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Lawrence Liang

Is it a Bird? APlane? No, itÕs aMagic Chair

ArenÕt our favorite Superman stories the ones inwhich Superman Ð drained of all his powers byLex Luthor, who has hidden kryptonite in a pill orbehind a painting, take your pick Ð must recoverhis strength to outwit Luthor? Reduced to a pileof muscles, the Man of Steel is momentarilyvulnerable and forced to rely on the onlysuperpower he has left Ð one that we ordinarymortals share with him: his creativity and

imagination. The pleasures of these stories ariseprecisely from the challenge of things not beingideal. Given the perpetual threat under whichSuperman lives, it would not be inaccurate to saythat he flies between the stratospheres of theideal and the impossible. This hovering betweenperpetual impossibility and an absolute potentialalso measures the distance between thebespectacled, clumsy Clark Kent and his alterego. But what if the true alter-ego of Supermanis not Clark Kent, but Walter Mitty, the everymanfrom James ThurberÕs 1939 short story The

Secret Life of Walter Mitty , who dreams his wayinto his absolute potential much like all of us?What if Superman is the necessary fiction thatallows Kent/Mitty to fly, despite the heaviness ofthe real world around them? After all, WalterMitty is the one who really understands that themost subversive power we possess is ourimagination Ð it penetrates walls, stops bullets,flies across the world, and in it we are all light asair.ÊÊÊÊÊÊÊÊÊÊItalo Calvino urges us to take things a littlelightly as we step into the twenty-first century.Enumerating lightness as one of the desirableattitudes to cultivate, Calvino says that when theentire world is turning into stone through a slowpetrification, we should recall PerseusÕs refusalof MedusaÕs stone-heavy stare. To slay Medusawithout allowing himself to be turned to stone,Perseus supports himself on lightest of things,the winds and the clouds, and Òfixes his gazeupon what can be revealed only by indirectvision, an image caught in a mirror.Ó 1 Calvinoreminds us that PerseusÕs strength lay in hisrefusal to look directly, but not in a refusal of thereality in which he is fated to live. But what ofthose who live under the terror of the Gorgon Ðdo they wait for their Perseus, their Superman?For his 2010 documentary on the crisis of theeducation system in the United States, DavisGuggenheim used the appropriate title Waitingfor Superman , in reference to a Harlem teacherÕschildhood belief that a superhero would fix theproblems of the ghetto, and his frightfulrealization when his mother tells him thatsuperman does not exist.ÊÊÊÊÊÊÊÊÊÊThe transformation of Clark Kent intoSuperman is always precipitated by a crisis,

usually one large enough to potentially destroythe world. But what if it is not a monumental

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Pirate DVD stand. Photo: Eunheui.

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end-of-the-world that scares us, but theprospect of losing the small worlds that weinhabit and know: a bookstore disappearing, apublic organization running out of funds, anindependent gallery shutting down?

Scene from the The Secret Life of Walter Mitty where Walter Mittyassumes the role of a surgeon.

ÊÊÊÊÊÊÊÊÊÊThe crisis of funding in arts and culturethreatens to destroy many such worlds with aslow petrification of our sensibilities, and theunderstandable impulse is to despair andbemoan. It is, after all, no coincidence that astate of the economy Ð depression Ð also namesor appropriates an affective state whereby a self-fulfilling prophesy is initiated: an economydrained of capital produces a draining of life. Analternative economy would have to seek alanguage that does not just name a differenteconomic process, but names different psychicenergies amidst the prediction of gloom thatnormally accompanies the retreat of capital fromall forms of life, including creative life. And yet itremains important to maintain that the merepresence of healthy public institutions does notguarantee a richer cultural life, just as theirabsence does not necessitate a poverty ofcultural life.ÊÊÊÊÊÊÊÊÊÊIn his satirical poem mocking the sadpassions of A. E. Housman by emulating hisdoom-filled verses, Ezra Pound writes:

O woe, woe,People are born and die,We also shall be dead pretty soonTherefore let us act as if we wereDead already.

But the fact of the matter is that we are neitherdead, nor indeed is the state of cultural life. Wenow inhabit a paradoxical moment in which, even

as known spheres of cultural life are retreating,we find a simultaneous eruption of energetic

practices and possibilities. A film club in Berlinscreens downloaded films and hands out copiesof the film to the viewers at the end of the film(when was the last time you went to an exhibitionand walked away with the artwork?), cineastes inChina curate samizdat collectible DVDs of worldcinema combining the best of various legitimateDVDs, a website claims to have a bettercollection of video art than the MoMA, and young

people across the world are experimenting withcheaper technologies that bridge the gapbetween the films they see and the ones theysimultaneously make in their minds.ÊÊÊÊÊÊÊÊÊÊIn most parts of the word, the crisis in artand culture is not a new one, and the absence ofstrong state or private support has been aperpetual condition whereby materialconstraints become both the precondition aswell as the context in which various creativeforms find forceful expression. Attesting to thevitality of the electronic everyday, Bhagwati

Prasad and Amitabh KumarÕs graphic novelTinker Solder Tap narrates the story of mostparts of the world from its vantage point in Delhi,where scarcity and abundance, creativity anddecay dance together Ð sometimes flirtatiously,at other times threateningly. Tinker Solder Tapprovides us with two images of DelhiÕs urbanlandscape as it morphed throughout the 1990sand 2000s into a mediascape of sensation andexcitement, with extremely cheap media openingmyriad possibilities for transforming everydaylife though creativity and cultural production.ÊÊÊÊÊÊÊÊÊÊSo the question might not be a matter ofwhat is to be done, but rather what is to be donenow that the six screen projections may not bepossible? Is there hope, or are we doomed to liveas though already dead? In his conversation withMary Zournazi on the philosophy of hope,Michael Taussig suggests that it could be usefulto think of hope as a kind of sense, much like ourother senses. For Taussig, it is precisely becauseof the life-draining threat posed by our materialcircumstances that we need hope. 2 Elsewhere inthe book, it is argued that hope is what onecultivates against all reasonable evidencesuggesting that there should be none. Referringto the temporary autonomous zones that peoplecreate to test the outer possibilities of freedom,Taussig asserts that even when imminent failurelooms, autonomous zones provide a glimmer ofpossibility. And is it not the case with hope thatall it takes is a glimmer, and not a burning bush?ÊÊÊÊÊÊÊÊÊÊI would suggest that one could extend theidea of the hope sense into other domains rarelyarticulated as belonging to that of the senses orsensibility, engulfed as they are by their legalstatus. How, for instance, might we think of a

pirate sense Ð like a hope-sense this is not aforegrounded sense, but a subterranean one,

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Bhagwati Prasad, Amitabh Kumar, last plate from Tinker Solder Tap .

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Left: Shaikh Nasir editing his film using two videos, 2003. Photo: Sukhija; Rigth: Faiza Khan, Supermen of Malegaon , 2008.

flying just below the radar of the visible and theaudible, but ever alert to the possibilities offeredin spite of the apparent impossibility of ourmaterial life? While our capacity to leadimaginative lives is dependent in part onconditions such as the availability of resourcesand infrastructure, it would be erroneous tosubsume one under the other. Piracy has beenover-analyzed in terms of its legality and access,

yet under-theorized as a specific sensibility andattitude, and it may be useful to turn back a bitdifferently to Superman to see the heroicpossibilities of a pirate sense.ÊÊÊÊÊÊÊÊÊÊApproximately eight hours away from thebright lights of IndiaÕs financial and film capitalof Bombay is a small non-descript town calledMalegaon. The town is populated mainly bymigrant Muslim laborers from North India whowork in the power loom sector. Malegaon sawmajor riots after the demolition of the BabriMasjid in 1992 and became infamous in 2006

after a series of bomb blasts. But the town hasrecently been in the news for something else. Ithas emerged as the center of a parallel filmindustry that churns out remakes of Bollywoodhits, re-contextualizing them to address localissues and to cater to local tastes. Thus, one ofthe biggest Indian blockbusters, Sholay (1975), isremade as Malegaon ki Sholay , and Oscar-nominated Lagaan (Taxes) is remade asMalegaon ki Lagaan , in which, instead ofdepicting opposition to colonial taxes, the filmtakes problems of civic amenities as its subject.All the actors in the film have become starswithin the local community, and one of thereasons cited for the popularity of these remakeshas been that the local community can seepeople they recognize on the big screen. Theaverage budget of a Malegaon production is

around Rs.50,000 ($1000), and runs in one of thefourteen local video theaters in the town, whilenow also circulating via VCD and DVD. It allstarted when Shaikh Nasir, a local videographerwho shot wedding videos, decided to borrowmoney to make his own film. He shot it on videoand used two VCRs to edit the film in real time.The film turned out to be a surprise hit, and thusstarted the Malegaon film industry.

ÊÊÊÊÊÊÊÊÊÊLocal workers in the various small-scaleindustries double as actors, and they try to stayas close to the original film as possible,emulating the same camera angles, lighting, andso on. It is understandably difficult to emulate alarge, mega-budget Bollywood film in a smalltown like Malegaon, so the Malegaon crew haslearned to adapt and innovate using localresources. A bicycle stands in for dolly, and a bullcart is used for crane shots. While remakingHindi epic Shaan (1980), the director realizedthat there was no way to hire a helicopter with a

total budget of Rs.50,000 for the film, so theysimply had to make do with a toy helicopter andshoot it in a way that made it look as authenticas possible.ÊÊÊÊÊÊÊÊÊÊFaiza KhanÕs documentary filmTheSupermen of Malegaon (2008) follows Nasir as hesets out on his most ambitious venture Ð aremake of Superman for Malegaon. 3 In thedocumentary, Nasir speaks about what madehim arrive at Superman :

I never went anywhere to learn to makefilms. I would select different English filmsto screen. After that, I found Hindi filmsboring. ÒWeak direction,Ó I thought. So myfilm education was at the video hall, Ilearned master angles, master lighting, theworks. I used to cut out newspaper listings

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of films being shown in Bombay, and playthe same films here. I used to copy theposters and put them up outside my videohall. This is what obsession leads you to. I just wanted to do something differently Ð alittle bit of this and a bit of that Ð and nowthe story has come to this. [Nasir holds up apicture of Superman.]

The film avoids what could easily have been asemi-patronizing, semi-amused look at a smallfilm industry with its quaint and quirky films. Byfocusing instead on the creative impulse andpassion that drives the filmmakers of Malegaon,The Supermen of Malegaon draws us intothinking about who a Superman is, what it meansto believe you can fly, and how lightnessovercomes the burden of the real. It takes forgranted, as the filmmakers themselves do, thevery limited resources with which they maketheir films, and it invites us instead to share the

unlimited reserves of enthusiasm and energythat they bring to their craft. As a film writer inMalegaon says:

When a writer has a thought in his head,whatever his vision, he never achieves morethan 20 percent of it. Even if it is a Titanic ,the output is 20 percent. To live with theother 80 percent Ð the vision, thecharacters who inhabit your head Ð no onecan understand that pain. And no moneycan compensate for it.

For me, the essence of The Supermen of Malegaon is captured in a statement by one ofthe weaver-actors when he says ÒWe donÕt havethe facilities but are we making films. ThatÕswhatÕs special. We donÕt have great voices, butwe are singing. That is what is exceptional É Wehave no weapons but we are fighting a war, andwe are winning it.Ó The statement reminded meof a story by Guy Davenport in which he recalls asports function where he saw a high schoolmarching band. Noticing that one of the hornplayers was a young man with Down syndromeplaying an imaginary horn Ð keeping stepadmirably, and intently playing his instrument ÐDavenport recounted:

Tears came to my eyes, as I saw greatmetaphysical depths in it, and perhaps ametaphor for life itself as we now live it.IÊhope Êthe boy really thought he was playingin the band (I wonder if he goes topractice?) and that he was overcoming thedreadful handicap in some way thatcounterfeited reality for him. He may even

be a student in high school, pretending hecan read and do arithmetic (just like my

students). I then entertained a fantasy inwhich I, who canÕt sing or play a note, mightbe allowed to play an imaginary violin in asymphony orchestra. 4

There is perhaps a lesson to be learned from TheSupermen of Malegaon and their finely-tunedpirate sense that does not name the legality orillegality of an act, but marks an attitude Ð to

time, to resources, and to creativity. If the state(as benign promoter of the arts) and privatecorporations (as owners of culture) both promiseaccess on paternalistic terms, then a piratesense is one that demands a defiant access. Itrefuses to wait for Superman, and insteadpretends that it can fly. It is to be found inBorgesÕs village librarian, who, upon finding thathe cannot afford to buy the books he has readpositive reviews of, proceeds to write thosebooks on the basis of their title.

Faiza Khan, Supermen of Malegaon , 2008. Filmstill.

ÊÊÊÊÊÊÊÊÊÊAlternative economies are alternative not just because they are quaint, but because theyhave figured out a way of being in the world thatextends the limits of what they can know bydrawing their own boundaries of the knowable. Ifwe are to face up to the challenge of the crisis ofthe arts, it would be through a recognition thatour potential lies beyond the threshold of thepossible. As Brian Massumi puts it:

That vague sense of potential, we call it ourÒfreedom,Ó and defend it fiercely. But nomatter how certainly we know that thepotential is there, it always seems just outof reach, or maybe around the next bend.Because it isnÕt actually there Ð onlyvirtually. But maybe if we can take little,practical, experimental, strategic measuresto expand our emotional register, or limberup our thinking, we can access more of ourpotential at each step, have more of itactually available. Having more potentials

available intensifies our life. WeÕre notenslaved by our situations. Even if we never

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have our freedom, weÕre alwaysexperiencing a degree of freedom, orÒwriggle room.Ó Our degree of freedom atany one time corresponds to how much ofour experiential ÒdepthÓ we can accesstowards a next step Ð how intensely we areliving and moving. 5

Echoing Massumi, a recent text by the

Cybermohalla ensemble describes a playfulexperiment with conditions of intellectual lifeand speech in localities:

The magic chair is a condition everyonecarries in them. ItÕs a matter of itsactivation. How to build an environmentaround us that can bring the highest levelof activation of this magic chair? In dailylife, the place of the magic chair diminishesor expands depending on what and who itencounters. What can we or do we create

around ourselves, in what ways can weenter that which has been made by othersaround us, so that an activation andexpansion of the magic chair may happen inand around us? 6

Avant-garde arts practices of the recent pasthave been so tightly coupled with institutionalforms that this crisis could perhaps open apossibility for us to bring back what JeebeshBagchi describes as a spirit of the Òrearguard.ÓAs both an attitude and a strategy, Bagchidescribes the rearguard as a practice that knowsthat in order to survive, there is a need for manyÒdo-it-yourselfÓ tools. It acts like a craftsmanand builds them. It knows that it is by multiplyingthroughout diverse paths and forms that one canbreathe within debris. It takes this agility,porosity, and masking as a site for discovery,exploration, and connection.ÊÊÊÊÊÊÊÊÊÊThus, the transformation of Clark Kent intoSuperman may not be a matter of a quick fix,running in and out of a magically-appearingtelephone booth, but, instead, a carefulcombination of new skills and senses with whichwe, like Perseus, take flight. Indeed, the time hascome to talk of many things, of cabbages andkings and whether men have wings.ÊÊÊÊÊÊÊÊÊÊ×

Lawrence Liang is a researcher and writer based at theAlternative Law Forum, Bangalore. His work lies at theintersection of law and cultural politics, and has inrecent years been looking at question of media piracy.He is currently finish a book on law and justice in Hindicinema.

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ÊÊÊÊÊÊ1Italo Calvino, Six Memos for theNext Millennium (Cambridge,MA: Harvard University Press,1988).

ÊÊÊÊÊÊ2Mary Zournazi, ÒCarnival of theSenses: A Conversation withMichael Taussig,Ó in Hope: NewPhilosophies for Change (NewYork: Psychology Press, 2003),42.

ÊÊÊÊÊÊ3Seehttp://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PipEakbjsa0.

ÊÊÊÊÊÊ4Bernard Hoepffner, ÒPleasantHill: Interview with GuyDavenport,Ó Conjunctions , no. 24(Spring 1995). Seehttp://wvorg.free.fr/hoepffner/PleasHillEng.html.

ÊÊÊÊÊÊ5ÒNavigating Movements: AConversation with BrianMassumi,Ó in Zournazi, Hope ,214.

ÊÊÊÊÊÊ6Love Anand, Azra Tabassum,Neelofar Shamsher Ali, LakhmiKohli, Jaanu Nagar Nasreen,Rabiya Quraishy, RakeshKhairalia Babli Rai, and TripanKumar, No Apologies for theInterruption (New Delhi: TheDirector / Sarai-CSDS, 2011), 62.Seehttp://www.sarai.net/publications/occasional/no-apologies/no-apologies.pdf.

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