DIVINA HASSELMANN (The New School)
In the contemporary neoliberal era, transgressive practices, intending to push or cross established societal boundaries, have lost the socio-political dynamite of their time. Irrespective of the field in which transgression played out its radicality, it was not exempted from capitalist forces, which would inevitably find a potential to merchandise, monetize and thus integrate it into the existing economic rationale. Excess and expenditure no longer pose a threat, but are aligned with neoliberal principles. Yet, while capitalism disarms all radical actions, its most valuable entity remained uncared: Time. If time is the most valuable good for capitalism, could not the pure unproductive waste of time in the Bataillean sense be understood as a radical act?
Baudrillard offers intriguing theories based on Bataille’s concepts, in which death, time and the economy are intrinsically intertwined. The positioning of death in western societies as a negative force enables a logic that encourages the accumulation of time and thus legitimates and secures capitalist principles. We will argue that it is in film, where such an accumulation as well as expenditure of time can be observed. Taking up his discussion of Bataille’s theories of death and expenditure, we reassess Baudrillard’s interpretation and seek for a political potential in the formal structures of filmic time. In the era of intensified capitalist norms in form of acceleration of every aspect in society, it is film, which remains capable of crafting a temporal experience for its viewers. While it can thus assimilate the temporal structures of capitalism, such as intensification, acceleration and compression of time, it can equally resist these norms and expose its audience to a temporal experience running counter to economic principles.
In a time, in which every realm of the individual’s social and private life is turned into productive value, it is an old medium that can regain a political power due to its ability to craft and promote a non-capitalist treatment of time.