I'm not sure if I have the concepts down from the latest class, however I will blog about what I've taken away in the context the topics were presented in.
I find that Benjamin builds a binary with 'old' art and 'new' art in the way they are digested, and then acted upon by the mass (audience). I think we are sick human beings who need hyperboles because we are born and raised in a society of excess. This excess creates both a distraction AND absorbtion, for example Person X enjoys the show Survivor which is very fragmented(distraction; new art) YET is absorbed by(what old art does to you) Survivor because Person X purchases all merchandise, books, etc. Together, distraction and absortion both dictate to the mass (ie) how it 'really' is out in the wild of Surviving, AND can be used for mass movement. (Help me out on that one, I'm not sure if I am okay about the concept or just very mixed up) As suggested in lecture popular culture then becomes a reflection of us. This was displayed in the 9/11 dvd we watched with the Rudy Giuliani making ironic, depressing, hilarious statements regarding freedom, race and free will. The reflection?? --> We are really all just a bunch of racist bigots!
I was in SHOCK after viewing the clip from the L-word. Afterwards when asked if we considered the scene to exemplify rape, the little voice inside my head answered: YES. While watching the clip I thought of Gone With The Wind, when Rhett just carries Scarlett off as a right of marriage, or his 'right' as husband and wife. I thought of a heterosexual relationship, this is maybe because I have some male friends who have had unwanted sexual experiences. However I think the scene we saw from L-word in a sense romanticized rape like every other show or movie we see. Person A forces themselve upon Person B, Person B then fights back and then starts to....enjoy the situation? Is it being somewhat dictated to us that it is fun to have someone take sexual control of us? This royally screws up everyone's paradigms and blurs the lines as to when an individual should speak up about sex and violence. Can a man rape his wife? Rather in the L-word this translated to, can a partner rape their partner? CAN someone you're living with in an intimate setting, implying they care for you, rape .....you? I think the clipping deomonstrated Benjamin's idea of art as a revolutionary mechanism, and political practice. The lesbian rape, which is a hyperbole in a heteronormativity in society, is a political tool making us question ourselves. Questions such as: can rape happen in a lesbian relationship when it is historically and statistically reported as happening to females. Maybe...just maybe the clip is a reflection upon us to politically make us more aware that it CAN really happen to anyone?
And, now because just thinking about those paradigm limit questions, I feel lost and confused because.....do I then have a certain way of thinking (paradigm) about something that's solid enough for me to answer a question as, "Yes. Yes, Dr. Tapely, that was rape."
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Yes, husbands can, and do, rape wives. Given that the marital contract includes sexual obligation, and given that it's likely that not all women are into having sex out of obligation, i'd say that rape within marriage is more common than you might think. Your blog made me think of John’s comment in class about the l-word clip not accurately capturing the power struggle of rape. Huh? I’m not sure if John has ever been raped, and I’m certainly not going to claim victim status here, but I’d be VERY careful about asserting truth claims about a power dynamic in rape.
To be honest, I didn’t care if the scene in L-word is representative of any aspect of rape, when I saw that scene, I was just grateful that it screwed up my sensibilities. I know that violence and power struggles are not rare instances in relationships, and I think that being in a situation that involves long-term commitment, infidelity, miscarriages, and financial hardship is bound to exaggerate even the smallest power imbalance. To top it off, what if power struggles are part of your sexual play?
The scene screwed up my sensibilities in that it took everything I thought to be private, and just threw it out on the street for any passer-by to watch and judge. I’m thankful for that…though I’m not sure it’s the best solution. I do know that when you think about being in a situation where you are quickly losing grip on your autonomy, you like to think you’d do anything to hold on to yourself. But will you really? Aren’t relationships private and to be dealt with only between the parties involved? I don’t think I’m completely off base when I say that I’m grateful that there is a space to be able to discuss this at all…
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