Power, command and violence in von Trier’s Manderlay. A political and philosophical analysis of pseudo-democracies.

Sara Marino

doi:10.5195/cinej.2016.132

Abstract

Alabama, 1933. A caravan of limousines carrying gangsters arrives in Manderlay, a small village where slavery still exists as an institution. Mam (Lauren Bacall) rules the plantation assisted by her foreman Wilhelm (Danny Glover), a slave who believes his people are not ready for the responsibilities of freedom. Driving up to the gates of the plantation, Grace (Bryce Dallas Howard) declares that the slaves must be informed how to enjoy freedom and thus becoming good citizens. Drawing on a textual and visual analysis of Manderlay, the article explores how democracy arises from the exercise of violence and power, as well as the inability of Western societies to deal with the dogma of difference.

Highlights

This journal is published by the University Library System of the University of Pittsburgh as part of its D-Scribe Digital Publishing Program and is cosponsored by the University of Pittsburgh Press
This article is about violence or, to say it better, it is about the relationship between violence and democracy, violence and citizenship
Inspired by the idea that democracy does not mean ‘government by the people’, as its traditional definition says, but it is instead a form of legitimate coercion that hides traces of primitive violence, this article will take into consideration examples from political theology and critiques of liberalism in order to spoil one of the main messages that Manderlay conveys: that democracy, reveals aspects of an enlightened dictatorship, and that Western societies are nurturing this magnificent fabrication under the name of human rights

Summary

Introduction

It works as a mirror of past and present attempts to colonize parts of the world that Western societies described as uncivilized, in the name of human rights and using violence as a mean of communication. This brief introduction is to say that, by looking at how Grace establishes her definition of democratic power over people that did not ask for it, I aim to demonstrate that at the bottom of the foundation of every social order lies a more or less visible amount of violence, which supports the exercise of power and the definition of law.

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Conclusion