The Non-Place between Sacred and Profane: Utopian Gestures in the Apparatus of Semiocapitalism in Laurent Cantet’s L'emploi du temps

Authors

Tamas Nagypal, York UniversityFollow

Abstract

This paper demonstrates the possibility of the utopian use of late capitalist non-places through Laurent Cantet’s film L'emploi du temps, arguing that the protagonist’s mental breakdown caused by cognitive overstimulation open up an unexpected critical perspective through which the contradictions of the system become visible. With the help of Agamben’s theory of profanation I argue that the hero’s inoperative, free use of former sites mediating semiocapitalist flows offers an example of a form-of-life that is not captured by the apparatuses of commodification.

Recommended Citation

Nagypal, Tamas (2015) "The Non-Place between Sacred and Profane: Utopian Gestures in the Apparatus of Semiocapitalism in Laurent Cantet’s L'emploi du temps," Journal of Religion & Film: Vol. 19: Iss. 1, Article 43.
Available at: https://digitalcommons.unomaha.edu/jrf/vol19/iss1/43