The Art of the Ridiculous Sublime

On David Lynch's Lost Highway

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by Slavoj Zizek

University of Washington Press

Due/Published June 2000, 56 pages, paper

ISBN 0295979259

The Art of the Ridiculous Sublime is first of all the detailedreading of David Lynch's The Lost Highway, based on the premisesof Lacanian psychoanalysis. Lynch's unique universe of the "ridiculoussublime" is interpreted as a simultaneous playful staging and traversing of the fundamental ideological fantasies that sustain our late capitalist society. Zizek invites the reader to reexamine with him easy assumptions, received opinion, and current critical trends, as well as pose tough questions about the ways in which we understand our world and culture. He also offers readings of Casablanca, Schindler's List, and Life Is Beautiful in the process of examining topics as diverse--and as closely linked--as ethics, politics, and cyberspace. 

Review

David Lynch’s Lost Highway offers a twist that challenges the viewer more than most contemporary films. In prison for murdering his wife, the protagonist of the film, transforms into an entirely different character (kind of) with a new personality, face, past, etc. Along the way, the film offers several horrific and puzzling images and situations. Zizek examines the film through a Lacanian analysis. In particular, he discusses how Lynch’s film evokes the Lacanian concept of the Real (“the hidden/traumatic underside of our existence or sense of reality”) and how this impinges upon reality and fantasy. Zizek also examines how the narrative of Lost Highway mirrors the circularity of the psychoanalytic process itself. The essay also touches on other recent films, including Schindler’s List and Life Is Beautiful, as well as contemporary politics.

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