Post Cinematic Affect Final:Layout 1 7/21/2010 8:57 PM Page 31 Corporate Cannibal concepts. Beyond all those enthralling discourses about race and gender and power and body,” the only thing that remains “the today is capital itself, which devours everything “transgressive” without any regard for boundaries, distinctions, or degrees of legitimacy. Postmodern finance capital the very “transgresses” possibility of because it is always only “transgression,” transgressing itself in order to create still more of itself, devouring not only its own tail but its entire body, in order to achieve even greater levels of monstrosity. Of course, all this has grave consequences for the Afrofuturist project. Without transgression, how can there be transformation or transcendence? In his Considerations on Afrofuturism” “Further (2003), Kodwo Eshun points out how problematic posthuman futurism has become, at a time when the dominant order is itself entirely futuristic and science fictional: now operates “power predictively as much as retrospectively. Capital continues to function through the dissimulation of the imperial archive, as it has done throughout the last century. Today, however, power also functions through the envisioning, management, and delivery of reliable futures… The powerful employ futurists and draw power from the futures they endorse, thereby condemning the disempowered to live in the past” (289). In consequence, the very idea of future” seems to have been drained of all hope and all “the potential. This leaves us blank and numb, even as it “future” arrives in the present and radically changes our lives. In his 1983 film Videodrome, David Cronenberg imagined a flesh” of “new visceral video embodiment. This flesh” was a source of both “new wonder and terror, as well as a political battleground: battle “the for the mind of North America,” we were told, be fought in “will the video arena the videodrome.” But today, Cronenberg’s – extreme vision has become a banal actuality: this is the real message of Cannibal.” Grace Jones’ modulating “Corporate electronic flesh is the chronic condition of our hypermodernity, rather than a radical 31
Post Cinematic Affect Final:Layout 1 7/21/2010 8:57 PM Page 31 Corporate Cannibal concepts. Beyond all those enthralling discourses about race and gender and power and “the body,” the only thing that remains “transgressive” today is capital itself, which devours everything without any regard for boundaries, distinctions, or degrees of legitimacy. Postmodern finance capital “transgresses” the very possibility of “transgression,” because it is always only transgressing itself in order to create still more of itself, devouring not only its own tail but its entire body, in order to achieve even greater levels of monstrosity. Of course, all this has grave consequences for the Afrofuturist project. Without transgression, how can there be transformation or transcendence? In his “Further Considerations on Afrofuturism” (2003), Kodwo Eshun points out how problematic posthuman futurism has become, at a time when the dominant order is itself entirely futuristic and science fictional: “power now operates predictively as much as retrospectively. Capital continues to function through the dissimulation of the imperial archive, as it has done throughout the last century. Today, however, power also functions through the envisioning, management, and delivery of reliable futures… The powerful employ futurists and draw power from the futures they endorse, thereby condemning the disempowered to live in the past” (289). In consequence, the very idea of “the future” seems to have been drained of all hope and all potential. This “future” leaves us blank and numb, even as it arrives in the present and radically changes our lives. In his 1983 film Videodrome, David Cronenberg imagined a “new flesh” of visceral video embodiment. This “new flesh” was a source of both wonder and terror, as well as a political battleground: “the battle for the mind of North America,” we were told, “will be fought in the video arena – the videodrome.” But today, Cronenberg’s extreme vision has become a banal actuality: this is the real message of “Corporate Cannibal.” Grace Jones’ modulating electronic flesh is the chronic condition of our hypermodernity, rather than a radical 31
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