Peter Rollins

Watching a movie is anything but a passive experience. What happens on the screen is not something we merely observe, but rather offers a mise-en-scène that hooks our desire. Movies show us something about the desire of the society from which they emerge, and something of the desire of the individual that enjoys them. Yet great movies can do more than simply express, incite and manipulate our desire. Some of the most critically acclaimed movies - such as Citizen Kane - confront us with the frailty, contingency and impotence of the objects that often fascinate us the most. This unnerving experience is something that Lacan referred to as an experience of the Gaze. In this seminar, I be look at what this means via reference to some concrete cinematic examples and then connecting it to the work of pyrotheology.