Abstract

This paper looks at the phenomenon of "becoming celebrity" of the Slovenian psychoanalytical theorist Slavoj Žižek. It discusses the gap between representation and meaning in two recent films casting Žižek as himself: “Žižek!,” 2005, by Astra Taylor, and “The Pervert’s Guide to Cinema,” 2006, by Sophie Fiennes. Both semi-documentaries feature Žižek as the main protagonist. He “acts out” his addiction to analyse everything: films, jokes, communism, male/female relationships, “even homosexuals if you like.” Absolutely everything is submitted to his psychoanalytical magnifying glass that enlarges the hidden mechanisms of human desire in order to “make the things clear.” However, we want to argue that if Žižek is read with the “white, male, ex-Yugoslav and (ex-) Balkan Žižek” he becomes a symptom of his own arguments. The deconstruction of Žižek’s statements is a methodological detour to the testimonial narrative of “Žižek the man-author” as we knew him in our ex-Yugoslav (and Balkan) context. It is an attempt to read the discourse that holds the position of “imperial” authority endowed by the global centers of academic power in the humanities by applying the politics of location shared by both presenters and Slavoj Žižek. In his public and political actions will not only is his body stripped off clothes but also his ideas are stripped off any consistency while hijacking the feminist discourse. This paper addresses the question: Is not the over-exposed renowned philosopher turned into a mask/epitome of the Balkan male subjectivity conceptualized as a kind of stereotypical "real" manliness?