Perversion the Social Relation
Perversion the Social Relation Perversion the Social Relation
ioéNina Schwartztively called into being by Eric's trickery. And the forced disruption ofhis ritual conduct may permit Francis to reattach himself to the symbolicorder that so radically failed him with the collapse of his family andpaternal identity. The most "optimistic" conclusion of all the stories, thisone still promises nothing very concrete, except for Tracey's healthy removalof herself from the system of debts and payments between Haroldand Francis.Christina, the former babysitter, is also revealed through the film'sfinal scene (a flashback to one of the narrative's earliest chronologicalmoments) to be suffering from her own ambiguous traumatic familylegacy. In that last scene, as Francis drives Christina home from a babysittinggig at his house, he waxes enthusiastic about Lisa's intelligenceand musical talent, which a shy Christina notes admiringly and somewhatwistfully. When Francis tries to reassure her that her own parentsno doubt talk about her with similarly affectionate interest, she stonilyreplies, "I don't think so." Recognizing Christina's unhappiness, Francispraises the girl in the only way he can think of at the moment, callingher "a very responsible young woman." Christina faintly wails, "Responsibleto what?" suggesting the absence for her of a stable structureof meaning, of rules. Francis himself offers to listen to Christina anytimeshe wants to talk about her problems, identifying this scene as perhapsthe "origin" of his later car-chat with Tracey. But Christina makesno revelation at this time, leaving viewers to speculate just what herfamily situation lacks or includes and how it has informed her later,current work as a dancer at Exotica. She may be attempting throughthose performances to gain, finally, the attention (such as she receivesso complexly from Francis) from paternal figures that has previouslybeen denied her. Or if, as Egoyan himself has suggested in an interview,Christina had an incestuous relationship with her father, she may in factj, be using her provocative but ultimately frustrating act both to provokeand to repudiate the desire of older men as she perhaps felt herself toprovoke and yet was unable to reject her father's desire for her. 18 In eithercase, Christina's dancing at the club seems to function as a repetition—she wears the uniform that Francis's daughter was wearing when shewas killed, but presumably it is also a uniform she might herself have; worn as a schoolgirl—by which she continues simultaneously to live out* i and to transform a previous trauma by which she has been marked. For
Exotic Rituals and Family Values 107Christina, the club functions as both the site of her tempting of oldermen and a guaranteed limit to their power over her, as perhaps no onecould limit her father's power. Again, we recall how adamant Christinawas to Thomas about the club's rule: "When you're dancing for the customer,they can't touch"Zoë, the current owner of the club, inherited it from her mother. Pregnantby Eric in a contractual arrangement rather than as the result of arelationship and desperate for a child, she may now be having a romanticrelationship with Christina, Eric's former girlfriend and the object ofhis current obsession. And Zoë, not unexpectedly in this movie, seemsobsessed with making her own life re-embody her mother's: in additionto running her mother's business, she wears her mother's clothes andwigs. When Christina expresses doubt about Zoë's choice to keep theclub, Zoë explains: "When mom died, my immediate idea was to get ridof this place, just sell it"; but, she continues in explanation, "I used tobe very shy a^a child. I used to watch my mother for hours, just admiringher sense of freedom. So when the opportunity came up, I thoughtI would take on the challenge."Zoë's nurturing relations with Christina, Eric, and even Francis whenshe has to expel him from the club, suggest that whatever else Zoë maybe, she is motivated most powerfully by a desire to be a mother, thoughwe don't necessarily have a sense that her own mothering of the othercharacters repeats her mother's treatment of her. Christina mocks Zoë'sadmiration of her mother, for example, by telling her how the previousowner of the club lied to the women in her employ: she built an observationhallway above the stage that would enable her, she said, to observethe women being observed by their clients. Zoë's mother claimedto be doing so to protect her employees, but in fact, she built the structureto serve the voyeuristic desires of a wealthy patron. We don't knowif, in the earlier history of the club, Zoë's mother had ever been a performer,but she was clearly a powerful presence in the establishment,confidently mingling with customers and overseeing proceedings as Zoëcontinually expresses her wish to do. Despite Christina's evocation ofthe mother's deceptiveness, of her subservience to the whims of a richclient, for Zoë the club provides a context in which both roles—literalmother-to-be/motherly nurturer of clients and employees and confidentorchestrator of sexual license—combine to grant her the only authority
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Exotic Rituals and Family Values 107Christina, <strong>the</strong> club functions as both <strong>the</strong> site of her tempting of oldermen and a guaranteed limit to <strong>the</strong>ir power over her, as perhaps no onecould limit her fa<strong>the</strong>r's power. Again, we recall how adamant Christinawas to Thomas about <strong>the</strong> club's rule: "When you're dancing for <strong>the</strong> customer,<strong>the</strong>y can't touch"Zoë, <strong>the</strong> current owner of <strong>the</strong> club, inherited it from her mo<strong>the</strong>r. Pregnantby Eric in a contractual arrangement ra<strong>the</strong>r than as <strong>the</strong> result of arelationship and desperate for a child, she may now be having a romanticrelationship with Christina, Eric's former girlfriend and <strong>the</strong> object ofhis current obsession. And Zoë, not unexpectedly in this movie, seemsobsessed with making her own life re-embody her mo<strong>the</strong>r's: in additionto running her mo<strong>the</strong>r's business, she wears her mo<strong>the</strong>r's clo<strong>the</strong>s andwigs. When Christina expresses doubt about Zoë's choice to keep <strong>the</strong>club, Zoë explains: "When mom died, my immediate idea was to get ridof this place, just sell it"; but, she continues in explanation, "I used tobe very shy a^a child. I used to watch my mo<strong>the</strong>r for hours, just admiringher sense of freedom. So when <strong>the</strong> opportunity came up, I thoughtI would take on <strong>the</strong> challenge."Zoë's nurturing relations with Christina, Eric, and even Francis whenshe has to expel him from <strong>the</strong> club, suggest that whatever else Zoë maybe, she is motivated most powerfully by a desire to be a mo<strong>the</strong>r, thoughwe don't necessarily have a sense that her own mo<strong>the</strong>ring of <strong>the</strong> o<strong>the</strong>rcharacters repeats her mo<strong>the</strong>r's treatment of her. Christina mocks Zoë'sadmiration of her mo<strong>the</strong>r, for example, by telling her how <strong>the</strong> previousowner of <strong>the</strong> club lied to <strong>the</strong> women in her employ: she built an observationhallway above <strong>the</strong> stage that would enable her, she said, to observe<strong>the</strong> women being observed by <strong>the</strong>ir clients. Zoë's mo<strong>the</strong>r claimedto be doing so to protect her employees, but in fact, she built <strong>the</strong> structureto serve <strong>the</strong> voyeuristic desires of a wealthy patron. We don't knowif, in <strong>the</strong> earlier history of <strong>the</strong> club, Zoë's mo<strong>the</strong>r had ever been a performer,but she was clearly a powerful presence in <strong>the</strong> establishment,confidently mingling with customers and overseeing proceedings as Zoëcontinually expresses her wish to do. Despite Christina's evocation of<strong>the</strong> mo<strong>the</strong>r's deceptiveness, of her subservience to <strong>the</strong> whims of a richclient, for Zoë <strong>the</strong> club provides a context in which both roles—literalmo<strong>the</strong>r-to-be/mo<strong>the</strong>rly nurturer of clients and employees and confidentorchestrator of sexual license—combine to grant her <strong>the</strong> only authority