The Fright of Real Tears - Theory Versus Post-Theory

Theory Versus Post-Theory

In the book's introduction, "The Strange Case of the Missing Lacanians", Žižek explicitly positions himself in opposition to the rational and empirical approach to studying cinema which is argued for by David Bordwell and Noël Carroll the their anthology Post-Theory. At the heart of The Fright of Real Tears is the debate between linear reasoned film theorising based on evidence, endorsed by Bordwell and Carroll, and free-associative film interpretation (sometimes referred to simply as "Theory") that references doctrines from psychoanalysis and Marxism endorsed by Žižek. The "missing Lacanians" referred to in the introduction's title are the (according to Žižek, non-existent) Lacanian film theorists Bordwell criticizes for introducing the concept of "the gaze" into film studies. Žižek argues that Bordwell has misunderstood the Lacanian concept of the gaze - a misunderstanding he partly blames on a lamentable (in Žižek's eyes) appropriation of Lacan by cultural studies. Žižek notes that Lacan's concept of the gaze is easily misunderstood as belonging to the subject, whereas Lacan actually believed that the gaze was on the side of the object (TFRT, p. 34).

Žižek contentiously characterizes Post-Theory as a movement in film studies, which Bordwell denies, and argues that it demonstrates intellectual immodesty. Although he notes that those he calls "Post-Theorists" insist on the importance of empirical research in their work, Žižek believes that such a position implicitly exempts the investigating "Post-Theorist" from consideration. For Žižek, this is an illegitimate short-circuit. Citing Bordwell's work on the idea of a trans-cultural universal which directs and guides the spectator's attention, Žižek writes that "the very notion of a trans-cultural universal means different things in different cultures" (p. 17). Žižek's statement is not self-defeating and does not itself imply the existence of trans-cultural universals, he argues, because all cultures do not share the same notion of "universality".

Bordwell has responded in detail to criticisms regarding trans-cultural universals in the book, Figures Traced in Light. Bordwell responds to Žižek's other criticisms in the online essay, "Slavoj Žižek: Say Anything".