If you haven't yet read Sr. Vanessa's sterling piece on porn star Sasha Grey, you must--you absolutely must. Seriously go read that piece first and then come back.
I was really intrigued by this section:
She is also no porno bimbo, nor an innocent young victim of the malevolent pornography industry; rather, Sasha is well-known for her sharp intelligence, her love of her job and her deep passion for art and existential philosophy. Deemed as a truly pioneering “postmodern pornstar”, Sasha continues to blur the lines between adult film and mainstream media.
Next to that 'graf is an image of the godfather of postmodern philosophy, Friedrich Nietzsche. I think Nietzsche is an excellent person to bring into a discussion of Grey. In some ways, I think Grey is the apotheosis of Nietzsche's philosophy. She's the uber-woman if you like. Br. Trevor may have some other thoughts on this as he is more the Nietzschean scholar than I am, but she to me embodies precisely Nietzsche's vision of the Bird of Prey who feasts upon the lambs of our world. That she does this feasting in an industry that is typically thought to consist of sexual victims is quite mind bending (which I think in part explains the fascination with her).
To me, Grey rather uniquely (and perhaps depending on point of view disturbingly) expresses the basic tenets of Nietzsche's text, Beyond Good and Evil--i.e. beyond conventional good and evil. While I'm not a Nietzschean, I nevertheless genuinely admire what I take to be her near total and "logical" application of his philosophy.
Vanessa then goes in her piece to make the link between this postmodern ethos and the culture of narcissism (that liberation has only become about the individual self). I think this is ultimately a flaw in Nietzsche's thought (and existentialism generally), but before burying them, we ought to give a moment's thought (I think) to their wisdom. Nietzsche's defense of the Sophists and poets over the philosophers (the descendants of Plato and later Christian theology), his invocation of the theme of eternal recurrence, and the his cold-eyed insight into the ways in which we modern humans have killed God and traditional morality are worth some consideration. My sense is that the talk of rampant narcissism in postmodernity is (at least partially) based on a correct insight that we live in a world without meaning. In that world, it seems pretty logical to me to ask, "Why not get mine?" The traditional world has failed us (see fundamentalism), modernity has brought wealth creation and lifted many out of poverty but has brought no sense of meaning (again see fundamentalism). Postmodernity at least has exposed all this failure. I find postmodernism far more realistic (if at times despairing, paralyzed, confused, or disconnected).
I think eventually we can reach a point of forming a new set of (post-postmodern) practices and truths that will call us to a deeper commitment than Grey's (here I agree with Vanessa). But I think the rot goes much deeper than the narcissism critique really takes us. I think that process of forming such new practices of truth will be much more challenging than any of us imagine.
After the failure of communism, The "End of History" since the 1990s, and the exposed corruption of capitalism and democratic governments in the last few years, what exactly is the point? In a world where real wages for the middle class in the US have been declining since the 1970s (i.e. my entire f@#!in' life!!!), why not become the bird of prey--or in this case, The Bird of Grey?
I think there are ways to respond to this question, ways that can take us into post-postmodernity, bringing back themes of (non-naive or weak) sincerity, boldness in proclamation (without blind arrogance), and commitment (while still recognizing multiple ways), but in order to do so, I think we need to take the postmodern ethos (and its legitimate responses to 20th and 21st century life) seriously. Very seriously.
