The Reconstruction of Biography under the Structure of Orpheus Mythology——The formula of the movie "Naked Lunch"

Ariel 2021-12-22 08:01:19

Naked Lunch

David Cronenberg's "Naked Lunch" = original film-William Burroughs "Nude Lunch" + Burroughs personal experience + Orpheus mythological structure + Burroughs literary view + "anal universe "+ Cronenberg's private goods.

1. The original movie-"Naked Lunch" by William Burroughs:

American writer and representative of the Beats William S. Burroughs (William S. Burroughs, 1914-1997) published a novel in 1959. The film just uses many elements from the original novel: such as Interzone, Dr. Benway, Black Meat, Brazilian Aquatic Centipede, aliens, etc., without copying the plot (the novel basically has no plot at all). Burroughs' novels are mostly autobiographical, and the protagonist is usually called Lee, so the protagonist in the movie is also called Lee, which alludes to Burroughs himself.

Young Burroughs

2. Burroughs’ personal experience:

Burroughs himself worked as an exterminator and wrote a book called "Exterminator! "(Exterminator!) novel. In 1951, Burroughs shot and killed his wife Joan Vollmer (Joan Vollmer) after being drunk in Mexico, then went to Morocco, settled in Tangier City (Tangier corresponds to Interzone in the film and novel), and wrote in Tangier Many episodes of "Naked Lunch" are included. Two other representatives of the Beat faction, Jack Kerouac (Jack Kerouac, 1922-1969) and Allen Ginsberg (1926-1997), and Burrough’s former One of her boyfriends Qi Qi (KiKi).

3. The structure of Orpheus mythology:

Ancient Greek mythology. The protagonist is the god Orpheus (Orpheus), the son of Apollo and the muse Calliopa, who is good at playing the golden harp.

Orpheus's beloved wife Euridice died after being bitten by a poisonous snake. The broken-hearted Orpheus went to Hades alone and asked him to let Euridice return the sun. Hades was moved by Orpheus and agreed to his request, but made one condition: While Orpheus was leading his wife out of the underworld, he must not look back at her, otherwise Eurydice would be forever. Can't return to the world. Orpheus resisted the desire to look back all the way, but when he saw the glimmer of the world, Eurydice could no longer resist her husband's cold reception and complained behind him. When Orpheus heard this, he forgot Hades's instructions, and turned around to embrace Eurydice. At this time, the long arms of death rose from the abyss and pulled Eurydice back to the underworld. Orpheus fell short and returned to the world alone.

"Orpheus and Eurydice", Edward John Poynter, 1862.

In this structure, Burroughs, as a writer, is equivalent to Orpheus (a good at writing, a good at playing, both creative artists); Interzone in the film corresponds to hell (Orpheus found here For Eurydice, the movie protagonist Lee found his dead wife here), and it also corresponds to the city of Tangier where Burroughs wrote "Nude Lunch". At the end of the movie, the plot where Lee once again killed his wife corresponds to the myth that Eurydice fell to hell again.

4. Burroughs's literary view:

Burroughs invented the cut-up method, because he believed that language is equal to a virus (Word Virus). Only by disrupting the word order by cutting and allowing the text to exert its potential can people be freed from the control of language. Come out and enter a "new universe" (somewhat similar to Gnosticism). The discussion on tailoring can also be found in Deleuze's book "Capitalism and Schizophrenia".

To pliage one text into another one—this constitutes a plural, even indeterminate root (such as a cutting), which means one for the text under consideration. A dimension supplementaire (dimension supplementaire). It is in this superimposed substitute dimension that unity continues its spiritual work. It is in this sense that the most fragmented works can also be regarded as "Complete Works" or "Grand Opus" (le Grand Opus). -"Introduction: Rhizome", Deleuze: "Capitalism and Schizophrenia", Jiang Yuhui's translation.

"Cutting Method", the picture is from "Burroughs: The Movie", 1983.

5. "Anus Universe":

The "anal universe" theory proposed by the psychoanalyst Janine Chasseguet-Smirgel in the book "Creativity and perversion" in 1985 has no Chinese translation. The theory states that the anal universe symbolized by fecal babies is sufficient as a means to overthrow the penis universe symbolizing patriarchy. If the production of speech is equated with the production of excrement, human beings have infinite creativity. Corresponds to the literary view of the Palestine language virus. So the bugs turned into by the typewriter in the film speak with their anus (words = feces).

6. Cronenberg's private goods:

Mechanical alienation into organic matter. Bugs, bugs, bugs. Tentacles, tentacles, tentacles. Flesh, flesh, flesh. Mucus, mucus, mucus.

Probably you can see the above, and there are some metaphors about sex. There is no need to mention too much. Since the thesis is doing research on Burroughs, let's talk about this movie by the way. In fact, the ending of the film is very sad. If Orpheus can hold back that look back, he might really be able to reunite with his wife Eurydice. Although the death of Joan Volmer made Burroughs a writer and achieved his fame and status, Burroughs did not get out of the shadow of his wife's death in his life.

Added again on January 27, 2021: I watched it again, with the 1986 documentary "Burroughs: The Movie", and I feel the sadness of the ending even more. Obviously Burroughs and Walmer love each other deeply, maybe he will never find a person who knows him better than Walmer in his life. And Volmo also trusts Burroughs so much that she can completely hand over her life to him, or she wants to use Burroughs to find some real relief to escape the mistakes and endless mistakes she has made in her life. A sense of guilt (as Ginsberg said). Because maybe Burroughs did not miss the shot when he was drunk in 1951, or when he said, "Let's play the game of William Tell", he was already prepared to miss the shot. Or he asked to play this game just to "shoot off the track". He already wanted to help Volmo get rid of it. The ending of the film shows: Burroughs does not regret it. Although this was a shadow he lingered all his life, or the shooting of his wife did ruin his life, if he could do it again, he would still pick up the 38-caliber revolver and hit it impartially. Middle the eyebrows of his wife, because this is what she wants. From this perspective, Joan Volmer got what he wanted. She could die under the gun of someone she loved and loved her. Such a death is much better than suicide.

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Extended Reading

Naked Lunch pictures

Naked Lunch quotes

Yves Cloquet: I've seen you around, but I had no idea you were queer.

Bill Lee: Queer?

Yves Cloquet: [leers] I saw you arrive with those three Interzone boys. What an entrance. You all looked very... familiar with each other.

Bill Lee: [gulps] Queer. A curse. Been in our family for generations. The Lees have always been perverts. I shall never forget the unspeakable horror that froze the lymph in my glands when the baneful word seared my reeling brain - I was a homosexual. I thought of the painted simpering female impersonators I'd seen in a Baltimore nightclub. Could it be possible I was one of those subhuman things? I walked the streets in a daze like a man with a light concussion. I would've destroyed myself. And a wise old queen - Bobo, we called her - taught me that I had a duty to live and bear my burden proudly for all to see. Poor Bobo came to a sticky end - he was riding in the Duke Devanche's Hispano Suissa when his falling hemorrhoids blew out of the car and wrapped around the rear wheel. He was completely gutted leaving an empty shell sitting there on the giraffe skin upholstry. Even the eyes and the brain went with a horrible "shlupping" sound. The Duke says he would carry that ghastly "shlup" with him to his mausoleum.
Bill Lee: Did I ever tell you about the man who taught his asshole to talk? His whole abdomen would move up and down you dig farting out the words. It was unlike anything I had ever heard. This asshole talk had sort of a gut frequency. It hit you right down there like you gotta go. You know when the old colon gives you the elbow and it feels sorta cold inside, and you know all you have to do is turn loose? Well this talking hit you right down there, a bubbly, thick stagnant sound, a sound you could smell. This man worked for a carnival you dig, and to start with it was like a novelty ventriliquist act. Real funny, too, at first. He had a number he called The Better Ole that was a scream, I tell you. I forget most of it but it was clever. Like, "Oh I say, are you still down there, old thing?" "Nah I had to go relieve myself." After a while the asshole started talking on its own. He would go in without anything prepared and his asshole would ad-lib and toss the gags back at him every time. Then it developed sort of teeth-like little raspy in-curving hooks and start eating. He thought this was cute at first and built an act around it, but the asshole would eat its way through his pants and start talking on the street, shouting out it wanted equal rights. It would get drunk, too, and have crying jags nobody loved it and it wanted to be kissed same as any other mouth. Finally it talked all the time day and night, you could hear him for blocks screaming at it to shut up, and beating it with his fist, and sticking candles up it, but nothing did any good and the asshole said to him, "It is you who will shut up in the end. Not me. Because we dont need you around here any more. I can talk and eat AND shit." After that he began waking up in the morning with a transparent jelly like a tadpoles tail all over his mouth. This jelly was what the scientists call un-D.T., Undifferentiated Tissue, which can grow into any kind of flesh on the human body. He would tear it off his mouth and the pieces would stick to his hands like burning gasoline jelly and grow there, grow anywhere on him a glob of it fell. So finally his mouth sealed over, and the whole head would have have amputated spontaneous - except for the EYES you dig. Thats one thing the asshole COULDN'T do was see. It needed the eyes. But nerve connections were blocked and infiltrated and atrophied so the brain couldnt give orders any more. It was trapped in the skull, sealed off. For a while you could see the silent, helpless suffering of the brain behind the eyes, then finally the brain must have died, because the eyes WENT OUT, and there was no more feeling in them than a crabs eyes on the end of a stalk.

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