The close-up of a face is as obscene as a…

The close-up of a face is as obscene as a sexual organ seen from up close. It is a sexual organ. The promiscuity of the detail, the zoom-in, takes on a sexual value. (p. 43)

Sourced, The Ecstasy of Communication (1987)

Other Jean Baudrillard Quotes

Not only does reality resist those who still criticize it, but it also abandons those who defend it. Maybe it is a way for reality to get its revenge from those who claim to believe in it for the sole purpose of eventually transforming it: sending back its supporters to their own desires. ( essay -”Radical Thought”) - View Quote Details on Not only does reality resist those who still criticize it,…
Today’s terrorism is not the product of a traditional history of anarchism, nihilism, or fanaticism. It is instead the contemporary partner of globalization. - View Quote Details on Today’s terrorism is not the product of a traditional history…
Picturing others and everything which brings you closer to them is futile from the instant that ‘communication’ can make their presence immediate. (p. 42) - View Quote Details on Picturing others and everything which brings you closer to them…
There are only a few images that are not forced to provide meaning, or have to go through the filter of a specific idea. - View Quote Details on There are only a few images that are not forced…
Challenge, and not desire, lies at the heart of seduction. (p. 57) - View Quote Details on Challenge, and not desire, lies at the heart of seduction…
Seduction is the world’s elementary dynamic… All this has changed significantly for us, at least in appearance. For what has happened to good and evil? Seduction hurls them against one another, and unites them beyond meaning, in a paroxysm [sudden outbreak of emotion] of intensity and charm. (p. 59) - View Quote Details on Seduction is the world’s elementary dynamic… All this has changed…
Marxism is therefore only a limited petit bourgeois critique, one more step in the banalization of life toward the “good use” of the social! - View Quote Details on Marxism is therefore only a limited petit bourgeois critique, one…
One may dream of a culture where everyone bursts into laughter when someone says: this is true, this is real. ( essay -”Radical Thought”) - View Quote Details on One may dream of a culture where everyone bursts into…
One day, we shall stand up and our backsides will remain attached to our seats. - View Quote Details on One day, we shall stand up and our backsides will…
So-called “realist” photography does not capture the “what is.” Instead, it is preoccupied with what should not be, like the reality of suffering for example. - View Quote Details on So-called “realist” photography does not capture the “what is.” Instead,…