6. Hyper-individualism is everywhere in Bloom -- in the exaltation of Emerson, in gnosticism, in how his pathway to Judaism was mysticism, in his revival of hoariest idea of "genius." That hyper-individualism, I'd argue, was rooted in his rejection of social movements.
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7. Bloom's arguments for divorcing literature from its social context - for seeing writers as God-like beings who create but are not created - was a retreat from his own best work and also, sadly, a way of justifying an elite that was beyond normal morality.
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8. Bloom's attacks on PC and "the schools of resentment" reads a little bit differently once you realize what a hot house of chauvinism Yale English was when he ruled the roost.
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9. In the long run, the 1970s Bloom (which was the Bloom he remained till his death) will be seen as of a piece, the life and work both emblematic of the hyper-individualism of the "Me Decade" & (sorry) neoliberalism.
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10. It's too bad Harold Bloom was so dismissive of popular culture because his "Anxiety of Influence" paradigm really helps illuminate the Joker movie.
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11. The melancholy of Joker comes from what Bloom would call its belatedness, its desire to simultaneously pay tribute to the symbolic father (Scorsese) and also to kill and replace him.
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12. Joker, in the new film, is a fusing of the main characters of two Scorsese films (Taxi Driver & King of Comedy). Robert DeNiro, who played those characters, is in Joker and his character is killed by Joker. Joker is about the desire to kill & replace Scorsese.
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13. The oedipal theme is pretty explicit in Joker (the hero thinks Thomas Wayne is his father & hates him). But it exists not just at the level of plot but also the subtext (in how the Scorsese material is handled). Scorsese has to be eliminated for a fresh start to begin.
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14. I think Scorsese is of the oedipal drama going on, hence his hostile comments about superhero movies. He's not prepared to give up the throne to this unworthy spawn.
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Replying to @HeerJeet
I can't even tell if you're kidding with this stuff any more. Anyway, look up Emma Tillinger Koskoff some time when you've got nothing else to do.
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Not totally serious with this take but the involvement of Scorsese (at one time attached as producer) & Tillinger Koskoff doesn't, I think, preclude the Oedipal theme.
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