{"title":"The Power of Absolute Nothing: Psycho-Sexual Fascination and Sadomasochism in Secretary","authors":"K. Tembo","doi":"10.1353/pmc.2020.0010","DOIUrl":null,"url":null,"abstract":"ABSTRACT:In the psychoanalytic theories of Sigmund Freud and Lacan, the term fascination – which connotes being immobilized, charmed, enchanted, attracted, enraptured, seized, captured, and/or dazzled by the power of the gaze – also evokes dynamics of power. Fascination is associated with the hypnotic bondage of love that paralyzes critical faculties and leads to dependence, docile submission, and jejune credulity; it is also associated with sexual relationships. This paper theorizes the psycho-sexual consequences of the relationship between sadomasochism and fascination through Steven Shainberg's Secretary (2002).","PeriodicalId":55953,"journal":{"name":"POSTMODERN CULTURE","volume":null,"pages":null},"PeriodicalIF":0.2000,"publicationDate":"2020-08-12","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":"0","resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":null,"PeriodicalName":"POSTMODERN CULTURE","FirstCategoryId":"1085","ListUrlMain":"https://doi.org/10.1353/pmc.2020.0010","RegionNum":4,"RegionCategory":"社会学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":null,"EPubDate":"","PubModel":"","JCR":"0","JCRName":"HUMANITIES, MULTIDISCIPLINARY","Score":null,"Total":0}
引用次数: 0
Abstract
ABSTRACT:In the psychoanalytic theories of Sigmund Freud and Lacan, the term fascination – which connotes being immobilized, charmed, enchanted, attracted, enraptured, seized, captured, and/or dazzled by the power of the gaze – also evokes dynamics of power. Fascination is associated with the hypnotic bondage of love that paralyzes critical faculties and leads to dependence, docile submission, and jejune credulity; it is also associated with sexual relationships. This paper theorizes the psycho-sexual consequences of the relationship between sadomasochism and fascination through Steven Shainberg's Secretary (2002).
期刊介绍:
Founded in 1990 as a groundbreaking experiment in scholarly publishing on the Internet, Postmodern Culture has become a leading electronic journal of interdisciplinary thought on contemporary culture. PMC offers a forum for commentary, criticism, and theory on subjects ranging from identity politics to the economics of information.