I am trying to read Zizek’s On Belief at the moment. Zizek is an eccentric Slovenian Philosopher cultural theorist who often uses popular culture to illustrate his ideas.
“Belief is a cramp, a paralysis, an atrophy of the mind in certain positions.”
This is one of the quotes from his work that I have been pondering. It has led me to thinking of the impossibility of existing without belief.
In order to gain some more understanding of his ideas I have been watching some Youtube videos of him speaking and this one has got me a little anxious about my project. He uses the example of the film Shrek that supposedly subverts traditional stories through the use of humour. He argues that in fact all it does is hide the fact through its games that it is the same old traditional story told over again. The quote that most got me thinking was:
We make fun of our beliefs whilst continuing to practice them.
I need to think about this in terms of the humour in Not a Séance.