Post #288405

Maggie Mae Fish talks about how Barbie, in the eponymous movie, is a fetish object, both as commodity and as woman, "traditionally framed as the 'object' of film." "In Kubrick’s original film, the monolith is a fetish object. Not in the fun way. But in the original, NOT fun way: a fetish object is anything that we attribute inherent non-material value, or powers, to." Anything that we attribute inherent non-material value, or powers, to. This is the second estate, the Tiny, the so-called 1%. This is also the first estate, the kayfabe panto, i.e. electoralism. Both are monoliths. So too the fifth estate. "[T]he monolith itself is a blank space onto which we the audience project meaning. It is the screen in a darkened theater. It is that void that we stare into in the shower, filling it with our own desires, fears, preconceptions, and dreams. It is the ultimate fetish object, in the not fun way, in that it isn’t really anything besides a black box–so it becomes whatever we make of it."