Fascism in Film:

Part 2 - Salò, or the 120 Days of Sodom.

by Bryn Gatehouse.

The next film to be discussed with regard to fascism is Salò (1975) , Pier Paolo Pasolini’s adaption of the Marquis de Sade’s unfinished masterpiece of erotica. Ever controversial and undeniably hard to watch, it is the last film Pasolini made, as despite plans to create a trilogy in which death would be continually analysed through portrayals of characters such as Gilles de Rais, Pasolini’s still unsolved murder mere weeks after the end of filming put a stop to it. Unrelenting and bleak, the film follows four powerful fascists as they fulfil their sadomasochistic desires using a number of kidnapped children in the Republic of Salò, the fascist state of Italy that existed from 1943 until the killing of Mussolini.





Justification of erotic analysis of fascism

The structure of Salò, as a work exploring both the ‘heart of darkness’ that humanity may reach, and the mindset of fascism from within the country of its origin, serves as justificatory evidence for erotic analysis of fascism. Whilst many may, at first, reject erotic analysis of such a large and historically significant movement (often as it appears too small-focused, or perhaps even missing the political element in favour of the psychological element), it is clear from the plot of Salò that fascism originates in the psyche, and thus the equation of the fascist mindset with some element of the general ‘human’ mindset may allow for one to become more open to such analysis. With Sade’s text serving as a basis for the film, the viewer must realise that, whilst fascism in its notable political form was created in Italy in the 20th century, the mindset that gives rise to this has existed, perhaps as a hyperstition (CCRU, 2020) , as far back as 1785, if not longer. Fascism originates in desire, a force which then grows to influence the general will consuming all that came before it, and spitting it back out as new social realities, filled with erotically charged historical accounts. The four libertines are human representations of desire itself, and all the dark areas it encompasses. Fascism is no more than a possible result of such desire (Deleuze and Guattari show this result as the mix of the force of desire and an oedipal funnelling of such flows (Deleuze & Guattari, 1977) DELEUZE, G., & GUATTARI, F. (2003). Anti-Oedipus: capitalism and schizophrenia. London, Continuum. ), and thus erotic analysis is a necessity in understanding fascism.

Fascism and youth

from Salò, or the 120 Days of Sodom, 1975, United Artists.

Salò opens, first with a discussion between the four libertines as to the rules that they will subject their victims to, and then with a scene in which a number of young men are captured. These young men captured are not set to be victims, but instead guards, or to be more accurate to the Sade novel ‘studs’, chosen to help subject the others seen caught later to brutal sex acts and torture. Through the contrast between the young victims and the studs, Pasolini may seek to present to the audience two sides of fascist influence, the perpetrators and the victims. However, with this simple scene, the line is blurred. These men have been captured, just as the victims have, and their desire has been forced within the bounds of the mansion in which the rituals take place. Just as with some of the victims, who show signs of Stockholm syndrome, the studs learn to enjoy the violence that the libertines use against the other young captives. Then, in the final scene, two studs watch the circle of blood, the final ritual in which the victims are tortured and killed in a slow and brutal fashion, and proceed to dance together. They ask each other about girlfriends back home, and both grin. Fascism has, with the same romanticism that led Byron to Greece, or Napoleon to Germany, entranced the young. It is no secret that despite fascism being built upon history, the main group it captures is the young. One may be reminded of the ending of Bataille’s Blue of Noon (Bataille, 2012) , and the march of the young Germans towards oblivion with “ferocity”, the desires of youth building to explosive ends in rigid formation.

Fascist sadism and masochism

One element of the fascist mindset that Pasolini focuses on is the simultaneous masochistic and sadistic tendencies that it produces. This is notable in the actions of the libertines, who enjoy beating, maiming, and killing their victims, but also often take part in the rituals themselves. As is stated in the film “Sadeian atheism restored the divine character of monstrosity by reiterated acts – rites”. The libertines, as fascist Sadeians, take part in these rites just as the victims are forced to, thus emphasising the role of masochism in fascist politics. One may link this to numerous instances of fascist propaganda emphasising a level of threat from outside forces, this sense of danger serving to frighten and excite those within fascist regimes.

However, far more significant within the film is Pasolini’s depiction of fascist sadism, a notable force both within the film and history (it is no wonder that sadism is important within the film, as the Marquis de Sade is where the term comes from). Pasolini, is his typical stark manner, hides nothing. From rape, to assault, to murder, Pasolini seeks to show every act taken by the libertines fully, utilising a huge number of close-up shots to do so. Polymorphous perversity prevails as fascism rears its sadistic head. The sadistic tendency of fascism that Pasolini draws upon may be found across the history of fascism, from concentration camp brothels to pillage on the Eastern front, from a desire to form a being that dominates other beings in the Overman (though there is no evidence that the Nazi form of fascism, or fascism at all, was inspired by Nietzsche), to the acts of Oskar Dirlewanger. This must be emphasised, as Pasolini does, as an ultimately psychosexual complex immanent to fascism. The regimented form of desire that authoritarian systems like fascism produces, along with the increased flows of desire from the erotic nature of the fascist mindset, leads to these extremities of masochism, and more significantly sadism.

Parody of conservatism + matricide in the film

from Salò, or the 120 Days of Sodom, 1975, United Artists.

Throughout the film, Pasolini uses parody (though not in a particularly comedic fashion) of cultural institutions in order to mock the conservatism used as part of the fascist ‘national myths’ and familial structuring. Numerous scenes involve wedding ceremonies, likely to represent the role of family in fascism. These scenes are, however, turned upside down in a different fashion for each ceremony. In the first, excluding the nudity of the guests, the wedding proceeds as usual. This is then stopped when one of the libertines decides to grope the entire audience, showing the simulacra of tradition within both fascist, and for Pasolini capitalist, systems, and how in reality fascism did nothing more than mock these traditions. Continuing with the emphasis on farce, the second wedding involves a meal of human faeces, a delicacy which the libertines eat without negative reaction, unlike their victims. This is furthered by the third marriage scene, which shows a pagan style wedding ceremony in which the libertines dressed as women, marry the guards. Parody here is key for Pasolini’s critique of fascist mythology, even if the film does not allow it to come across as funny.

To bring a further element of critique, Pasolini uses contrast in the execution scene, the climax of the film. As the young boys and girls are being tortured and killed, lines from Ezra Pound’s Canto XCIX are heard over the radio.

“The surname, and the 9 arts.

        The father’s word is compassion;

        The son’s, filiality;

        The brother’s word: mutuality;

        The younger’s word: deference.”

(Pound, 1996, pp728) POUND, E. (1996). The Cantos of Ezra Pound. New York, New Directions Books.

Important to note here is the final line, involving the act of deference, or submission. In the context of Salò, this may act as a simultaneous comment on the rigid, pseudo-familial structuring of fascist regimes across Europe, as a part of the “cult of tradition” identified by Umberto Eco in the first of his 14 features of fascism (Eco, 1995) ECO, U. (1995). Ur-Fascism. The New York Review of Books. . But, as Pasolini points out through the contrast, what is the use of emphasising family whilst simultaneously destroying the young, a consequence of the sadism that fascism accommodates?

This is again furthered by a constant theme within the film, that being matricide. With this the true intentions of the fascist libertines, along with the general fascist leadership, are revealed. In the use of desire as an explosive force, with the aim of returning to, or moving towards, a fatherland, the mother, or true tradition, has been destroyed. The contradiction of the national myth and the destruction of the creator is held as immanent to fascism, though as history may prove, contradictions are in no way fatal or even harmful.

Anti-eschatology – we are in hell

from Salò, or the 120 Days of Sodom, 1975, United Artists.

The ultimate message of Pasolini’s Salò, as Roberto Chiesi points out (Chiesi, 2011)

CHIESI, R. (2011). Salò:The Present as Hell. Criterion Collection. Available here
is simple, and a reflection of the director’s increasing disillusionment with some aspects of Catholicism. Fascism’s growth and survival as a psychological mindset beyond the second world war is evidence that we are currently in Hell. The repetition of the acts first described by the prostitutes, and then created by the libertines, gives evidence of a kind of Nietzschean eternal return. Consider the similarity between the famous passage from the Gay Science in which Nietzsche states “this life as you now live it and have lived it, you will have to live once more and innumerable times more” (Nietzsche, 1974, pp273) NIETZSCHE, F. (1974). The Gay Science. New York, Random House. and the warning given to the victims by one of the libertines – “Don’t you see we want to kill you a thousand times, to the limits of eternity, if eternity had limits?” (Salò, Pasolini, 1975). Salò. 1975. [film]. Pier Paolo Pasolini. dir. Italy. Produzioni Eruopee Associati.

Similarly, in both the sheer cruelty and the lack of catharsis shown in the final execution sequence, it can be suggested that Pasolini aims to show the futility of the effort against fascism. Prior to the execution, the libertines hand out blue ribbons to those who will not die in the execution. Despite this, the final killings seem to be random, and those who survive are made to watch and follow with the libertines back to the city of Salò, likely to have to endure more rituals. Not one member of the victim group escapes, and the joy of the (false) hope is blunted and lost, resulting in a truly pessimistic image of Europe in the 20th century. Those who have fought against fascism and survived are destined to see the trends of fascism occur again. Pasolini, through the victims, cries out: “God, why did you abandon us?” (Salò, Pasolini, 1975) Salò. 1975. [film]. Pier Paolo Pasolini. dir. Italy. Produzioni Eruopee Associati. . Whilst at first one may see this as a reference to the words of Christ on the cross, Pasolini’s usage takes a far darker tone. These martyrs may be resurrected in the form of others, but they may only be killed again. There is no message of redemption for man in this instance, rather a complete image of hopelessness, or Hell.

Pasolini’s Hell may somewhat draw upon the structure provided by Dante. Whilst Dante’s Hell is made up of nine circles each representing a sin, Pasolini’s is made of three rings corresponding to actions taken within the film – mania, shit, blood. Unlike Dante’s Hell, however, Pasolini provides no centre point to his vision of Hell, again providing a pessimistic inescapable vision that fascism implies. There is no way out, and not even death can provide relief, as eternal return as a condition of man dictates that we shall die only to live this again and again.

Pasolini as fascist

from Salò, or the 120 Days of Sodom, 1975, United Artists.

The final nail in the coffin for Pasolini’s Hell is the realisation that Pasolini is a fascist himself. Whether this is a condition of Hell or is the sin that has led to the placement of modernity as Hell is up to the audience. Pasolini himself has stated that the film exists as a critique of all that is present in comparison to his “violent love" for Italian tradition and lost time. Whilst this seems reasonable, one cannot help but associate this love for ‘lost time’, when viewed through the lens of Salò, as an example of how fascism adapted the cult of tradition for its own means. Pasolini here does not seem to fully oppose fascism. Instead his pessimistic viewpoint encompasses a perverse association with the fascist mindset. Echoing Guattari in his essay ‘Everybody wants to be a Fascist’ (Guattari, 2009) GUATTARI, F. (2009). Chaosophy: texts and interviews 1972-1977. Los Angeles, Semiotext(e). , Pasolini understands the success of fascism in the psychological sense, perhaps suggesting that he himself holds fascist tendencies, or tendencies that may escalate into fascism as reactionary modernism. Fascism is an ever-present possibility, not truly effected by the movement of history or geist. The eternal return that the film implies is a constant return to fascism, unavoidable, that is the primary condition of Pasolini’s Hell of modernity.

The use of the audience and the theatre of cruelty

from Salò, or the 120 Days of Sodom, 1975, United Artists.

Salò, with its use of unflinching close ups and static camera shots, showing the audience acts of extreme violence and sexual cruelty, is a perfect example of Antonin Artaud’s theatre of cruelty form (Artaud, 1970) Artaud, A. (1970). The theatre and its double: essays; translated [from the French] by Victor Corti. London: Calder & Boyars. . This form, which aims to cause discomfort in the audience through use of shock, subverting the privilege of speech in theatre over gesture and image, an untranslatable force aiming to assault the audience. In the theatre of cruelty, the audience is as important as that which occurs on stage (or on screen). In Salò the audience, as passive viewers, receive the images through an act of submission, as Deleuze notes (2005) Deleuze, G. (2005). Cinema 2: the time-image / Gilles Deleuze; translated by Hugh Tomlinson and Robert Galeta. London: Continuum. . Thus the audience are willing to be dominated with this explosion of cruelty through watching the film itself. Both Artaud and Pasolini complete their projects through the audience, for Artaud exposing a masochistic area of the unconscious brought out through cruelty and for Pasolini showing the fascist underbelly of the human psyche in the modern period. Recall Reich’s primary question of how those within fascist societies willingly submitted to the authority of fascist leaders (Reich, 1970) REICH, W. (1970). The mass psychology of fascism. New York, Farrar, Straus & Giroux. . His question has been answered, as the audience succumbs to fascism through film. As previously argued, they desired it. Not only is Pasolini exposed as a fascist, but the audience is too.

Consumerism, Marxism, and the body

from Salò, or the 120 Days of Sodom, 1975, United Artists.

One cannot speak of Pasolini without at some point mentioning two key areas of his character – his Christianity (as previously discussed) and his Marxism. Pasolini, born in red Bologna, spent his life as a socialist with a hatred of the global bourgeoisie. Many see Salò as a statement on the role that consumerism, and capitalism as a whole, has had on the human body. Abusing, mutilating, and exploiting, one can see how the Marxist view of capitalism may correlate to Pasolini’s vision in Salò. However, the vision of modernity as Hell may suggest Pasolini’s disenchantment with Marxism as a movement. This seems to correlate with his thoughts in the wake of the 1968 student protests in which he increasingly saw the Marxist movement as having been co-opted by the bourgeoise youth.





Conclusion

To conclude, this section has attempted an in depth analysis of Salò both as a portrayal of the sadomasochistic nature of fascism, and a last cry against what Pasolini saw as a vision of hell in modernity. Contrary to the result of any war, fascism has won in the psychological sense, and in some way we all fall under the category of fascists. For Pasolini there is no hope to be had, no escape in the present nor the future. In youth we may deny this, and with Bauman and liquid modernity we may see a world that has finally surpassed fascism by completely losing control (Bauman, 2000) Bauman, Z. (2000). Liquid Modernity. Cambridge, Polity Press. but for Pasolini modernity has succumbed to fascism.

by Bryn Gatehouse, August 2022.

References

REICH, W. (1970). The mass psychology of fascism. New York, Farrar, Straus & Giroux.

DELEUZE, G., & GUATTARI, F. (2003). Anti-Oedipus: capitalism and schizophrenia. London, Continuum.

BATAILLE, G. (2012). Blue of Noon. London, Penguin.

POUND, E. (1996). The Cantos of Ezra Pound. New York, New Directions Books.

ECO, U. (1995). Ur-Fascism. The New York Review of Books.

CHIESI, R. (2011). Salò: The Present as Hell. Criterion Collection. Available here

Salò. 1975. [film]. Pier Paolo Pasolini. dir. Italy. Produzioni Eruopee Associati.

NIETZSCHE, F. (1974). The Gay Science. New York, Random House.

GUATTARI, F. (2009). Chaosophy: texts and interviews 1972-1977. Los Angeles, Semiotext(e).

Artaud, A. (1970). The theatre and its double: essays; translated [from the French] by Victor Corti. London: Calder & Boyars.

Deleuze, G. (2005). Cinema 2 : the time-image / Gilles Deleuze ; translated by Hugh Tomlinson and Robert Galeta. London: Continuum.

Bauman, Z. (2000). Liquid Modernity. Cambridge, Polity Press.

Same Author
Back to the Future – Metaphysics of Time and Time Travel
by Bryn Gatehouse
Same Tag
Faux Advertising: Products and Billboards Within Films.
by Oliver Spicer
Random
Should Films be Moral?
by Luke Maguire