Troubadour Poetry, Slavoj Žižek, and Buñuel’s “That Obscure Object of Desire”

Troubadour Poetry, Slavoj Žižek, and Buñuel’s “That Obscure Object of Desire”

                A reoccurring theme is present in all that we have read and watched this past week; we desire what we can’t have. Another theme that has been unraveled is this idea that with love there is violence. That in some way we seek love through interrupted violence. From what I get from the readings, movies and discussions; love is a dangerous thing that only mentally disturbed people seek. We as humans, all desire something; however, is it love that we all really desire?

“I bear more pain from love”-Troubadour poetry:

                If we carry negative weight from falling in love then I am starting to believe that we do not know how to define love. Love should be something that feels good and feels right. Of course, with love comes many obstacles because we live in an imperfect world, but with love you can overcome said obstacles and grow stronger. This sense of pain was found in “That Obscure Object of Desire” when the aged man tormented himself with his desire for Conchita. She herself said if she sleeps with him he will not love her any longer. Mathieu’s love for Conchita made him do stupid things because he was ultimately pained when they weren’t together. Mathieu was violent when he finally came to his senses about being teased by Conchita; does violence make you love someone more?

“That Obscure Object of Desire”

                There are two actresses that play the role of Conchita. I see these two actresses as good love and as bad love. The good love actress, for example, comes to see Mathieu at the end of the film to see if he showed how much he loved her by killing himself. However, when they go and have a private discussion the bad love comes out of Conchita and her role changes. She becomes an antagonist. She wants him to beat her in a sense because now she knows how much he cares. She begs for him and his love again, and she tries to return the key so that he can come over anytime he wants. The bad love is the love in which we desire; the love that seems nearly impossible to attain. Slavoj Žižek’s states in his essay, “Lady in courtly love loses concrete features and is addressed as an abstract Ideal” which is how I perceived these two characters; the good and the bad.  Mathieu could not develop concrete features of Conchita because what he desires is so skewed and unattainable. Conchita became an abstract ideal; one moment she blessed Mathieu with beauty and delicacy and the next minute she pained him with rejections and teasing.

                I think that the terrorism was a reoccurring theme in the film because it shows a sense of power and violence. The love Mathieu sought of Conchita was both powerful and violent; however, he did not have the power. Slavoj Žižek says that “We fear more than a Lady who might generously yield to this wish of ours,” and in this case, Conchita did not yield to Mathieu’s desires which led him to fear her absentee almost as much as he feared the terrorism in which he could do nothing about.