lists are great
Instagram is microcosm of modern global culture
we are affected by our environment
we own books we will never read
Indiana Jones is a fantastic film
psychology and philosophy are bed-fellows
Always start a meeting with an agenda. Unless you're a Daoist. Then start with a plain lump of wood or stone.
The Authenticity issue of Vestoj carried an essay on dressing up, playing parts, uniforms, and reference to multiple selves 1. This notion of there existing different "us's" snagged on my attention.
I have been Googling and reading up on it. I was raised on pop songs. This means I have an attention span of three and half minutes. An intro no longer than ten seconds, with first hook a minute in please. Until this week I found nothing useful in psychology and philosophy as these chaps talk forever. Intro, Verse, Chorus (Greek or otherwise), Verse, Chorus, Bridge, Chorus, Chorus. Thank you very much.
Here's Weezer singing "Buddy Holly" in classic ABABCBB song structure form. If you've just watched this, then to be frank you can probably stop reading now. Nothing’s going to top that is it? I had wanted Marc Bolan, as what day isn't instantly improved by starting it with some T-Rex? Get it on indeed, but Marc is a 12 bar boogie traditionalist, so very much ABABAB. 2
There are two reasons I like Epicurus. One, his instruction manual is five pages long. He’s more folky than pop admittedly. Folk songs often have a long verse structure with a last line which changes to progress the narrative (this is termed AAA). Two, he's big on friends.
I dislike articles that start with a dictionary definition of the theme. Laaaaazy. So forgive me. Philosophy means “love of wisdom" in ancient Greek (chorus). Which seems to be missing the point somewhat. Who the fuck wants a love of wisdom? What we need is love and wisdom. And getting to the point. Unless you're a Daoist. Then it's more about a journey getting towards a point. Eventually.
It's no surprise to anyone there's a huge overlap between psychology and philosophy. Well, anyone but me. But then I'd never heard of Jacques Lacan until last month and the publication of Susan Ellen Finlay's "The Jacques Lacan Foundation". Which I bought immediately after Googling "Lacan", and I'm thoroughly loving. More on that later.
Although I agree with the idea of multiple selves, I struggled with how to make use of it. It's all well and good name dropping Baudrillard and Wittgenstein, but who are you going to trust to put a beam on your face, singing along to Thomas Aquinas or Noddy Holder? Exactly.*
This week I found a useful article on multiple selves. To set the scene, let's wheel out the trope of the doctor's white coat. We feel assured his diagnosis is correct because he's wearing it. We know it's a costume but the magic still prevails. My armchair thinking had progressed as far as reflecting that our mental state (sense of being, not emotional mood) is affected subconsciously by the environment. When I had to go to parents' evening at a school, even though I was probably conventionally more successful by society's standards — with staff under me, higher salary, etc — than the teacher, I immediately felt naughty, irresponsible, as if I had done something wrong.
During hospital visits or or overheated afternoons in retirement homes, there can be a sense of awkwardness within oneself. But if we are a single coherent entity surely our "consistency" would come to our rescue — keep us, us. Perhaps there is an us that is afraid of hospitals or retirement homes, one that is not often drawn out by these environments. So when they first emerge, we don't know them well. Which results in this sense of hesitancy. Getting to know the ropes is more about getting to know this us, rather than learning the external environment.
The article I read uses a list of personas in a particular situation, and demonstrates a practical application. It proposes a much cooler name too — the community of selves3. "The Jacques Lacan Foundation" has very little Lacan in it, but does have a lot of swearing, so it's obvious why I'm enjoying it, reading it isn't where my preoccupation started, although you can certainly make reference.
Let's play a game. List your top ten films. Feel free to leave it in the comments. Last week I found a list I had written with Anne during the festive holidays. Unlike the usual list it had a caveat — we both had to list ten films, which we would then watch over the break, viewing all twenty. My community of selves realised that this clause acts as an honesty anchor. It's unlikely we have an absolute favourite ten films, easily more a pool of twenty, thirty, which we draw from. Our environment — who we are with — dictates which we draw on. Each time we make the list we think we're being honest with ourselves.
We subconsciously elect a self, the fun-lover, the intellectual, the sensationalist, the conformist, to compile the list. By having to actually watch your choices in the immediate future, a consensus is needed. Something closer to the most consistent, central you. The at-home you.
Turns out no matter how much I name drop Last Year at Marienbad, really I like Indiana Jones, the third one with Sean Connery. I claim what an influence Lucile Hadžihalilović's Innocence was on my art, really I'm all about melty metal robot killers from the future.
The rabbit is out of the hat. I should have made you write your list before the "reveal". The game wont work on you, now you’re aware of the gambit. Perhaps next time you're holidaying with friends, or having a drinking evening in, try it. Ask for a list of their five favourite films. After, ask for a list of five films they want to watch now. I'm curious how much overlap there is.
Julian's favourite films if the list were being asked by subscribers of Consume and Enjoy. In no particular order.
Innocence by Lucile Hadžihalilović
The Great Beauty by Paolo Sorrentino
Elephant by Gus Van Sant
Dogtooth by Yorgos Lanthimos
Dogville by Lars von Trier,
Festen by Thomas Vinterberg
The Florida Project by Sean Baker
Silent Light by Carlos Reygadas
Funny Games by Michael Haneke
Don't shoot the Piano Player by François Truffaut
Julian's favourite films if you were at his, and he had to actually watch them again. In no particular order.
Romeo + Juliet by Baz Luhrmann
Casablanca by Michael Curtiz
Magnolia by Paul Thomas Anderson
Groundhog Day by Harold Ramis
Indiana Jones and The Last Crusade by Steven Spielberg
Inception by Christopher Nolan
Spring Breakers by Harmony Korine
The Thing by John Carpenter
Drive by Nicolas Winding Refn
Diva by Jean-Jacques Beineix
Both these lists are true. They are some of my favourite films. There is an argument to say it's merely different facets of one's personality, or weakness of character in wanting to be liked by the immediate audience, wanting to be popular. I'm holding out for David Lester's "multiple-self theory of the mind", where he argues for "facade selves" who surface depending on who we're with, and not the generally acknowledged psychological term of "false self". 4
I'm believing in the community of selves for practical reasons, because like Epicurus and Daoism, it can help us manage remaining relatively chilled in the face of anxiety, and perhaps explain some of our more bizarre behaviour patterns.
The article is on Meg-John Barker's website "Rewriting the rules". Which includes Miller Mair's example when he was invited to a panel interviewing for a senior clinical psychologist. Finding he experienced differing reactions reading candidates' applications, he made sense of this by separating the selves he found himself assuming:
Anxious; feeling uneasy at the task in hand
The Teenage Rebel; wanting to kick out the clear favourite
The Reformer; taking a long view about the role of clinical psychology
Mr Fair Minded; wanting to hear all sides of the arguments
Mr Let’s Get This Done With; saying that establishment candidates always win – be pragmatic and get the job over with.
This helped him to both inhabit and detach himself from each player in the community of selves. He installed Mr Fair Minded as chair of the group, insisting on balancing the other voices. So through reflection, he was able to take a superordinate position from which he could, as it were, own but not be driven by any particular position.
www.rewriting-the-rules.com/conflict-break-up/relationship-conflict-and-the-community-of-selves
Now after talking amongst myselves, I've decided to take the radical position of recommending a book I’m still currently reading and haven't finished yet.
"The Jacques Lacan Foundation" by Susan Finlay
Buy here | Moist Books | Susan Finlay’s site
It is not my remit to review, offer critical opinion, or posit a reductive star rating. So I'm not. Not even one of me. I shall, however, gush a little. It feels as if it were written for me. It is arch and knowing, but foul-mouthed and faking it. It runs through a sweep of contemporary cultural references yet delights in the shiny surface. It plays with form, is meta, and at times laugh out loud funny. It starts with the word "cunt".
My friend Zac has the serious hots for Kate Moss, and spying her photo on the jacket asked if he would like it. Probably not, I had to admit . So why am I recommending it? Because it is the perfect junction of those two top ten film lists. On one hand nothing really happens in it, on the other it inhabits the modern world perfectly. Moving in and between life's battle of guile, intellect, education, class, chutzpah, fear of discovery, intuition and fucking the air-conditioning repairman.
The contemporary world is a community of facades. Academia or hipster bars, they rely on the actors staying in character. Walk around the back and unpainted ply board on wooden frames is revealed. Lines are meaningless if everyone's not following the same script. Susan Ellen Finlay drives her literary pickup truck through this comedy of manners with a perfect ear and eye for the tropes we let stand in for reality.
I have brought more than one "conceptual" book to then find it unreadable, this time I had the advantage of reading an excerpt at 3am magazine, and instantly adoring it. Judge your yourselfs.
www.3ammagazine.com/3am/the-jacques-lacan-foundation-extract
Susan was kind enough to send her top films. In no particular order.
L’eclisse by Michelangelo Antonioni
Spring Breakers by Harmony Korine
Casino by Martin Scorsese
Lost Highway by David Lynch
Daughters of Darkness by Harry Kümel
Exhibition by Joanna Hogg
The Square by Ruben Östlund
Bad Lieutenant by Abel Ferrara
Scorpio Rising by Kenneth Anger
This is Spinal Tap by Rob Reiner
There's certainly enough film recommendations for this week, I'll finish the opening list once myselves have thought a little deeper.
* Thomas Aquinas says we can achieve an "imperfect happiness" here on Earth 5. He obviously never sang along at the top of his voice to "Goodbye to Jane"
Illustration by Timothy Hunt
“Fīn” ©2016 Timothy Hunt
A shoutout to Timothy Hunt, my favourite illustrator, who very kindly allowed use of his work to enliven this post. Please do him a solid by following him on Instagram and liking all his posts. Even better would be visiting his shop and purchasing a print, gold star goes to commissioning him to design or illustrate your next project.
www.instagram.com/timothyjphunt
www.timothyjphunt.co.uk/shop
Timothy says about this lovely illustration…
The nights are drawing in so I thought it would be the perfect time to share my Four Favourite Films to Fall Asleep to. It's not that I don't like these films but I find them all quite slow but also soothing, I have fallen asleep to all of them at some point.
I hope you get the chance to watch them all the way through or even enjoy a snooze halfway them.
My Four Favourite Films to Fall Asleep to
Lost in Translation by Sofia Coppola
I Am Love by Luca Guadagnino
Once Upon a Time in Anatolia by Nuri Bilge Ceylan
My Winnipeg by Guy Maddin
A small ask
I’m currently interviewing a few more authors , who have kindly relented agreed to humour my inquisitiveness. I feel rather sheepish in the number of subscribers, and would love their words and work to reach a wider audience.
If there’s anyone you know who you think would enjoy these posts, please forward this edition on to them, or a different one you think better suited to wooing. Better still, ring them up, harangue, shout, threaten and coerce them into subscribing. Nicely, of course.
References
https://www.pursuit-of-happiness.org/history-of-happiness/thomas-aquinas/
Legally I have to tell you I might get five pence or something from Bookshop dot org should you purchase something, but really I just want to stick it to Amazon and keep independent bookshops alive. Yeah, rebel me, bringing the man down from the inside etc etc.
Only a partial list cos I keep changing my mind. The non-negotiables are:
Les enfants du paradis
Kaos
Blues brothers
Don’t look away (melodrama and none the worse for that, and Max Richter score)
Portrait of a lady on fire
Philadelphia story
His Girl Friday.
Others come and go.
Obviously
1 Pulp Fiction
and then in no particular order:
Gilda (for Rita Hayworth)
Blade Runner (the original one) (for tears in the rain, probably)
Deliverance (watched it while on LSD)
Apocalypse Now (Apocalyptic nonsense)
Bambi (the first film i remember. As a very small child I was terrifed by the forest fire)
If. (I left boarding school harbouring those desires of revenge. In later life The Scottish Inquiry on Child Abuse did its job for me)
Summer Holiday (Childhood memories and that beautiful bus)
Dr Strangelove (as relevant today as it was then)
Jason Bourne films (I have no idea why i find them so enjoyable)
One of those spahetti westerns by Sergio Leone with Clint Eastwood and Lee van Cleef
Barbarella (for Jane Fonda in those outfits)
Casablanca (for its sexy absurdity)
House of Whipcord (an early insight into my BDSM fantasies)
OK that's probably more than 10 but who is counting?