General della Rovere (Rossellini)

As told 4

“the small thief gets so intensely caught up in this role that at the end he fully assumes the identity of General della Rovere and he prefers to be shot as General della Rovere.”
~0:00 Organs Without Bodies2003-11-06 · 1:31:37

“he identifies with the role he plays the role to the end he is shot as General Della Rovere”
~1:40:15 Slavoj Žižek — On G.W.F. Hegel, Lecture 3 [Remaster]2009-08 · 2:42:02

“he identifies with the role he plays the role to the end he is shot as General della Rovere… the authenticity of the mask itself”
1:56:34 The Interaction with the Other in Hegel2009 · 2:07:30

What it carries

one story, many jobs: the ideas this anecdote is deployed to argue, one tally mark per use (an idea page shows the same relation from the other end, as its shelf of stories)

contents · one story, 3 jobsuses

truth is in the mask ×2 Platonic fury ×1 symbolic identity ×1

Its cast and sources

populated by

Roberto Rossellini4 George Balanchine3 Italo Calvino2 Vittorio De Sica2 Julian Jaynes2 Sergio Leone3 Anton Webern3 Marlon Brando2

alongside works

General della Rovere3 Once Upon a Time in America3 Theme of the Traitor and Hero2 Spider's Stratagem2 The Origin of Consciousness in the Breakdown of the Bicameral Mind2 Mulholland Drive3 Religion within the Limits of Reason Alone2 The Vagina Monologues1

Told together with

40% Balanchine ballet with Webern: music stops, dancing continues 2 shared talks 40% Once Upon a Time in America, phone ringing after pickup 2 shared talks 40% Avital Ronell / Badiou catches her on betraying the master 2 shared talks 33% Jim Carrey's The Mask, mask as true self 2 shared talks 29% Don Giovanni and the Stone Guest 2 shared talks 25% Zeuxis and Parrhasius 2 shared talks 13% Antigone rewritten, three alternate scenarios 2 shared talks

Every retelling 4

~0:00 Organs Without Bodies2003-11-06 · 1:31:37

A swindler impersonating a resistance hero becomes so absorbed in the role that he chooses death as the General rather than survival as himself, the copy becomes more 'true' than the original, paralleling Vertigo's anti-Platonic reversal., illustrating Platonic fury,copy as original,anti-Platonic reversal

~1:40:15 Slavoj Žižek — On G.W.F. Hegel, Lecture 3 [Remaster]2009-08 · 2:42:02

In Roberto Rossellini's film, a small-time crook is forced to impersonate a dead resistance general. He eventually fully identifies with the role and is shot as the general. This serves as a model for 'authenticity of the mask' rather than tearing it down., illustrating authenticity of the mask

1:56:34 The Interaction with the Other in Hegel2009 · 2:07:30

A crook physically resembling a dead resistance leader is sent by the Germans to spy in prison by impersonating the hero. He comes to fully identify with the role and is executed as General della Rovere. For Žižek this is the model of authentic identification with the mask., illustrating authenticity of the mask,identification,symbolic identity

51:37 The Capitalist Promise & The Paradoxes of Desire2021-06-19 · 1:00:57

A petty crook (Vittorio De Sica) is coerced by Germans into impersonating the dead General della Rovere in prison. He fully inhabits the role, refuses to betray prisoners' secrets, and ultimately accepts execution as della Rovere. Žižek uses this as an ethical paradigm: sincerely assuming a groundless authority, without cynicism, and being prepared to die for it., illustrating groundless authority,symbolic castration,ethical act beyond cynical distance