Ecstasy Unlimited is an engaging video essay on the social construction of sexuality. Kipnis attempts to historicize pleasure and politicize desire, to reveal within the current discourse on sex — and within an ensemble of current sexual practices — the production of forms of sexuality that work to guarantee social order, rather than subvert it. Through various narrative ploys and theoretical tactics, the tape attempts to recover traces of a "political unconscious" in contemporary social malaise. Kipnis practices humor as well as social critique; she employs fragmented situation comedy, documentary, songs, animation, and narration to develop an analysis linking discourses of liberation to thriving sex and therapy industries.
Ecstasy Unlimited: The Interpenetrations of Sex and Capita!
Laura Kipnis
1985 00:59:54 United StatesEnglishColorMono4:3VideoDescription
About Laura Kipnis
Chicago-based videomaker and cultural critic Laura Kipnis’ work is richly informed by her post-Marxist, post-structuralist, post-feminist, post-everything sense of humor. Her often irreverent tapes form piercing analyses of contemporary debates with an unpretentious feminist slant. Her books include Bound and Gagged: The Politics of Fantasy in America (1996) and Against Love: A Polemic (2003). Kipnis is on faculty in Radio/Television/Film at Northwestern University.