User:Elleke Hageman/Trimester 3/Reading and Writing/Essay 3d revision

How can Zizek’s understanding of ideology, as presented in The Pervert’s Guide to Ideology, be applied to Joshua Oppenheimer’s The Act of Killing and Renzo Martens’ Episode 3: Enjoy Poverty?

The killers in the act of killing seem to be justifying and glorifying the killings and gruesome actions they committed in 1965-1966 through the structure of the ideology they constructed based upon American Cinema. The ideas of the gangsters are based upon their ideology of being free. The word gangster for them is a title they have put upon themselves that encapsulates their entire ideology. Gangster, in their eyes means, being free, free men. In light of this the gangsters frequently place themselves and act outside the law.

A lot of the ideas about being free and about being a gangster are based upon their love for American cinema. They used to sell tickets for their local cinema and because of that were able to see a lot of American cinema and Gangster movies. This accessibility to American Cinema seems to have been a main source of education for the gangsters. It seems that the fantastical narrative of american cinema has become the structure of the symbolic order for the gangsters. The vision the gangsters have on their world and the actions they committed in them is a product of this.


In 1964 a member of the Murba party claimed that the PKI (Indonesian Communist Party) was planning a coup. When six top army generals were killed the PKI was held responsible for this. After that there was a big manifestation held in Jakarta to ban the PKI. The extermination of the PKI and communists had begun.

The gangsters were part of the anti communist movement and played a great role in helping the army with killing between 300 000 to a million alleged communist or communist sympathizers. In these very gruesome killings that went on in that period also a lot of non- communist civilians were killed. Anwar Congo and co in the Act of Killing are very proud of their actions and even seem to glorify the killings they committed and their behavior of that time.

In my opinion the way Anwar Congo and friends justify their behavior is through what Zizek calls the fantastical construct in Ideology. Zizek tells us that this construct fills in the gaps of an ideology. Ideology is the product of a fantasy which is based on pre-existing social order. On basis of this ideology we construct our own universe with it's own structure. The fantasy is used to cover up inconsistencies in the structure.

Because Anwar Congo and friends don't have much or any knowledge of the people they are killing or who their victims are they can use every lack of information as gaps and instead project their own ideas upon the people they are actually killing. They can use it for example to make up facts about the communist nature of the victim, and the nature of communists.

This is also where the fear of the Evil Other comes into place. Zizek states that we need a fear of an evil other to fixate our own ideology. As stated before, a big part of the ideology of the gangsters is “freedom”. In order to attain their ultimate goal of freedom they need to exterminate everything which might be a threat for this. The gangsters thus use the Big Evil Communist Other to fixate their ideology and the means that come with keeping this ideology alive. 
Also one of them literally says that “You can do whatever you want as long as you find a good reasoning for it”. This again has to do with the creation of the ideological construct. He admits to creating or making up reasons for them to justify his behavior. And again this is where the education they had from American cinema comes in. They can cover up the inconsistencies in the knowledge they have about their victims and justify their actions through that what they have learned in American cinema. A gangster in american cinema often acts outside the law and is not afraid to let the goal justify the means. A lot of the killing they committed was inspired by American Cinema. On the basis of this symbolic order this ideological construct gives them a way of looking at things which gives them the power to do everything they want. They can kill people and steal be brutal and never have to feel guilty about it. They can decide what happens.


When, in the act of killing, Joshua makes the gangsters re-live their actions through re-enacting them in a film the actions of the gangsters are actually being placed outside of their ideological structure and get a perspective that looks from outside of the structure into it. Joshua succeeds in revealing the true ideological structure and the universe which they have created for themselves. There are two sections in the film they make. One is where they re-enact the brutalities they committed in a more literal way and the other is where they film almost a heavenly-like, fantasy realm. In the heavenly-like realm the gangsters are glorified and girls dance for them in adoration, where Anwar is standing as a black Godlike Priest amidst and where Adi Zukaldri plays a role in which he cross-dresses as a woman. Through this depicting we can see what kind of image the characters have of themselves and their lives. The fact that Anwar Congo is in a priest like costume standing on top of a mountain amidst girls who are dancing to him in admiration. Shows that he has placed himself in a position which transcends that of another. Folk dance in Indonesia often reflects social position and is believed to have had it's origin in religious worship. If we would place the dancers that are standing around Anwar Congo in a social position of the commoner it would mean that Anwar Places himself above the normal people. When we would place the dancers surrounding him in the position where they use dance as religious worship, it would mean that Anwar has put himself in a godlike position.

In another scene we see how a beautiful luxurious buffet with a chopped off head (of Anwar Congo), and some monkeys feasting from it, is almost as if the gangsters see these killings as exuberant celebrations. The head is a symbol for the victims of Anwar Congo and friends. The feast that is around the head, being enjoyed by monkeys, is a symbol of festivity and nourishment. You could say that they enjoy the killing and see it as a festive event which brings enjoyment and fulfillment.

It seems that Anwar through this process is getting more insight into the actions and killings he committed. He shows remorse and sometimes even has a deep physiological reaction towards the actions that he has committed. But when we look further in the film we might even wonder if this reaction is actually true and if it is not just again something that Anwar has seen in a film and learned is the appropriate behavior.