The Revolutionary Sorry To Bother You

[@jetblack8250]

Wake up honey, new Todd McGowan video just dropped

[@DelandaBaudLacanian]

thank you, very thought provoking interpretation! some of my notes if its helpful to anyone, sorry for misheard words or mispellings: 0:29 - Glenn Gary Glenn Ross, Citizen Kane Do the Right thing, Bamboozled - amazing critiques of racism Sorry to Bother You 1:10 - Surrealist Films 2:13 - What's the best way to get a fortune at a horse race? 4:30 - someone's having sex and answer their phone, the film is showing aspects of contemporary capitalism seep into our entire existence, and we want it! 5:00 - he's sitting on toilet, no more private moment because there's no more public realm 5:26 - we're getting a visual representation of what happens psychically, Riley uses the surreal juxtaposition, but people in real life do answer the phone in the bathroom which is a bizarre thing 6:03 - Telemarking success requires Cassius to insert himself into the prevailing fantasy structure, Cassius is only successful once he begins to employ the white voice 6:36 - partial asynchrony of the dub is important to what the film is trying to say about the voice, detached voice from body, fantasmatic 10:44 - she's ethical figure of film who pulls Cassius out of capitalist death spiral, "how can we create a form a labor that'll create value for us costing us as little as possible", feudal system WITHIN capitalist structure 13:55 - ending of film suggests that in attempts to create more productive and docile labor creates a class able to destroy him 14:45 - capitalism creates its own gravediggers 15:20 - it's a happy ending even tho Cassius becomes a horse, he's meant to be a false flag 15:55 - Jeffrey Bezos stand-in 16:00 - lessons learned: "Don't snort cocaine"

[@jetblack8250]

I'd love to hear your thoughts on the South Korean film "Burning".

[@toddmcgowan8233]

I love that film and will try to do something on it at some point.

[@p.anphobia]

@@toddmcgowan8233 How you been tho Todd..

[@TheDangerousMaybe]

Hi Todd, is not "white voice" in 'Sorry to Bother You' the perfect example of voice as objet petit a? All the telemarketers say the same exact words, they "stick to the script", but the trick is in HOW one says those same words. White voice has the ability to be the "object" that causes desire, that is, the timbre of enunciation that seduces. Why? Because it itself says to the listener that the speaker speaks from the fantasmatic plane of uncastrated jouissance, from the other side of the Law (this would be a Lacanian twist on Marshall McLuhan's famous aphorism: "the medium is the message"). And if the speaker has that super-special, perfectly sublime, undiluted form of jouissance, well, then the speaker (salesman) can pass on to the listener (customer) the knowledge of how to possess it (e.g., purchasing some new commodity), which, for the listener, locks the telemarketer into the transferential position of the subject supposed to know, i.e., the one who has secret knowledge of jouissance. What do you think? Am I on the right track?

[@toddmcgowan8233]

Yes, that's very good: white voice is the voice qua objet a. It is what sticks out from the denoted content and thus seduces, as you say

[@TheDangerousMaybe]

@@toddmcgowan8233 Good to hear!

[@dprssnobssn]

Great film and great review. What really stands out for me is the relationship between the enjoyment of partaking in the capitalist exploitation and a necessary dosis of sadomasochism. You want some privileges of consumption? You sadistically seduce and dominate others, but also you have to give up your beliefs and autonomy. This review made me remember that some time ago you said the left has the power knowledge, but the right has the power of enjoyment. Absolute spot on!

[@KymHammond]

Thumbnail yellow, title page magenta: is there no end to the devilish branding that is now just the next version of the construction of consent?

[@FrostyDufour]

I really enjoyed hearing your analysis. Sorry To Bother You didn't get nearly enough love when it was released, but I hope will become a classic, similar to The Watermelon Man. Surrealism is a hard sell, and this one hit too close to home. Critiques of capitalism are easier to digest when it's located elsewhere, like Parasite. It's hard to believe "Hollywood" once made even gentle comedic takes like Sullivan's Travels! or

[@jeanlamontfilms5586]

I think the black professional managerial class would strongly disagree with the idea that “to critique racism is to already also to critique capitalism”. Some even think that critiquing racism is a way to fix capitalism.

[@toddmcgowan8233]

Are they then really critiquing racism?

[@jeanlamontfilms5586]

@@toddmcgowan8233 Good question. I certainly think it’s more posturing than actual substantive critique but “anti-racism” is nonetheless most often their rallying point for political mobilization.