@ THE QUEEN —— Edited by i OF AMERICA Michale Aina Baal, Jonathan Goldberg, GOES TO ‘Michael Moon, | | and Bve Korot { Sedgunck WASHINGTON i CITY Essays on Sexe and Citicenship Lauren Berlant DUKE UNIVERSITY PRESS Durham G-Lousdonssy71977 Die Umer es ‘tgs resred red de Une Sis ofAmenes one per ‘hpi Carer ant Coe Gay Keron pest. = ry af ge Calogugm Patten Dat par onl pel ge bo Contents Acknowledgments vi Ineoducton: The Inaimate Public Sphere 1 © The Theory of Infandle Chazenship 25 2 Live Sex Acs (Parental Adwsony: Explicit Matera!) 55 Amenca, “Fat? the Reus 83 4+ Queer Natonality(wnten with Ekzabeth Freeman) ras ‘The Face of America and the Stare of Emergency 1 6 The Queen of America Goes to Washington City: Noteson Diva Citizenship 221 ‘Ouctakes from the Citizenship Mussum 247 Notes 26 Bibliography 289 Indes 303Pa Finally chapter 6 “The Queen of Aenea Goes Washington Cy ows on ies Cech wes thesia rita ian dhe narranes facto (edn ne fof Slave Gb) an ras EW, Harper ne Lae) to tl tv sors, One ry about an acuows piloage all caenshipn Asian aah publi spherethat Asean Amercan women have hl to take ding the hs ety. a Signage fom sual dominate in domes and bonny sacs Tiere pea" narmes the pgs oF he bon ands fay pie {phere enundauons of the nauon fr the peeodo-democate roms Temas hs auhonze thes pce of pepe exponaton, The Cincanny eying of the womens pligannges ofr a com dng so much cc has castcal changed eres adfleen history of the nation to be el not rom tel but rom the grounds of har txperon To name the form of poli suecny ths dal spl baneen mopan and practi caznshup engender, thi chaper nto- dhceesnonor of Dts Gazenshp. The second toys chapter tel of Diva Gezcshup tet pore for generatng fet and pins Sevan respon vo deinocase cele ims ind of hrc ‘peace, For fthe Diva cae aver nial he rand sale of ‘Donal her or hs very succes ato conibues tothe prvauzation of Craven by indeaung that ndidal wl akon might wansform the public per and dole the rrchice of explo tha onserte the mata condivon of contmgorey eacona fe 1 The Theory of Infantile Ciuzenshup ‘When Americans make the pilgrimage to Washington they are tying t© ‘asp the nation ints totality. Yer the totality of the nation wn sts capital cexy ajumble of historical modalities a transitional space berween local and national cultures, private and pnblie property, archaic and living. antfacts, the national history thae marks the monumental landscape and the everyday life temporalines of federal and metropolitan cures. That 1s to say, 18a place of national madition, where a vartery of nationally inflected media come into visible and sometimes incommensurate con- tact. As a borderland central ro the nation, Washington tests the capac: ‘ues ofall who visit it: ths testis a rest of citizenship competence. Usually made with families or classmates, the tap to the eapital makes pedagogy 2 patrionc performance, one in whxh the tourst “playing at beng ‘Amencan” is called on to coordinate the muluple domains of tme, space, sensation, exchange, knowledge, and power that represent the seene of what we might eal “total” atizenship.' To live fully both the ‘ordinariness and the sublimity of national identity, one must be capable not just of imagining, but of managing being Amecican. ‘To be able to fee ess fractured thanthe nation self would be, indeed, a privilege. Audre Lorde tells a story of her familys one visit to Wash- ington, in 1947-? Lorde’s parents claimed to be making the exp t0 com memorate their wo daughters’ educational triumphs, an cighth grade and a high school graduation. The trath is chough, that Lord's siscr Phyllis was barred from accompanying her graduating class on sts ccle- bratory visit to Washington because she was African American and ‘Washington was a southern, segregated city, not at all “national” in the junidical or the democrauc sense. The Lorde family refused to ackow edge racism as the catalyst for its own private ourney. Rether, patriotismvas the tourists’ aliby, a blinding one chat enabled the parents to deny tna was everywhere visible: thar racism isa national system, “Lorde relates that whenever the family encountered its unfreedom 9 ‘envor certain spaces of private proper, no one would acknowledge the trony: that although “public” monuments like the Lincoln Memoral allow Aftican Americans ike Audee Lorde and Maran Anderson access to a space of symbolic national identification and mclusion,S the very ordinary arrangements of life in Amenca, eatung and sleeping, were a5 Forbieen to the Lorde family in Washingron as America rselfs to those. suithout passports This is to say that in Washington the bar of blackiess exposed contradicnons berween regimes of democracy and property, cffecively splitting the idealized nation from the capitalist one, while ‘each nonetheless governs the defining terms of U.S. atzzenshup.* ‘Stil, they scheduled ehetr vite to Washington on Independence Day. ‘When Lorde bitterly remarks on her elle from the America that patrio tus depies, symbolized in general bythe apartheid ofthe capra, and in parneular by a waitrss’s refusal tole: the family celebrate the nation's bieehelay by cating tee eream they had paid for msde a restaurant, she describes eas the line she steps over from chikhood to somethang ese, a tlifleent political, corporeal, sensanonal, and aesthene “adulthood” “The waitress was white, and the counter was wine, andthe ice ream L never ate in Washington D.C. thae summer I left childhood was white, snd the white heat and the white pavement and the white stone mond ens of my first Washingron suznmsr made me sick to my stomach” Lord's education” in national caluu: provoked a nauseated unlearning of her patriotism —“"Hadn't T written poems about Bataan?” she com- plains while resolving, again, 0 write the president, to give the nation nother chance to not betray her desire for it—and this unlearning, ‘whch s never complete, as ie involves leaving belund the politica fart of childhood, cleaves her permanes-ly from and to the nation whose promises drew her parents to unmigrate there and trew herself vo iden: By asa child with a concepe of nauoval identity se was suse she woul fujfil when she grew into an adult cxuzen, “Thus essay explores a particular national plot: the pilgrimage to Wash- angton® It foauses not on a news or a biographical event bur on an episode of the popular weekly cartson tclewsion show The Shpsns titled “Me. Lisa Goes ro Washington” It will also engage the other tour- Jst/ citizenship pilgrimages this episodic rovises, notably Mr: Susrth Goest0 Wassington (die, Frank Capra, 1959). In so domg 1eseeks to describe the ‘Tocory of bette Cinzznship 27 ‘ways the fantasy norms of the nation form simultaneously produce nor- ‘mauve political subjecuviey and create public spaces of exaggeration, irony, or ambivalence for altemnanve, ss nationally focused, or just ‘more critical kinds of politial identification. This chapter aiso deals with a particular conflic about identity tha is currenly raging in the United ‘States: berween a patrionc view of national ener, which seeks to use ‘densification with the ideal nation to tramp or subsume all other no- ‘nons of personhood, and a view thats frequently considered unpatrionc and victim-obsessed, in which eitizenshp alk takes as sts main subject the unequal material conditions of economic, socal, and polisicalstrug- gle and survwval. Thar cis struggle over cierzenship 1s often about the lives and experiences of racial, gendered, and sexual minorities and the ‘working class means that its story will Frequently seem co be solely about subalrern bodies and idenuties, which kear the burden of representing Aesre for the nation generally. But, as We will ses, once the national body 1s eshumed from the crypr of abstraction and pur on display, everyone's story of c1azenship 1s vulnerable to dramatic revision. ‘This investigation of polital subjecniiry and its mediations ~on the body, in the media, nthe nation —antraduces one other type of tradi- tional ctizen, one that complicates the sory of national identiy politics Thave been telling, This emnzen form figures a space of possibilty chat uwanscends the fractures and hierarchies cf national life [call itt una tile ciuzen. The infantile citizen of the United States has appeared in politi writing about the nauon at least since Tocqueville wrote, 1n Demwerney sn Amenca, that while cittzers should be encouraged 10 love the nation the way they do their families and their fathers, democracies can also produce a spectal form of tyranny that makes citizens like chil- dren, infantilized, passive, and overdependent on the “immense and rutelary power" of the state7 Mr: Sith Goes t9 Washington brings ths orm into its elassie modern representauon: as JefTerson Smith (James ‘Stewart) comes to Washington to put miuonalist ideology into poliacal practice, he is called, among other things, “a drooling snfane” and “an anfan with litle fags ta his Gist” The iafanile citizen’ ingenvousnes frequenuly seems a bad thing, a poliuealsubjecavity based on the sup- pression of cnucal knowledge and a zesulung contraction of einzenshup to something smaller than agency: paciouc inclination, default social membership, or the simple possession of a normal national character. [Bur the infantile eizens faith inthe navon, which is based on a beliefin the state's commitment co representing the best interests of ordinarypeople, is also sad to be whar vtalizes a person's patriouc and pracucal attachment ro the nation and to other citizens. Tocquevilles observation tums out to bea very complicated ane about the paradoxes of political subjecovity in the United Seates. Central to the narrative mode of the pilgrimage to Washingron, and so much other national fanrasy, 1s 2 strong and enduring belief thatthe best of U.S. national subjectvuy can be read in its childlike manifestations and in a polity that organizes 15 public sphere around a commitment ro making a world that could sus- tain an wealized infantile exizen.* ‘To begin co give substance to the paradoxes, limuts, and dreams coded in this ideal citizen Form, here 1 a synopsis of “Mr, Lisa Goes to “Washington.” Young Lisa Simpson wins a trip to Washungton (“all ex penses paid”) by wnting a “fiercely pro-American” patriotic essay for a ‘contest that ter father, Homer Simpson, discovers in a complimentary copy he receives of a magazane called Rendinyy Digest. In Washungron the family stays atthe Watergate, vis fictional national munt, encounters ‘Barbara Bush in het White Flouse bathrub, and comments on nauonal monuments, Then Lisa accidently wienesses a congressman recewving @ bribe (one that would preespitate the destruction of her beloved home- ‘own national park by corporate logging interests). Enraged and embie= teced, she tears up her prizewinning essay abour the nation form's natu ral beauty, and substitutes for ita new essay about how Washingron truly “stinks” As a result, Lisa loses the national jingotsm contest, and along vith ther simply patriotic belief i she promise ofthe natonal. A Senate page witnesses her loss of fath in democracy, and calls his senator for help. Within ewo hous the Fat has piled the erooked congressman, who instantly becomes a born-again Chnstian. On witnessing the effects of hhee muckraking, Lisa exclaims, “Te system works!” What could she possibly mean by this: We will erurn to the question of systems leer. ‘have described the aspects of ths ploc that rend to be repeated in the other pilgrimage-to-Washington narratives. Someone, exther a child or an innocent acute dentified wah cildsen, goes to the capital. The exe of her/his innocence illieracy emerges from an ambivalent encounter berveen Amenca asa theoretical iceairy and America asa site of prac ‘al polities, mapped onto Washington itself. Because children cannot read the codes, they disrupt the norms of the national locale: their wnfan- bile citizenship operates the way Cskar Negt and Alexander Kluge pre dlictit would, elictng scorn and derision from “knowing” adulr extzens butalso a kine of admiration rose these same people, who can remem- Theory of Infinite Cirzenship 29 ber with nostalga the me that they werc“unknowng® and belive in the capacity of the nauon to be practally wropian ‘Asis ctaen adultshave lord forge? orto render as mprac cal, nave, childish their wropan polis identifications n order vo be politically happy and cconomiallyfnetonal. Confronting the tension bersieen utopia and history, the fan citizens stubborn nafveté gies her/him enoerous power to unsettle expos, and reframe the machine cry of maton life. Thos the potent! catastrophe ofl vitro Wash ington: Can national identifeanon survive the practical habitadon of everyday life im the nanonal locale? Can the een tours gain he crincl sills for living nationally wthout losing faith m the nanon- sexes capacity to promde the wisdom and yusuce it promises Is the xzopian horizon of national ent its paramnesia or Zien “anrasy” that covers over entrenchad contradicons anc lacks in a+ tional culture? Are nave infil cizenshp an paralyzed cynical apa thy the only postions a noxmal or moral American can assume? Hiow a jen text answers these questions fas litle to do with the particular infantile camen who gonerte it atonal sis; cas everything > do vith the contradicnons threatening dl” or “fll etzcoship che political public sphere “The tansinon in Audie Locde'slie— from patriotic childhood to les defined bu powerful cage 2 che ravesty everyday lie can make of national proms for justice marks moment in the edition of an Amencan etizen thats rypical ofthe personal and feaonal marraves of the plgomage to Washington. When cinemate, trary, and eles rests fctely represent “Washingtor” a “America” they tconze the conditions of polit subjecsnty nthe United States and refecton the popular medias ways of construcang poincl knowledge ina dine of infant ctxzeashp and eymcal reason. ‘Tey also rllect on the power of the other form that mediates the mon to elf asa dura tangible thing that alteady exists m nature and is history: the national body. After thinking trough st mote lenge the diferent tenes ofthe non mash mediation {wil era co The Sipe it prods the patron ideology ‘of national denty without bursting utopian bubble. “Teta of Citscenship ‘Audre Lorde’s story takes place in 1547, a parncularly incense time for US. self-reflection on what citizenship was about, Stephen Hath ate_gves tha recent dramatic developments in global medi eultre have so ‘hanged the conditions of polincal subjectvty har the category “eit fren 1s now archaic. Many worthy theonsts of television concur, ar jing that che ruptural force of is technologies and the monopolistic feridency of its captalizanion have radically transformed ehe material ‘conditions and normaaive representanons of national clnure and polit cal agency. Tt 1s now a commonphce in television cniesm 10 say that the steuccue of televisual experience promotes the annihilation of memory and, in particala, of historical Knowledge and political self understanding, This may be an effec of its ontology and ideology of Sjiveness?” winch encourages mass subjective absorption in the present tense through regimes of banality, distraction, anterminable “flow,” and periodic eaastrophe or scandals may bean effect of che mplicress of apral in generating the aura of “fre” entertainment (which makes the ‘Consumer's engagement with commereaized renderings of eontempo: rary power, history, and ident both the problem and che critical prom: tne ofthe medium); 1 may be an effect ofthe “global” images that have ‘com to saturate the scene of consumption, solictung consumer ident- ficauons toa postpolitical and postational utopia of “culture” and con- fusing the era of che present tense wih an inumnent yet obscure Fuses cor moat likely, sc may be an effect of some combination ofthese factors.” ‘But because in all areas ofits mode of producuon elevision encounters, ‘engages, and represents both the soaal and poliueal routines of uzen- ship, and because t underscores the activity of asumauing and reflecting ‘on a well as simply having a nationalidenuay, the problem of generating, memory and knowledge in general 2ecomes fraugre with issues of na tional pedagogy, of how to represent what counts as patsiousm and what counts as criacism to the public sphere.!? Tf, as Ihave described, the pligrmage to Washington 1s already all about the activity of national pedagogy, the production of national cul- tute, and the constcution of compersnec1uzens, the specific role of mass Iediation in the dissemination of gavonal knowledges reoubles and Joops around the formation of national identity. Theres nothung archate bout ciuzcnship — instead, its sigosand cadences are changing. As Mar- zgaret Morse argues, television makes history by annexing older forms of national selCidentity, culraral literacy, and leisure.!* te does this conti- ‘uously to reacclimate consumer idertficauons during structural trans {dons in astional and international public spheres. In these conditions of ‘uneven development, the work of nedia in redefining eitzenshup and ‘Theory of fentile Citcemsbip 31 framung what can legitimately be read as national becomes more, not tence ayaa of pla Henny posmoder American ‘This sto say that the definitional fed of citizenship —denoting sum. ple kdentification by a national identity category a reflexive operation of gency and criticism, or a mode of social membership—1s precisely what 1S under contestation, as the development of what we might call “mass nationality” changes the face of powes, both in the United States and globally. Consider, for example, the escalanng claims made on behalf of televised populist town halls, conservauve talk radio, and elite “expere” insider-culture talk shows, that they are sites where the core nation re- veals itself to utslf; or track the constartly changing stream of represe tauve men who replace each other on magazine covers because, at pat= tncular moments, they represent ro the domanant media the current state of political hegemony; or follow the trycetory of the publi diseussion, pursued in chapters, about what kind of face can be said to be the “true” face of America, a game of representauve naming that encodes concerns about whether the histones and struggles of people of color, especially among the U.S. working and nonworking poor, will be deemed leg ‘mate subjects of patnoue discourse, stare policy, and ordinary seca i All ofthese modes of publicity are normative technologies of eitizenship that sock to ereate proper national subjects and subjectivites, Yer even as they do this, by ntensfying certain social antagonism in order to con- solidate specific interest groups, all these invalved in the production of mass nationality would say that dhear main concern is with serving cx szcns by bringing. truly democeauc public sphere unto being, “The question of how publicity mediates the form of proper nationality predates the postmodern televisual moment, and requires a much longer investigation than will happen here. Baefly, since The Birth of a Nation and Mr: Soe Goes to Wasbington, plgamage-to-Washington narratives have foregrounded the problem, ple, and promise of different media in the busines: of making astionaliy and making i¢ personal co eins; many also show the casts ofthe mass media's ontral aver the terms and scenes in which critical nanonal identificauons are produced, even while these technologies are also considered vital for any sense of a atzenship inthe United States thats poliveally agentive. A film like Jn Conutry (di. Normar Jewison, 1989) epitomizes one kind of ease in which the routes to exizenship are traced, where the central question 1s how to ereate citizens through technologies of na-p tonal memory, technologies that asune an apron distance berveen Tfennuon andthe people” These ar nasties sboue which media will atic producbon oF he nau present tense rom the mater of she pao They foc more on sable communicate ob ike moa aero ares than onthe appaats of mas cu, ee tects ate nonetheless everywrere (le he eens that a ‘Jaa ona foom showy the stared ews stones Of an era) and aacthaetheevdene ofa plo’ loanon i a spec histone mo- seer chs nade aural naan, store of ass aa ke war Tracer ae encoded in plo offamlinertance, wherein zens of Nc pongaunat present ate igueina daughter’ ra sonscoming to we ste generaonal pst hat defines herman ye doce sore ly person Tn Counny, Samantha Hughes (Emily Loyd), dhe daughter of seed Weta ea, i bers era ay om Vice sree at dog tage and proses of his na kid of shoebox muscu jars Reset un aroom where dhe deus fom the ela vale oft uti ao seed nthe 980th archate matt ‘Mostar so much ey color excess. Meanwhile, br mxher fas beromet normal suburb houwife tying to eave de working aera bulls profesional and theses nd Views seem Teer iesdead moment, an adolescent phate the fay avon went through and survived, ule de The wn of ana knw tse pone fr of pay inaes Suan progresely mor ess or every yah heats ra ads above Viewam ian uninshed one, sll pub ke an Mrcaed wounding afer he wat offical coded. Amat oy i sees pmemunsble hae what mbes rama. Surana com> velop devour evry text ane sry soe can un she fe entrely amie, bering ts her own the unconladed tes of ber rand ar cr une snl other Veman veterans (who, tough sor, ret snaly and phyealy dirupted). Samantha eases that so he Howe wa Viewa steam who ave ing with Terbe memores an no econom o esl proypecs the Women Atnoare dspesely yng to produc normaly for the mc, ‘Sacwans conv all of fee poope om ding or becom mere som ce far Lerman obj son she ce, Emmet Sth {eee Wile, 2 sledesuoyig vet who fs ll plagued by the wars {thraton of hs bey senses, Bur who eis the Herapeuce rps “Toeory of fansite Citcembip, 33 tons te postwar eulture offers hum, ineliding every form of alk. At rst Samantha thinks thar celling the war's whole story will cure the wars trauma. Yeras she makes the rounds to ecitanc tell the traumaticstones shess collecting she sees dramatic evidence that repetition just aggravates psychic wounds. 3 Coury stages the image of the successful therapy Samantha finds in the gurativeness ofits utle: a euphemism for being in ‘Viemam, “in country” comes to refer to the rural South, and then to the ‘United Stars. To enter the next stage of her own narranve, Samantha muse break free of the local trauma cucuit and make a pilgrmage 10 Washington, to the classic national monuments, and to the Vietnam ‘Memonal. She takes on her inp her traumatized uncle and her dead fathers elderly mother. ‘Once in Washington, they walk to che memorial and find the father’s ‘ame. The monumental murumalism of the epitaph is stark and moving, collapsing all desperate need for story tito the perfect boundedness of the name. Climbing an unstable ladder, Samantha and her grandmother trace out the leters that spell her father’sname on the stone, and they can barely stay om the inider forall une interse bodiliness their touch enkin- des. Contact with the monument, though, means more than gaining deeper, if prosthetic, mtimacy with the fathers remains (they have more personal things lke his ferers, afterall, to cherish back at ihome). The ‘monument makes the father’s life public: only the ummmoreaizing imper- sonality of U.S. citzzenship can bring Samantha and her family reso lution, happiness, and peace. Engraved sn monumental time, 1 as though us physical self were only now truly dead, a name and not a living story, while n contrast his national self stil lives in a stare of pure and enduring value. ‘This infancle crazen's pilgrimage to Washungton represents the ways solid contact with the nation’s official media can seem to complete ct ‘zens’ unfulfilled lives —and even a relanon of mere seeming can make ‘opamism look plausible, and not deluded. J Conny and many other pillgramage-to-Washingron films argue that contact with the miouuien tal nauon can rurn a citizen's infantilizang age, anger, and crazy-making feelings of betrayal into a calm, stabilized, mature of adult subjecuvnty ready to “let the past go” and, with amesiae confidence, face the pros [pects of the present. On the other hand, the name ofthe father inscribed \with so many others in stone on a national monument portrays the mute historical blank that defines a large par: of the collective and personal ‘content of traumatic poliueal memory.H Inconaato the pllgeage-o- Washington plows hat rare sun tonal pas here another peas of maaan ti volves surng ree momnt that fle menang, This mode of pligmage plots to we war Bede Andeson ar endl ashe Sieg ta be eee ene ea aeriia rete prc niauon of omeat cava eacui" in the seraonof the pgmageo- Washington mate, te Brush vith mas mediated Theory of infatle Citicensiip 35 iuzenship involves a crisis ofthe present tene, and cats the personal expenence of national idennty san overvhelming and excieing shock to the systems of so many alicnated, cynical, ignorant, or almose dead Amencans. Examples abound of this narranve variant, which portays etenthip {through representations of oversmulated poliueal subyecuvity and un tensed nationalist pedagogy." The classic mstance of fighteningly lve ‘nationality x Mr: Soa Gees 20 Wastingtan, whuch popularized the von, ‘vention of using real media personalities i a film about the present tense to authenticate the “news” being made on the spot and manipulated in the filme plot.* (However, a8 11 Ju County, an Mx: Smith national monuments and personal media ike hand-printed newspapers and ear- ‘er pigeons remain the sacred sites forthe formation of trustworthy and tntumate national identifications.) Arc Snath stagesitsstrggle over who controls the meaning of mass citzenshup as a war berween tro neve papers: a big Hearslike ifuenc-pedding paper and a paper, Bay? Suh produce by young Boy Rangers and distributed to “the people” by boys pulling litte wagons. Butelephones, radio, and eclegrume are here even more central commmunicauve devices for the formation of the ‘mass anon. The rapid transmission of real and false information forthe Putrpose of rallying the ‘public intc acuve opinion-making both enables and disables che communicative contexts democracy reqinres, which ‘reans thatthe suuctural criague the fm offers of the aniknowledge ets of US. patnionc ideology tends o get overwhelmed by plots about pursing “good men” in the places where national power becomes conerete As forthe rest of the etzens, they ae aught to accep thet they are, and even desire to be, “average” that is, passive, distant, and telatvely uninformed abour the workings of the national machune, cope an those moments where they are solicted to act nauonally by {Bung opinions, money, blood, or votes." These examples, Lhope, be fin to suggest why television's role mconstrucungthe hegemony of the OFmaLVe nation must be understood! 26a partial, nota determining ‘momicut ina genealogy of crises about publicity, wlcology, and the pro. duction of naonal subjects, ‘More than a struggle to establish a poliucal public sphere, norms of Proper nanonal subjecavity and concepts of socal membership ae st stake in the problem of creating tmages of mass nationality. One other ‘spect of the ways media technologies create national subjects needs ‘iting here, and this concerns the construction of the image archive chat36 Sates thereby veils how historical, contiagent, and incoherent body typologies nt cage tione gaa acne ee Of the subaltern subject. ‘The subaltern body’s peculiar burden of na- ees ane Theory of Infantile Ctizenship 37 dures of offical national culture to become explicit. Ticking the Simp: ‘on family from the ficaonal Springfield, TA, to Washington, D.C, will ths require formulating a logic of nauonal subjectivity feom the bor- rons diverse perspectives and, at the same ume, understanding how those very perspectives become inelevant to both the jokes an the ‘mowing anecdotes the national story ells abou them, Incompetent Citrcens, Jk Koonledye and the U.S. Working Class ‘The uccinfantile ctizen narrative is actually the presidental aurobyogea phy. Currently, the most vital instansiauon of this form appears cnomat, ‘cally every four years at political nominating conventions, where a cam date establishes the valuc of hus “character” by way of an infantile Sitizenship-style autobiography thac casts his pilgrimage to Washington as a lifestructuring project that bagan an childhood (sce also Senare confirmation tesumony speeches sud asthe famous “bootstraps” speech ‘of Supreme Court Justice Clarence Thomas). 1n critical contrast, "Mr. Lisa Goes to Washington” shares with Bors ‘Tateniny (dit. George Cukor, 1950), The Disnguashed Gentleman (die, Jonachan Lynn, 1992), and othec “Washungton” narranves a rhetoric of «stizenship that mitally locates the wlopian possibilities of national iden- tury n the anarchic, fghtening, and/or comie spectacle of somcone’s personal fave to be national, The scene of citizenship = revealed! by \way of events that humiliate an ordiary enize, disclosing hum /her ay someone incapable of negonatng the semioci, economic, and politic ‘conditions of his/her eustence in civil society, And just as the dey work of representing the detritus of a white, bourgeois national culture wil almost inewiably go to the atizens whose shameful bodies signify a seemingly natural incapacity to leave behind the vulgar and become “cultured? the plot of “Mr Lisa Goes to Washington” is embedded not 1 Lisa's story but in the gross acuvines of the failed protetanan father, Homer Simpson. ‘The show begins with Homer opening his junk mail, He is reading ‘what the mail says and commenting sarcastically about the letters, our, "aged by dear mistakes (for example, ane ts addressed to “Hlomer Simp. S07") and their promises of sudden wealth with no risk or labor Yet, for alls eymical knowledge, Homer makes a gravely optimist reading error. Rapacious and desiring to the point of senselessness, he takes 4 ‘representation ofa “winners check” i a Publishers Clearing Hlouse-lke8 contest to bea representation of real money that he has won, He goes to te bank to cash tne million-dollar pseudocheck — which iscovered with phrases like “void void vord” and "Thus 1s not a check? — and ts devas fated to find the “dal” ashe puts t, “queered” ‘Throughout the episode, Homer continues to show himselFincompe enc in the face of money—indeed, in a scene toward the ened he makes ‘the very same error with another check. When the eventual winner of the patriousm contest symbolically shares his prize with Lisa, a prize repre= sented by whar the young man call an “oversized novelty check” Homer yells from the audience, “Give he> the check!” and then, amidst every- ‘one’s laughter, protests whiningly. “I wasn’t kidding” At every moment ‘that money appears in the show, Homer has no understanding of it— unlike Bart, who understands and exploits to his great pleasure the ambi- guuy of the word “expenses” in the phrase “all expenses pata” In con- tuast, Homer is surprised and bezayed at his constant discovery that even in Washington money isnot “free” ‘What Homer does do well is izool and moan and expose himself compulsively ike an idior relegated ro his insipid appestes. Immediately aficr his humiliation by the nonnegonable pseudocheck, he becomes, lierally, che “bute” of more jokes about freccom, personhood, and ‘money: recovering from the shock of hus ineptitude with money he stands up and shows the Simpsons audience che tap, cracked pat of his parmally exposed reat, This 6 the natal perspecnve from the bottom “Mi. Lisa Gocs ro Washington” establishes, the baseline of political in- ‘competence. Like a bald spot or an unzipped fly the crack of the butt \wunks at the cruel superior public raat knows how to use money, how to distinguish between real and false checks, and how to regulate ts body.2? Homer has no capacity to think abstractly, oto think, period, as wien, facing a sheaf of freshly made money, he drools on the head of a worker atthe Mint, or when he selinghteously spurters, “Lousy, cheap coun- ‘ey! on leacmng thar the Mint does not give out free samples. ‘There are many other instances in ths episode of Homer's humiliation, by the tacit text of bourgeois nazonality. Recewving his free copy of Reading Digest completely changes Homers life, as well s the life of his family. Homer becomes so excited by getting knowledge about the world on a scale fe ean comprehend (exciting narratives, little sound bites) that he tries sincerely 10 enter che public as someone with lan guage and knowledge, Buc his working-class bruishness is constantly broadcast, like his butt in the earlier scene. For example, ater the tr lumph of Lisa’ essay inthe “Veterans of Popular Wars” contest, 2 contest Theory of Infantile Citscenship 39 ge el sup of young Liss fo o for having wean such bea esay The ge ope, “Metin smc descent ea an deeds to nerve Homer. Homer becomes sanmg nthe fac ofheriterogaton, Avaecal he po pot orang surweddescening tom sechabooe lar ones down fre" food at theconvenconin Hshngton Hotness ane haguags, ue t momen when henry an tonmean eee lus life has been improved by reading Read ng Dj . rung Dig. Speaking tos spokeswoman forthe maging hens bt bo hick eho would adequately atest to his ve ofthe magne osha eee secnong then sr btw unable etn he noma ea ng ths chain of signs: V (ery) 1 linponat) P teen soul forhes none of hesechings Who noncofdesoen conn tence of person who has knowlege abot mons ode enone wha Geos prc led the sane muses consumer sadsicon’ “Who vale hae tongine Lee sa, “thar reedingor wang wena poy =" “Have. Yas Ever Ren ant Any Problns Because of Your ‘Supersor Ability?” Lise Sirason, Sonart Gut Citten hc Hom os” hen dls is wie, Mage, coms am by showing the “hee” Rainy Doorn havereeeeaie on kee Dvn (sy Holey) karmaponegouse oe epee‘of power through print and odher national media in Borst Yesterday, Ho- nce becomes 2 quast mellectual while he reads the magazine: he pull the chileiren away from a “period” film they are warehung on television, about the Anglo-American theft ef land from Nauve American nations (ovhicls depicts a white preacher telling an “Indian chief” thar the tribe's homeland will be more valuable if dhey abandon and arngate st) and reads them a tclife adventure stay; he is caught reading on the ob at the nuclear power plant by Mr. Burns, who asks his assistant, “Who is thas bookworm, Smithers? ... Fis job description clealy specifies an iterate”, he reeds “Quotable Notables” as a substitute for eating Inch. But when Homer reads that Reaaing Digest sponsors a patnove cssay contest for children, he losestncerest in the magazane and throws ‘out, This is when “Mr, Lisa” takes over the plot: fishing as usual dhrough the garbage of her familys affecuons to salvage some emotional capital, she becomes, as Bat says, “tie pony to bet on”” ‘Of what does Lisa's smartness and comperence consist? When she first attempts the patriotic exsay, she 2rops @ book in front of herself, ties ddusifully to quote Ben Franklin and to narrate how a bill becomes law. When this form of quotational parronsm falls, Mr. Lisa tries another tack, and bicycles to Springfield National Pack fr further inspiration, In so doing she derives the authority of het interpretation from the nanon’s jpuraive alliance with narure. Inthe theory of this alliance the United States isa domain of value unrouched by history or hierarchy: the ma tion's priceless essence is Jocated in what transcends the world of practi caleiizenship, with its history of sanonally sanctioned racial, sexual, and economic exploitation. (This conjuncture of nature and nation directly cites Me Smtr Goes to Washington, an which Jefferson Smith expresses his ational feeling by writing legisauon that would establish a nanonal ‘summer camp for underprivileged boys: there, the boys would be turned into infantile citizens through the “American values” that would be in- cculeated in them by immersion ia the nation’s natural order.) “Ameria, Inspire ste?” Lisa says to the pack, and a bald eagle straight from the ‘national seal lights in frone of her. Ths collaboration of nature and the National Symbolic anumates Lisa, who then writes passionately, not from books, but naturally, from feeling. The show provides a montage of the speeches by several “patricts of tomorrow” in which Lisa's speech takes top honors. ‘During this litle speech-making montage, the “nation” imagined by uns youth isusvall signified bya 2astel national map marked by the Kinds oflocal-color images that airport postcards often sport, by some regional ‘Theory of infacite Citizenship 2 accents, and bythe homely pon-ourpuns and metaphors of Ame children. f i tones ‘So burn that fag ifyou rust! Buc before you do, you'd better burn. «few other things! You'd better burn your shire and your pants! Be sure to bum your TY and your car! Oh yeah, and don't forget to burn your howe! Becase none odes things would es witout sbi red stripes, seven white stipes, and a hellava lotta stars! (Ne! son Muntz, Springfield, TA, “Bum, Baby, Buca”) : Reape for 3 Fee Cony: Micon caper wh thst _poons ofc Aa one nfrmal cette Buel wise fone Soro tacos of sn cal Inc. (Anon ge Rosen ou, Recap ora Fe Country”) m ‘My back s spineless. My stomach is yellow, Iam the American non: YoEE, (Anonymous boy, Mobi, Akama, “The Amencan Now fore") Ding dong The sound ofthe Lie Be. Dg he Liter ek Ding Freedom, Don Opportuniy. Ding Excl Scho. Dong Quali Fospok, (Anonymos os, Ques, New Tok, “Ding Do”) ‘When Ameria was born on that 10t Jul 7 rat vot July day in 1776, the tres in Springfield Forest were tiny saplings, wembling towards the sun, and they wore nursed by Mother Ea, sooo di uA ling nauoa find sorength mn the simple xleals oF equality ar lity and justice, Who would have thought such mighty oaks of such a powerful ation could grow out of something so fragile, so pure, Thank you. (Lasa Simpson, Springfield, TA, “The Roots of Democracy”) “Teresa cenan eur to ha counts nue az’ pat uc ena thangs of tomlin and evra mus nocouang Berl cen ane requr thecoploymenctaooes sec thet Fm soe al aya rope the een, the the mappa ton iene tunes, “Resp ra free Coty aes end cn pled arg thet bao eazensup and bad goverment se fons of bad mumneon a threaten he body poi Why does Ls tn she simply : : empl soar or more eave tn exhe de She wins wth ees, “Te fo of Deno bese sheuses noepsanalogy bts nana clon chat oracleee ee ee “ion er se en Ang of eon inn pose snes pasos No ee ee oe ea: Be De ay alae he Unt Sor wl cara ie rere owe ins hy andoconomsayceblsang ie Darel Shes oftik sul nb pr toga Annan ale one eee mete ciate yop rcld Inout he Wee Hote Src cout oe made solar ces creme ponerse fect ch peck, ngs ROR I es ee and*hngea ne” Even heanerecomest See ance greg Yorn cdg iacrgy e Tc oon dag “Thr tp whence Tome Oe Soe Siesta cs We ee ees ee ees eel a boli invuneable, nelle. Akhoug he superior oe Seco) a eye cen eae a though nage pal pana sess Sets he elim raya SS eens eee area nee see rece ee es aoe ae ce stone em mgpamshcc ee eee ee natal Stops nth pode Bar te public surely koowe he em miele na sof eon re awh cb ace drapes sn exloesons oft tounge ble shere er ny conimed flores comedy sede hes hrc flow rund wey epsde wh se apc ar Sc gh ns an fr hr ager ele o> ee ee Chea ofl an! npuge ma tom Dod pes Aca ventas Ceara acs patos thar ae vel sa er cee ‘Tranona, Therapy, and Nastounl Basensy: The Systems Works” eveling in his/her level of ‘While each of the Simpsons is finding and reveling sn hs/| national (in}competence, the federal nation 1s uself busily comupang, Theory of Infitile Cticenship 43 {he natural symbolic, and economic forms that variously inspite the Simpson family. Scandslous national eruption is actly everywhere in ‘he episode: the family stays atthe Watsrgate; their bank adverse self a8 “nota savings and loan’; Homer scoffs, “Yeah, right” ata sign in the White House bowling alley that clams Nixon bowled back-to-back ‘hree-hundred-point games there; Tedly Kennedy sits at the parnionsm award ceremony looking formless and disipared; Lisa's congressman is shown eyncally exploring hee for a photo opportunity (a form of pre ential mass mediation invented, of coutse, by Nixon} Bur when Lisa witnesses the bribe that threatens to despoll Springfild National Park, the tact knowledge of national corruption the show figures via “Nixoniana” becomes itself the explicit ground of a counter ‘ational symbolic ordes, produced by an enraged Lisa. The show figures the politcal meaning of her rage through a genealogy of aesthetic forms With which national eniucism and pamionism have been waditonally organized and mediated. The transformation of consciousness, sem Sulit, causality, and aesthetics Lisa experiences i, again, typical ofthe infantile cizzenship story, in which the revelation ofthe practical impos- sibility of uropian nationality produces gothic, uncanny, miaculating effeees on the infantile persons whose minds are being transformed by “auc? not idealized, national knowledgs Lisa's path roward becoming a ciuze? with complex knowledge fol: lows the double logic of citzzenshup technologies outlined inthe prev. ‘ous section: from sentimental experiences ofthe nation through contact with its monumental media to politcal experiences of it as a mass ‘mediated, crisis-oniented site of mntensiied publiiy. I have described how, in stage one of List’ polincal education, she immerses herself in ‘the culture of fecings organized by the National Symbolic, Then, cary tn the morning of the day she is schecued ro give her patnoue speech, she visits a monument from which she can borrow another rush of na, ‘onal inspiration, The monument Lisa wits is fictional: its the “Win. hifred Beecher Howe" Memonsal, which is sa to have been raised 1n tsibute to “an early crusader for womee’s rights [who] led the Floor Mop Rebellion of 910)” and who later “appeared on the highly unpop lar 75 een piece” Howe's motto, “I Will Iron Your Sheets When You Iron Out the Inequites in Your Labor Laws,” measures the absurd space of Lise's ‘magunary relation to American national. Given the way patrtote dis ‘course normally veils nauonal captalism's undemocratic effects and rele- ates women’ value to the private sphere, its ludicrous to hunk that the‘Teory of fale Cinzensbip 4 ‘United States would honor as an ideal citizen a female labor acavist who Jed demonsteations against the exploitation of women's works 1s ab- sure to think that the nasion would preserve in stone the wild ungov- cerned state of a working-class housewife’s body in messy domestic 1e- tga, But Lisa does not noce this absurdity, which exsts only for the rudience: the United States in which se lives has a tradition of respect tng class struggle, women's polincal efforts, and female citizenship in general. Instead, Lisa's disaffection ftom the nabon form arises when she sees her congressman take te bribe. ‘Lisa s heartbroken. “How can I read my essay now, ifT don’ believe my own words?” To solve this sosl-wrenching problem she follows fas- tidiously inthe tradition of Me Sant Gocs to Washington and The Littlest ‘Rebel (dit. David Butler, 1935), and many other pilgrimage narratives, by rumnung to Abraham Lincoln Lisa looks up from the reflecting poo! atthe Lincoln Memonal and assrts that “Honest Abe" will “show me the way” Unfortunately, the Lincoln Mental overerowded with ‘Ameeicans obsessed with the sarse possibly. In Mr. Sil the crowd mills around the monument walls as child reads aloud the “Geuysburg ‘Addeess”” a montage of white people, Jews, and African Amencans ‘meage in rapt appreciation of a bygone world where a visionary man ‘would risk making the nation ano a practical utopia forall members of “the people? In “Mr, Lisa’ the same crowd reappeats in eartoon form, this time projecting questions to Lincoln's stony, wise, conic face. They ‘ora and degraded punarchal working cass pracy to nauontagea literate middle-class romantic intimacy. Alas, Jefferson's cartoon satve4 achieves with a"sang” Shicey Temple (in The Fite Rete) ah v Lincoln what Jf Smith ae Lisa Sianpson dream of they took ais statue: intimacy with che presidenes body. (Above) wn accomplishments are comparatively yells at Lisa, eesenting that his P se underapresate by the ignorant Arpencan people at she sinks 2a Resung, dete, on the Capra tps, Lis sss conversion expenenct ‘Right in front of her very eyes federal workers in there white-collar st tutn anto pigs, their true, symbolic selves: there 1s a brief musie video ‘Theory of yfantile Cinzenchip 7 during which she ses the federal pigs wit skins engraved in the mode of dollar bills scratch each others’ backs, gorge themselves at troughs overs brimming with cartoon dollar bill, and then wipe their mouths on che fag. ‘This mutation ofthe cartoon (in the style of Thomas Nast and others) places this episode of Tir Simpsons ina classic American genealogy of rinea! editonal cartooning, where nagonal etticizm takes the form of | deeply fle sareasm, Moreover, che gluntonous snorting of te pigs refers to Homer's own grotesque greedy excesses, thus retroactively reframing thecclass hierarchies and incompetence of ational culture that che Simp son family embodies mto what is truly repulsive, the patriarchal and economic corruption of both the National Symbolic and the U.S. federal system. The migration of U.S. grossness from the working classes tothe state nsclf is reflected in the change Lis forces when, the scales having. fallen from her misty eyes, she changes the top of her essay from “The Roots of Democracy” to “Cesspool on the Potomac” Bur this explosion of the affect, vision, sensation, and aesthetics of ‘normative American citizenship i followed by yee another dislocation in Lisa's experience of being national. Ths involves resituating her inthe censis logic that makes modem exizenshup not monumental, but elect. “Mr. Lisa Goes to Washungeon” makes this transition in a montage so- {quence that takes place at the moment the Senate page beholds Lisa's loss of faith in democracy. The page telephones a senator; the F51 entraps the corrupe congressman, on videotape; the Senate meets and expels him; George Bush signs the bill; a newspaper almost instantly reports the congressman's imprisonment and conversion to.a born-again conscious ‘ness; Lisa says, “The system works!” ‘Asin the telephone, telegraph, newspaper, and popular media mon- tage sequence of Mr. South Goss Washiagrom, The Simpsons produces na- ‘tonal citiism through a tansformauon of time, space, and media that snvolves shifting ftom the lexicon of patioric monumentality and classi ‘al national representation co accelerating posuinern media forms: video, microchip bugs, cameras, late-edltion dally newspapers. In add- ‘ton, here the FBr’s mastery establishes it as the guardian of America, ‘much asin the films Gabrie! Over rue Wise Howse (dit. Gregory La Cava, 1933) and The Pelican Bree (dic. Alan Pakula, 1993). in contrast to the corrupt and lazy focal pnt media of Mr: Sunt, The Simpsons, and dozens of other pilgrimage-to-Washingron films, mass-media formations are the real citzen-heroes here. Televisual techrology itself becomes the repre-8 sentative ofthe “average man” who nses above his station, protected by I agents who seek fo clean out and preserve all sorts of punty: of language (the FR agent uses a southern draw in his crimunal guise and reverts toa television announcers “pure” generic intonations in bis"real" persona asthe police), ofregion, znd of the stream of fast that connects residents of che “mythical” Springfield, TA, to the nation that represents ‘America in Washington, In two minutes of celevision time and nwo hours of accelerated real ‘ume, then, tte national system heals itself, the cesspoo! is cleaned ou, and nature returns “home” tothe discourse of national growth. Nothing, {eels complicated about dus swift transformation. The performance of mess media-orchestrated polineal culsure reveals che official or norma: ‘ave national culeure industry to bea system of meaning in which allegory 15 the nesthexe of pole! reali at every moment of successful national discourse, Allegorical thinking bps to provide ways of explaining the relation between individuals’ lives, the life of the collectviry, and the story of the nation form atself. Bur much less bemgn things can be said about the normauve deployment of national allegory. As all of the infantile cluzens patrion essays saurically remind us, the overorganiz- ‘ng image or symbolic tableau emerges poliveally at certain points of structural cnsis, helping to erase she completes of aggregate national memory and 0 replace its inewuably rough edges with a magical and consoling way of thinking that ea be collecively enunciated and easly manipulated, like a feush. In this way, for example, patniousm can be equated with proper citizenship. This means that the poliueally un vested overorganizing image is akind of public paramnesia, a substitu- tion for traumatic loss or uncepresentable comradictuon that matks 1s own conungency oF ficaveness while also radiating the authonty of in sider knowledge that all euphernisms possess. Extending from these sources of collective imagination, hegemonic allegones of the soctal ap- ‘pear to confirm inevitabilivies anc eraths where strange combinations of seructute and chaos reign behind the ereen of the sign, “The competent citizen knows this about the hypocrisy of nationalist rhetoric, and learns how to read conveniently and flexibly becween the lines, thus preserving both utopian national identification and cynical pracocal ctzenstup. Nothing shows this berter than this episode of The ‘Simpsons, which criaques the comupt world veiled by patniotc bromides via pastiche and broad jokes rather than leaving anyone with a bad taste in het mouth, This temporalizig or narrative mode of resolving ques- nuons about the way power dominates bodies, value, exchanges, and ‘Theory of ifesile Cnsencbip 4 dreams inthe ton pbic sphere ypkal of he afnecizensip nr for marae emporio ccns hat mh abo Bese, sted sa proean yt carter by contentlect aa ce evens. AS, we Liam "The jn word" sccmbedle oe Reagan ‘pare of tomorrow? becuse desea he powoae poe age prerogative sc has wanes she conan to Dvds soo. fe eas tht" ey este nm oF and tat wl good maton wl avay emerge herly to sou on the bad one. - — eae “Sputbals Are Not Fre Spee Lave deed bow in ML ; sat atm ery Hee plumage t Washing, aon nonin tnd symbole vane pint, radio, and television news coexist with other popular ph 7 phenome He tering ell aga athe Regen bush re wires the tare lang in isione Sree ove Siam and intheabuey ofthe Noon meeeay chars ut inden withthe laste ot nanaune of awed ren wn de moon ng pon o ger rp imermed Ilene de emsoa tenes dates tentook, Rar Dias, sunelae es aod one et ioral sc ae trough mo casuron, coeeees ie Insc eames sma aa pena re ported he beng atathe ie eee cadnda ett cum otc moa ochteackees nee ee to mak te cei of amy non knoe snap aca Segre sh : th ny mull of mea foe ss wo aks rocagag the pats of parionsm sel, ods of collecve encanta have boo She opane ofp or “ean” bea gener fa ore hve best atl twat smn Gn pl a ke sther wopan or rapeaabledomete Palued spent ee Snon ofs pation yourh ae mate codcsinrers poems crn nant ode of poco inhi Bil nee spperaceson Mr Reg Neghlroe re endse conse se he more exesion ofthe hoa au oe ae coones oe Unne Suy, who se asd wens ahs ooh ee tempered oe loving ete ae Thus tos9 at aseon dn Se aytem wos coun crn50 1 parodie resolution to her enses of knowledge because consciousness ‘hata system exists at all has become what counts as the weal ped: sgogical outcome of contemporary American politics. Thus, in the chain that links the fetus, the wounded, the dead, and the “children” as the ‘rue American “people? the linkage 1s made through the attribution fo normal-style citizens of a zero-sum mnemonic, a default consciousness Of the nation with no amagination of agency —apart perhaps from vor ing, here coded as a form of consumption. In other words, the national knowledge industry has produced a specific medalty of pararanesta, an incitement t0 forgetting that leaves simply the pattione trace, for real and metaphorically mnfantilized cinzens, that confirms that the nation ‘exists and that we are int, Televison i not the cause ofthis subsarution fof the fact (that che nation exists) for the thing (political agency) bur fone of many vehicles where the distilling operation rakes place, and where the medi itself s wnstalled asa necessary switchpomnt between any locales and any national situation, Lec me demonstrate ths by contrasting the finales of Mr: Sunth and Mr. Lisa? Itisa crucial and curious charactenstic of infancile cinzenship narratives that che accumulation of pict tends to lead to an aeceleration and a crisis of knowledge relieved ftor by modes of sustained erincism but by the quastamnesia of ersstz consciousness. At the end of Mi Sut, Jefferson Smith 18 defeated by the congressional and expralist, ‘manspulation ofthe law, property rights, and the media. Smuth, who has been filibustering and improvising on what discursive virtue might look Jike inthe Senate, s confronted by a wagonload of telegrams embodying. a manufactured public opinion mobilized against lis cause; dispirited tnd depleted, Smuth faints on the Senate floor. His loss of spinit drives Senator Joseph Paine (Claude Raans) to attempt suicide and to confess everything, In the film’ final moments, a hubbub led by Clarissa Seun- cdots (Jean Arthur) clams viecory over corruption, and the mob dances oat of the chambers into, presumably, the streets. [n other words, over tvhelmed by joy atthe vicvory of Smuh’s paruicular truth and vie, Whe fim leaves Me. Smuth lying there on the Senate Boor, unconscious. It feels like a patrione moment. Bur it might be interesting so speculate bout whet Smith would think when he awoke, Would he think the system inad worked? How could he, when s¢ totally failed, or was tee- teningly mamtuned by the fragile conscience of one man with national power? In contrast, atmught seem ths se awakening changes the condition Theory of faite Cinzenship sx of her enuzenshup. Buc her belief inthe “eystem” is renewed by the shoei ‘of national power the televiston-style mia produce for her. By the end, the waste and excess that has dominated dhe ecene of parriousm makes her forget not ust what she knew, bur what she did not know, And we realize, on thinking back ro her speech, that at no point did Lisa know anything about America, She could be snspired by the National Sym- bolic and disillusioned by the enrruptions of capita; she is moved aes- thetically by nature's nation and repelled by dhe boorsh appeutes of both professional and ordinary men, But not at all transformed by het cexpenience of Washington, she merely remembers she had experiences there eeu out nshot, shat Lisa was no tht smart, What mks he all thieway? have described how Amercassplic ito a Navona Symbolic anda capalseysem n*Mi Lis Goes o Wisungton” Burt simp description for anus, just as Bats ofeungpedapogealpnshment onthe casoom bskboan, “pba hot fee speech edcesthe problem of promenig cot speach to ake Joke tet once aga $Mlegoraes the conceptual problematic fedom andi mesa by lo cating plier na cusung body. ikewse, he woler insult wom: cn cdznahp ts catoon absurd dehesnsarasm expres, theepuode, by more corporal grosnce: nthe aferglow othe co resarssale of hs favors tothe bby st while sanding athe foot af the womatismemonal they look t Hove's monument body ands, “Woot woo” and “What pooch” Lis sponse to the evelanon oF sexs and graft not o nko these qualues a he nauonl system, tort Deo an a hat to forms crea comsciouenet inthe place of the pase pron te oficalnauoal culture machane ces to inculcate Hier fst response tt beeme aed Amer, by ‘cng Lincoln and soliatng hs pedagogy. We have sen thers, cob ‘cally even radially, how the everdenuicayon wan nagona eons pes apr ee lear intr Tee not surprising then, tat List so prime! to blew Wht the newspaper tls he about the selfpurlg system of the hagemone maton: ths 1s wy she ean have fh the maton, ee” om te tneumbrance ofa bale owl "The infant cizen has a memeny ofthe nauen anda ete taton tors operation, But no vision of sisted individual or eallecove ent scum and agency acompants the nal sytem hee. The aon]2 culture industry provides information about the United States but has ‘ho interest in producing knowledge that would change anything: sn ‘what sense is tt knowledge, then? To infantilized cxuzens lke Lisa, hav- ing at least a weak understanding of an overwhelming mountain of _material seems berer than nothing, and also the only hung possible. Iris not surprising, in this context, una the two commercials beaveen the ‘opening credits of The Sinypons and the narrative proper—for the US. Army and for an episode of Dr Livny Color that featured the violent hheterosexvalizauon of a gay film enitic— promote the suppression of American gay idennty on behalf cf 2 national fantasy of a military life that, even after the Cold War, is mare vital than ever for (ee) producing ‘ational boyhood and heerosexual national manhood. Its not surpris ing, wn this context, that I could pull the seripe of thus episode from a “Simpsons” bulleun board on te Internet, avast reservoir of knowledge that is said to have “revolutionized” tte prospects of poliucal agency and socal integraton across the nation. Just a6 every pilgrimage-to- ‘Washington narrative deploys information technologies to link the ab- ssact nabonal to the situated loci, underinformed, abjected, and 1de~ alisuc citizen, so too the rhetoric ofthe Internet confirms ts necessity at every moment for the production of the knowledge that every American needs in order to be competent to the most reduced notion of what p ental. Yer a distinguished tradition of collective popular resistance t0 a+ tional policy has taken the form of marches on Washington, by dis- possessed workers, African Amencans, gays, lesbrans, queers, pro- and anachexce acuviss, feminists, verans of popular and unpopular wars, for example. These collecave actives invert the small-town and metro- politan spectacle of the “parade” sonoring local crizens into national acts, performances of catizenshup that predit vores and make metonymic “the people” whom representatives represent, bur they also elasm 2 kind of legitimate mass politcal voice unquely performed outside the voung, ‘booth. On the one hand, mass polincal marches rect, without over ‘coming, the spectacular forms of identification that domunate mass na ‘ional culcure— through individualizing codes of celebrity, heroism, and their underside, scandal—for only in umes of crisis are Americans solic ined co act en masse as citizens whose private patnonic identifications ate andeed nor enougl to sustain natioral culeure ata particular moment. On the other hand, we might note as wel the problem mas political move- ‘ments face in translaung their activities into the monumentalizing cur- ‘Tonory of bfntile Cinzenship 3 rency of national culture. In chislight, we watness how an impersonation fr an icon of poliucal struggle ean eclipse the movement st represents — for instance, inthe umage of Marun Luther King or Louss Farrakhan on the Mall; in the amage ofthe subaltern cinzen in the body ofthe fetus; or in the image, currently domanating nacional culture, ofthe infantile cit ‘zen, too helpless to do anything but know, without understanding, ‘hat means the “nyse ofthe gon ess “rly? Wk es” television wtslE206 ananuery ehehoowes sso uy 19 5y wha dey ne 2nd10 igh she unworthy ones im che rea tems, Ie goes without sag tat dss of counennsurgent mous anand should be apmcote, st Fovanaligel we about the place ofirony a aca eetiny eral sar of muonalsy, e John Caoghl, “Plone Beng American? 27 See, for eample Apps, Matemay ae Lang Domne, Wan de Cant ent Gina al Rapp, Cenc Na Vol Or; Grewal and Kapa, Sea. ‘eel Heyman Kplan and Pease, Guts of US. geno; Rowse, "Than, rough Tranatonalien”. Sohne and Bran Wl, Cll Tosa; Sho 2a San, Uniting Ere; Spon, “The Poe of Tease aad" tng Bit Edeey Tak S ao capers of his book 28 Habsrmas linens the exauston of be topaofbor and pavaeanon of wey ‘both in cootemporary European and 1S. pub spheres in "The New Osun Te Cts of de Welfice Soe andthe Eston of Uoptan Enerpes? in Habe sag, TN Corman, 70 29 On mic econtcrnszation ental mod an condion of ional por sili se Spr, Onsite Teeny Me seid Biba, The Comatment to Theo 49 Jasob Indes the iff Sloe Gil. 31 Marner, imodieuon, Bar efa Qe Hae 52 The fterre an “hienty” asi, very fg: some cramps from 1 whe oes, Te Hl of Ss 1-3, Buk, Ge Dube; Kat, Te anf Heresy; Dateless Engle fer lenny eapeclvcznyb3 Haley ("The Rolie the Cote”) aa Coombe ("The Proper of Calare and he Toso Possessing Eden”); Rowse, “Quescons of Tena”, and Spt, Ons the Tei Acie, For a san thae opens ne compare way oF einking bo ina a5 propery n dhe sf se Pechesky, “The Body as Prope” 33 The biloprapity on the bial rdason Besvees US. ets and cosp sealed quan matory orsubmatosky soba. summanae tin Tei. may of Nevanas Fava, t1=17, 222-23. Foran moran polce-phiosopiiel fengagcmen wah the mans by which culeare of demcane ngs ipo prvlcesa turbulent polis oftace, gee and enn, Biba Ms, Claes, Tea 4 Ebon aguesstrewooslyagunst de curent US. dive ro consign “mei” ‘nes wo the penate orto we sane to daw the boar bers fall rd sncomptentetaaship 2 dente the ves king desoeracy posible. Soe De nora on Ta specu chapter, he Toe of Displacement 37-65 1 The Theory fle Chieti Much shanks oon Anderson, Miche Warr, and he grat cnet te Soc for (Chena Stu forthe erica engagement wih hi psper/ project. 1 Cosgic, “Pying a Beng Amazin? This cupreran dus book ae weed vo Benoit Anderonsparesing week on dhe tedsoloes of “rotons let snc” ha aan mao stats a he uopian form of polis We. See Iugina Notes to Chapter One 267 Lorde, Zam Macin Anderson, an Alcan Arencan oper sas gee a canst tthe Lincoln ‘Memon in 2939 because de fase Dangle ofthe AmereanRevoluzon denied er request ting nde Contiton Hal ‘An excell argument fr thinking about nsuenal/cprai space ca be found in Beran, "Angels Danang” Lorde, Zam, 71 In ation to Aue Lone Zam au the epuod of Te Sino tds Ms Liss Goesto Washington thearchive for thee obsevacons abou fal eizenshipn ‘hensuonalplgamaa locaidudes Te bef Nan a D.W,Grith 191); Wingo Mery-GorRound (ir, ames Craze, 1022); Gabriel One te White Hee (i Gregory La Cava, 1933); The Lite Ree (evi Burk, 1935); Me Suh (Gure Wacington ce Eran Capa 830) Aterae Wagon (ie. Aled Geen, 194); enon Dp (ac loan Exar, 1944), Boos Tsay (ae {Geog Cukor, 1950 remake dit. Ls Mandak, 1993); Tie eye Sard Sto Sil (dic Rober Wie, 1951); Te Mancina Conidte (de Joln Frakenicans, 195); Cana Hee (le al shy, 978) The (le Hal hb, 1979} ln Comiry (ie Norman Jwson, 1989); The Dimgalet Gontenan (die Joethon yaa, 1992); Dav (dan Rotman, 193); The Peo Br cA) Pa, 19933 Foe Cnn (Robt Zemeckis 1954). Ue Ri Dorn tb Fre ey {die Olver Stone. 9} san honorary mee ofthis achive, [lu thank Howard locator aerung ane to he "Ween Toe cps ermal ith Chien, org, nary mer, vO, 250-1, 386-57 [Nepean Klge“Sletions from The Praca Phi Spee Lek, The Sabine Obey Megs, 7-139. For the mun arguments forthe peraseness of ees arts or infmston fugue see Doane, “Iedormason, Crise, Catone Sse aio Fes "Th Canc of Lie Telenson?™ ‘The ongoug pedagogie/onc acu of cewson more why apse ane ‘igh and he moral domination ofthe is by conservatives as Ben eel 0 the nighewng eur agenda ofthe Reagan Bush er, Wht counts “pb 2c, “publi” tlenaion, ar undergone mae eteace efit under te Pressure of cet pseadorepeznatve formar pal open, whose ‘tabled by reference rapped none ores group-based Pols of canscendance thar mus be anderson a fundamentalist nage ‘non of nation of pure, opinionated nuns. For overeat econ “favons onthe et see Lips, Te Pages Nal, "Nletache the Nusa Sdwocs Whit, and Ril Mae Kanade. Morse, “An Ontology af Eveeyday Diaction”™ See Bence Anderson, Ings Chine 37-1, ‘On he manonalis meds cote around the raduenon a recep of Mr Smith Geert Wrhinges, se Erie Smoodins fe *“Campukory View for Every Ch Chesteneen, Re Pir 45-48 ‘Another extensive and hstoaly och anaes ce Si fcuees on maton268 malls contsts in and outside the pt. Sse Wolf: Such Get Washington, * 18 The final faneuon of he nn izen to promt age what the sana rien mus io and bet cxeupy te aaton propery. Nomorebrzen carpe ofthe technology of nermaave pesca be fund tsa nthe fim Henry Daye Howard Esalcok, 1944), whichace out to deine what a good national a dhe sniwer, epeted meesndy dhrouphour che Bm, 1s an average man? Fiber [MeCie ik ll Americans thinks ic above verge, and hath orm Seca denny secures that sus er him, The i dssbses him of seem Dy Linking the pl of hie pgrmageto Washington (1p wi 2 sae prot of «ebuiding postwar nsuon moral) 13 pot that fear thera. pen of Dr {George Gay. Molly MeGze spe Gllp todo naan poll discover wat ln f person the average US a telly. ler wns the awa from Gall i, Fliers wsaled and sows out bu ice reales waa eso is sweragens an then sages a parade down Maun Sze occas other cizens taco proper {serge sempre) eins. 19 Spillers, "Mama's Bay, Papas Maye 20° On the das, gender, nd esl pics ofthe grote in cntemporary AME, seeps, Reading Hirer” a1 Lips, Fine Pages 70-7 22 Ln The anuay of Nevioal Panty we dhe concep ofthe Nata Sy o dsb the archive offen objets ad arraver whore poses foundation for peoduang cizen who identify dmles wither eins ad he formset, 23. On the enralay of he Lincoln Memon oonganing atonal Mention ee memory ee Sanage, “The Lincola amen the Ci Rigs Movement ate ats of Memon, 1939-1983" Foz more global view of eatonlit mom tay that nls curion of Linco enemonsl see Renee Anerson, “Rey ea Auman Late Navona ageing” 24 The bilographiy on asuonal allegory big and complex. For crn srgumes| about postive and negaaye ees ser Ama, ln Toy eso, The Grape alee Live Se (Parental dea spit Maternal) ‘Thank wo Rogee Rouse, Kum Scheppee Michal Werner, ody Grete, snd th gest dienes a the Unisersty of Michigan Russ, Haratd and Beowe for muccedat ‘comersavon and challenge, 1 Andeea Dworkin, quoted in de Gras, Gi Let ac rere, 81 3 Michal Kamen series the parsalsly weed manpulauons of maton nosilgia and ares dung the gestion and roe ofthe Revgante gt sn Mee (Cant of ene 618-88 3 Michael Thang names this scuntor of poly the aon “ate Fuho"Ts se acondion i whch the sate wer aime an agit ofl sory of maton ‘nut to mask te aun’ hecrogenc See “niu: Se Feta" is The Nero Sym, 11-40, 233. Notesto Chapter Tw 269 “Treongmal tats meanc tobe sewed wer sis, Pegg, Femi the Irn; Chester an Dicky, Femme aed Cousnip, Dworkin, Pomp, (Guar and Hosen, or At es Only Hawkinsanl Zing, Page 1 Be Sey tan, Prmagpiy. have ako relanare widely he erate prod ‘on an sme the enue ost of Cathsnn: Mackinnon a ths ess 35 we Of hosted sbove th Bh Fema tex (Asser, Ian, Chester and Dicky) sare wih the work of MacKingoa nd Dwi asense hat se of sel ier ‘nce canor be soled by Save bee eng about onologea selfood, bt us adress the ways che sare and dhe avon frame the conditions of esa cou, and yrds valu. Ofte US. exe dat do ot take a lear perp fare poston, the mes usa Fr Ait Cs Only which chee ‘hinkeatends the feminist debate oer the eats, ees, an poses pore Ply poses for Amentan women. Bu the dscesnon one seal and pie stunted bythe ferent all ‘sso peels of the category “pornogap” long withthe unstaed eee ‘ormauve ampuons (about what “good” sey aoe the Felton ofthe aural and ie normal, about vit "bad rerezennuont do) tat alt always ‘company these dteusion, A serupulous specify necssany for any dics of politcal ezornghe pis whore manonsletare ees macy ers ke sx ‘Thipsswhy thisehaper seks to place ds disa sono atonal sei na conten of hnking the sal poles of eaters he contemporary Une Sites, New Tk Timers Bay 1903: ake this way of thinking aboet the prceses of making an insruti appr ‘ngemowse fom Ckanira Mohan, who ake rom Dorothy Sart Se Many, “Cactrapies fStugae" 116; Dorothy Sth, Te Freya rl Pb lena, 108 Frohnmayer emmys Tam Abe, 3,337, and pas, bi 214,208 Teed 334 Ibid 335 Wodlcko “Homes Vie" has generated umber of consequently, the "moxeiportant of which For dhinking ject, capi an aicnhip Nl Smith, *Comour fs Spats Poles Frohnmayer, Seg Tom cin, 91, 34-25, ‘The “Hsims amendment” 3 oferel tothe US. Seate on Qetober 7, 1980. It reads *None of the funds authored vo be apprpresed psuait oth Act aye dsr, a patency ofesive iy sel or eer ets organ nlaing buried obsess depron omic, home ete te see eplonatonofchiden, or ndindlsengagetin sewal incre” See Coane nd Ren, ss 1980, 135,00. 134: $1967 okamajen eae Tv cli, DeGrai, Girlsean Back Eels 67 Frohnmayer Leary Tm ln, 36, 38-29. De Gezna, Gis ewe Bac eye 4-5, Ibi, 436-37 See aio de Gran, Comopanies