I have not watched any of the videos of the earthquake and tsunami in Japan, and have even avoided looking at most photos, except the ones that happen to accompany the occasional news article that I read. Most of the news I have gotten about what happened has come from public radio. I prefer to hear description rather than see footage, prefer to receive analysis rather than breathless commentary.
A friend of mine has called some of the videos taken of the events "disaster porn". It seems this term was circulating at least since the early 2000s, and probably well before.
Like "traditional porn", "disaster porn" makes events in which huge amounts of human life and effort is lost into a just another visual confection in our oversaturated visual environment, and not a particularly layered one, at that. It performs the many functions of porn: commodification, desensitization, rendering virtual rather than real, titillation, fascination. Rather than allowing for reflection and genuine emotion, disaster porn, with its breathlessness and repetitiveness, promotes hysteria and numbness.
I invite anybody who has the experience of watching pornography and having sex to reflect on the difference between the two. Then think - how has pornography affected your sex life? Now ask - how does disaster porn affect the way societies prepare for and react to natural and human disasters?
A response:
ReplyDeleteSo I was really inspired by your piece, and it was a catalyst for me to reflect on the many natural disasters that have recently occured in the region, from the Japanese tsunami, to the floods in Queensland and Northern NSW, to the earthquake in Christchurch, and also, just a few years ago, the other major tsunami that decimated much of Southeast Asia...
And so I'm trying to engage this idea of being in a position of relative (perhaps precarious) geographic privilege, and what sort of response would be appropriate from this position of privilege.
It is not appropriate, in my current manifestation of personality, to respond with histrionics and (what would be ultimately a false) sentimentality... I take Zizek's view of the need for philosophy, reflection... Indeed, while this is a luxury afforded to those with privilege, I believe that it is precisely a responsible use of privilege to create space for reflection.
So my colleague and I decided to throw a film fundraiser for the Red Cross, which will feature the Japanese film "Departures" which is a meditation on life, death, and mourning... We will begin the event with a short silent meditation, to be mindful of our shared humanity, followed by the film & a discussion...
Far from this being an exercise in egocentrism (though I am clearly invested in a positive outcome in terms of numbers, funds raised, and depth of discourse), I am wondering how you feel about this as a course of action?