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UPDATED Ruberg Full Dissertation PROQUEST Copy UC Berkeley UC Berkeley Electronic Theses and Dissertations Title Pixel Whipped: Pain, Pleasure, and Media Permalink https://escholarship.org/uc/item/5qs4r39x Author Ruberg, Bonnie Publication Date 2015 Peer reviewed|Thesis/dissertation eScholarship.org Powered by the California Digital Library University of California Pixel&Whipped:&Pain,&Pleasure,&and&Media& & & by& & Bonnie&Ruberg& & & & A&dissertation&submitted&in&partial&satisfaction&of&the& & requirements&for&the&degree&of& & Doctor&of&Philosophy& & in& & Comparative&Literature& & and&the&Designated&Emphases&in& & New&Media& & and& & Women,&Gender&and&Sexuality& & in&the& & Graduate&Division& & of&the& & University&of&California,&Berkeley& & & & Committee&in&charge:& & Professor&Michael&Lucey,&Chair& Professor&Eric&Naiman& Professor&David&Bates& Professor&Abigail&DeKosnik& & & Summer&2015& & Abstract! ! Pixel!Whipped:!Pain,!Pleasure,!and!Media! ! by! ! Bonnie!Ruberg! ! Doctor!of!Philosophy!in!Comparative!Literature! ! Designated!Emphases!in!New!Media!and!Women,!Gender!and!Sexuality! ! University!of!California,!Berkeley! ! Professor!Michael!Lucey,!Chair! ! ! At!a!time!when!technology!seems!increasingly!poised!to!render!the!material!realities!of!its! users!obsolete,!putting!the!body!back!into!digital!media!has!become!a!matter!of!pressing! social!significance.!Scholars!like!Lisa!Nakamura!have!written!compellingly!about!the! importance!of!attending!to!the!embodied!identities!of!those!who!sit!behind!the!screen:!a! crucial!step!toward!disrupting!the!systems!of!inequality!that!characterize!much!of!twentyM firstMcentury!Western!digital!culture.!Similarly!dedicated!to!issues!of!social!justice,!this! project!argues!for!turning!attention!to!another!essential!element!of!the!relationship! between!technology!and!the!body:!how!digital!media!makes!users!feel.!Far!from!being! disembodied,!digital!tools!have!become!crucial!platforms!for!expressions!of!selfhood!and! desire.!Yet,!on!a!phenomenological!level,!virtual!experiences!also!have!a!surprising!capacity! to!directly!affect!the!real,!physical!body.!To!demonstrate!this,!this!project!maps!a!network! of!key!examples!that!illustrate!how!pain!and!pleasure—commonly!imagined!as!the!most! embodied!sensations—have!in!fact!been!brought!to!life!through!a!range!of!media!forms.! ! Beginning!with!the!novels!of!the!Marquis!de!Sade,!Leopold!von!SacherMMasoch,!and!Pauline! Réage,!this!project!contends!that!concepts!of!sadomasochism!and!literature!have!evolved! side!by!side!for!more!than!two!centuries.!Moving!from!textual!to!visual!forms,!the!project! turns!to!Pier!Pasolini’s!Salò,!a!film!that!notoriously!“hurts!to!watch,”!to!investigate!the! intersection!of!violence,!complicity,!and!viewership.!Next,!the!project!moves!into!the!digital! realm,!offering!a!reading!of!the!erotic!power!exchange!that!drives!videoMgame!interactivity.! In!the!final!chapter,!the!project!explores!digital!BDSM:!practices!of!bondage,!discipline,! sadism,!and!masochism!that!take!place!entirely!in!virtual!spaces.!Across!these!chapters,!the! project!argues!for!the!value!of!“kink”!as!a!critical!lens,!much!like!the!“queerness”!in!queer! studies,!which!underscores!the!cultural!and!personal!significance!of!experiences!that!hurt.! Together,!the!works!and!cultures!considered!here!bring!muchMneeded!attention!to!the! place!of!nonMnormative!desires!in!media,!both!digital!and!nonMdigital.!They!also!serve!to! productively!challenge!the!perceived!divide!between!the!“virtual”!and!the!“real.”! ! 1! ! ! Table!of!Contents! ! ! ! Preface.!A!Note!on!Terminology!! ! ! ! ! ! ! ! ii! ! ! Introduction.!A!Whip!Cracked!on!the!Internet!! ! ! ! ! ! v! ! ! Acknowledgements! ! ! ! ! ! ! ! ! ! xxviii! ! ! Chapter!1.!Sadomasochism!and/as!Literature:!Sade,!SacherGMasoch,!and!Réage!! 1! ! ! Chapter!2.!Too!Painful!to!Watch:!On!Intimacy!and!Complicity!in!Pasolini’s!Salò% 38! ! ! Chapter!3.!Video!Games!That!Hurt:!Interactivity,!Virtual!Reality,!and!the!Return!! 67! of!the!Body! ! ! ! ! ! ! ! ! ! ! ! Chapter!4.!BDSM!in!Virtual!Spaces!and!the!Kinky!Pleasure!of!Digital!Media! ! 99! ! i! ! ! Preface:! A!Note!on!Terminology! ! ! ! “Words!are!at!their!most!powerful!when!they!compel!the!body!to!repeat!the!movements! they!suggest,”!writes!Gilles!Deleuze!in!“Coldness!and!Cruelty,”!his!extended!reflection!on! sadomasochism.1!Deleuze!draws!his!interpretations!of!pain!and!pleasure!from!literary! works!by!the!Marquis!de!Sade!and!Leopold!von!SacherLMasoch,!novels!in!which!tales!of! taboo!passions,!once!heard!or!read,!often!inspire!characters!to!perform!the!acts!described.! In!one!sense!then,!Deleuze!is!reflecting!on!specific,!selfLcontained!textual!worlds,!the!power! of!stories!within!these!stories.!Yet,!like!many!before!and!after!him,!Deleuze!is!also!using! Sade!and!SacherLMasoch!as!exemplars!of!a!system!of!sadomasochistic!erotics!that!extends! far!beyond!the!page.!In!this!sense,!Deleuze’s!proclamation!resonates!outward,!suggesting! that!any!study!of!the!relationship!between!sadomasochism!and!media!must!make!sense!of! the!interrelation!of!this!trifecta:!language,(power,(and(the(body.! Though!my!own!formulations!of!sadomasochism!and!media!will!differ!notably!from! Deleuze’s,!the!belief!that!words!and!other!mediums!of!communication!(both!nonLdigital! and!digital)!can!deeply!affect!the!body!is!likewise!central!to!the!present!project.!Just!as! bodies!matter,!language(matters.!This!means!both!that!language!cannot!be!separated!from! the!materiality!of!the!world!it!describes—and!that!conscientious!word!choice!is!of!the! utmost!importance.!Many!of!the!topics!discussed!in!the!chapters!that!follow!have! complicated!relationships!with!the!terms!that!describe!them.!Often!these!vocabularies!have! emerged!through!histories!of!medicalization,!marginalization,!and!misunderstanding.! Talking!about!these!topics!respectfully!and!with!attention!to!linguistic!nuance!is!as!much!a! political!practice!as!articulating!the!importance!of!these!topics!themselves.! This!project!is!about!pain!and!pleasure.!It!is!also!about!media,!the!digital,!the!body,! and!the!insufficiency!of!paradigms!of!the!“real.”!The!language!that!describes!these!ideas!can! get!messy!precisely!because!these!ideas!themselves!are!messy.!Terms!like!“virtual!reality,”! “technological!intimacy,”!and!“sexual!expression”!seem!to!speak!to!something!like!a! universal!human!experience,!lived!in!the!early!decades!of!a!twentyLfirst!century,! technologyLrich!Western!culture—yet!they!mean!very!different!things!to!different!people! who!have!very!different!ways!of!speaking!about!them.!Establishing!a!basis!of!shared! terminology,!while!limiting!by!definition,!nonetheless!represents!an!important!first!step! toward!articulating!the!full!semantic,!cultural,!and!phenomenological!complexity!of!pain! and!pleasure!as!experiences!of!media—and!media!as!an!experience!of!pain!and!pleasure,!in! the!present!moment!as!well!many!others!before!and!after!it.! As!Margot!Weiss!has!rightly!argued,!it!is!especially!important!to!pay!careful! attention!to!language!in!discussions!of!pain!and!pleasure!as!lived!cultural!practices.2!What! Deleuze!calls!“sadomasochism”!goes!by!many!names,!and!though!they!are!related!they!are! rarely!interchangeable.!In!this!project,!I!use!“sadomasochism”!to!refer!to!the!concept!of!the! interplay!between!pain!and!pleasure!as!it!has!been!constructed!through!literature,! scholarly!theory,!and!even!popular!media.3!I!use!“BDSM”!(bondage,!discipline,!domination,! submission,!sadism,!masochism)!to!refer!to!the!realLlife!contemporary!practices!of!those! ! ii! ! ! who!engage!in!consensual!play!with!pain!and!pleasure.!Expanding!on!their!use!in!BDSM! communities,!I!use!the!terms!“kink”!and!“kinky”!to!signal!a!more!loosely!defined!affiliation! with!pain,!pleasure,!and!the!dialectics!of!power.!“Pain!and!pleasure”!I!use,!as!seen,!to! aBBreviate!a!system!of!affects!that!might!involve!erotic!suffering,!play!with!power,!or!other! experiences!that!destaBilize!the!divide!between!happiness!and!hurt.! What!is!the!Body?!What!is!sex?!Such!terminology!is!elusive!By!nature.!The!examples! of!embodied!experience!that!this!project!explores!challenge!the!normative!logics!through! which!these!words!have!been!previously!defined.!Terms!of!this!sort!are!perhaps!Better! understood!through!constellations!of!associations.!Here,!I!talk!often!aBout!embodiment!and! disembodiment.!While!these!terms!are!themselves!fluid,!I!understand!embodiment!to!Be! linked!to!sensation,!affect,!phenomenology,!and!the!material.!Similarly,!rather!than!refer!to! sex!or!sexuality!per!se,!I!often!point!toward!“erotics,”!a!term!I!derive!from!the!works!of! Georges!Bataille.4!I!take!erotics!to!mean!a!system!of!sexual!signification!that!can!operate! Beyond!the!confines!of!individual!sex!acts!or!sexual!identities:!a!semantics!of!desire.!At! other!times,!I!refer!simply!to!the!“erotic”;!while!eroticism!might!Be!conceptualized!in! myriad!ways,!I!am!thinking!here!specifically!of!the!type!of!sexuallyLcharged!friction! Between!suBject!and!oBject,!a!push!and!pull!of!intimacy!and!distance,!articulated!By!media! scholar!Laura!Marks.5!Throughout!this!project,!my!understanding!of!the!interrelation!of! language!and!desire!is!also!indebted!to!thinkers!like!Michel!Foucault!and!Judith!Butler.6! The!third!key!nexus!around!which!the!terminology!of!this!project!centers!is!media.! In!my!use!of!the!term,!“media”!plays!two!simultaneous!roles:!that!of!the!many!and!of!the! singular.!On!the!one!hand,!in!the!spirit!of!Marshal!McLuhan!and!the!thinking!his!work!has! inspired,!media!functions!as!a!shorthand!for!a!long!lineage!of!forms—mediating!platforms! from!the!written!word!to!the!computer!screen!through!which!human!interactions!can!Be!
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