A Plato Postlude: Žižek on Music and Ideology

I was really interested by our class discussion on Thursday about the ideological power of music and poetry in regards to Plato, Pericles, and Pussy Riot. Plato's hope to instill patriotism through music and to censor all music that was 'unhelpful' or 'useless' to the state didn't quite sit right with me. And, while I'm not sure I buy into the idea that Pussy Riot is merely an inversion of the same ideological force, the idea that ideology in music could only be combated with more ideology in music was likewise unappealing. 

In his film, The Pervert's Guide to Ideology, Slavoj Žižek provides an alternative solution to fighting ideological fire with fire. In the somewhat-brief clip below he presents a reading of the "Ode to Joy" movement of Beethoven's 9th symphony.

Žižek's argument is that Beethoven provides an example of how a critique of ideology can be made in the medium of music itself. Žižek divides the last movement into two parts: the first part is the sort of blank-slate ideological symbol of universal 'brotherhood', while the second part uses a low-brow, 'carnivalesque' sound to depict those who are quietly left out of the brotherhood of the first section. It is the same idea behind saying "Black lives matter" instead of "All lives matter." Judith Butler explained it in her New York Times interview about a year ago, saying:

When some people rejoin with “All Lives Matter” they misunderstand the problem, but not because their message is untrue. It is true that all lives matter, but it is equally true that not all lives are understood to matter which is precisely why it is most important to name the lives that have not mattered, and are struggling to matter in the way they deserve.

 The first part of Ode to Joy presents an image of "all people in unity" (a sort of variation on an "all lives matter" statement) which is then questioned by the second part (effectively similar to "black lives matter"). 

Lastly, I'll leave you with some of the lyrics of the Ode, translated from Johann Christoph Friedrich von Schiller's original German poem so that you can see how the poem itself suggests the incompleteness of the supposedly universal brotherhood:

All men become brothers,

Under the sway of thy gentle wings.

Whoever has created

An abiding friendship,

Or has won

A true and loving wife,

All who can call at least one soul theirs,

Join our song of praise;

But those who cannot must creep tearfully

Away from our circle.