangnam Style,” WikiLeaks
and “Abraham Lincoln Vampire
Slayer,” among others.
Žižek fills this book, like his
others, with his favorite jokes.
Many of these, which come from
sources like the Marx Brothers
or the Soviet Union, are repeated
elsewhere. In fact, many of the
book’s ideas have been discussed
in his previous work, which is
partly redundant, yet a fair sum-
mation of his thought. For new
readers, “Trouble in Paradise”
provides a cogent, concise intro-
duction to Žižek’s work. For vet-
eran readers though, it could be a
tiresome echo.
The “paradise” in the title is
Francis Fukuyama’s infamous
idea of the End of History, pos-
ited after the fall of the Soviet
Union. The End of History stipu-
lates that, after the collapse of the
USSR, Western liberal democracy
became the final form of human
government.
However,
Fuku-
yama would later drop this idea.
Žižek believes that, despite the
many apples produced by neolib-
eral capitalism, few — about one
percent — are satisfied, and we
need a change: “Radical eman-
cipatory engagement starts from
the premise that it is the capital-
ist dynamics which are boring,
offering more of the same in the
guise of constant change, and
that the struggle for emancipa-
tion is still the most daring of all
ventures. Our goal is to argue for
this second option.”
The “guise of constant change”
is liberal progressivism. A fer-
vent lover of the counterintuitive
observation, he believes that lib-
eral progressives — not Reaganite
Republicans — keep capitalism
functioning because they refuse
to admit systemic problems. They
just want to tinker with the sys-
tem and solve the local problems.
Thus, liberalism becomes a way
of delaying a necessary political
crisis, of staving off any emanci-
patory event.
Žižek has a manic intelligence
and an encyclopedic mind. It is
characteristic Žižek’s writing to
cover as many topics as possible,
to gather as much of culture as he
can into his critique. The result is
a curious farrago of high and low
culture, equal parts Batman and
Marxist theory. His prose style is
schizophrenic; readers can start
a sentence in Lacanian theory,
detour through “The Sound of
Music” and end up in Brazilian
favelas. He doesn’t so much write
as ramble — but it’s a shockingly
lucid rambling. He rarely gets lost
in the labyrinths of his erudition.
While “Trouble in Paradise”
is neither as long nor as arcane
as some of Žižek’s other works,
such as “Less than Nothing” or
“Absolute Recoil,” the book can
get tiresomely technical. How-
ever, what sustains it is Žižek’s
brilliant evaluations of the con-
temporary world’s political situ-
ation, like the turmoil in Greece,
communist-cloaked capitalism in
China and the Arab Spring and
Mubarak’s fall in Egypt.
“Trouble in Paradise,” and all
of Žižek’s work, would benefit
anyone who gives it a read. He’s
one of the few heterodox political
thinkers in a placid sea of ortho-
doxy. At times, he may come off as
ridiculous, but at least he is trou-
bling the water.
Trouble in
Paradise
Slavoj
Melville House
Aug. 18, 2015
‘Bang 3 Part 2’ sees
free Keef spitting fire
INTERSCOPE
His music is as good as those pants.
By SHAYAN SHAFII
Daily Arts Writer
Last week, Chief Keef released
an unexpected follow-up to his
sophomore album, Bang 3, clev-
erly titled Bang 3 Part 2. The
album confirmed my suspicions
surrounding Chief Keef for the
last year or so: he’s good. While
he has built up a solid reputa-
tion for churning out countless
mixtapes, many haven’t seemed
to notice his slow but steady
development from gun-wielding
kindergartener to surprisingly/
composed songwriter.
Keef’s video for “Don’t Like”
was already circulating around
Chicago in 2012, but he didn’t
present himself on the national
stage until Kanye West remixed
the
song
(and
subsequently
included him as one of few fea-
tures on Yeezus ). Keef was 17 at
the time and still on house arrest
for allegedly shooting at police at
age 15. He also had his first child
at 16. Point being, he came from
the most violent neighborhood in
the country and was thrust into a
competitive hip-hop landscape as
a teenager. We’ve since been for-
tunate enough to witness his evo-
lution from someone who publicly
joked about the death of fellow
Chicagoan and teen rapper, Lil
JoJo, to making “Finding Nemo”
references on his latest project.
Following the success of his
debut album, Finally Rich, it
seems Keef followed a com-
pletely unforeseen but positive
trajectory for an artist of his
background. He took his money
(and his daughter), moved to a
wealthy Chicago suburb and has
since been focusing on music.
Imagine that.
To the untrained ear (or con-
servative hip-hop heads), Keef’s
newer and more playful tunes
might provoke a similar reac-
tion to work from his teenage
years: “same shit.” Yet, listen-
ing to Bang 3 Part 2, I couldn’t
help but walk around campus
laughing at bars like “Something
something something, I forgot
now / I was thinking ‘bout the
guac, then pulled my guap out.”
The absurdity of Keef thinking
about guacamole while count-
ing money automatically makes
“Bouncin” one of his most
memorable records to date. The
lyric couldn’t have even existed
on his earlier mixtapes; before
the money, the only thing Keef
could’ve brought into the studio
with him was violence.
It’s almost as if he’s in on the
joke these days — a remarkable
turnaround, given that in 2012,
he was arrested for foolishly
conducting an interview at a gun
range … while on parole. He’s
been on the receiving end of so
many distasteful jokes that it’s
great to see him start rapping
tongue-in-cheek. The opening 30
seconds of “Pee Pee’d” show him
yelling, “I’m so damn ignorant /
I pulled out my ding-a-ling and
start pee peeing.” Yes, really.
And then there’s the sheer
quality of the mixtapes that he
has been throwing around for
free. “Ten Toes Down” is buried
somewhere in the middle of Sorry
4 The Weight and begins with a
monologue so unlikely that I had
to run it back a few times: “I just
need to be happy … I come from
nothing / I come from ghetto / I
come from projects / If I’m in my
mansion, best believe I’m work-
ing … That’s all I need to be happy:
work / I’mma never stop working,
I’mma keep perfecting my craft.”
All this comes before a beat that
thumps so hard it rattles your
skull at half-volume. He fades
out of his last verse with “If you
looking for me / I’m prolly’ on the
news.” How’s that for awareness?
Well played, Keef.
Chief Keef deserves far more
credit than he gets because he’s
not still supposed to be in that
mansion. Like Dr. Dre said earli-
er this year on Kendrick Lamar’s
“Wesley’s
Theory,”
“Anybody
can get it / the hard part is keep-
ing it.” Despite being in and out of
jail for five years, being dropped
from his label, having his life
threatened and being exploited
by the music industry as a teen
parent, Keef cleaned up his act
and focused on music.
Most importantly, he stuck
to his roots. Throughout the
various phases of his personal
life, Keef has sustained an out-
standing level of honesty and
transparency through his music,
creating a narrative that’s simul-
taneously horrifying, uplifting
and hilarious. Chief Keef might
live in the ‘burbs, but at least he
still rides ATVs on his neigh-
bors’ lawns. At least he still
smokes blunts in public. At least
he’s still in that mansion.
FILM REVIEW
‘Wildlike’ disturbs
By REBECCA LERNER
Daily Arts Writer
When the two protagonists
of “Wildlike” encounter a bear
during their Alaskan expedition,
Mackenzie
(Ella
Purnell,
“Maleficient”)
suddenly
remembers
her companion
Rene’s
(Bruce
Greenwood,
“Star Trek Into
Darkness”)
most important
rule of the trail:
don’t run.
This decree is in direct contrast
to Mackenzie’s natural instincts
to flee under pressure. After the
death of her father, her mother’s
addiction issues strips her of
parental abilities, sending the
14-year-old to live with her uncle
in Alaska. She arrives with a quiet
and untrusting disposition and a
full face of raccoon-eqsue makeup,
a shield from her circumstances.
Uncle (Brian Geraghty, “Chicago
P.D.”), who is never given a proper
name, begins to sexually abuse
Mackenzie. So when the opportu-
nity arises, Mackenzie takes her
chances and runs.
Even with her limited finan-
cial resources and lack of shelter,
Mackenzie is determined to return
to her mother in Seattle. She sleeps
in cars and breaks into strangers’
hotel rooms. During one of these
break-ins, she meets her reluctant
ally, Rene. At first, he wants noth-
ing to do with the surly teen who
insists on following him. But even-
tually, the two slowly build a grow-
ing trust and familial compassion
for each other. Mackenzie even
drops her shield of dark eyeliner,
allowing Rene to be the first per-
son to see her natural face.
The film delicately approaches
the Mackenzie as a young girl
prematurely forced into her sexu-
ality, with finesse. Mackenzie’s
body is suddenly transformed into
a commodity, and her agitation is
evident in every relationship with
men she encounters after Uncle
violates her. The scenes where
Uncle takes advantage of her are
not exploitative or sexualized; the
fact that her attacker is given such
a vague name lends the film uni-
versality in this matter. It high-
lights the concept that abuse is not
limited to those who match tradi-
tional schemas of abusers.
“Wildlike” is a quiet film. There
is sparse dialogue, the characters
mostly using facial expressions and
body language to communicate
complex emotion. The conversa-
tions that do exist are very hushed,
but this choice matches Mackenzie
and Rene’s reticent personalities.
While the pair clearly have a famil-
ial bond, their relationship is not
overworked for dramatic effect.
“Wildlike” allows its characters to
develop themselves and their con-
nections in a realistic manner — at
their own pace.
A
Wildlike
Greenmachine
Film
Available on
Google Play
GREENMACHINE FILM
“Look, I don’t want to be in this movie either.”
FILM REVIEW
‘Walk’ retreads old
ground in new ways
By BENJAMIN ROSENSTOCK
Daily Arts Writer
There are hundreds of ways to
tell a story.
This seems obvious, but it
becomes more
apparent than
ever
while
watching “The
Walk,”
“Cast-
away”
direc-
tor
Robert
Zemeckis’s
fantastical
re-creation of
Philippe Petit’s
1974 tightrope
walk between the Twin Tow-
ers. The film’s tone is almost
mythic, and it focuses on Petit
(Joseph Gordon-Levitt, “Incep-
tion”) instead of the act itself.
Because “The Walk” was pre-
ceded by a 2008 documentary
(“Man on Wire”) covering the
same events, Zemeckis makes
the decision to stray on the side
of fairytale, pulling the narra-
tive structure away from a more
realistic telling.
The plot is simple, but it holds
its excitement in the details of
Philipe’s goals, which must be con-
figured to make the final, incred-
ible wire-walk possible. Since he
was a boy, Petit dreamed of being a
successful wire-walker — but with
a catch. Instead of being perceived
as a circus performer, he hopes
his walks will be received as art
— a performance to showcase the
impossible as possible — to merge
reality with dreams. As he reflects
on the nature of art, he travels
around France performing on the
streets until he sees an advertise-
ment for the newly-constructed
Twin Towers one day. He becomes
determined to organize a coup and
walk between the towers, amass-
ing a group of artists and other
assistants to break into the build-
ings. Working for months to devise
a plan and engineer the wire
between the buildings, Petit car-
ries the audience with him from
the initial idea to his iconic walk
before the entire world.
Petit stands as a dynamic,
larger-than-life character whose
desire to showcase the art of wire-
walking drives the entire film
forward. He performs his daring
and beautiful stunts far above the
cities, first walking between the
towers of Notre Dame and even-
tually between the Twin Towers
— and it seems the film’s stunning
visual effects would pull attention
from the character and onto the
spectacle of the feats themselves.
However, the focus remains on
Philipe’s emotions: his pride in
these moments and the determina-
tion to continue walking.
The film’s strength comes from
its ability to characterize Petit in
relation to the surrounding city
spaces. He is constantly shown
holding a string between any two
standing objects, figuring where
he can next hang his wire and per-
form. By integrating Petit into the
cities that surround him, Zemeckis
reflects his imaginative character
in the fantasy of the countryside,
the creative inspiration of living
in a vibrant city like Paris and the
grit and determination from the
streets of NYC. Instead of out-
lining these qualities through
an overabundance of action and
dialogue, the film keeps Petit’s
character action-driven, answer-
ing the “why” behind many of his
absurd stunts through the places
he assimilates to.
“The carrots are cooked,” as the
French characters throughout the
film say. The act has already been
done, and it may seem that return-
ing to an already-dramatized story
is a futile act. However, through
the imaginative narrative style,
focus on character and dream-
like special effects, “The Walk” is
able to successfully re-examine an
already famous story.
B+
The Walk
TriStar
Productions
Quality 16 and
Rave Cinemas
TRISTAR PRODUCTIONS
Highwire and chill.
MUSIC NOTEBOOK
The Michigan Daily — michigandaily.com
Arts
Wednesday, October 14, 2015 — 5A