You take out…take out my stomach, my kidneys, assuming that were possible, and I say, ‘Me and my intestines.’
Follow me?
And now, if you cut off my head, what would I say…’Me and my head’ or ‘Me and my body’?
What right has my head to call itself Me?"
| — | Roman Polanski, The Tenant |
I was reading a few pieces on Leslie Scalapino's poetryand the self-other conflict of chronic pain, and it made me think of this scene. I actually haven't seen the movie, but a gal in the year ahead of me told me about this scene when I was talking about my research. Anyway, it is a difficult thing to figure out, this self-other divide, particularly in light of chronic pain. Am I my pain/is my pain me? Can I really separate the pain that inhabits my body from my body itself and from me as defined by and/or through my body?
Roman Polanski's quote particularly highlights the elevation of the brain over body. It is not so much the head that matters as the brain within it. I'll need to think on this more when I am awake.
I forget the name of the song, by Skinny Puppy, but the above was sampled from the movie and used there.
ReplyDeleteI was looking for the full quote from The Tenant of " ... I want you to pretend...." So much of the internet is based on just this.
Oh pain? It is a marriage. I recall a time before pain came, but now I can't think of life without it.
Best wishes to you
The track is called The Choke. I was just listening to the Re-Grip Version of it off Youtube and googled the quote. This page was the first result. :)
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