Paris and the Parasite: Noise, Health, and Politics in the Media City by Macs Smith

Abstract

Reviewed by: Paris and the Parasite: Noise, Health, and Politics in the Media City by Macs Smith Keith Moser Smith, Macs. Paris and the Parasite: Noise, Health, and Politics in the Media City. MIT, 2021. ISBN 978-0262045544. Pp. 296. In this insightful exploration of Paris as a mediatic space in which information incessantly flows in all directions through a plethora of divergent vectors, Smith exposes the ugly underbelly of the hegemonic forces undergirding the dominant social order in the city of lights. Building upon Serres's multifaceted theory of the parasite, Smith reveals how even the architectural structure of Paris evolved to expel unwanted biological, mediatic, and social parasites. Smith effortlessly weaves transdisciplinary connections between literature, philosophy, film, critical theory, media studies, architecture, cultural studies, environmental ethics, and popular culture to decry how those who have been labeled parasites by the integrated political and social elite have been effectively banished from the center of Paris and relegated to the impoverished banlieues where their undesirable noise cannot be heard. In addition to probing the efficacy and paradoxes of counterhegemonic strategies that disenfranchised and marginalized Parisians have conceived, including street art and the extreme sport of parkour, in an effort to resist oppression, Smith turns to Derrida's theories of hospitality in order to invite the reader to imagine how Paris and other postmodern metropolises could become more welcoming spaces in the future. Although Smith's interdisciplinary approach is compelling throughout the book, the passages in which he underscores the role of architecture and urban planning in the creation of a stifling anti-parasitic glass ceiling are especially thought-provoking. From a historical perspective, Smith pinpoints the "aftermath of the cholera epidemic" in the middle of the nineteenth century as the beginning of the concerted efforts of public officials working in tandem with architects to expel "invasive non-human pathogens" from the streets of Paris (28). Architects like Le Corbusier were soon called upon to deal with another kind of perceived menace: the social parasite. Smith explains how Le Corbusier was instrumental in the conception of a private space "where one can be sealed off from the parasites of the city" (36). Architecture became a hegemonic tool for shielding affluent Parisians from the parasitic noise emitted by those at the bottom of the social ladder. However, this approach to urban planning, intentionally designed to ensure that people had very little contact with each other, created isolation chambers "where anonymity reigns" (48). Delving into the theories of Guy Debord, Smith demonstrates how these attempts to eliminate the parasite atomized Parisian society. Nonetheless, Smith finds a glimmer of hope in Serres's hypothesis that the parasite can never be removed from the informational channels entirely. Specifically, Smith outlines how street artists like Blek le rat and Invader have (re-)appropriated the very walls or borders that were conceived to exclude them. Even if street art has now been commercialized to a certain extent, the counter-hegemonic discourse and culture jamming of social parasites cannot be [End Page 234] eradicated altogether. Without painting too rosy a picture of counter-hegemonic liberation techniques, Smith reveals that social parasites will continue to find ways to have their voices heard in Paris and all around the world. [End Page 235] Keith Moser Mississippi State University Copyright © 2022 American Association of Teachers of French