"The Obscure Object of Desire" Continued.

"The Obscure Object of Desire"
On a personal note I loved the complexity of this film from the passion emanating from Matthieu to the mirrored disdain from Conchita. The obscure object was not just desire, nor was it everything Conchita represented to Matthieu but it was something much more subtle represented throughout the undertone of the film, much more akin to the need of self completion through an imaginary source. Conchita was as much of an unattainable mirage to Matthieu as the reflection to Narcissus and yet in the end they both knew better but ultimately met their demise due to being constantly drawn back to this thing that had them both so caught up. Lacan also noted strongly on the false sense of self we can obtain through the illusion of control of things outside of ourselves, and this is exactly the trap that Matthieu fell into. He was enraptured by Conchita a woman outside of his reach, whom he could never control yet he was determined to try anyways, because he was driven by a force that was so beyond his own control yet he was totally unaware of it. Conchita being played by two different actresses was perfect, the first representing the "good girl" and the second representing the "bad girl", throughout the movie it was almost exciting to predict based on the mood of the scene who was going to appear, such as in the scene where they are at the country house, The bad Conchita arrives and is playful, flirtatious, and demanding but once it comes time for the demands of Matthieu to be met in comes the good Conchita who is noble and often frigid to his advances. Yet this act only drives Matthieu further down the rabbit hole of his own undoing. The constant use of terrorism in the background of the film was intriguing, based on the timing it often seemed to be a way to practically emasculate Matthieu rendering him helpless many times and showing that he was "too noble" to admit the he was scared and taken advantage of by men often younger and rowdier then himself. The ending of the film was a nice modern line drawn between to "tragic" love stories, yes it pays homage to Tristan and Isolde but to me more importantly it is playing on the tragic faults of Matthieu and his insatiable need for Conchita. Even after he has forsake her he still comes back for more, which perhaps puts him in the right place and the right time for a terrorist attack, a sign that Matthieu is not the one in control of his life.  

Thoughts on Zizek, Bernard, and "The Obscure Object of Desire"

While reading "Courtly Love or Woman as Thing" I was intrigued by the writers prospective of women having the upper hand in love, however this was not unwelcome. In the passage on page 90 Zizek notes that "the Lady functions as a mirror on to which the subject projects his narcissistic ideal" this only reinforces the ideas we discussed in the Mirror stage about about how we desire completion of self that can only exist outside of ones self. Prior to that Zizek noted that "the Lady in courtly love loses concrete features and is addressed as an abstract ideal, so that 'writers have noted that all the poets seem to be addressing the same person'"  this feelings ring true to the idea that we carried away from the myth of narcissus that perfection that can only be desired and found outside of ones self is merely a tantalizing  mirage that we all can experience the same sorrow of never being able to obtain it because this object of desire does not exist. Now while Zizeks essay presented the reality of love I enjoyed the parallel I saw between that and the troubadour poems by Bernard. Bernard stated that "A man is really dead when he does not feel some sweet taste of love in his heart" (127) The new human perspective that Bernard is writing from shines a light on the ideas stated above, to put it bluntly we desire what does not exist in hopes of achieving completion of self that comes from outside of ourselves but we still need that desire to fuel us no matter how bleak the outlook is in terms of successful completion. To further expose this consider the differences in Bernards own writing, specifically between the first quote on 127 and this quote from 133 "I bear more pain from love then Tristan the lover who suffered many sorrows for Isolt the blonde", In this Bernard himself is exposing both sides of the story to the reader, Love as the life drive for all men, and Love as the eternal tormentor.

Thoughts on Narcissus, Song of Songs, and Lacan...

Song of Songs:

This poem strongly plays on the control of ones desire for completion through another yet it parallels these images with that of wild uninhibited nature. Strong comparisons are made between sensory stimulation such as the intoxication of wine(2), the scent of perfume(3), or the beauty of flower blossoms(14) and the somewhat opposing controlling actions such as her ardent requests(4), the herding of a flock(7), and the lavishing of gifts(10-11). To further expand those ideas look to the location of the poem itself, within the Old Testament, which I often regard as the “rule book” of the bible. Although seemingly out of its element the placement is quite deliberate in the way that it produces a parallel between the power of raw human desire and governing body of religion. While one element tries to overpower the other, it ultimately fails to do so completely, yet the two can coexist. Powerful human emotions like desire have a need to be addressed in our lives, even in biblical texts, because they have existed longer than the religious institutions themselves.

The Myth of Narcissus:

Like any etiological myth the story of Narcissus delves into how an echo came about but it also serves to personify a once unexplainable phenomenon. Echo is able to manipulate the open ended questions of Narcissus to enable the reflection of her true feelings towards him; however her presence also serves to foreshadow the demise of Narcissus much like the prophecy of Tiresias. Echo is a complex representation of what is to come but also of the impossible goal of total self-completion.  Narcissus is confronted by the love echo harbors for him and rejects it, yet he comes to be “rejected” by his love for himself. Both the lover and the beloved in this story have unattainable goals and face their own tragic demise in a curse of incompleteness. I believe that Narcissus falls in love with the idea of self-wholeness, meaning that while many people who fall in love or enter relationships are inherently searching out a sense of wholeness that they believe they can only find through another Narcissus was doomed or perhaps enlightened enough to realize that the form of completion we desire comes from lacking something in ourselves. Therefore when falling in love Narcissus could only see that within himself yet had no way of accessing that, quite similar to Echo seeing her completion within Narcissus. Both sides were driven by powerful desire yet were never able to achieve the end goal. “The thing you are seeing does not exist: only turn aside and you will lose what you love. What you see is but the shadow cast by your own reflection; in itself it is nothing.”(85).That passage from the myth spells out that desire is the ultimate trickster, yet it powerfully compels us to create our own illusions and then to pursue them endlessly.

Lacan:

In a sense it appears as if Lacan is suggesting that by only entering the “Mirror Stage” that a developing child can have its first confrontation with its comprehension of “self” and “I”. By having this encounter the child feels falsely completed upon the realization of its own reflection, and derives pleasure from this discovery of newfound self-awareness. While it is true that stimulation of all the senses is key to a child developing its true sense of desire the idea of self-awareness is a strong combination of previously separate events such as motor manipulation, touch/feeling, and sight. Therefore it is a defining experience. While I do see parallels between Narcissus and Lacan’s theoretical Mirror stage, it is important to point out that this is not a complete theory in my eyes.  Developmental theory is normally concluded with possible negative results of not completing the experience, and while Lacan alludes to those possibly unfortunate end results the theory becomes quite gray in that respect. Both the Mirror Stage and the myth of narcissus illustrate the desire of self-image completion and false fulfillment found outside of ones self.