Boleyn

The Etiology of Palinism

Jeremy Clemmons

What will follow is mostly an abstract form of a theory or thesis on the virtual effect of the intentional reinterpretation of feminism by contemporary media and politics as evidenced by Sarah Palin.

One of the crucial scenes of Mulholland Drive, David Lynch’s film of mangled influences—from Dennis Potter to Billy Wilder—occurs when Hollywood actress Camilla Rhodes, still in a fugue state from a recent car wreck, exits a shower. She glances at herself in the mirror, expecting, of course, to see her own image. In a twisted commentary on the MirrorStage, Lynch reveals the reflection to be not her own but, rather, that of Rita Hayworth—Gilda, the classic femme fatale. This is the name (“Rita”) she will assume from here on in the feature. However, the film unfolds as a reversal of Hayworth’s epitomic role; the voluptuous, brunette Camilla is casted against typicality. Instead of wielding a power or agency within the show business, Rita wanders through Lynch’s dreamwork as a haunted, endless repetition of the latter moments in Gilda. In these crucial scenes, Rita Hayworth is trapped due to her sexuality and control over men. Thus, the Rita in Mulholland Drive is a catatonic interpretation of the stripped agency; she spends the first two-thirds of the film trying to find her identity. Consequently, the new Camilla Rhodes of Mulholland Drive who assumes the ability to attract, to subjugate, to possess the Hollywood system turns out to be a blonde. “This is the girl,” demand the studio executives to a director casting the lead role in an upcoming film. Opposite becomes apposite. Sarah Palin as sociological malady. Sarah Palin as a savior. Two dueling positions and parties—neighbors in the pathology apartment of the political hospital yet separated by an ocean. The stunt of tapping the Alaskan governor