S l I n k s t e r
I s s u e 1 . 1
|
CONTENT >> fIlm |
|
Home beats creative politik erotik threads life global village film artscene out |
|
ABout SLInksTer < philosophy> <contact> <submit> <contributors> |
|
REVIEW <opinion> |
|
[ FLASHBACK: Being John Malkovich ] A two line bit of dialogue, though, forms the axis of this nightmarishly
chimerical film. John Malkovich (played by himself), enraged and bewildered
by the unabashed commercial exploitation of the serendipitous portal to his
mind, insists that Craig, the aforementioned puppet master, cease and desist
with his activities. "It is MY brain" - he screams and, with a
typical American finale, "I will see you in court". Craig responds:
"But, it was I who discovered the portal. It is my livelihood". This apparently innocuous exchange disguises a few very
unsettling ethical dilemmas. The basic question is "whose brain is it,
anyway"? Does John Malkovich OWN his brain? Is one's brain one's
PROPERTY? Property is usually acquired somehow. Is our brain
"acquired"? It is clear that we do not acquire the hardware
(neurons) and software (electrical and chemical pathways) we are born with.
But it is equally clear that we do "acquire" both brain mass and
the contents of our brains (its wiring or irreversible chemical changes)
through learning and experience. Does this process of acquisition endow us
with property rights? It would seem that property rights pertaining to human
bodies are fairly restricted. We have no right to sell our kidneys, for
instance. Or to destroy our body through the use of drugs. Or to commit an
abortion at will. Yet, the law does recognize and strives to enforce
copyrights, patents and other forms of intellectual property rights. This dichotomy is curious. For what is intellectual
property but a mere record of the brain's activities? A book, a painting, an
invention are the documentation and representation of brain waves. They are
mere shadows, symbols of the real presence - our mind. How can we reconcile
this contradiction? We are deemed by the law to be capable of holding full
and unmitigated rights to the PRODUCTS of our brain activity, to the
recording and documentation of our brain waves. But we hold only partial
rights to the brain itself, their originator. This can be somewhat understood if we were to consider this
article, for instance. It is composed on a word processor. I do not own full
rights to the word processing software (merely a licence), nor is the laptop
I use my property - but I posses and can exercise and enforce full rights
regarding this article. Admittedly, it is a partial parallel, at best: the
computer and word processing software are passive elements. It is my brain
that does the authoring. And so, the mystery remains: how can I own the
article - but not my brain? Why do I have the right to ruin the article at
will - but not to annihilate my brain at whim? Another angle of philosophical attack is to say that we
rarely hold rights to nature or to life. We can copyright a photograph we
take of a forest - but not the forest. To reduce it to the absurd: we can own
a sunset captured on film - but never the phenomenon thus documented. The
brain is natural and life's pivot - could this be why we cannot fully own it? Wrong premises inevitably lead to wrong conclusions. We
often own natural objects and manifestations, including those related to
human life directly. We even issue patents for sequences of human DNA. And
people do own forests and rivers and the specific views of sunsets. Some scholars raise the issues of exclusivity and scarcity
as the precursors of property rights. My brain can be accessed only by myself
and its is one of a kind (sui generis). True but not relevant. One cannot
rigorously derive from these properties of our brain a right to deny others
access to them (should this become technologically feasible) - or even to set
a price on such granted access. In other words, exclusivity and scarcity do
not constitute property rights or even lead to their establishment. Other
rights may be at play (the right to privacy, for instance) - but not the
right to own property and to derive economic benefits from such ownership. On the contrary, it is surprisingly easy to think of
numerous exceptions to a purported natural right of single access to one's
brain. If one memorized the formula to cure AIDS or cancer and refused to
divulge it for a reasonable compensation - surely, we should feel entitled to
invade his brain and extract it? Once such technology is available -
shouldn't authorized bodies of inspection have access to the brains of our
leaders on a periodic basis? And shouldn't we all gain visitation rights to
the minds of great men and women of science, art and culture - as we do today
gain access to their homes and to the products of their brains? There is one hidden assumption, though, in both the movie
and this article. It is that mind and brain are one. The portal leads to John
Malkovich's MIND - yet, he keeps talking about his BRAIN and writhing
physically on the screen. The portal is useless without JM's mind. Indeed,
one can wonder whether JM's mind is not an INTEGRAL part of the portal - structurally
and functionally inseparable from it. If so, does not the discoverer of the
portal hold equal rights to John Malkovich's mind, an integral part thereof? The portal leads to JM's mind. Can we prove that it leads
to his brain? Is this identity automatic? Of course not. It is the old psychophysical question, at the heart of dualism - still far from resolved. Can a MIND be copyrighted or
patented? If no one knows WHAT is the mind - how can it be the subject of
laws and rights? If JM is bothered by the portal voyagers, the intruders - he
surely has legal recourse, but not through the application of the rights to
own property and to benefit from it. These rights provide him with no remedy
because their subject (the mind) is a mystery. Can JM sue Craig and his
clientele for unauthorized visits to his mind (trespassing) - IF he is
unaware of their comings and goings and unperturbed by them? Moreover, can he
prove that the portal leads to HIS mind, that it is HIS mind that is being
visited? Is there a way to PROVE that one has visited another's mind? (See: "On Empathy"). And if property rights to one's brain and mind were firmly
established - how will telepathy (if ever proven) be treated legally? Or mind
reading? The recording of dreams? Will a distinction be made between a mere
visit - and the exercise of influence on the host and his / her manipulation
(similar questions arise in time travel)?
This, precisely, is where the film crosses the line between
the intriguing and the macabre. The master puppeteer, unable to resist his
urges, manipulates John Malkovich and finally possesses him completely. This
is so clearly wrong, so manifestly forbidden, so patently immoral, that the
film loses its urgent ambivalence, its surrealistic moral landscape and
deteriorates into another banal comedy of situations. |
|
*
archives > view past reviews |
|
* email>
the author |
|
*
disclaimer > The editors and creators @ slinkster would like to remind you
that views expressed in the slinkster space do not necessarily reflect those
portrayed by the slinkster ethos- although- then again……they just might. If you have a problem with what you have
read, we suggest e-mailing the author.
Failing that, drop us a line and we can try and explain ourselves
better |
|
ABout SLInksTer < philosophy> <contact> <submit> <contributors> |