Imagined Violence/Queer Violence: Representation, Rage, and Resistance

Author(s): Judith Halberstam

Source: Social Text, No. 37, A Special Section Edited by Anne McClintock Explores the Sex
Trade (Winter, 1993), pp. 187-201
Published by: Duke University Press
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Imagined Violence/Queer Violence

REPRESENTATION,
RAGE,

AND RESISTANCE
Fear is themostelegantweapon...
It willbe demonstratedthatnothingis safe,
Sacred or sane. There is no respite
From Horror.Absolutesare
Quicksilver.Resultsare spectacular.
--JennyHolzer
and there'sreligiousleaders and health-careofficialsthathad betterget
?.
biggerfuckingdogs and higherfuckingfencesand more complex security
alarmsfortheirhomes and queer-bashersbetterstartdoingtheirworkfrom
inside howitzertanksbecause the thinline betweenthe inside and the outside is beginningto erode and at the momentI'm a thirty-seven-foot-tall
man insidethissix-foot
one-thousand-one-hundred-and-seventy-two-pound
I
I
all
can
feel
is
all
can
and
the
feel
is the pressureand the
body
pressure
need forrelease.
-David Wojnarowicz
In "Do Not Doubt the Dangerousness of the 12-Inch Politician," David
Wojnarowicz asks "should people pick up guns to stop the casual murder
of other people?"' In Thelma and Louise, a woman responds to a rapist
who tells her to "suck my dick" by blowing him away and raises the question of what happens when rape victims retaliate. In "Poem about Police
Violence," June Jordan asks, "what you thinkwould happen if/everytime
they kill a black boy/thenwe kill a cop?"2 These questions are all rhetorical, hypothetical, and unanswerable. They are powerful rhetorical strategies, however, because they present possibilities and they trouble the fine
line that divides nonviolent resistance fromrage and rage fromexpression
and expression from violent political response. This essay does not advocate violence in any simple sense; but it does advocate an imagined violence, the violence that is native to what JuneJordan calls, in a filmof the
same name by Prathiba Parma, "a place of rage."
What is the exact location of "a place of rage"? I will argue that rage is
a political space opened up by the representationin art, in poetry,in narrative, in popular film, of unsanctioned violences committed by subordinate groups upon powerfulwhite men. The relationshipbetween imagined
violence and "real" violence is unclear, contested, negotiable, unstable,
and radically unpredictable; and yet, imagined and real violence is not
simply a binary formulation.Precisely because we cannot predict what action representationswill give rise to, it is impossible to describe the bound-

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Judith
Halberstam

arythatdividesimaginedviolencefromrealviolencein anydetail.Jordan's
place of rage is a strangeand wonderfulterrain,it is a locationbetween
and beyond thought,action, response,activism,protest,anger,terror,
murder,and detestation.
Jordan'splace ofrageis groundforresistance.
A recentcontroversy
overthe fragileline betweenthe imaginedand
the real was the uproaroverrap singerIce-T's song "Cop Killer."In an
electionyearand in the wake of the L.A. insurrection,
Ice-T's song created a consensusbetweenliberalsand conservativesabout the limitsof
and what constitutedtheirviolation.People who would
representation
otherwisebe defendingfreespeech demandedthatIce-T notperformthe
song live and thatthe tape/CD be pulled fromthe shelves.Ice-T, well
awareofthelinehe had crossed,had thisto sayto thequestion,"Whydo
you thinkpeople takeyoursong so literally?"
Lots of reasons.Politicsmostly.
to getelectedand all that.
Peopletrying
There'speopleout therewithnuclearbombsand yetwe'vegot all these
to makea politicalplatform
based on a record.Isn'tit
politicians
trying
ridiculous?3
Ice-T goes on to say thatthemedia has focusedon the song as partof a
problemgenre:rap. But,he pointsout,thesong is noteven a rap song,it
ofthiserroris glaring:anyrecordby
is a hardrocksong.The significance
a black man is rap and rap music is a genreof music thatmustbe conis supposed to essentializeand
tained. Genre,likeracial categorizations,
stabilizetheformand contentof Ice-T's culturalproduction.His protest,
however,thatthe song is a hardrocksong and thatit shouldbe heardas
a fictionratherthanas a directprovocation,emphasizesthewaysin which
The
censorsrefuseto grantthe song any moralor narrativecomplexity.
is
a
call
to
arms.
taken
song
literally-as
intoa stymieddis"Cop Killer" is a violentand ragefulintervention
cussion about police brutalitydirectedat minoritiesand especiallyat
African-Americanyoung men. While the debate surrounding"Cop
Killer" centeredupon whetheror not Ice-T was advocatingviolence
againstcops, Ice-T himselfunderstoodverywell the powerof representation.In responseto the question,"Do you advocatethe murderof law
officialsin yoursong 'Cop Killer'?" Ice-T responds:
enforcement
No way . . . what I'm tryingto tell people is that police brutalityin the

in
thisguy,thecop killer
'hoodis nothing
new.Andthethingis thatwhether
at
OK?4
real
there
are
that
is
or
believe
not,
it,
point,
people
mysong,

Later in the interviewIce-T suggeststhatcops should be scared by the

This is a
brutality.
song and he hopes thattheirfearwillpreventfurther
188

JudithHalberstam

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complicatedargumentabout theuses of fear,about the selectivedeploymentof terror,and about therelationof threatto change.
The Ice-T controversy
revealeda crisisin the politicsof representation: the censorshipactivitydirectedat "Cop Killer" made visible the
space ofthepermissible.It also markedracialviolenceas a one-waystreet
in America: whiteviolence is not only permittedbut legallycondoned
whilethe mererepresentation
of black-on-white
violenceis the occasion
forcensorshipand a paranoidretreatto a literalrelationbetweenrepresentationand reality.Whilea whitejurywas to blurthelinebetweenrepresentationand realityin the case of thevideo of police brutalizingRodofthisrelationin the
neyKing, a whitemediajuryestablishedthestability
case of Ice-T. Obviously,theinterpretation
of theliteralis an ideologically
valencedact,and in thisinstance,literality
is a traditional
politicalstreamliningof complexmaterial.
The eruptionofrebellionin thestreetsofL.A. and itsrepresentations
in hip hop cultureindicateveryclearlythatviolentlaw demandsviolent
resistance.Tactics of nonviolentresistancedeveloped in the sixtiesand
used nowadaysseem to have become dangerouslyhegemonicratherthan
indeed,outrageoftentakesa back
disruptive.In politicaldemonstrations,
seat to organized,formal,and decorous shows of disapproval.In San
Diego, forexample,shortlyaftertheL.A. uprisingof spring1992 in the
wake of the RodneyKing decision,people filledthe streetsto sing,give
speeches,and marchupon the police station.What mighthave been an
directedat theracist,violent
outpouringof rageand angerand frustration
tacticsof the local police was transformed
ratherquicklyinto a passive
and indifferent
meeting.
The groupof "protesters"actuallyfolloweda routelaid out forthem
a
by police escortand arrivedfinallyat a desertedpolice building.After
some chantingand shouting,the crowdquietlydispersed.Local newspapers indeed were able to reportthatin the case of San Diego, the city
remainedrelatively
calm in theaftermath
oftheKing verdict.5
The failure
of nonviolentresistanceto registeranythingbut the most polite disapproval,I suggest,is the effectof a glaringlack of imaginationon thepart
of political organizers,and an overemphasison "organization"itself,
whichoftenproducesdeterminedefforts
to eradicateexpressionsof rage
or angerfrompoliticalprotest.Such expressions,afterall, mightlead to
somethingspontaneous,somethingthatspillsacross the carefullydrawn
police lines,somethingthreatening.
When and whyand how did rage disappearfromthe vocabularyof
organizedpoliticalactivism?In whatfollows,I willnotattempta historical
or ethnographicanswerto thisquestion;rather,using literaryand cinematic examples of imaginedviolenceand articulatedrage, I elaboratea
as a powerfulstrategy
ofrevolt
theoryof theproductionof counterrealities
Imagined Violence/QueerViolence

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189

Protestin the
age ofAIDSis
not separate from
representation;
and "die-ins,
"kiss-ins,"
posters,
slogans, graphics,
and queer propaganda create a
new formof
politicalresponse
that is sensitiveto
and exploitiveof
the blurred
boundaries
between
representations
and realities.

emanatingfroman increasingly
queer postmodernpoliticalculture.I use
the word "queer" here to denote a postmodern,postidentitypolitics
focusedon but notlimitedto sexual minorities.6
has been accused of notbeingpoliticalenoughbut in
Postmodernism
factit is politicalactivismthatoftenfailsto be postmodernin Americain
the 1990s. Powerand conflictno longeronlyspringfromthe domain of
politics,and resistancehas become as much an effectof popularculture,
of videos, films,and novels,as of directaction groups. Postmodernism
invitesnew and different
conceptionsof violentresistanceand itsrepresentations.As Michael Taussig writes,we live in a "nervoussystem,"a
systemcharacterizedas "illusionsof ordercongealedby fear."7The fear,
the order,the nerves are all produced preciselyas illusions,fantasies
whichgovernand disciplinethe self.However,it is also in the realmof
thatwe makethesystemnervous,and thatwe
fantasyand representation
can controland use our illusions.Imagination,in otherwords,goes both
(or many)ways.
So, whatifwe imaginea new violencewitha different
object;a postmodernterrorrepresentedby another"monster"withquite other"vica possible realitythat
tims" in mind? "What if" denotes a potentiality,
but one whichcreates
may onlyeverexistin the realmof representation
an "imaginedviolence" withreal consequences and which corresponds
onlyroughlyto real violenceand itsimaginedconsequences.
Recently,queer activismhas revivedan emphasison loud and threatand groupslikeQueer Nation and ACTUP
eningpoliticaldemonstration,
regularlycreatehavoc withtheirparticularbrand of postmodernterror
marshallrenegade
tactics.ACT UP demonstrations,
furthermore,
regularly
art formsto produce protestas an aestheticobject. As Douglas Crimp
writes in AIDS DEMO-GRAPHICS:

and political
AIDS activist
artis groundedin theaccumulated
knowledge
by theentiremovement.
analysisof theAIDS crisisproducedcollectively
butactively
to its
thatknowledge
contribute
The graphicsnotonlyreflect
as well.8
articulation

Protestin the age of AIDS,in otherwords,is not separatefromrepresentation;and "die-ins,""kiss-ins,"posters,slogans,graphics,and queerpropaganda createa new formof politicalresponsethatis sensitiveto and
and realities.
exploitiveof theblurredboundariesbetweenrepresentations
in popular film
Meanwhile in the arena of popular representation,
and realitycontinueto be
and video, the lines betweenrepresentation
starklydrawn.Liberals continueto complain about the violentsubject
matterthatespeciallykids are exposed to on TV and in cinema. But, I
suggest,representedviolencetakesmanyformsand some stillhave the
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JudithHalberstam

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power to produce change. ConventionalTV and movie violence, of

course, consistsof violenceperpetratedby powerfulwhitemen usually
againstwomen or people of color. Such violenceis a standardfeatureof
theactiongenre,oftherockvideo,of almosteverypopularformof entertainment,and to a degreeit is so expectedthataudiences may even be
immuneto it.
On theotherhand,violenceagainstwhitemen perpetrated
by women
so
or people of colordisruptsthelogic of represented
violence thoroughly
that(at leastfora while)theemergenceof such unsanctionedviolencehas
an unpredictablepower.In recentyears,popular textsthatprominently
featureviolenceagainstwhitemen have been thoroughly
analyzedby the
popularmedia. So, forexample,RidleyScott's Thelmaand Louisecreated
an unprecedentedwave of discussionsaround the issue of violenceand
women.9Suddenly,violence,and particularly
femalerevengefantasyviolence, was tagged as "immoral,""extravagant,""excessive," or simply
"toxicfeminism."'0
Debates ragedaboutwhether
we reallywantto condone
a kindofrolereversalthatnow pitsfemaleaggressorsagainstmale victims.
But role reversalnever simplyreplicatesthe termsof an equation.
The depictionof women committingacts of violenceagainstmen does
not simplyuse "male" tacticsofaggressionforotherends; in fact,female
violencetransforms
the symbolicfunctionofthefemininewithinpopular
and it simultaneously
narratives
challengesthehegemonicinsistenceupon
thelinkingof mightand rightunderthesignof masculinity.
Womenwith
in
guns confronting
rapistshas thepotentialto intervene popularimaginings of violenceand genderby resistingthe moralimperativeto not fight
violencewithviolence.Filmslike Thelmaand Louisesuggest,therefore,
not
thatwe all pickup guns,butthatwe allow ourselvesto imaginethepossiviolencewithviolence.
bilitiesof fighting
as victimsratherthanperpeWomen,in otherwords,long identified
tratorsof violence,have much to gain fromnew and different
configurationsofviolence,terror,and fantasy.
Withinthe"nervoussystem"women
are taughtto fear certainspaces and certainindividualsbecause they
threatenrape: how do we produce a fear of retaliationin the rapist?
Thelmaand Louiseis an example of imaginedviolencethatproduces or
may produce an unrealistic(givenhow fewwomen carryand use guns)
fearin potentialrapiststhattheirvictimsare armed and dangerous.Of
course,thereis no directand simplerelationshipbetweenimaginedviolence and real effects:just as it is impossibleto judge the waysin which
interactswithmale sexual violence,it would
pornographicrepresentation
betweentheimaginedand therealto claim
onlyrestabilizetherelationship
thatrepresenting
femaleviolencequells male attacks.
The "place ofrage" whereexpressionthreatens
to becomeactionis of
coursethattightly
patrolledand highlyambiguousspace thatwe call "fanImagined Violence/QueerViolence

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191

tasy."The powerof fantasyin the realmof eroticdesirehas been theorized variouslyby feminist,psychoanalytic,
and postmoderncritics.In
feministtheory,for example,fantasyconstitutesa problematicsite for
various contests over representationand politics-the pornography
debates have posed the question of whetherrape and violence against
women are in part produced by the objectifyingdynamicsof pornobetweendesireand
graphicfantasy.Such questionsabout therelationship
to
be
unanswerable
thisrelationshipis
have
since
representation
proven
constantlybeing refigured.In an essay titled"The Force of Fantasy,"
between
however,JudithButlerproposesthatwe rethinktherelationship
the "real" and fantasyby refusingto grantthe "real" an a prioristability.
She suggeststhatthe "real" is "a variableconstructionwhichis always
outside: fantasy,the
and only determinedin relationto its constitutive
theunreal.""
unthinkable,
What happens when we make imagined violence-as opposed to
erotic fantasy-the object of criticalscrutiny?What is at stake in this
questionis thewaythatsexual fantasiesmightor mightnotintersectwith
theconstructednatureof thereal.
violentfantasiesto forceintovisibility
If imaginingviolentwomendoes nothingelse forexample,it mightshift
for articulatingthe relationshipbetweenfantasyand
the responsibility
realityfromwomento men. In otherwords,powerlies in the luxuryof
not needingto knowin advance whatthe relationshipis betweenrepresentationsof violence or sexualityand acted violenceor sexuality.The
in thearena of sexualityhas fortoo
burdenof stabilizingthisrelationship
long fallento women and to feminismand has, of course, produced
feministsand the reliunproductivealliances betweenantipornography
gious Right.Texts like Thelmaand Louise create anxietyabout fantasy
and realityin a verydifferent
groupof spectators.
"Imagined violence" is obviouslyan adaptationof BenedictAnderson's well-known
conceptionof thenationas "an imaginedpoliticalcommunity."'12Andersonexplainsthat"communitiesare to be distinguished,
but by the stylein whichtheyare imagnot by theirfalsity/genuineness,
is one of themostpowerined." Whilenationalism,likenationalidentity,
thereare manyotheridentitiesthat
ful effectsof imaginingcommunity,
are mobilizedbythepowerof fantasy.Furthermore,
imaginedcommuniof
tiesallow forpowerfulinterventions:
theyallow forthetransformation
fear
into
violence.
imagined
imagined
is theQueer Nation/Pink
PanOne exampleof such a transformation
thersslogan"Bash Back." In responseto homophobicviolence,thisgroup
mobilized around the menace of retaliation.In an essay on "Queer
Lauren Berlantand ElizabethFreemanexplaintheaffectivNationality,"
ityof thisstrategy:

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"BashBack"simply
intends
to mobilizethethreat
gaybashersuse so effecIfimagining
in
not
in
numbers
ofa fewbodieswhorepbut
the
tively-strength
presence
forwidespread
resentthepotential
thebashersthemselves.
violentwomen
violence-against
In thisway,thesloganturnsthebodiesofthePinkPanthers
intoa psychic
counter
shieldbeyondtheconfines
theirprotective
oftheir does nothingelse
threat,
expanding
physical
"beat."'3

itmightshift
the

The powerof the slogan,in otherwords,is its abilityto representa violence thatneed not everbe actualized.There is no "real" violencenecessaryhere,onlythe threatof real violence.The violenceof Queer Nation
in thisexampleis themomentwhenwhatFoucault calls the"reversediscourse" becomes somethingelse, somethingmore than simply"homosexualitybeginningto talk on its own behalf."'4The reversediscourse
gatherssteam,acquiresdensityuntilit is in excess of the categoryit purportsto articulate.The excess is the disruptionof identityand the violence of powerand the powerof representation;
it is dis-integrational;
the
excess is QUEER.

thepowerof whatAudreLorde calls

Imaginedviolencedisintegrates
"the mythicnorm"'5and whatDavid Wojnarowiczdescribesas the "ONE
TRIBE NATION." It challenges,in otherwords,hegemonicdefinition
and
of hegemonyitself.In Close totheKnives:A Memoirof
even thedefinition
Wojnarowiczwritesabout being queer in the age of AIDS:
Disintegration,
"We'resupposedto quietlyand politelymakehouse in thiskillingmachine
called americaand pay taxes to supportour own slow murderand I am
amazed thatwe're not runningamok in the streets"(108). Wojnarowicz
writesof murderousdesiresand desiresformurder;he calls forbloody
and violentchangeand he does so in whathe calls "the languageof disFor Wojnarowicz,languageitselfbecomes a weapon,a tool,
integration."
and a technologyand the act of imaginationbecomes a violentact. In
Wojnarowicz'sessays,he imaginesa violence generatedby HIV+ bodies
and transforms
theAIDS-stricken
body intoa symbolof postmodernpolitics.The PersonWithAIDS, thejunkie,thehomelessperson,thequeerin
Americahave thepower,as Wojnarowiczsays,"to wakeyou up and welcome you to your bad dream" (82), or the power to completelyand
utterlyalterthe contoursof the real and to reshape theminto realized
nightmares.
countersthe slow decline
Wojnarowicz's"memoirof disintegration"
of the body with speed, physicaland mentalspeed. Life speeds up as
timewindsdown and thecar travelingacross an open landscapebecomes
a symbolforWojnarowiczof desire withoutan object and of a kind of
or auto-mobility.
The automopleasurein self-propulsion
masturbatory
bile here signifiespreciselythe movementof the self,the multiplicity
of

ImaginedViolence/Queer
Violence

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for
responsibility
the
articulating
relationship
betweenfantasy
and reality
from
womento men.

193

theselfas it disintegrates
withintherealmofthebodilyand proliferates
in
the realmof fantasy.Fantasy,the safestsex of all, avoids physicalcontaminationbut it contaminatesnonetheless.It contaminatesby making
in otherwords,is transmitted
via images
information
viral;information,
whichenterlanguageand mutate.
"Americanscan't deal withdeathunlesstheyown it" (35), saysWojnarowiczin referenceto a museum of the atomicbomb. Death, in this
memoir,is stasis,the banalityof arrivingat one's destination;it is a full
stop, an end to language and speed. Wojnarowicz'sheroes with AIDS
to staveoffdeathwithtechnology,
attempttherefore
writing,or photography.In one scene,theherofilmshis friend'sdead body-here thevideo
camera,liketheKing tape,liketheIce-T song,recordsa dangeroustechnovisionof realityin the making.The "real" now is preciselya reel of
tape, a memorythatcan be cut, edited,replayed,rewound,paused, or
"There is no enlargedor glittering
new viewofthenature
fast-forwarded.
"No
of thingsor existence,"writesWojnarowicz.
god or angelsbrushing
myeyelidswiththeirwings.Hell is a place on earth.Heaven is a place in
yourhead" (28-29).
his effort
to rewindor fastWojnarowicz'slanguageof disintegration,
forwardthe real, destroysthe America he calls the ONE TRIBE NATION and
it intothe manytribes.Of course,the politicaltacticsof ACT
transforms

of discreteidentitiesinto the many

UP have involvedthe disintegration
identitiesunitedin coalitionagainstthe"viruswhichhas no morals."The
ONE TRIBE NATION, Wojnarowicz shows us, is a particularly powerful

but it is one thatcannotwithstandthe impactof a

imaginedcommunity,
diseasewhich,in thegeographyofitstransmissions,
maps out thelimitsof
themurderouseffectsofinadequatehealthcare systems,theideidentity,
and the breakdownof even
of medical institutions,
ological investments
can be capitalizedon through
theunityof theRight.This transformation
imagininga violencethatshattersthe complacencythatpreventspeople
fromimmediateand spontaneousrevolution."I'm amazed," writesWojnarowicz,"thatwe are notrunningamokin thestreets."Here Wojnarowicz echoes JuneJordan'spoem titled"Poem about My Rights":"We are
the wrongpeople/ofthe wrongskinon the wrongcontinentand what/in
thehellis everybodybeingso reasonableabout."'6
at whathe sees as a passive
Wojnarowicz'sanswerto his frustration
nonresponse to the totalitarianismof the ONE TRIBE NATION is to imagine:
leftfortheradicalgesI'm beginningto believethatone of thelast frontiers
ture is the imagination.At least in my ungovernedimaginationI can fuck
somebodywithouta rubber,or I can, in theprivacyof myown skull,douse
Helms witha bucketof gasolineand set his putridass on fire.... (120)

194

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Hell is a place on earth and heaven is a place in your head and I too
believe that "one of the last frontiersleftforthe radical gestureis the
imagination."I believethatit is by imaginingviolencethatwe can harness
the forceof fantasyand transform
it intoproductivefear.Wojnarowicz's
memoirparticipatesin AIDS activismbecause it confronts
theJesseHelms
ofAmericawiththepossibilityof violentretaliation;
itthreatensprecisely
in itspotentiality.
It is withthe potentialforviolentresponsefromthe so-called other
thatJuneJordanends her poem: "I am not wrong: wrong is not my
name/Myname is my own myown my own/andI can't tellyou who the
hell set thingsup like this/but
i can tellyou thatfromnow on my resistance/mysimpleand daily and nightlyself-determination/may
verywell
cost you yourlife."This is the returnof thegaze in cinematicterms,the
threatofthereturnoftherepressed,an alwaysbloodyand violentre-entry
intothe realmof signification.
This is the articulationthatsmashesbinarismby refusingtheroleof peacefulactivismand demandsto be heardas
the voice thatwill violate-the damage, again, lies in the threatrather
than in any specificaction. My resistancemay cost you your life; my
answermaysilenceyourquestion;myentryintorepresentation
mayerase
I
control
how
am
over
your
represented.
takes place withinrage, not the rage
Jordan's"self-determination"
thatexplodes mindlesslyand carelessly,but a quiet rage, tightlyreined,
everso preciseand intentupon retribution.
"Rights"in thepoem signify
not simplylegal rightsbut therightto exist,therightto walkat night,the
rightto write,the rightnot to be raped,therightto reply,the rightto be
angry,therightto respondwithviolence,therightto lawfullyinhabitand
populatea place of rage:
Eventonight
andI needto takea walkandclear
myheadaboutthispoemaboutwhyI can't
go outwithout
myclothesmyshoes
changing
mybodyposturemygenderidentity
myage
mystatusas a womanaloneintheevening...
"Poem about My Rights"turnslegal rightsintoa fictionof power:rights
do not change wrongsand Jordanis "the wrongsex the wrongage the
tunedanger,threatens
to transwrongskin,"butthepoem,herexquisitely
formwrongsintoviolentand powerfulresistance.
BothWojnarowicz'sand Jordan'spoeticthreatsconstitute
postmodern
revolt-revoltin the arena of representation.
This is thepostmoderntactic of ACT UP-the burningof effigies,the carnivalprotestsof art and
imagesthatdrivethe scientistsand religiouscreepsintopanic mode. ACT
UP chooses symbolicweaponsthatreconstitute
the shape and contoursof
ImaginedViolence/Oueer
Violence

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195

the real. The rage of David Wojnarowiczand JuneJordanallows each

artistto expressfantasiesof violencein waysthatmake queer and black
Perhapsmorethananyotherrecentwriters,
rage palpable and terrifying.
Wojnarowiczand Jordanuse poetic expressionas a scare tactic,as the
enunciationof a threat.This is the poetics of rage,expressionthatsugin some formis just aroundthe corner.Of course,
geststhatretribution
thissounds likecatharsis,a purgingof emotionaffordedby dramaor literaryexpression.Jordanand Wojnarowicz,however,give no such assurance thattheirexpressionsare safelychanneledby findingexpressionin
art. Like the activistart of ACT UP demonstrations,
Jordan'sand Wojnarowicz'swritingsare more like wake-upcalls and activeprotestthan
catharticoutlets.
As the distinctionsbetweenthe real and fantasycollapse upon each
seems alreadysaturatedwithrealism,as realityis
other,as representation
I have suggested,is to proacts
of
theeffect,
reconstituted
by
imagination,
We simplydo notknowhow to read imagduce a crisisof spectatorship.
of the perniciouseffectsof
ined violences:all too oftenrepresentations
homophobia,racism,and sexismare collapsedby theviewerintohomophobia, sexism,and racismthemselves.So, forexample,a filmabout a
as a racistfilmthatproduces
racistwhitecharactermightbe interpreted
racialhatred.Or a filmabout a sexistand homophobicpolice department
as a homophothatis challengedby outlawlesbiansmightbe interpreted
bic filmabout murderousdykes.It is not hardin mylast exampleto find
filmBasic Instinct
and itis thisfilmthatI want
theplotofthecontroversial
finallyto concentrateon because Basic Instinctactuallyforegroundsthe
relationshipbetweenrealityand representation,
imaginedviolence and
themaintenanceof law and orderas majorthemes.
torethroughqueer communities.
Disagreementsabout Basic Instinct
While thefilmseemedto some people to move femaleheroismand cinematiclesbianismto a new and excitingplace, othersviewedBasic Instinct
as a dangerousvision of lesbianismas a networkof lesbian murderers.
The filmtherefore
drew outragedresponsesfromsome membersof the
who read it as homophobicand as partof a generalsmear
gaycommunity
campaignthatHollywoodhas longmaintainedagainstqueers."17
Basic Instinctis indeed a filmwhich weaves a tale of desire and
arounda web oflesbiankillers,butitis notat all clearthatthis
destruction
makesit a homophobicfilm.It became clearratherquicklyin the debates
around Basic Instinctthatnot everyonehad the same stakesin attacking
the film.The protestswere led by gay men, forexample,and manylesbians involvedin the protestschangedtheirmindsafteractuallyviewing
assumedor theorized
ofBasic Instinct
thefilm.Many of thegayprotesters
woventhroughanyand all depictionsof
thathomophobiawas intricately

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gaysand lesbiansas killers.The psychopathicqueer,theyclaimed,was a

homophobicstandbyin Hollywoodcinema and theytriedto repressthe
filmby "givingaway" the endingof the filmand distributing
"Catherine
Did It" buttons.
The buttons,however,merelyunderlinedthemiserablefailureof this
traditionaland civildisobedience.Viewersof thefilmwillknow
distinctly
thatthereis no endingto give away-the film'sconclusionis preciselya
question, a question about homophobia,heterosexism,and a question
about thepossibilitythatfemaleviolencewilldisruptonce and forall the
The ending,moreover,is
compulsoryheterosexualresolutionofnarrative.
mirroredby the film'sbeginningscene, literally.The filmopens witha
shot of a couple havingsex on a bed as seen in the mirroroverthe bed.
The cameraslowlymovesdownto fixupon the actualinsteadof themirroredscene and as we enterthefilmic"real" thesex playturnsto murder
and the male partnerclimaxesas his loverice-pickshim. This intricate
scene introducesthe viewerto both the vexed relationshipbetweenfantasy,image, and realityand to the narrativetrajectoryof the film:what
beginsin bed willend in bed and whatbeginsin compulsoryheterosexualityends in murder.
The beginningof the filmgivesawaythe ending,but in case thereis
anydoubt,Catherineherselfdestroysall narrative
suspense.Catherine,we
herlifeand itsviolences.Her
findout,writesnovelsthatmirrorperfectly
firstbook, TheFirstTime,tellsof a youngboywho murdershis parentsby
rigginga boatingaccident. Catherine'sparentswere killedin a boating
accident.Her second book, Love Hurts,tellsof an agingrock'n' rollstar
who is ice-pickedto deathby his mistress.The book thatshe is working
on when she meetsMichael Douglas's character,Nick, is called Shooter
(Nick's nickname,althoughthereis obviouslya pun here so maybethe
filmasksus to read "Shooter" as the "real" name and "Nick" as thenickname) and tellsof a cop who fallsforthe wrongwoman. "How does it
end?" asks Douglas nervously."She kills him," answers Catherine.
Catherine,indeed, did it, but to give away thatfactabout the filmis to
give away nothingbecause narrativeresolutionis not the focus of the
film.Like anygood detectivemystery,
thisfilmis interestedin interpretation and the twistsand turnsof the relationship
betweencrimeand punishment,criminaland detective,violenceand order.The evidence,in this
film,is alwaystextualevidence-Catherine's writing-and the work of
detectionis alwaysthe sortingof factfromfictionand theinevitableblurringof the two.
The gay protesterswiththeir"CatherineDid It" buttonsobviously
failedto incorporatethekindof postmodernreadingsof culturethathave
invigoratedmanyqueer protests.As C. Carr wrotein the VillageVoice:

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197

thecriticswereamazingly
denseaboutthefilm.Theysaw
Gay or straight,
daterapewheretherewasmutual,exciting,
roughsex.Theysaw"senseless
ofa lover,
thrill
bylesbiansexwhen,in fact,themurder
killings"
triggered
orfather
is alwaysoverdetermined.1s
husband,brother,
Indeed,murderwas no accidentalor gratuitoussubplotin thisfilm;murder was centralnot onlyto the actionbut also to the characteridentifications.Everymaincharacterin thefilmis a murdererand murdercomesto
definerelationsbetweenthe charactersand theirjobs, theirfamilies,their
lovers.The murderershoweverare differentiated
by gender:the men in
or in the line of duty;theirsare
the filmwho kill do so professionally
sanctioned murders. The women-Catherine, her lover Roxie, her
Beth-all kill,as C. Carrpointed
ambiguousfriendHazel, thepsychiatrist
out, husbands,lovers,brothers,or fathers:theykepttheirkillingin the
family,theydisownedtheirfamiliesthroughviolentoutbreaks.
Roxie killedher brothers,Hazel herwhole family,and the police are
stumpedas to whytheywould have done so. The police's inabilityto find
motivesforfemalemurdercorrespondsto theirinabilityto figureout the
relationbetween Catherine'sfictionand her life. Female aggressionis
definedthereforeas unreadable,irrational,insane, motiveless,but it is
clear that the filmsuggests a kind of sororityof empathyamong the
femalemurderers.They can read each other'smurdersand the chances
are thatat least femaleaudiences are all too willingto fillin the blanks
whenit comes to establishinga motiveforthemurderofbrothersor husis betweennovels
bands. But Catherinealso knowswhatthe relationship
and reality-ambiguous,undecidable,negotiable.
The veryfactthatBasic Instinctthematizesthe relationshipbetween
and realityshould defend againstlinearreadingsof the
representation
filmwhen it comes to the characters'sexualityor theircriminality.
And
are
furthermore,
mirroring
relationships continually
emphasizedthroughout thefilm:each femalecharacteris mistakenforeveryother,one dresses
up as and impersonatesanother,one is killedwhenDouglas confusesher
and Catherine.Also, Douglas is played as a distortedmirrorimage of
Catherine:he slides evermore clearlyinto a criminalrelationto the law
and she mastersand manipulateshis movementsas if he were simplya
characterin a scene she has scripted.
Catherinecalls attemptsto collapselifeintoartand artintolife"stubutis notbeyondmanipulating
theblurred
pid." She knowsthedifference
linebetweenthemforher own freedomof movement.Similarly,
the critwho read it as homophobicand misogynist
fallvictim
ics of Basic Instinct
to thekindof facilereadingof rightand wrong,real and imaginedthatin
thisfilmonlythe police are prone to. Collapsingreal and imaginedis a
it refusesto read difference,
it refusestheinterpretabiltotalizingactivity,
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ityof any giventext,and it freezesmeaningwithina staticdynamicof

trueor false.This, of course,is notto say thattextsmayneverbe read as
sexistor racistor homophobic-of coursetheyare and can be, butto read
homophobiawherehomophobiaand sexismare thetargetsof an elaborate
and prolongedcritiqueis to misreadthe power of an imaginedviolence
and theviolenceof imaginedpower.
Imagined violence, as conceptualized in this paper, is the fantasyof
unsanctionederuptionsof aggressionfrom"the wrong people, of the
thewronggender."We have to be able to
wrongskin,thewrongsexuality,
and
our
violence
needs to be imaginablebecause the
violence
imagine
powerof fantasyis not to representbut to destabilizethe real. Imagined
violencedoes not stop men fromrapingwomenbut it mightmake a man
thinktwiceabout whethera woman is goingto blow him away.Imagined
violencedoes not advocatelesbianor femaleaggressionbut it mightcombetweenwomenand passivityor feminism
plicatean assumedrelationship
and pacifism.The imaginedviolence of lesbians against men in Basic
Instinctalso recaststhe relationshipbetweengay men and lesbianssince
of female
gay men may well have been threatenedby the representation
violencethatempoweredlesbians.In thisway,imaginedviolencefractured
the fictionof an identitypolitics.
But unityis not necessarilyto be desired,unityis Wojnarowicz'sone
withplatitribe,an imaginedconsensusthatalwayscoversup difference
tudes.Let politicsbe postmodernand queer,postidentity
and posthuman.
a utopic statein which conseImagined violencescreatea potentiality,
quences are imminentratherthanactual,thethreatis in the anticipation,
not the act. From Ice-T's controversialrock song "Cop Killer" to the
feministkillingspreein Thelmaand Louise,fromthe lesbianice-pickerin
Basic Instinctto the AIDS-infectedjunkie in Wojnarowicz'sClose to the
black womanwho talksback in JuneJorKnivesand the self-determined
dan's poem, imaginedviolences challengewhitepowerfulheterosexual
and createa culturalcoalitionof postmodernterror.
masculinity
Notes
1. David Wojnarowicz,
"Do Not DoubttheDangerousness
ofthe 12-Inch

Politician,"in Close to theKnives:A MemoirofDisintegration

(New York:Vintage

Books,1991),160.
2. JuneJordan,
"PoemaboutPoliceViolence,"in NamingOurDestiny:
New
andSelected
Poems(NewYork:Thunder'sMouth,1989),84-85.
3. ChuckPhilips,"A Q&A withIce-T aboutRock,Race, and the'Cop

Killer' Furor,"Los AngelesTimes/Calendar,

19 July1992), 7.

4. Ibid.,7.

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199

5. See San Diego Union,2 May 1992.

6. For an excellentdiscussionof identitypoliticsthatpointstowarda postNature,and Difidentitypolitics,see Diana Fuss, Essentially
Speaking:Feminism,
ference(New York:Routledge,1989), 97-112. Fuss writes:"While I do believe
thatlivingas a gay or lesbianpersonin a post-industrial
heterosexistsocietyhas
certainpoliticaleffects. . I also believe thatsimplybeinggay or lesbian is not
to constitutepoliticalactivism"(101). See also JudithButler,"Imitation
sufficient
and Gender Subordination,"in Inside/Out:Lesbian Theories,Gay Theories,ed.
Diana Fuss (New York:Routledge,1991), 13-31.
For a critiqueof identitypoliticsin a different
context,see ChandraTalpade
Mohanty,"Cartographiesof Struggle:Third WorldWomen and the Politicsof
ed. Chandra TalFeminism,"in ThirdWorldWomenand thePoliticsofFeminism,
pade Mohanty,Ann Russo, and Lourdes Torres (Bloomington:Indiana UniversityPress, 1991). Mohantyuses theidea of "imaginedcommunity"to buildfeministpoliticalalliances: "The idea of imaginedcommunityis usefulbecause it
leads us awayfromessentialistnotionsof thirdworldfeministstruggles,suggesting politicalratherthan biologicalor culturalbases foralliance. Thus, it is not
color or sex whichconstructsthegroundforthesestruggles.Rather,it is the way
we thinkabout race, class, and gender-the politicallinkswe choose to make
among and betweenstruggles"(4).
7. Michael Taussig, TheNervousSystem(New Yorkand London: Routledge,
1992), 2. Taussigasks,how do we "writetheNervousSystemthatpasses through
us and makes us what we are"? He concludes: ". .. it calls for a mode of writingno

less systematically
nervousthantheNS itself-ofwhich,ofcourse,itcannotbutbe
thelatestextension,thepenultimate
beforelast" (10).
version,theone permanently
8. Douglas Crimp and Adam Rolston, eds., AIDS DEMO-GRAPHICS (Seattle:

Bay, 1990), 20.

9. Severaljournalsand magazinesfeatureddebatesforand againstthe representationof femaleviolence. Film Quarterlyhad a featurecalled "The Many
Faces of Thelmaand Louise,"whichincludedmostlysympathetic
responsesto the
filmfromcriticslike Linda Williamsand Carol Clover. Timemagazine had a
more openlyhostileforumcalled "Gender Bender: A White Hot Debate over
Thelmaand Louise." See Film Quarterly45, no. 1 (Fall 1991), 20-31; Time,24
June1991, 52.
10. See especiallyJohnLeo, "Toxic Feminismon theBig Screen,"U.S. News
and WorldReport,10 June 1991, 20. But see also Laura Shapiro,"Women Who
Kill Too Much: Is Thelmaand LouiseFeminismor Fascism?" Newsweek,17 June
1991, 63; Fred Bruning,"A Lousy Deal forWomen-And Men," Maclean's, 12
August 1991, 9.
11. JudithButler,"The Force of Fantasy: Feminism,Mapplethorpe,and
DiscursiveExcess," differences
2, no. 2 (1990), 106.
on theOriginand
12. BenedictAnderson,ImaginedCommunities:
Reflections
SpreadofNationalism(London: Verso,1983), 15.
13. Lauren Berlantand ElizabethFreeman,"Queer Nationality,"
boundary2
19, no. 1 (Spring 1992), 162.
trans.
14. Michel Foucault, TheHistoryofSexuality,Vol. 1: An Introduction,
RobertHurley(New York:Vintage,1980), 101.
15. Audre Lorde, "Age, Race, Class, and Sex: Women RedefiningDifference," in SisterOutsider(Trumansburg,N.Y.: CrossingPress, 1984), 116.

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16. JuneJordan,"Poem about My Rights,"in NamingOur Destiny:New and

SelectedPoems(New York:Thunder'sMouth, 1989), 102-5.
17. See ChristopherSharrett,"HollywoodHomophobia," USA Today(July
1992), 93; JaniceC. Simpson,"Out of the CelluloidCloset," Time,6 April 1992,
65; Michelangelo Signorile,"Hollywood Homophobia," The Advocate,5 April
1992, 37; and David Ehrenstein,"Basic Instinct,"TheAdvocate,21 March 1992,
87. In Ehrenstein'sarticle,his obvious disgustat the infamousSharon Stone
crotchshotrevealedthatmisogynyplayeda ratherlargepartin gaymale journalists' rejectionof the film.
18. C. Carr, "Ice Pick Envy:ReclaimingOur Basic Rights,"VillageVoice,28
April 1992, 35-36.

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