Madness and Signification in A Mouthful of Birds

 by

Laura Nutten

Through madness, a work that seems to drown in the world, to reveal there its non-sense, and to transfigure itself with the features of pathology alone, actually engages within itself the world’s time, masters it, and leads it; by the madness which interrupts it, a work of art opens a void, a moment of silence, a question without answer, provokes a breach without reconciliation where the world is forced to question itself.

– Michel Foucault, Madness and Civilization

 

Madness and Signification in A Mouthful of Birds

A Mouthful of Birds, written by Caryl Churchill and David Lan, is, to quote Helene Keyssar, “an elaborate theatrical representation of violence” (140), particularly violence enacted by women. A “pathology” of our postmodern world, violence is routinely considered a sort of contemporary “madness.” However, as suggested by Foucault, such madness in art rarely functions as a simple mimesis of the world within which that art is created; rather, it serves notice to the world that it must “acknowledge responsibili­ty” for its history and ultimately its future (Keyssar 146). A Mouthful of Birds is no exception: Churchill and Lan use drama to construct a “dangerous history” of gender and gender roles (Keyssar 136), employing madness both to unsettle normative categories of identity and to explore the risks involved in playing within subversive space.

 

Madness, as Francios Boissier de Sauvages suggested in 1772, is ‘a blind surrender to our desires’ or ‘an incapacity to control or to moderate our pas­sions” (cited in Foucault 85). Madness, in short, is an altered state of consciousness, wherein the individual becomes more mindful of his/her carnality and less attentive to restrictive social mores. As such, Foucault argues, madness threatens the Cartesian notions of reason and rationality and is the embodiment of “absolute freedom” (84). Conversely, however, madness can also be the epitome of imprisonment, for the reality of madness, as James Glass points out, is often one of ‘immense suffering, alienation, and distortion’ (xv). Madness, then, is a paradox: on the one hand, it allows for a freer agency, often subverting normative cultural forces and discourse systems. On the other hand, when too ‘disruptive’ or ‘dangerous,’ madness can also mean the loss of agency, for normative cultural forces often fall back upon the mad, incarcerating it and alienating it from society.

Equally paradoxical in terms of agency is the notion of the postmodern subject. Postmodernism incessantly questions the existence of “an ahistorical transcendent self” or autonomous being (Allen 278), arguing instead for, in Derrida=s words, a subject which is an “effect of forces” outside itself (17). Some critics have adopted this postmodern position in an attempt to understand how identity is constructed by cultural practices. Monique Wittig, for example, argues that feminism should begin with the deconstruction of the “myth of woman” as submissive, sensitive, and nurturing, a myth constructed by the patriarchy and sustained by modern psychology. Moreover, for such a deconstruction to be an effective means of protest, one must make the opposition of man and woman and the construction of that myth “brutally apparent” (31), otherwise the conflict will go unnoticed and no transformation will be possible.

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Justine Bateman on the Pitfalls of AI in a Human World

I’ve known for years that the actor and filmmaker Justine Bateman had prescient thoughts about art and society. But now, we need her (and her complementary background in computer science) more than ever. Far-removed from her teen stardom on Family Ties, Justine and I talk about how artificial intelligence threatens the existence of movies, books, and even our creative souls. I knew there was something to opting for privacy, and it turns out that Justine specifically sees it as a way to protect art as we know it. Plus, we discuss how fickle fame can be and why she finds beauty and practicality in aging naturally.

The Rise of the Moors: ‘We Want Our Own Nation’ | Vice News

This video delves into the Rise of the Moors, which is a movement asserting ancestral land rights and demanding sovereignty on the grounds of Moorish heritage. Following Janetta Little’s house being taken over by a Moor who asserted ownership, we learn about the history, faith, and court cases of the group. Some groups advocate for separation and dissent from U.S. laws, but the Moorish Science Temple of America advocates for peace and lawfulness. This narrative enlightens us about their struggle for self-governance in the midst of controversy and swelling law enforcement worries.

Orien McNeill, Artist Who Made Mischief on the Water, Dies at 45

He was the pied piper of a loose community of DIY artists homesteading on New York City’s waterways, which he used as his canvas and stage.

Orien McNeill, Artist Who Made Mischief on the Water, Dies at 45
Orien McNeill in New York Harbor in 2020. An early pioneer of New York’s fetid waterways, he was among the first artists to homestead on the Gowanus Canal, which he did two decades ago in a 1953 Chris-Craft.Credit…Duke Riley

 

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Carl Jung’s Red Book Says You’re Not Depressed

Some people don’t go crazy. They go deep. Carl Jung was one of them—and The Red Book is proof. It wasn’t a breakdown. It was an initiation. He wasn’t depressed. He was awakening. And if you’re feeling lost, numb, or disconnected—you might be too. This isn’t just a theory. It’s the spiritual blueprint for breaking down and becoming whole again.

Some people don’t go crazy.
They go deep.
Carl Jung was one of them—and The Red Book is proof.

It wasn’t a breakdown.
It was an initiation.
He wasn’t depressed. He was awakening.
And if you’re feeling lost, numb, or disconnected—you might be too.

This isn’t just a theory.
It’s the spiritual blueprint for breaking down and becoming whole again.

Dignity

I read this when it came out in 2011, while we were still thinking about Occupy and 2008. Here we are in 2025, and it is still relevant. If you haven’t read it, do yourself a favor.

Dignity

A packet of hand-scrawled letters found in a stranger’s backpack tells of self-sufficient communities growing from the ruins of California’s housing collapse and the global recession. In unfinished Mojave Desert housing tracts and foreclosure ghost towns on the raw edges of the chaotic cities of the West, people have gathered to grow their own food, school their own children and learn how to live without the poisons of gossip, greed, television, mobile phones and the Internet. Encouraged by an enigmatic wanderer known only as “B,” the communities thrive as more families and workers are discarded by an indifferent system. But this quiet revolution and its simple rituals cannot stay unnoticed for long, because the teachings of “B” threaten an entire structure of power and wealth dependent upon people toiling their lives away to buy things they don’t need.

“But to understand the social mood as embodied by a group like Occupy, it may help to look at literature that captures its zeitgeist. One of the books that seems to have become a standard bearer for the Occupy movement is Ken Layne’s ‘Dignity.’ In a book that can only be described as a series of modern-day letters on the gospel of communal simplicity, you can see what kind of world some of the Occupiers might envision: communities occupying vacant suburban or exurban subdivisions, farming the land themselves, bartering with doctors and the like, and shunning modern technology.” — Minyanville.com

LINK: https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/11356422-dignity

2073

2073

2073 is a 2024 British science fiction docudrama film directed by Asif Kapadia. Set in a dystopian future, the film is inspired by Chris Marker’s 1962 featurette La Jetée, which follows a time traveller who risks his life to change the course of history and save the future of humanity.

Torrents: https://www.1377x.to/torrent/6305616/2073-2024-1080p-AMZN-WEB-DL-DDP5-1-H-264-FLUX/