Lynch's Shostakovich
anecdote · cinema-art-culture ·
retold in 3 talks
David Lynch played Shostakovich's 15th Symphony on set because he loved its lack of emotional identification, contrasting with the horror of silence in the Webern example.
≤2000talks it is told in, per year2026
As told 3
“lynch loved so much shostakovich's last 15th symphony, which is so weird without any emotional identification.”25:24 Slavoj Žižek Visits Riot Studio to Discuss Faith, AI, Christianity, Love, and What Can Save Uspub. 2025-11-05 · 1:10:25
“to be truly a soviet composer. it was demanded... to do it through a certain distance”48:57 Slavoj Žižek Masterclass: Jacques Lacan: A Lateral Introduction. Part 6pub. 2018-11-28 · 1:39:14
“Shostakovich hated Stalin, but this idea, this absolute figure of power, just must have some inner wisdom, some kind of insight into ultimate things. You see, they were already caught in that dream.”
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
void itself as a zero level emotion
×1
closet dissident theory
×1
servitude volontaire
×1
Its cast and sources
populated by
Dmitri Shostakovich3Mikhail Bulgakov1Vsevolod Meyerhold1Timothy Garton Ash1Alfred Rosenberg1Orlando Figes1William Harrison Hays1Ilse Lühnde1
alongside works
Every retelling 3
25:24 Slavoj Žižek Visits Riot Studio to Discuss Faith, AI, Christianity, Love, and What Can Save Uspub. 2025-11-05 · 1:10:25
David Lynch played Shostakovich's 15th Symphony on set because he loved its lack of emotional identification, contrasting with the horror of silence in the Webern example., illustrating void itself as a zero level emotion
48:57 Slavoj Žižek Masterclass: Jacques Lacan: A Lateral Introduction. Part 6pub. 2018-11-28 · 1:39:14
The debate over whether Shostakovich was a true Soviet composer or a closet dissident; Žižek argues he was a true Soviet composer because of his private dissident doubts., illustrating closet dissident theory
36:53 First as Tragedy, then as Farce – The Double Death of Neoliberalism and the Idea of Communism2009-11-25 · 59:47
Stalin called Shostakovich to ask about Mandelstam; Shostakovich, who hated Stalin, nonetheless asked if he could talk with Stalin about 'life, death and similar things', revealing that even those who despised the absolute power were invested in it libidinally, caught in the dream of its inner wisdom., illustrating servitude volontaire,obscene violence,libidinal investment in power